Using group work activities to enhance english speaking skill for grade 5 students at a primary school in nam dinh

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** VŨ THỊ THANH HUYỀN USING GROUP WORK ACTIVITIE

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

VŨ THỊ THANH HUYỀN

USING GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE

ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL FOR GRADE-5 STUDENTS

AT A PRIMARY SCHOOL IN NAM DINH

Sử dụng hoạt động nhóm để n ng o n ng nói Tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp 5 tại một trường tiểu học ở tỉnh N m Định

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 8140231.01

Hanoi – 2018

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

VŨ THỊ THANH HUYỀN

USING GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE

ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL FOR GRADE-5 STUDENTS

AT A PRIMARY SCHOOL IN NAM DINH

Sử dụng hoạt động nhóm để n ng o n ng nói Tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp 5 tại một trường tiểu học ở tỉnh N m Định

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor: Dr Trần Thị Thu Hiền

Hanoi – 2018

DECLARATION

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “Using group work activities to enhance English speaking skill for grade-5 students at a primary school in Nam Dinh” is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master at the

University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, and this thesis has not been submitted for any other degrees

Hanoi, May 2018

Vũ Thị Thanh Huyền

I would like primarily to thank Dr Tran Thị Thu Hien for helping me complete this study This paper would not have been possible without her constant support and encouragement Her patience and helpful criticism helped me confidently express my ideas into this paper I regard myself extremely fortunate in having her as my dissertation supervisor

I would also like to express my sincere thanks to all my lecturers at the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies for their valuable lectures which have helped me a great deal in gaining a lot of theoretical as well as practical knowledge

My special thanks go to the manager and teachers at Xuan Chau Primary School, Xuan Truong District, Nam Dinh Province in general and 50 grade-5 students in particular who have helped me enthusiastically in speaking lessons by applying GW activities to enhance students‟ speaking skills

Finally, I would also like to express my deep gratitude and love to my devoted parents, my brother, my husband and my friends who gave me time and

encouraged me to complete this study

ABSTRACT

Speaking is undoubtedly one of the most essential and important skills which language learners need to master However, for the students participated in this study, speaking in English lessons is a big challenge They are afraid of speaking in front of the class, many of them either keep silent or exchange ideas by their mother tongue While the students are more confident with written tests, they always feel reluctant when being asked to speak English and try to give answers as short as possible Additionally, they are fed up with speaking lessons As a result, speaking

is the weakest one among the four language skills Obviously, it is necessary to find out an effective way to enhance the students‟ oral skill and attitudes towards speaking lessons This study is aimed at describing whether or not and to what extent GW activities improve speaking skill of the grade-fifth students at a primary school in Nam Dinh as well as propose some suggestions to increase the effectiveness of using GW activities to enhance English speaking skill for grade-5 students at a primary school in Nam Dinh The participants included one English teacher and 50 grade-5 students at a primary school in Nam Dinh The data were collected through the students‟ pre-test and post-test and the teacher‟s interview The results showed that GW activities applied created a joyful and exciting classroom atmosphere which provided the students with more opportunities to obtain knowledge with pleasure and helped the students enjoy speaking lessons more In addition, the study also indicated that most of the students had positive attitudes toward this new technique Some pedagogical implications, limitations and suggestions for further studies were included in this study

LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS

ELT: English Language Teaching

ESL: English Second Language

L2: Second language

GR: Group work

CL: Cooperation learning

Q1: Question 1

Q2: Question 2

Q3: Question 3

Q4: Question 4

Q5: Question 5

Q6: Question 6

Q7: Question 7

Q8: Question 8

LISTS OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS

Figure 1: Action research cycle………

Figure 2: Result of the Pre-test ………

Figure 3: Result of the Posttest ………

Flow-chart 1: Steps in data collection procedure………

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS iv

LISTS OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS iiv

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Methods of the study 2

5 Scope of the study 3

6 Significance of the study 3

7 Design of the study 3

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Cooperative Learning 5

1.1.1 Definition 6

1.1.2 Goals of cooperative learning 6

1.2 Speaking skills 6

1.2.1 Definition 6

1.2.2 The role of speaking in language teaching and learning 7

1.2.3 Approaches to teach speaking 9

1.2.4 Elements of speaking 10

1.2.4.1 Language features 11

1.2.4.2 Speaking processing skills 11

1.3 Group work 12

1.3.1 Definition 12

1.3.2.Types of group work activities 13

1.3.2.1 Game 13

1.3.2.2 Role play and simulations 13

1.3.2.3 Drama 14

1.3.2.4 Interview 14

1.3.2.5 Brain storming 14

1.3.2.6 Information gap 14

1.3.2.7 Projects 15

1.3.2.8 Problem solving abd decision making 15

1.3.2.9 Opinion exchange 15

1.3.3 Benefits of using group work activities in speaking lesson 15

1.3.4 Group work planning 17

1.3.5 Techniques for seating arrangement 19

1.3.6 The teacher‟s role in group work 20

1.3.7 Characteristics of effective group work 20

1.4 Young learners 21

1.4.1 Characteristics of young learners 21

1.4.2 Teaching strategies to young learners 23

1.5 Previous studies 25

1.6 Summary 26

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 27

2.1 The research setting 27

2.1.1 Research site 27

2.1.2 English textbooks 27

2.1.3 The facilities 28

2.2 Participants 28

2.2.1 Teacher 28

2.2.2 Students 28

2.3 Cambridge English Young learner Tests 27

2.4 Methods of the study 31

2.4.1 Action research 32

2.4.2 Action plan 34

2.5 Datacollection instruments 37

2.5.1 Pre-test and post-test 37

2.5.2 Pre-interview and post-interview 38

2.5.3 Observation 39

2.6 Data collection procedure 40

2.7 Data analysis procedure 41

2.8 Summary 41

CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 42

3.1 Pre-test and post-test Analysis 42

3.1.1 Pre-test 42

3.1.2 Post-test 43

3.2 Interview Analysis 43

3.2.1 Pre-interview 43

3.2.2 Post-interivew 40

3.3 Class Observation Analysis 48

3.4 Summary 48

PART THREE: CONCLUSION 49

1 Recapitulation 50

2 Implications 50

3 Limitations of the study 52

4 Suggestions for further study 52

REFERENCES 53 APPENDICES I

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Being born and growing up from studious hometown in Nam Dinh province, the researcher always feel proud of myself as well as my hometown As we know, Nam Dinh‟s educational system is always on the first top all over our country However, the result of English has not still kept pace with other main subjects such as Math, Literature or Physics Accompanying with other English teachers in Nam Dinh province, the author of this paper always think about how to improve the quality of English for my students because English is one of the most important subjects now The goal of learning English is that the learners can use it to communicate with foreigners who also use English all over the world either by speech or written, so the use of English for the students is compulsory, because mastering English is a priority for many second or foreign language learners Richard (1990) says that

“The mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for many second or foreign language learners Learners consequently often evaluate their success in language learning as well as the effectiveness of English course on the basis of how well they feel they have improved in their spoken language proficiency”

As a teacher of English at a primary school in Nam Dinh province, from her own observation and experience, the researcher herself has noticed that my students often experience foreign language anxiety especially in speaking skill When my English students take part in any speaking contests, they have never gotten high prizes Usually, they are afraid of speaking in front of the class, many of them keep silent or have discussion in Vietnamese While the students are more confident with written tests, they always feel reluctant when being asked to speak English and try

to give answers as short as possible The fact that, the teachers still teach the students with routine activities without realizing that it would make the students bored and lost their attention to the teaching and learning process This is stated by Douglas, “Routine activities in learning can make the students bored As the result, their motivation and participation in learning will decrease” (1987:48) The most necessary duty is that the teachers should try best to find out the effective way which makes students go in for discussing the materials actively, so that they will

be able to understand what they are learning in the class and also express their own ideas orally

To solve the problem in teaching speaking, the writer would like to conduct a research about “Using GW activities to enhance English speaking skill for grade-5 students at a primary school in Nam Dinh”

2 Aims of the study

This study is chosen and seriously carried out in order to find out the teaching and learning speaking skill for grade-5 students at a primary school in Nam Dinh Especially, the study aims:

 To improve speaking skill for grade-5 students through GW activities

 To propose some suggestions to increase the effectiveness of using GW activities to enhance English speaking skill for grade-5 students at a primary school

4 Methods of the study

To achieve the aims of the study, action research was applied Six lesson plans were designed and taught at two grade-5 classes at Xuan Chau primary school so that the researcher can investigate the effectiveness of teaching speaking Then, a quantitative method technique was applied as a pre-interview and post-interview were administered for only one English teacher there in order to get a more detailed and comprehensive picture about what is investigated for the research Other research instruments were also designed and applied

A pretest and a posttest were given in order to evaluate the vocabulary use proficiency improvement The students‟ scores in the post- test will be compared with the scores of students in the pre-test to determine the effectiveness of the use of

GW activities in teaching speaking The qualitative research method is involved in conducting and analyzing the class observation which is needed to find out how effective this method is Then, the data were collected, sorted and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively to obtain the results

5 Scope of the study

The study was conducted at a primary school in Nam Dinh province It attempted to investigate the issues and problems that arise from grade-5 students in speaking class From there, the study focused on investigating how cooperative GW technique presented via cooperative language learning can be employed in enhancing speaking skill for grade-5 students at a primary school in Nam Dinh and how to best improve their speaking skill through GW activities

6 Significance of the study

This research is severely completed to determine the effectiveness of using GW in teaching speaking for grade-5 students at a primary school in Nam Dinh province and how to best improve the students‟ speaking skills through GW activities.Based

on these findings, recommendations to help English primary teachers and grade-5 students determine the suitable methods to improve teaching and learning English speaking are made Besides, there is a possibility that its outcome could be a reference for other teachers who are teaching English at other schools surrounding

my rural area Last but not least, it would be a primitive for other‟s further studies and mine in other students with other skills of English

7 Design of the study

The study is composed of three parts, outlined as follows:

 Part 1: Introduction

This part is a brief description of the research including the rationales for conducting the research, the aims of the study, research questions, scope of the study, significance of the study, and outline of the study

 Part 2: Development

• Chapter 1: Literature review

This chapter introduces some concepts, theoretical frameworks and related studies

• Chapter 2: Methodology

This chapter introduces the research context and methodology of the study including the context, the subject, the data collection instruments, data collection procedure, and data analysis

• Chapter 3: Findings and discussions

This chapter presents the major findings from the students‟ pre-test and test, teacher‟s pre-interview and post-interview and the researcher‟s class observation

post- Part 3: Conclusion

This part offers a summary of the key findings, implications, limitations, and future directions for further study

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

Part 1 presented the overview of the study, its aim and structure To provide a background of the study, this part describes a theoretical framework for designing and analyzing data This part begins by reviewing theories of GW speaking skill followed by theories relating to speaking skill and young learners

