Students’ participation in group work activities in english language classes at a high school in phu tho province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OFPOST-GRADUATE STUDIES ---oOo---TRẦN THỊ THANH HOA STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION IN GROUP WORK AC

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF

POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-oOo -TRẦN THỊ THANH HOA

STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION IN GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSES AT A

HIGH SCHOOL IN PHU THO PROVINCE

TRONG GIỜ HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Hanoi - 2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF

POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-oOo -TRẦN THỊ THANH HOA

STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION IN GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSES AT A

HIGH SCHOOL IN PHU THO PROVINCE

TRONG GIỜ HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology

Supervisor : Assoc Prof Lê Văn Canh, PhD

Hanoi - 2019

Title: “ STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION IN GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSES AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN PHU THO

Trần Thị Thanh Hoa

First of all, I would like to send my sincere and special gratitude to my supervisor,Assoc Prof Dr.Lê Văn Canh, who has given valuable assistance, guidance,precious suggestions, advice, and reference materials to me so that I can completethis thesis The success of my paper would have been almost impossible without histireless support

My thanks and gratitude also go to all professors and lecturers at Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, VietnamNational University, Hanoi for their valuable lectures

Post-Last but not least, I would like to send my gratitude to my parents, all members in

my family and my friends for their support and encouragement during the process

of writing this thesis

Group work activities play an important role in all stages of second languageacquisition Using group work activities has been considered an effective tool forenhancing English teaching and learning process The paper aims to find out theparticipation in group-work activities of the 11th students at a high school in PhuTho and the reasons that make them participate the way From that finding, theresearcher could find ways to stimulate active involvement from students and makeusing groupwork in teaching language effectively A mix-method approach(quantitative and qualitative methods) was used to collect the required data for thestudy Questionnaires were collected from 58 students in two classes at this highschool From this sample, 12 students were interviewed in more detail in face-to-face interviews The findings show that learners in this school were very excitedabout the lessons when group-work activities were used It also means that group-work activities can support the teachers in attracting the learners to the lesson Inother words, using group-work activities brought many benefits for not onlylearners but also teachers in the school For example, students could improvelearning skills, such as English skills, presentation skills and groupwork skills.Additionally, not only students but also teachers could have chance to learnsomething new from other students However, some learners identified difficulties,mostly related to students‟ knowledge and skills, which can lead to ineffectiveteamwork Hopefully, the study can be a useful source of reference for thoseteaching English to young learners

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

2 Aims of the study

3 The research questions

4 Methods of the study

5 The scope of the study

6 The significance of the study

7 Organization of the thesis

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .

2.1 The Sociocultural perspectives on language learning: the role of social interaction

2.2 Group work

2.2.1 Definition of group activities

2.2.2 The role of group work activities in language teaching

2.2.3 Challenges in Group work

2.3 Participation as learning

2.4 Students‟ attitudes towards group work

2.5 Overview of the research projects related to the thesis topic

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .

3.1 Introduction

3.2 The case study methodology 15

3.2.1 Definitions of case study 15

3.2.2 Why choosing case study 16

3.2.3 Descriptive case study 17

3.3 Research procedures 18

3.3.1 The context of the study 18

3.3.2 The course book 18

3.3.3 The teachers 19

3.3.4 The students 19

3.4 Data collection 20

3.4 1 Data collection instruments 20

3.4.2 Data collection procedures 23

3.5 Summary 24

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 25

4.1 Data analysis 25

4.1.1 Data from questionnaires 25

4.2 Findings and Discussion 39

4.3 Chapter summary 41

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS 42

1 Conclusion 42

2 Limitations of the study 42

3 Suggestions for further research 42

REFERENCES 44

APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE I APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEW

III

APPENDIX 3: LESSON PLAN IN THE CLASSROOM IV APPENDIX 4: INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT SUMMARY

vi

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1: Description to Questionnaire 21

Table 4.1: Summarizing the results of questionnaires in five weeks 34

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 3.1: Number of students by Level of Study and Gender Students Participation 20

Figure 4.1: The role of students in group work activities in class A 25

Figure 4.2: The role of students in group work activities in class A 26

Figure 4.3: The contribution to the group work activities of students in class A 27

Figure 4.4: The contribution to the group work activities of students in class B 27

Figure 4.5: Frequency of participation by class A 28

Figure 4.6: Frequency of participation by class B 29

Figure 4.7: Reasons of active participation by class A 30

Figure 4.8: Reasons of passive participation by class A 31

Figure 4.9: Reasons of active participation by class B 32

Figure 4.10: Reasons of passive participation by class B 32

Figure 4.11: The change in students‟ participation in group work activities 37

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Interaction has now been recognized as the most effective way of learning alanguage Therefore, group-work has been considered to be vital to students‟language learning because group-work offers opportunities for interaction to occur

Until now, there have been a great number of studies on using group work,particularly using group work activities for English language teaching and learning.Researchers have been working on different aspects of group work such as : the role

of group work activities in language teaching, challenges in using group work,students‟ attitudes towards group work, the relationship between students‟participation in group work activities and their achievement, et cetera, which will bediscussed more in the literature review Generally speaking, they have made bigefforts to find out what extent group work is effective in students‟ learning process

In the context of Thanh Thuy high school where I have been teaching forseveral years I have observed that group work is not always welcomed by everystudent and teacher Moreover, students do not actively participate or becomepassive in the group activities despite encouragements and use of various teachingmethods by the teacher to stimulate active participation from students As I believe

in the usefulness of group work to my students‟ learning English, I have a strongdesire of investing the students‟ level of participation in group work and whatfactors influence students‟ participation in group work activities from their ownperceptions in order to design and set appropriate and effective group activities for

my students

With all factors above, I have decided to conduct a case study of 11th graders

at a Phu Tho high school which thoroughly investigates “students‟ participation ingroup work activities in English language classes at a high school in Phu Tho.” Thisstudy hoped to fill the gap in understanding of students‟ level of involvement inEnglish language classroom and the factors affecting their participation, whichcould help teachers find ways to increase students‟ participation in groupinteraction

2 Aims of the study

The research aims to find out the level of students‟ participation in groupwork activities and the factors that affect their participation From that result, theresearcher suggests some activities used effectively for group work

3 The research questions

In order to get the above aims, the research was designed and conducted toseek answers to the following research questions:

1. How do students participate in group work activities in English language classes and why do they participate that way?

2. What types of group tasks encourage students‟ better participation?

4. Methods of the study

This is a descriptive case study In order to gain information that can help toanswer the above research questions both qualitative methods were employed tocollect the data To be specific, data was obtained from two different sources:questionnaire and interviews

5 The scope of the study

The research was carried out with one group of 58 high students (27 femaleand 31 male) at Thanh Thuy high school in Phu Tho province The study focused ononly students‟ participation in interactional activities in the classroom and the waytheir participation influenced their English skills

6 The significance of the study

The purpose of this study is to discuss the level of students‟ involvement ingroup work activities and factors affecting their participation It is significantbecause it will provide definition and advantages of group work to help studentshave a deeper understanding and apply this method in learning effectively Besides,the high school students are not used to using this way of studying at secondaryschool, therefore they have to cope with many difficulties which are already in thestudy Through this study, the researcher would like to help the students andteachers can use group work activities effectively

This study will serve as the basis for students‟ creative ideas in group work Theresults of this research study may give them insights which would encourage them

to plan projects designed to improve the quality of language learning It will enablethe students in general to grasp at the innovative teaching-learning approaches

7 Organization of the thesis

The thesis is organized as follows:

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION – introduces the rationale; aims of thestudy; research questions; significance of the study; and the thesis structure

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW – reviews and presents relevanttheories and studies to the study

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY – describes the research design, theparticipants selection, date collection procedure, date collection instruments

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION – presents an analysis of thedata and discusses the results of the study

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS – summarizes the study, limitations of thestudy and suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 The Sociocultural perspectives on language learning: the role of social interaction

Sociocultural theory (SCT) emphasizes the interaction among interpersonal( social), cultural- historical, and individual factors as the key to the development ofhuman cognition ( Tudge & Scrimsher, 2003) Interactions with persons in theenvironment stimulate developmental processes and promote cognitive growth Inother words, the sociocultural theory views the child‟s cognitive development as aproduct of social interaction, especially interactions with adults ( parents, teachers,relatives), or more capable peers

Sociocultural theory is originated in the works of the Russian psychologist,Vygotsky (1978) The major theme of Vygotsky's works is that social interactionplays a fundamental role in cognitive development According to Vygotsky (1978),

"Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on thesocial level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people(interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological) This appliesequally to attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts All thehigher functions originate as actual relationships between individual.” ( p 57)

Sociocultural theory postulates that children are very impressionable andtherefore they can quickly adapts the pattern of speech, behavior, written languageand even other symbols around them Through these inputs by themselves or withthe help with their parents or teachers, the information could gradually be associatedwith the meanings and finally take root in children‟s knowledge framework

Viewed from sociocultural theory, learning is a dynamic process in whichparticipation in socially-mediated activities within the zone of proximaldevelopment (ZPD) is necessary therefore, instruction should be directed to theZPD, which is defined by Vygotsky (1978, pp 86-87) as follows:

"The distance between the actual development level as determined byindependent problem solving and the level of potential development asdetermined through problem-solving under adult guidance or incollaboration with more capable peers." (Vygotsky, 1978, pp 86-87)Differently, the zone of proximal development (ZPD) is the range ofabilities that an individual can perform with assistance but cannot yetperform independently These skills are called "proximal" because theindividual is close to mastering them but needs more guidance andpractice in order to perform these actions independently.