1.1 Cooperative Learning

1.1.1 Definition

To begin with, CL is defined as a set of instructional methods through which students are encouraged to work on academic tasks CL, students work in small groups to help one another in learning academic content (Slavin, 1995) It also refers to a teaching technique where students work in groups on a certain activity in order to maximize one another‟s learning and to achieve certain goals (Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1998) According to Ravich (2007:60), CL is a teaching method

in which students of differing capacities work together in groups on an assignment and receive a common grade and each student has a specific responsibility within the group Advocates believe that cooperative learning enables students to acquire both knowledge and social skills and that student try harder because they are members of a team They also contend that students have more opportunities to ask questions and clarify confusions than they do in the whole-class setting As for Olsen and Kagan (1992; as cited in Richard and Rodgers, 2001), CLL is that: Cooperation is working together to accomplish shared goals Within cooperative situations, individuals seek outcomes beneficial to themselves and all other group members Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups through which students work together to maximize their own and each other‟s learning It may be contrasted with competitive learning in which students work against each other to achieve an academic goal For Johnson and Johnson (2005), Cooperative learning is “the instructional use of small groups such that students work together to maximize their own and each other‟s learning” That is to say, all members have to contribute in improving their learning and each others‟ understanding when using Cooperative Learning

These definitions imply that CL entails learners learn from each other in pairs or small groups CL in this context emphasizes learner accountability in which each member of the group is responsible for his own contribution to activity Teaching and learning process using CL techniques is a learner-centered paradigm which has gained popularity as alternative to the lecture-based paradigm

1.1.2 Goals of CL

Communicative interaction is the most important goal of cooperative language learning in second language teaching, There is a great deal of support for the idea that interaction among students on learning task will lead to improve student achievement Students will learn from each other contribution to classroom discussions Richards and Rodgers (2001: 193) believe that CL goals are:

 To provide opportunities for naturalistic second language acquisition through the use of interactive pairs and group activities

 To provide teachers with the appropriate to enable them to achieve this goal and one that can be applied in a variety of curriculum settings

 To enable focused attention to particular lexical items, language structures, and communicative functions through the use of interactive tasks

 To provide opportunities for learners to develop successful learning and communicative strategies

 To improve learner motivation and reduce learner stress and to create a positive affective classroom climate

1.2 Speaking skills

1.2.1 Definition of speaking

In fact, there are many definitions presented by different scholars all over the world Speaking is the one of the four language skills that plays an important role in human life so that the mastery of speaking is very vital in teaching a language Speaking is

a highly complex and difficult skill which involving the interaction of multiple psychological as well as physiological processes Speaking is the ability to express oneself or the activity to report acts in precise words; it is also the ability to converse or to express a sequence of ideas fluently In his own view, Campbell (1989:39) has stated that speaking is an activity on the part of one individual to

make oneself understood by another, and an activity on the part of the other to understand what is in the mind of the first It means that the speaker must use tools

of communication in order to be understood by the listener

Also, based on Competence Based Curriculum, speaking is one of the four basic competences that the students should gain well; it plays a significant role in communication, and is one of the factors used to evaluate your English proficient competence

According to Chaney (1998:13), speaking is defined as the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non verbal symbols in a variety of context If there is no speaking process happening, it means that we are in difficulty

in conveying our message Therefore, speaking is a basic skill that language learners should gain well with other language skills

As it is stated by Byrne (1976:8), “speaking is a two-way process between the speaker(s) and the listener(s) involving the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding” It is considered as development of the relationship

between speaker and listener Hence, it requires the ability to co-operate in the management of speaking turns (Thornbury, 2005)

In conclusion, from different perspectives of different authors, we can find that speaking is a productive skill where the speaker produces and uses language by expressing a sequence of ideas and at the same time the speaker wants to try, to get the message across In this case we can say that there is a process when people speak, that is the process of conveying and understanding the message It also means that we can communicate with others by means of this language skill People can also transfer some information, answer the question from others, and ask what they want to know by speaking

1.2.2 The role of speaking in language teaching and learning

The principle question often given to EFL learners is “Do you speak English?” but not “Do you write English?” From this principle question, we can easily find out that speaking plays an utmost important role among the four language skills since it helps to identify who knows or does not know a language When discussing the role

of speaking, also, Ur (2000) declares that: Of all the four skills [listening, speaking,

reading and writing], speaking seems intuitively the most important: people who know a language are referred to as “speakers” of the language, as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing (p.12) It can be inferred from Ur‟s view point that speaking is regarded as the first step to confirm who knows or does not know a language The fact that, anyone who also needs to be proficient in each of the four language skills so as to become a well-rounded communicator but the ability to speak skillfully, provides the speaker with several distinct advantages They can easily express their thoughts, opinions and feelings, in the form of words put together in a meaningful way The joy of sharing one‟s ideas with others is immense When we speak to others we come to have a better understanding of our own selves, as Robert Frost once said: „„I am a writer of books in retrospect, I talk

in order to understand, I teach in order to learn.‟‟ Undoubtedly, the clarity in speech reflects clear thinking

In language teaching and learning, speaking is a medium through which much language is learnt, and which is particularly useful for learning The ability to communicate in a second language clearly and efficiently contributes to the success

of the learners in school and success later in every phase of life (Kayi, 2006) If the right speaking activities are taught in the classroom, speaking can raise general learners‟ motivation and make the English language classroom be a fun and dynamic place (Nunan, 1999) In addition to, Rivers (1968) says that speaking is developed from the first context with the language It means that in teaching speaking, the teacher should make the student understand what they learn Therefore student‟s speaking ability is needed in teaching and learning process Moreover, to many EFL/SL learners “mastering the art of speaking is the single most important aspect of learning a second language or foreign language, and success is measured in terms of ability to carry out a conversation in the language” (Nunan, 1991:39) We can easily realize that recently, many language learners give more importance to the speaking skill in their learning because if they master or develop this skill then they will be considered as if they have mastered all of the other language skills