Vygotsky believed that peer interaction was an essential part of thelearning process In order for children to learn new skills, he suggestedpairing more competent students with less skilled ones Translated intoclassroom teaching, the learning process is composed of three stages:

1. The presence of someone with the knowledge and skills to guide the learner;

2. Social interactions that allow the learner to observe and practice their skills; and

3. Scaffolding, or supportive activities provided by the mentor orteacher that help guide the learner through the ZPD

In summary, the sociocultural theory emphasizes that learning is changingparticipation in situated practices As such, this study aims to explore the students‟participation in group work

2.2 Group work

2.2.1 Definition of group activities

In this study, Brown‟s (2000) definition of group work is adopted According toBrown, group work is when individuals work together, they depend on each other andthey have a common goal If someone in the group is affected by an event or a thing, itwill affect the whole group This definition is adopted because it reflects the nature ofgroup work in an EFL classroom This means that in the EFL

classroom, individual students co-operate with one another in small groups toachieve a common goal, which is understood as the learning goal to be achieved ineach learning task or activity.

Sharing Brown‟s definition, Forsyth (2006) considered a group as two or moreindividuals who are connected to one another by social relationships Forsyth alsopointed out that group should satisfy three factors: the number of individualsinvolved, connections, and relationships

2.2.2 The role of group work activities in language teaching

A literature review shows that the benefits of group work in EFL can be classified into three categories These are discussed below

Group work activities can promote students’ responsibility and autonomy All

students work together, share their ideas, and always have desire to

achieve the goal in group activities In addition, one of their main tasks is to takecharge of their group activities Every learner is responsible for himself and others,

so there is a friendly help and high personal interdependence between them Doff(1998) believes that group work and pair wok encourage students to share ideasknowledge In a reading activity, students can help each other to explore themeaning of a text, in a discussion activity; students can give each other new ideas.Chirac and Hempel (2008: 26-27) points out that group work can be a way to learnhow to think for yourself, as well as develop the students‟ argumentative abilitiesand critical thinking” It was revealed in this study that student collaboration led tohigher productivity and higher results on the part of students‟ learning outcomes

Group work increase students’ talking time and oral fluency.

According to Ur (1996), students can have a learning task in smallinteraction in group work and it is considered as a kind of their activation and isvery valuable for practicing of fluency in speaking There are 5 groups in a class;students can get five times as some probability to speak as in a large class

Moreover, group work activities can be used to improve the students‟motivation Group-work activity can allow participants to use and practice the

language It is also one of the most effective ways to motivate participants tobecome more involved Richards and Loc Khart (1994) point out that students notonly play more active roles in the learning process but also get the benefits ofsharing ideas with their group members through participation in groups Doff (1988,p.141) also shares the idea that while working in groups, “students felt less anxietywhen 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 awhole class activity.”

Group work helps to provide mutual learning and student-student interaction

Viewed from a sociocultural perspective, which emphasizes the role of social

interaction in human cognitive development, group work can provide affordances for learning For example, Lightbrown & Spada (2006) assert that learning is supposed to happen when an individual interacts with an interlocutor within his/her zone of

proximal development (ZPD) It can be deduced that cooperative learning provide opportunities of a social interaction in a classroom while interaction for EFL is very limited outside the classroom The sociocultural view of group work in second or foreign language learning will be discussed in details in the subsequent section

The benefits of group-work can be seen in many different aspects, includingimproving students‟ language skills In the best group-work activity in a languageclassroom, the participants of a learning group can benefit in many ways Bydividing the class into group, a new social context is created whereby learners havethe opportunity to share personal awareness with their group mates and decide on aconclusion based on the sum of these cognitions

In general, group work is beneficial to second language learning in severalways However, the organization of group activities can be a challenge to teachers.For example, some students may control the group a lot and make othersuncomfortable So, the effectiveness of group work to student learning dependsconsiderably on how group work is organized and the appropriateness of the tasks

or activities for the students to work in group

2.2.3 Challenges in Group work

Along with these benefits, however, there are also some negative aspects thatmay be related to group work For instance, McGraw and Tidwell (2001) say thatstudents often have to deal with difficult issues such as getting credit withoutworking equally, poor communication, culturally different approaches to work, lack

of leadership, varying work ethics, and different grade expectations In extreme

cases, teams collapse Group Work (n.d.) and Fisher et al (1994) report other

challenges such as “advantaging some students and disadvantaging others,”

“difficulty in grading individual input” and “time consuming for both students andfaculty.”