Although each expert has their own declaration about the role of speaking in language teaching and learning, in brief, speaking is a very important skill among the four basic ones Therefore, having dealt with the importance of oral skills in language teaching and learning is essential that language teachers should pay more attention to teaching speaking skills In order to carry out many of the most basic transactions, it is necessary for learners to speak with confidence

1.2.3 Approaches to teach speaking

According to the history of language learning methodology, approaches to teaching speaking skills have reflected the existing theories of and approaches to language and language learning that have not always considered speaking a primary goal Basing on supporters and antagonists of both theories of language learning during the process of learning and acquiring the language, Burns (1998) divided approaches for teaching speaking into two main types in which one focuses directly

on developing isolated speaking skill and those that focus on the production of speech during communicative activities She referred to these approaches as direct/controlled and indirect/transfer respectively:

• A direct/controlled approach relates to a structural accuracywhere the message is communicated using correct grammar and emphasizes practice of language form, such as pronunciation of the sounds in English This approach also aims at enhancing not only learners‟ awareness about the grammar of the target language but discourse structures and routines as well

• An indirect/transfer approach relates to fluency of speech where the message is communicated coherently with few pauses and hesitations It engages learners in functional language use by getting them to talk with other students in class in order to acquire speaking skills The last purpose is that learners will somehow be capable of transferring those skills to real-life situations (Goh & Burns, 2012:135)

However, there are some limitations in both approaches While the indirect approach does not care the development of accuracy, the direct one does not take into account that the accurate use of language form is developed through face-to-face communication (Goh & Burns, 2012:135)

Up till now, Thornbury (2005) advocated a general approach to skill development for the teaching of second language speaking The approach consists of three stages: awareness raising, appropriation, and autonomy Awareness – raising activities aim

at helping learners get familiar with new knowledge about speaking Appropriation activities, Thornbury argues, go beyond controlled practice or restructuring of knowledge These activities aim to develop “practiced control,” where learners demonstrate “progressive control” or “self-regulation” of a skill (Thornbury, 2005:p.63) The third stage requires learners to engage in activities that demonstrate

a degree of autonomy in and outside the classroom This autonomy was partly due

to the increased automaticity of the language production, what he experienced as feeling fluent

non verbal means These devices help them to convey their intended meaning The use of these devices contributes to the ability to convey the meaning Students, then need to have this ability of using such devices if they want to be fully effective communicators

 Lexis and Grammar

Learners produce some language functions; they often use the same lexical structures The teacher‟s role then, is to provide them with different phrases which carry different functions so that they can use them in the different stages of communication with others

 Negotiation Language

EFL learners benefit a lot from the use of negotiation language; they often ask clarification when they are listening to others talk So, the teachers have to provide learners with the important and necessary expression and a variety of phrases for different function such as agreeing or disagreeing…etc they need when they ask clarification from other speakers Also Learners need to perform their utterances very well if they seek to be comprehended and clear especially when they can see that the other interlocutors did not understand them

1.2.4.2 Speaking processing skills

The importance processing skills of speaking are the following:

 Language Processing

This refers to the ability of the learners/ speakers to process the language in their minds through putting it in a coherent order so that the other interlocutors can understand it and get the intended meaning of messages ( understand it) Speakers also should be able to retrieve words and phrases from their memories to use them when they are interacting with others

 Interacting with others

Most speaking involves interaction between two or more participants, this means that effective speaking also involves a good deal of listening, comprehending of how the other participants are feeling, and knowing how linguistically to take turns are keep the other to do so

 Information Processing

This relates to the ability of processing the information in the mind rapidly, i.e the time speakers get information; they should be ready to response to the others‟ talk

In sum, speaking skill plays a significant role in teaching and learning a foreign language It not only helps students know how to read, to write ad to listen but also know how to communicate with English speaking people It is undeniable that the speaking ability is a good source of motivation for most students Therefore, in the speaking lessons, teachers should know how to adopt appropriate speaking activities which can raise general learner motivation and making the English language classroom a nice and dynamic place to be GW is one of the main and suitable ways that the teachers can help students practice what they have learnt, finds ways to achieve communicative objectives

In addition, Nunan and Lamb (1996:142) have observed that GW is designed as any classroom activity in which learners perform collaborative tasks with one or more speakers Participating in group, learners can join actively in the learning process They do not have to sit passively and listen to their teachers Every student has more chances for opportunities for independence and they can have some learning decisions They learn to listen to others‟ ideas, thoughts, learn to practice discussing and negotiating Apparently, GW has been considered one of the main changes to the dynamics of classroom interaction wrought by students-centered teaching

According to Harmer (2007:166) GW is defined as a generic term covering a multiplicity of techniques in which two or more students are assigned a task that involves collaboration and self initiated language Furthermore, Hybels and Weaver (2009) claimed that a GW is a small group consisting of three to thirteen members interacting with one another where each person influences and is influenced by

others On the other hand, Harmer (2001) mentioned that a group activity is a small group of around five students who show greater involvement and participation than larger groups

From the above definitions, it can be concluded that GW is a student-centered way

of teaching that emphasizes collaboration, cooperation, and teamwork in groups of perhaps six or fewer so that learners have more opportunities to construct knowledge and accomplish tasks through collaborative interaction During the learning process in group, learners can share the responsibility of getting the job done and doing the planning, preparation and presentation of their gathered information as a team

1.3.2 Types of GW activities

There are many types of GW activities introduced by different experts in promoting speaking skills among students However, those GW activities cannot be done at one time but teachers must be creative to choose the best activity that is suitable for any particular time Brown (2001) also defines and characterize some typical group tasks as follows:

1.3.2.1 Game

A game can formalize a technique into units that can be scored in some ways It helps and encourages many learners to sustain their interest and work Moreover, a game also helps the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful The learners want to take part and in order to do so must understand what others are saying or have written, and they must speak or write in order to express their own point of view or give information Guessing games are common language classroom activities Like who am I? Or what am I? Where every student thinks of a famous person, an object or an animal and his/her classmates make guesses until what was thought is found

1.3.2.2 Role-play and simulations

 Role-play minimally involves giving a role to one or more members of a

group and assigning an objective or purpose that participants must accomplish It involves the learners in real life communication and helps them reduce their fears of performing in front of people A very popular role play activity is “the soap” In the

“soap” learners “plan, rehearse, and perform” a short passage from a soap opera The other students, later on, are free to give their opinion about the participants‟

performance and about the message they transmit

 Simulations involve evaluating learning of curricular content that is based

on an actual situation Simulations, designed to replicate a real-life situation as closely as desired, has students assume roles as they analyze data, make decisions and solve the problems inherent in the situation As the simulation proceeds, students respond to the changes within the situation by studying the consequences

of their decisions and subsequent actions and predicting future problems/solutions

1.3.2.3 Drama

Drama is a more formalized form of role-play and simulation, with a planned story line and script It fosters and maintains students' motivation, by providing an atmosphere which is full of fun and entertainment In so doing, it engages feelings and attention and enriches the learners' experience of the language Sometimes small groups can write the script about any events they like and rehearse them However, this technique is quite time-consuming and is rarely formed part of

pre-a typicpre-al school curriculum

1.3.2.4 Interview

Interview is the verbal conversation between two people with the object of getting the story behind a participant‟s experiences It may be useful as follow-up to certain respondents In fact, interview is usually used for pair work, however, it is also suitable for GW with different level of proficiency

1.3.2.5 Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a technique which initiates some sort of thinking process It is often put to excellent use in preparing students to discuss a complex issue Furthermore, it engages students in a rapid-fire, free-association listing of concepts, ideas, facts or feeling relevant to some topic or context

1.3.2.6 Information gap

It is a type of activity which makes students accomplish a task through using the language while concentrating on meaning rather than structure of the language, so therefore learners learn by doing The two main characteristics of this technique are

its primary attention to information and not to language forms and the necessity of communicative interaction in order to reach the objective The information that students must seek can range from easy to difficult

1.3.2.7 Projects

Almost hands-on approaches to language take great advantages to young learners, certain projects can be rewarding indeed For example, the teacher shows a topic on famous people, of course, different small groups can do and share different things relate to this topic

1.3.2.8 Problem solving and decision making

Problem solving is a quite popular activity with learners It requires small groups to solve a specified problem The problem might be relatively simple like giving directions on a map, moderately complex like arranging a trip, or quite complex such as dealing with a political or moral dilemma

Decision making is one kind of problem solving technique where the ultimate goal

is for students to make a decision

1.3.2.9 Opinion exchange

Opinion exchange is type of technique which involves students in giving their own ideas or sharing their thoughts, may be agreeable or disagreeable with one given issue by other student However, this technique seems quite difficult for beginning learners to deal with

In opinion exchange, the teacher must assure all students in the class that, while there may be disagreement on issues, all opinions are to be valued, not scorned, and respected, not ridiculed

1.3.3 Benefits of using GW activities in speaking lesson

The source of benefits of group-work can be seen in many different fields, consists

of improving students speaking skill In the best group-work activity in a language classroom, the participants of a learning group can benefit in several ways

Firstly, Brown (2001) states that students' responsibility and autonomy are promoted through GW activities Participating in GW activity, a new social context

in created whereby all students work together, share their ideas, retell the story or discuss certain topic in English In addition, one of their main tasks is being in

charge of their group activities Every learner is in charge of his own and each other speaking, so there is a friendly help and high personal interdependence between them

Secondly, learners' participation, talking time and oral fluency are improved through group With traditional method in teaching speaking, the teacher tends to be the only person who initiates language in an artificial setting and the whole-class becomes a “group interlocutor” According to Richard and Nunan (1987) GW provides opportunities for children to talk freely, and it is generally accepted that this improves their language As for Ur (1996:232), students can have a learning task during small interaction in GW and it is considered as a kind of their activation and is very valuable for practicing of fluency in speaking If there are 5 groups in a class; students can get 5 times as some chance to speak as in a big class Apparently, the more chances learners have to talk and interact, the more progress they achieve