Scholars (Davis 1997; Ives 2000; Brown, 2001; Hess 2001; Alley 2005;Ramirez 2005; Shamim, F and others 2007) have identified a number of the reasonswhy teacher avoid using group work in their classes Some teachers are concernedthat most students will not participate during group work, will go „off-task‟, or thatstudents will communicate in their native language (e.g Peacock 1998; Brown, H.D2001)

The reason most commonly cited by teachers why they do not use groupwork is classroom management For example, Davis (1997), Brown, (2001), Alley(2005), and Ramirez (2005) report that teachers have difficulty controlling classdiscipline during group work This may involve a lack of instruction or preparation

of the strategy For some teachers, group work means putting students togetherwithout planning or developing a rationale to use group work for that activity ortask For instance, Davis (1997) and Brown, (2001) show that teachers can operategroup work superficially, and that many of them do it without a thoroughunderstanding of the underlying purposes for the technique As a result, theoutcomes tend to be limited due to a poor design

Similarly, group work represents a more student-centred approach whichparticularly in large classes has been difficult to implement as explained above.Davis (1997,p 267) argues that, for some teachers, group work challenges the

“traditional teacher-centred classroom” and that “allowing learners to work withoutteacher supervision tends to disrupt the notion of teachers as “knowers” who imparttheir knowledge to students, who are simply receptacles” He believes that thisperception is particularly common in teachers with little experience In practice,however, Ramirez (2005, p 4) emphasizes that during group work “the teacher isstill the director and manager of the class and needs to make students aware of this”.Nevertheless, the perception that group work challenges the “traditional teacher-centred classroom” could result in a negative attitude towards group work.

In order to solve the discipline problems during group work, various studiessuggest clear instructions, teacher training covering group work strategies, carefulplanning, justified use of group work for the activity, and giving roles to the groupmembers (Pasigna 1997; Brown, 2001; Hess 2001; Shamim, F and others 2007)

2.3 Participation as learning

Class participation is an important aspect of student learning For examples,when students speak up in class, they will learn how to express their ideas in a waythat others can understand; or when they ask questions, they learn how to gatherinformation to improve their own understanding of a topic Moreover, it also is avaluable learning tool for teachers Through the questions of students, the teacherswill learn what students do not understand, and can adjust your instructionaccordingly Therefore, participation between lecturers and students is indispensable

in the process of learning There are several reasons why participation is important

in the learning process

Jong (in Theberge, 1994), it was found that students, who are activeparticipants, tends to have better academic achievement, compared with students,who are passive in participation This statement was supported by Astin (1999),claiming that students who actively participate in the classroom discussions showedgreater satisfaction in the learning process Active participation of students indiscussions in the classroom is very important for the aim of achieving effectivelearning and plays a crucial role in the success of education and personal

development of students in the future (Tatar, 2005) This is because students willlearn how to think critically and enhance their intellectual development if they are

an active participant in the classroom

It can be said that the relationship between students‟ participation in theclassroom and students‟ achievement is undeniable Participation provides anopportunity to the students to learn through their own contribution, and through thecontribution of their classmates Through discussion, students can practice thinkingthrough problems, organizing concepts, formulating arguments, testing their ideas in

a public setting, evaluating the evidence for their own and others‟ positions, andresponding thoroughly to critical and diverse perspectives Lahaderne (1967) claimsthat there are interactions between the process of teaching and academicachievement Cobb (in Abu Bakar, 1986) found that there are links betweenchildren‟s behaviors in learning mathematics and their academic achievement.Therefore, student participation is one of instructional components in the instructionenhanced by school to help students to learn more (Abu Bakar, 1986)

Hull ( 1985, cited in Horder 2010) also pointed out that adults learn best ifthey were put in group Working in groups can help learners achieve higher orderthinking skills and retain knowledge longer than working individually

Hicks ( 1955) and Palinscar(1986) also stated that discussion which requiresstudents to participate and share their opinions and ideas permit teacher to provideinformation and explanation in an efficient manner besides checking students‟understanding about the lessons ( as cited in Chu and Kim , 1999)

Classroom participation can help students to study better at school.According to Scepansky (2003), higher levels of classroom participation also tended

to score slightly higher on personality traits of openness and consciousness.Classroom participation can send positive signals to students about the type oflearning and thinking such as growth in critical thinking, active learning,development of listening, and speaking skills needed for career success, and theability to join a disciplined conversation

Ewens (2000) points out that compared to traditional lecture style teaching,encouraging classroom participation promotes a higher level of reflective thinking,and problem solving, including application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, andthat information learned through discussion, is generally retained better thaninformation learned through lecture.

Based on the literature and selected past research, it can be concluded thatstudent‟s participation in the classroom will ensure the effectiveness of the learningprocess

2.4 Students’ attitudes towards group work

In spite of the benefits that research suggests can be accrued throughacademic group work, it is reasonable to expect that there would be a variety ofopinions among students about their participation in group work In a recent articleconcerning academic group work, the author noted that it is common for students to

not enjoy group work (Butts, 2000) This leads a potential instructor to a certain

problem: If group work is proven to have highly beneficial results, it would seemwise to incorporate group work into the curriculum However, if students oftendislike group work, and if these negative attitudes are related to a diminishingeffectiveness of such groups, the instructor might be understandably reluctant to usegroup work If we hope to improve student attitudes toward group work, the firstimportant thing is to explore the issues that might affect such attitudes Thisinformation might then be used to address student concerns and to explore possibletechniques for improving students‟ attitudes and groups‟ effectiveness

Recent research related to student attitudes towards group work suggests thatthese attitudes may be influenced by a number of factors Roughly speaking, thesefactors can be divided into two broad categories: unique characteristics to theindividuals which comprise the group (i.e., gender, or education level), andcharacteristics which belong to the group as a unit (i.e., the interpersonalrelationships that develop over time within the group, and the division of labor)

Students‟ attitudes toward group coursework can pose a challenge to theperformance of assessed group coursework tasks Such attitudes can be shaped byeducators, mixed messages related to the purpose and effectiveness of group work(Mutch, 1998) They can also be shaped by the manner in which the coursework isoperationalised (Willcoxson, 2006) However, Chapman and Van Auken (2001)believe that educators‟ negative attitudes toward group coursework due to recurrentgroup conflicts play an important role in influencing students‟ attitudes, theirperceptions of the benefits of teamwork, as well as their concerns in relation tofairness in marking The authors also suggest that students are more likely to havepositive attitudes toward assessed group coursework if their lecturers discuss groupmanagement issues with them and use tools such as peer evaluations to assessindividual performance within the group(Chapman and Van Auken, 2001).Similarly, Pffaf and Huddleston (2003) argue that some group conflicts can indeed

be caused by the educator, due to practices such as determining groups withoutstudents‟ input, failing to reduce (or insignificantly reducing) the marks of socialloafers, and not requiring peer evaluation

2.5 Overview of the research projects related to the thesis topic

The roles of using group work activities and its effectiveness in Englishteaching have been the subject of many studies Recently, Li and Campbell's (2008)examined Asian students‟ perceptions of the much promulgated cooperativelearning concepts in the form of group work and group assignments The population

in this study consisted of twenty- two Asian students Face-to face semi-structuredinterviews were used as tools in this study The results revealed not only thestrength of group work, but also some detrimental factors that affects groupdynamics, such as members‟ attitudes and willingness to cooperate and contribute

as a team, the composition of the group, students‟ competing demands on students‟time and attention, heterogeneity from the natural abilities of students, and varyingcultural values and beliefs held by group members

Another study by Chen and Hird‟s (2006) aimed to examine bothquantitative and qualitative data relating to student behaviour in groups collected inEFL lessons in China The researchers were interested to find out how 36 Chinesenon- English major students behave in groups in EFL classroom in NormalUniversity Both tape recordings of group discussion and interviews were used inthis research The results presented the difficulty of generalizing about whathappens when students get into groups in English lessons, and argues that there arestill many unexplored aspects regarding how group work functions and whatstudents actually do in groups in English classrooms.

Payne and Monk-Turner (2006) also had a study to research how studentsperceive group work after completing a semester –long group project Theparticipants were 145 students taking an upper division research methods class inthe Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at a large regional university Thedata supported the idea that small groups may work more effectively together thanlarger one However, it sometimes inhibits the performance of the weakest members

as those who are good in the group dominate the tasks carried out

According to Jeremy Harmer (2007), there are a lot of activities for students to

do in groups For instance, students can work and prepare a story, then they can takeroles to perform a situation in their groups Moreover, the writer says that the studentstend to participate more in small groups than large groups In his opinion, small groupswill motivate students to communicate However, he states that when students work ingroups, students do usually like to sit with their friends in the group work activitiesbecause they like their teachers to pay special attention to them

Davis (1997) also did an action research which pointed out some issues inthe design and implementation in group activities and then included solutions forthe post-observation remodeling of activities within a task and content-basedframework for language instruction The results indicated that teachers haddifficulty controlling class discipline during group work This could be related tothe lack of instruction or preparation of the strategy For some teachers group workmeans putting students together without planning or developing a rationale to usegroup work for that activity or task

Nihalani et al., (2010) also pointed out that group performance will reflectthe groups‟ member level in stead of the whole group together when one groupmember dominates the group.