Furthermore, Brown (2001) also indicates that GW is a step toward individualizing instruction As we know, no one has the same knowledge of language with others,

as each learner has different language needs and ability Thus, the teachers have some difficulties in managing the class with students at different levels of language GWcan be used for the application of brainstorming, a task which is often too difficult for individuals to do, but is easy to do successfully in groups where individual goals can be achieved Also, Connery (1988:35) states that the best way

to ensure comparable effort amongst all the group members is to design activities in which there is a clear division of labor and each student must contribute if the group

is to reach its goal

Finally, the students' motivation is improved through GW activities In another word, GW offers a positive affective climate It can encourage learners to use freely the language in front of the class and the teacher Moreover, it is one of the most effective ways to motivate participants to become more involved Richards and Loc Khart (1994) point out that, students not only play more active roles in the learning process but also get the benefits of sharing ideas with their team member through taking part in groups Doff (1988:141) states " students fell less anxiety when they

are privately than when they are on shown in front of the whole class Pair work and group-work can help shy students, who would never say anything in a whole class activity" Apparently, a small group provides a relatively intimate setting and a more supportive environment in which they will find it much easier to share their points of view in a nature way

Taking everything into consideration, we can easily find out that GW is the best way to have success in learner - centered approach This kind of speaking activities has had a lot of emphasis in language classroom and its activities are taken place in some ways of the second language instructions, especially in encouraging learners' face to face practice with their confidence

1.3.4 GW planning

GW can be an effective method to motivate students, encourage active learning, and develop key critical-thinking, communication, and decision-making skills Without careful planning and facilitation, GW can frustrate students and instructors and feel like a waste of time After choosing an appropriate technique of GW activities for implementing, these steps of planning GW are introduced by Salas (2005) as follows:

• Step 1: Introducing the technique

This means both telling students exactly what they have to do and describing what the final product of their GW will look like The brief and smart explanation will be highly appreciated because it can decide the success of GW‟s result

• Step 2: Modeling the technique

It is useful for students to be known clearly about a new and complex task before practicing It means that the teacher should model it to make sure that students know what they are supposed to do

• Step 3: Giving explicit instruction

After making sure that all students have understood the purpose of the task and how their discussion might proceed, the teacher continue giving them specific instructions on what they are to do with a restatement of the purpose, rules they are

to follow, a time frame, and assignment of roles to students.If the task contains steps then the student should know them clearly (Salas, 2005:8)

• Step 4: Giving useful expression

The teacher must let the students know all of the expression that a task would contain It is the most significant features of a GW The teacher should practice

before performing in the classroom (Salas, 2005:8)

• Step 5: Dividing the class into groups

Dividing the class into groups means the size of group you choose It will depend

on the number of students, the size of the classroom, the variety of voices needed within a group, and the task assigned Groups of four-five tend to balance the needs for diversity, productivity, active participation, and cohesion If we want to ensure participation and control, we can pre-assign groups in order to account for one or two of the following: proficiency levels; age or gender differences; personal types; cognitive preferences; interests; prior learning experience; target language goals

• Step 6: Assign roles

It is not always happen that all the strong members will make a one group A group might have contained idle pupil Even though the students know their responsibilities, it would be nice if the teachers designate their roles in a task The idle students might be forced by the teacher to work hard and work more than others

in a group (Salas, 2005:8)

• Step 7: Checking for clarification

Let students ask questions Even if you believe your instructions are crystal clear, students may have legitimate questions about the activity Give them time to ask questions or restate the purpose of the activity before they get to work to make sure that all of them understand their assignment

• Step 8: Set the task in motion

After explaining all the above steps, the teacher should start the work (Salas, 2005:8)

• Step 9: Monitor the task

During the time of their GW, the teacher should not just sit and watch their activities The teacher should walk around the class and check if they are doing their work properly or not The teacher might help students to find out their grammatical errors and pronunciation problem during the task The teacher if necessary should

write a note while checking the tasks It would be beneficial if the teacher puts grade on students‟ performance However, that would depend on the different types

of activity (Salas, 2005:8)

• Step 10: Set a time for debriefing and feedback to make the activity

To make an activity effective this step is significant All members of group need to present and share their own work with others Even though the time can be an important factor, teacher needs to motivate and praise students work after the task that they have completed The teacher must give them feedback, allocate their weakest point individually, correct their mistakes and give comments It will help learners to know the main purpose of their activity that they have done in class (Salas, 2005:8)

1.3.5 Techniques for seating arrangement

Classroom-seating arrangement is an important factor for making group members more attentive and maintaining valuable time of instruction of the teacher Different kinds of seating arrangement in the class, which might be helpful for the teachers as well as for the students are introduced by Scrivener (1994:89) as follows:

 Pairs

It is flexible for two students to sit together in a pair, which can be placed in a row and column This kind of seating arrangement will helpful for the students to lots of pair task and pair presentation

 Enemy corners

The teacher divides all students into two groups and sit in two corners of the class facing each other The teacher stands in between of them This kind of seating arrangement will helpful for the students to work in group and discuss

 Face to face

Face to face, arrangement is similar to opposing team arrangements Here, the two teams of student sit very closer by facing each other The teacher sits in the middle

GW, pair work, individual work can do by this arrangements

 Panel

A u-shaped arrangement for students will be set here and the teacher will be in front

of them It is a good seating arrangement when the classroom is average There can

be a good eye contact between the teachers and students Individual, pair work are possible in this arrangement

1.3.6 The teacher’s role in GW

After completing the first two steps, the teacher plays the role of facilitator and resource The teacher should be willing to be a helper or a guide who always lets students know she will be available for help and can make some suggestions to keep them on task When the time for group discussion is going to be over, it is very important to circulate even the teacher has nothing to say to a group, the teacher can listen to students and get a sense of the groups‟ progress and of individuals‟ language production (Brown, 2001)

According to Brown (2001), the teacher should not do the following:

- Don‟t sit at your desk and grade papers

- Don‟t leave the room and take a break

- Don‟t spend an undue amount of time with one group at the expense of others

- Don‟t correct students‟ errors unless asked to do so

- Don‟t assume a dominating or disruptive role while monitoring groups

1.3.7 Characteristics of effective GW

Argyle and Graham (1981) examine basic rules appropriate to all social situations, including group work These include making communication, preventing

withdrawal, preventing aggressiveness, beginning and ending encounters, not allowing all to speak at once, observing roles for adjacent pairs and observing specific rules for longer sequences

In conclusion, GW is one of the techniques that is now popularly applied to language teaching and learning, especially, to speaking skill learning for its many advantages Yet, the teachers also need to aware of some drawbacks that may arise

in the process Obviously, the success of GW activity depends much on how well tasks are designed and how well the teacher prepare students for the tasks Therefore, it is essentially prepare what students need During the application of

GW in speaking lesson, the teacher should work as an organizer, controller, as well

as participant to help students learn better

1.4 Young learners

1.4.1 Characteristics of young learners

While there are commonalities across learners of all ages, young children differ from older children in many ways Studies of young children show how learning changes across development However, we now know that even very young children have a predisposition to learn in certain domains, and that young children are actively engaged in making sense of their world Young children appear to be predisposed to acquire information Some typical characteristics of young learners are discussed as follows:

Firstly, the characteristic of young learners mentioned by Clark (1990:6-8):

a Children are developing conceptually: they develop their way of thinking from the concrete to the abstract thing

b Children have no real linguistics, different from the adult learners that already have certain purpose in learning language, for instances, to have a better job, children rarely have such needs in learning a foreign language They learn subject what school provide for them

c Children are still developing; they are developing common skill such as turn talking and the use of body language

d Young children are very egocentric; they tend to resolve around themselves

e Children get bored easily Children have no choice to attend school The lack of the choice means that class activities need to be fun interesting and exciting as possible by setting up the interesting activities

Other characteristics related to young language learners students that Slatterly and Willis (2001) state are as follows:

• They learn to read and write in L1

• They develop as thinkers

• They understand the difference between the real and the imaginary

• They can plan and organize how best to carry out an activity

• They can work with others and learn from others

• They can be reliable and take responsibility for class activities and routines

According to Jim Scrivener (2010:321) there are some characteristics of young learners, which should be considered when teaching them, but in this chapter the writer takes the most important one, it is:

• Children are keen

• Children are noisy

• Children can be chatterbox

• Children want to learn new things

• Children like to experiment

• Children are curious

• Children get easily excited

• Children want to have fun

• Children have a great sense of humour

• Children love attention

• Children can‟t concentrate for very long

• Children can be very hard to calm down

Lastly, Scott and Ytreberg (1993:3-4) also propose some general young language learners‟ characteristics (elementary school students) as follows:

a Their basic concepts are formed They have decided views of the world

b They can tell the difference between fact and fiction

c They ask questions all the time

d They rely on the spoken word as well as the physical world to convey and understand meaning

e They are able to make some decisions about their own learning

f They have definite views about what they like and don‟t like doing

g They have developed sense of fairness about what happens in the classroom and begin to question the teacher‟s decisions

h They are able to work with others and learn from others

Furthermore, with language development, students can understand abstracts, understand symbols, generalize and systematize

To put in a nutshell, from those characteristics above, it can be known that young language learners are able to understand abstract ideas, understand symbols (beginning with words), generalize, and systematize These characteristics should

be considered by the teacher when teaching young learners, because it will increase the chance of making a successful learning process So, by understanding the characteristics of the children, teachers are able to motivate them and by a successful learning process, teachers and students can reach the goal of the study

1.4.2 Teaching strategies to young learners

In language learning context it is believed that children will learn a foreign language more effectively under certain conditions Therefore, there are some assumptions of teaching strategies about language learning that should be considered when teaching English as foreign language to children The assumptions below are adapted from different sources (Abe, 1991; Moon, 2000; Hudelson, 1991; Krashen, 1983; Lightbown and Spada (2011); Piaget, 1991; Saracho, 2012)

 Motivating young learners in the learning process In fact, teachers can make positive contribution to students‟ motivation to learn if classrooms are places that students enjoy coming to because the content is interesting and relevant to their age and level of ability, learning the goals are challenging yet manageable and clear, and the atmosphere is supportive Teachers must understand how to affect and motivate them If they are motivated, they will find that learning is fun and enjoyable

 Involve students in making visuals and realia Children are more sensitive

to anything that touches the senses; they react easily to physical objects Having children involve in creating the visuals that are related to the lesson helps teachers create classroom situations to be more alive The real objects also help the teachers render materials and help the students comprehend the given materials Apparently, using visuals and realia can free the teacher to

be more the observer and facilitator and free the children to learn to use the language and learn to love the potentially fabulous experience of being able

to communicate in another language to other people from around our vast word

 Letting children play will help them put the information they have just learned into imaginary "real-world" situations after teaching a lesson Through play, children can synthesize and internalize information that they have learned If play cannot be used within the lessons to teach the content, then it is important to use it after the content is taught to help children internalize what they have just learned

 Providing conductive environment for children to learn because children learn from the world around them Teachers should also make sure that the subject is taught in a very practical, hand-on way that they can interact with actual, physical and here and now or concrete aspects, which is appropriate with their concrete operational stage

 Using topic-based activities in the teaching language for young children The topic-based activities begin with a subject appropriate for the students and then that subject is designed to involve the students in investigating the topic and using the language as an integral part and the core of investigation Through the topic, students can associate any word, function, and situation involved to the specific topic The association helps the students in memorization so that learning language through context helps them in comprehension