In short, relevant studies above show that using group work activities couldbring both advantages and disadvantages in teaching English for students Thus, thepresent study was conducted with the aim to see how students participate in groupwork activities and find out the reasons for their participation From that point,teachers could find ways to use groupwork activities effectively in English languageclassrooms

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

This chapter begins with the methodological orientation adopted in thisstudy, which is the case study approach The chapter provides the reasons forchoosing the methodology This chapter also presents the research designs used inthe study with explanation of selection of research design and development of thetools as well as the methods of data collection and its analysis The chapter endswith ethical consideration of the present study and a brief summary of the chapter

3.2 The case study methodology

3.2.1 Definitions of case study

Case study is a very popular research method in the current development ofsociety However, different researchers have different ideas about what a case study

is Yin (2003) considers case as “a contemporary phenomenon within its real lifecontext, especially when the boundaries between a phenomenon and context are notclear and the researcher has little control over the phenomenon and context” (p 13).His definition also reflects his support for the case study as a legitimate researchmethod According to this definition, from Yinian viewpoint, case study is anempirical inquiry investigating the case or cases that follow to the above mentioneddefinition by solving the “how” or “why” questions related to the phenomenon ofinterest He finds it particularly instrumental to evaluate the program The rest of histechnical definition draws attention to the aspects of data collection and analysisrelated to the situation under study: in order to investigate a different situationincluding “many more variables of interest than data points,” case study draws fromdiverse lines of evidence for triangulating purposes and avails itself of “priordevelopment of theoretical propositions to guide data collection and analysis” (Yin,

2003, pp 13-14) This attention shows that his approach is meticulous about thecohesion and consistency among the design components and phases of case study as

a research strategy

In terms of the definition of case, Stake (1995) agrees with Louis Smith‟s(1978) rendition: researchers should view case as “a bounded system” and inquireinto it “as an object rather than a process” (p 2).

For Merriam (1998), the defining characteristic of case study research is thedelimitation of the case Her definition is consistent with Smith‟s (1978) view ofcase as a bounded system and Stake‟s view of case as an integrated system Shestates that “the case as a thing, a single entity, a unit around which there areboundaries” (p 27)

Through all the definitions above, it can be concluded that case study iscarried out with the aim of collecting information from one or more cases and study

It mainly focuses on describing and explaining these cases through “how” and

“why” questions Case studies can be single or multiple-case designs in which amultiple design must follow a replication instead of a sampling logic In many casestudies, a number of cases are studied This is to investigate some commonphenomenon When there is no other cases for replication, the researcher is limited

to single-case designs

3.2.2 Why choosing case study

The opportunity to research students‟ participation in group work activities

at a high school in Phu Tho presented a ready-made case study However, in theresearch process a case study approach was not the only consideration Here Iprovide my reason to apply this methodology In the sub-sections, I explore twomain components of this approach: identifying the case and theoreticalunderpinnings Finally, I outline the structure of the study

My starting point was the desire to have a better understanding of howstudents participate in group work activities in language lesson and why theparticipate in that way One possibility was to conduct a survey of all students in theschool; however, I felt the exploratory nature of the enquiry did not suit amethodology which presupposed quite specific prior understandings; moreover,from the outset I was strongly inclined towards interpretive research, which Iunderstood as ideally qualitative in nature

Yin (2003) suggests four types of design that case study researchers canmake use of They include single holistic design, single embedded design, multipleholistic design and multiple embedded design Holistic designs require one unit ofanalysis, whereas embedded designs require multiple units of analysis Yin advisesthe apprentice researchers to select the design which provides them with themaximum instrumentality to answer their research questions, and to consider thestrengths and limitations of each design and the certain pitfalls to be avoided whileimplementing each of them Broadly speaking, Yin (2003) suggests three commonapproaches to designing case studies These are exploratory, descriptive andexplanatory case studies In this study, a descriptive approach was adopted.

3.2.3 Descriptive case study

The case study research methodology was selected to investigate thestudents‟ participation in group work within their classroom This strategy provides

an “all-encompassing method” for systematically studying and describing aphenomenon (in this case, the students‟ participation in group work activities inEnglish language lessons) within a real-life context, i.e in the actual languageclassroom (Yin, 2003, p 14)

The case study research strategy also provides an excellent methodologicalframework for performing mixed-method research studies in the social sciences(Merriam,1998; Yin, 2003) A descriptive case study successfully provides multiplesources of qualitative and quantitative evidence for triangulating such experientialdata in an all-encompassing manner (Yin, 2003) Yin (2003) also suggests that thecase study method is appropriate “when a „how‟ or „why‟ question is being askedabout a contemporary set of events, over which the investigator has little or nocontrol” (p 9) This study‟s research questions align well with this viewpoint,asking how students participate in group work activities, and why they participatedthe way they did This design strategy focuses the inquiry on a single context (inthis study, classroom-based English language lessons), but requires collecting andanalyzing data from multiple units ( the students‟ responses to the questionnaire andinterviews) within that context

3.3 Research procedures

Yin (1994) identified five components of research design that are important for case studies:

1. A study's questions

2. Its propositions, if any

3. Its unit(s) of analysis

4. The logic linking the data to the propositions

5. The criteria for interpreting the findings

(Yin, 1994, p 20)

For the present study, the single case study approach has been chosen, which

is appropriate to the phenomenon being studied Looking to the theoreticalbackground of the designs of the case study, the present study is the descriptive casestudy having embedded case study design

3.3.1 The context of the study

Thanh Thuy high school was founded over fifty years ago and it hasofficially become a high school in Phu Tho province at this time It has 27 classes inwhich the majority of students are non-major English Although there are manychallenges the school has to face up with in the new era, English has also been putmuch emphasis on because of its popularity and necessity Thus, it is a compulsorysubject in the teaching and learning curriculum Its aims are to help students acquiregeneral English knowledge and the four English skills

In terms of physical setting, English teaching and learning at Thanh Thuy arecarried out inside the classroom with basic equipment such as blackboard, tablesand desks In some rooms, they also have cassette players, projectors and speakers

As for class size, the number of students in each class is often about 45 students.This leads in lots of difficulties in teaching and learning

3.3.2 The course book

The textbook is the old version of English 11 published by the VietnameseEducation Publishing House After a first glance on the contents of the book it

could be noticed that the book was divided into two parts : a workbook and astudent‟s book The first page of the student‟s book presents the aims of the units tothe students The book is comprised of twelve units which are further divided intofour small lessons In every lesson, there is a separate grammar section called “Language focus” which is usually positioned after Reading lesson, speaking lesson,listening lesson and writing lesson In this section, grammar rules are first explainedand exemplified, and the latter followed by tasks aimed at practicing the presentedrules Furthermore, there is usually one grammar task preceding the “Languagefocus” and although there is a separate grammar section, a small number ofgrammar tasks can also be found in other places throughout the textbook Also, atthe end of the book, before the “Word list”, there is a three-page “ Grammarsummary” which contain the basic grammar rules covered in the textbook.

Not only does it present basic grammatical items but it also aims atdeveloping students‟ vocabulary and communication Therefore, it is considered asone of the most appropriate textbook to non-English major students at Thanh Thuyhigh school

3.3.4 The students

In this study, class A, Grade 11 has 34 students, including 14 female studentsand 20 male students; class B, Grade 11 has 24 students, including 13 femalestudents and 11 male students The total number of female students is 27 and male is

31 students It is important to note that only the students who responded thequestionnaire the first week were asked to participate in the study ( Grade A (N=34),grade B ( N = 24))

Figure 1 showed the distribution of students in the two classrooms.

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20 20

1514 13

3.4 1 Data collection instruments

Since a case study approach was adopted in this study, it was decided that aquestionnaire was one of the instruments used to collect data concerning theattitudes of the research participants A population of 58 high school students ( non-major English) were invited to answer the questionnaire Along with thequestionnaire, a semi-structured interviewing tool was also employed to collectsupplementary data needed to answer the research questions

In short, the main data collection instruments of this study includequestionnaire, and interviews

3.4.1.1 The questionnaire

As mentioned earlier in this section, a questionnaire is used to collect asmuch data as possible in a short time In this research study closed format questionsthat consisted of multiple choices were used in an attempt to help students select the

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the questionnaire as well This could allow the students express their own views ofgroup work in the classroom Gilbert (2008) states that it is important for thevalidity and reliability of the research that the researcher uses different questionformats when designing his/her questionnaire Cohen et al, (2007) state that thequestionnaire becomes more valid and reliable if it includes closed and open-endedquestions type However, it is argued that the questionnaire has its own weaknesses

as students might not be honest when filling it in which then might affect the overallresults of the research study (May, 2001)

The questionnaire consisted of 5 research related questions, which constituted 4close-ended questions and one open-ended question The aim was to identifychanges in the students‟ opinions about group work over time Students were asked

to answer the questions in the questionnaire after each experimental lesson orteaching period ( one lesson per week) A student was defined as a person who hadparticipated in group work activities Participants were given 5 minutes to fill in thequestionnaire individually Because all surveys were fully completed 58 students‟survey results in five weeks were included in the analysis

The factors covered by the questions and the style can be summarized asfollows:

Table 3.1: Description to Questionnaire

numberworkeach lesson

groupactivities

3 Qs 3: Collectcontributionstudentswork activities

4 Q.4:

self-evaluationstudents

levelparticipation

5 Q.5: Collect reasonsfor

notgroupactivities

in group work activities and active contributors to their group during the five-weekperiod of the study

Cohen et al, (2007) argue that such type of interview increases thecomparability of the answers from the respondents and helps the research to gaincomplete answers Moreover, it reduces bias in the data collected This type ofinterview also increases the ability of the researcher to logically organize andanalyze his/her data (The Open University, 2001) Furthermore, such type ofinterview is effective in that it helps the researcher to access students' real feelingabout the aspect being investigated (Punch, 2009) In this study a standardizedopen-ended interview is conducted with 12 students from two classes at ThanhThuy high school Such a type of interview allows the researcher to follow ascheduled list of open-ended questions

The interview protocol has three following open-ended questions:

Em hãy nhớ lại và miêu tả việc tham gia các hoạt động theo nhóm trên lớp của em theo các ý sau:

tập của em?

vào các môn khác ngoài Tiếng Anh?

The interview questions were designed in Vietnamese language to ensure properresponses from participant The use of the mother tongue language also helpedstudents who could not understand English to contribute relevant information inrelation to the topic under study

3.4.2 Data collection procedures

The time for data collection lasted during the third month of the secondsemester of the school year 2018-2019 This is the time when students learnt amajority of grade 11 knowledge Therefore, students may have an overview of theirEnglish ability or summarize the activities they participated in as well as evaluatethe effects of those activities

The procedure for collecting data contains three stages as following:

Stage 1: Delivering questionnaires to 58 grade 11 students after each

experimental lesson (one lesson per week) Before answering the questions, theywere informed in Vietnamese the purpose, methods and requirements of the study tomake sure they got the idea about what they would have to do and were willing totake part in the study Then, the students completed the questionnaires It is veryimportant to note that before participating in groupwork activities and answeringquestionnaire, students were instructed about the ways to work in group activitiesand how to evaluate their work in each learning period While students werecompleting the questions, anything that they wondered was clarified by the author

Stage 2: After collecting and analyzing data from questionnaires, it was time

to design and carry out the interviews with 12 students who reported that theyparticipated enthusiastically in group activities Interviews were conducted in asmall room at the school and lasted approximately 15 minutes each Answers wererecorded by note-taking and 12 interviews were also filmed with consent

Stage 3: The numeric data and qualitative data gathered from questionnaires

in stage 1, interviews in stage 2 were recapitulated and analyzed

3.5 Summary

This chapter begins with an introduction then describes the research designemployed in this study Population and sample study is also mentioned beforediscussing the research methodology used to conduct this research In collectingdata, library and field research are used For field research, both quantitative andqualitative methods are chosen in which questionnaire and group of intervieweesare involved in the research procedure The data that were collected are thenanalyzed and discussed and the results are displayed

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the research questions brought up in the first chapter will beanswered through the analysis and discussion on the collected data fromquestionnaire and interviews After the data was collected, the next step wasanalyzing the whole data obtained With those techniques of data analysis, it isexpected to answer the research question adequately and appropriately

4.1 Data analysis

4.1.1 Data from questionnaires

4.1.1.1 The role of students in group work activities

Question 2 in the questionnaire aims to examine the roles that individualstudents reported they played in group work activities It is important to note thatbefore participating in group activities, students were informed about how to dividethe work and the role in each activities From the line chart, it is evident that themajority of students worked as a thinker ( 75 times) for five weeks in class A,following by analyst with 48 times

Similarly, the number of thinkers in class B is also the highest, with 48 timesand following by the students working as analysts ( with 45 times)

There are also other roles, including leader, presenter, summarizer, checkerand secretary

Figure 4.1 and figure 4.2 show the role of students in group work activities

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

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60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Figure 4.2: The role of students in group work activities in class A

4.1.1.2 The contribution to the group activities

Student participation in classroom activities as simply defined in theliterature is the acts of involvement in the class activities In this research, the act ofparticipation includes developing ideas/ planning project, discussing the ideas withothers, co-operating with other members, leading or facilitating the discussion,helping other members to participate and giving presentation the whole class

Basing the results from question 3 in the questionnaire, the researchercounted the total number of students in each item in five experimental lessons togive their frequency The result showed that students in class A are quite active indeveloping ideas, planning project and co-operating with other members with 64times and 59 times respectively students involved in five weeks Following isdiscussing the ideas with others (51 times) Some of the students are passive inleading and facilitating discussion ( 20 times students participated in five weeks).Questionnaires in class B revealed that co-operating and discussion the ideas withother members are the two most popular activities, with 56 times and 54 timesrespectively students involved The students tended to be passive in the act ofleading, facilitating discussion and giving presentation to the whole class

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