In conclusion, to meet the goal of the teaching-learning of English for young learners, the English teachers must know not only the students‟ characteristics but also useful teaching strategies

1.5 Previous studies

Enhancing speaking skill for students through GW activities is not a new area with researchers in the world as well as in Viet Nam A number of studies have investigated the effect as well as the strategies to develop students‟ speaking skill via GW activities Some studies have been selected and discussed here:

First of all, Hamzah and Ting (2010) investigated the students‟ positive responses towards the GW activities in class This contributed to a significant increase in students‟ participation in their groups Hence, GW activities could have significant pedagogical implications and could be a practical technique if they are carefully planned to teach speaking skills amongst the students

Second, a study done by Zyoud ( ) mentioned that using drama activities and techniques in teaching English as a foreign language encourages students to speak besides give them the chance to communicate, even with limited language Therefore, the classroom becomes more of a leaner-centered rather than a teacher-centered one and the teacher plays role as a facilitator Furthermore, the research conducted by Meng (2009) found that the teacher‟s role will change from a lecturer

to a guide leading learners Learners also assume new roles in the GW They are collaborators and active participants rather than only passive knowledge receivers The class mode changes from teacher-centered to learner-centered

Also relating the benefits of GW activities, Huong (2006) indicated that almost students are eager to discussion during applying GW activities in speaking lesson Through GW, learners have more chances to help each other as well as exchange experience to seek for a good way to improve on their own communication problems Long, Adams, McLean, and Castanos (1976; cited in Long and Portner, 1985) found out that students not only talked more, but used a wider range of speech acts in the small GW context

Apart from the effect of GW activities in teaching and learning speaking skill, Chung (2008) clarified the procedures of organizing GW activity in the speaking

lesson She also identified strategies used by teachers to stimulate students‟ use of English in GW and the factors bringing about difficulties for the teachers and students in their application of GW

To put in a nutshell, all of the studies mentioned above only considered the use of using GW activities in teaching speaking skill for from elementary students to advanced students In addition to, the current body of research mainly focuses on the product of GW implementation They have not mentioned about how GW activities are applied and what GW activities are most suitable to improve speaking skill for students because some activities are suitable with these areas but not suitable with other areas It means that the studies only focus on the benefit of using

GW activities Therefore, the researcher wants to describe whether or not and to what extent GW activities improvespeaking skill of the grade-fifth students at a primary school in Nam Dinh with a focus on what GW activities are the most suitable to enhance speaking skill for grade-5 students in my school.In addition, the researcher wants to propose some suggestions to increase the effectiveness of using

GW activities to enhance English speaking skill for grade-5 students at a primary school in Nam Dinh

1.6 Summary

To sum up, the chapter reviews the literature on many issues related to GW, speaking and young learners In addition to, previous studies related to using GW in enhancing students‟ oral ability were mentioned This knowledge, therefore, serves

as a basis for further work in the latter chapters

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

Chapter 2 aims at providing a detailed discussion of methodological design of the study including: summarizing the research questions; providing research context and participants; discussing methods, research instruments, data collection procedures, data analysis

The overall aim of the chapter is how the study is designed to answer the research

The researcher chooses this primary school because she gets easy to do research at there Moreover, the result of speaking contest of grade-5 students has been very low, the researcher can explore teaching speaking by various GW activities with the head master‟s permission

2.1.2 English textbooks

The textbook used in teaching and learning English is “Tiếng Anh 5 Sách học sinh” published by the Ministry of Education and Training The book is complied with theme-based approach with twenty units and four reviews Each unit mentions one topic with three lessons: lesson 1, lesson 2 and lesson 3 These lesson are often taught in six periods of forty-five minutes for each period; in addition, “Tiếng Anh

5 Sách học sinh” is also used as workbooks for students

Speaking section is designed as part three " Let's talk" of Lesson 1 and Lesson 2 of each unit The aim of this part is asking and answering about what relating the unit

in part one and part two by using learned vocabulary and sentence patterns In this part, teacher can directly ask and students answer or teacher can let students work in pair to practice

2.1.3 The facilities

In Xuan Chau Primary School, English teaching and learning are mostly carried out within the classroom that are designed for lecture lessons with the only classroom equipment such as blackboard, desks, and cassette recorders In term of class size, the number of students in a class is under 30, and students are divided to sit in a double desk

The materials for reference and self-study are not available for both teachers and students In school library, there are only some English books but they are mainly textbooks and workbooks

The school also has a Lab with about 25 computers, it is used for all subjects mainly for computing or used by students who take part in Internet Olympiads of English test The school also has only one projector, but teachers do not often use them in daily lessons, it is often used for teaching festivals

2.2 Participants

2.2.1 Teacher

There is only one teacher of English at the school that the research was conducted The researcher invited her to go in for the process of applying GW activities in teaching speaking for grade-5 students She is 35 years old and has been teaching English for 13 years since she graduated from Nam Dinh Educational College This teacher admits that she has a few chances to get access to GW activities Therefore, she was enthusiastic and eager to apply GW activities in teaching speaking to help her students get the best exam results

2.2.2 Students

In order to get information to fulfil the aims of the study and to answer the research questions, fifty students (both males and females aged ten) of two 5th-grade classes from Xuan Chau Primary School were selected basing on non-random sampling method They were chosen to participate in an 8- week study to access to learning speaking with GW activities Most of the students come from the poor families in rural area where their living conditions are low and teaching as well as learning conditions in English are limited Most of them have learnt English for three years; however, their English knowledge is not good, especially about speaking They