The exploitation of cooperative activities for teaching speaking skill to the 12th form non specialized english students at bac ninh specialized high school

Vietnam National University, HANOIUNIVERSITY oF languages AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY of Post- graduate studies *---NGUYỄN THUÝ NHUNG The exploitation of cooperative activities for

Vietnam National University, HANOI

UNIVERSITY oF languages AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY of Post- graduate studies

* -NGUYỄN THUÝ NHUNG

The exploitation of cooperative activities for teaching speaking skill to the 12th form non-specialized english students at bac ninh specialized high school.

( Sử dụng hoạt động hợp tác trong việc dạy kỹ năng nói cho học sinh lớp 12 không chuyên tiếng Anh tại Trường Trung học Phổ

thông Chuyên Bắc Ninh )

M.A M inor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60 14 10

HANOI, 2010

Vietnam National University, HANOI

UNIVERSITY oF languages AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY of Post- graduate studies

* -NGUYEN THUY NHUNG

The exploitation of cooperative activities for teaching speaking skill to the 12th form non-specialized english students at bac ninh specialized high school.

( Sử dụng hoạt động hợp tác trong việc dạy kỹ năng nói cho học sinh lớp 12 không chuyên tiếng Anh tại Trường Trung học Phổ thông Chuyên Bắc Ninh)

Supervisor : Trần Hiền Lan, M.A

HANOI, 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

Table of contents .… iv

List of abbreviations and tables .… vi

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research question 2

4 Methods of the study 2

5 Scope of the study 2

6 Design of the study 3

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 The teaching and learning of the speaking skill 4

1.1.1 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 4

1.1.1.2 The nature of CLT 5 1.1.1.2 Features of CLT 6 1.1.2 The role of speaking in foreign language teaching 7

1.2 Cooperative learning and its activities 8

1.2.1 What is cooperative learning? 8

1.2.2 Essential components of cooperative learning and activities 9

1.2.3 Cooperative learning techniques and activities in a speaking lesson .11

1.2.4 The role of cooperative activities in teaching speaking skill 13

Chapter 2: THE STUDY 16

2.1 Background of the study 16

2.1.1 The learning and teaching situation 16

2.1.2 The learners 16

2.1.3 The teachers of English group 17

2.1.4 The teaching material 18

2.2 Research methods 18

2.2.1 The participants 18

2.2.2 Data collection instruments 18

2.2.3 Procedures 19

2.2.4 Methods of data analysis 19

Chapter 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 20

3.1 Analysis of the questionnaires 20

3.1.1 Results of teachers‟ survey questionnaire 20

3.1.2 Results of students‟ survey questionnaire 24

3.2 Analysis of the researcher’s class observation 28

3.3 Findings 29

Chapter 4: RECOMMENDATIONS 31

PART 3: CONCLUSION 37

References 40 Appendices

Appendix 1: Questionnaire for teachers I Appendix 2: Questionnaire for students …IV

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND TABLES

1 Abbreviations

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

BNSHS: Bac Ninh Specialized High School

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

2 Tables

Table 1: Data collected from teachers

Table 2: Data collected from students

Table 3: Description of classes observed

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Entering the 21st century, under the impact of globalization Vietnam is facing a range

of political, social, economic, technological and educational changes It is widely accepted thatthe shift from a central economy to a mixed system with both socialist and market sectorssince the late 1990s has required the Vietnamese education system to carry out remarkablechanges Today, people insist that education and training must not only be able to equipstudents with new scientific and cultural knowledge but also develop their reasoning thought,creative abilities and team work skills

Language teaching is a complex process involving many interrelated factors Besidessuitable and effective methods of teaching language, classroom interaction is considered as themost vital element in language learning process The emphasis on individual achievement andtransmission of information has become inadequate in supporting the development ofstudents‟ thinking and learning skills The best way is to enable students to become activelyinvolved in their learning processes, which will provide them with more opportunities todevelop important knowledge and skills for today‟s labour market

It is clear that one of the main goals of learning English is to use it effectively incommunication Speaking skill, more or less, is an important skill that students must acquire inthe learning process Since the application of the new textbooks, speaking skill has had adifferent position at upper secondary schools

As we know, learning a foreign language is a process in which learners do not have anatural communication environment like native people Thus, in order to help students master

a foreign language as a means of communication, the teacher plays an important role infinding out the ways to make their speaking lessons more interesting and productive.Accordingly, nowadays, instead of making use of activities that demand accurate repetitionand memorization of sentences and grammar patterns, activities that ask learners to negotiatemeaning and to interact meaningfully are required

All the reasons mentioned above encouraged the researcher to carry out the study " The exploitation of cooperative activities for teaching speaking skill to the 12 th form non- specialized English students at Bac Ninh Specialized High School.” with the hope to

contribute her small part to improving the teaching and learning of the speaking skill for the

12th form non - specialized English students at her school

2 Aims of the study

The study aims at:

 investigating the current situation of teaching and learning speaking skill for the 12th form non - specialized English students at BNSHS

 evaluating the use of cooperative activities in speaking lessons

 offering some suggestions on using cooperative activities in speaking lessons to promote students‟ speaking ability

For the purpose of investigating the current situation of using cooperative activities inspeaking lessons, the researcher set up the following research question to guide her in doingthis research:

“To what extent do the teachers at Bac Ninh Specialized High School exploit cooperative

activities in speaking lessons for the 12 th form non - specialized English students?”

4 Methods of the study

To conduct the study, quantitative and qualitative methods will be used The datacollected will come from two sources: the 12th form non - specialized English students andteachers of English at Bac Ninh Specialized High School Questionnaires and classroomobservation will be used to collect information and evidence for the study All the comments,recommendations and conclusions provided in the study will be based on the data analysis

5 Scope of the study

This study limits itself to the application of cooperative learning for the 12th form non

- specialized English students‟ speaking skill It is concerned with the context at Bac NinhSpecialized High School

6 Design of the study

This study includes three main parts: the introduction, the development and theconclusion

The first part, “Introduction”, provides the basic information such as rationale, aims,

research question, methods, scope and design of the study

The second part, “Development”, consists of the four chapters:

Chapter one, Literature review, deals with theoretical background about

communicative language teaching, speaking skill and cooperative learning

Chapter two, The study, is an overview of the reality of teaching and learning speaking

skill for the 12th form non - specialized English students at Bac Ninh Specialized High School

In this part, the school, the subjects and instruments used in the research will be discussed

Chapter three, Data analysis and discussion, deals with analyzing the data Chapter four, Recommendations, focuses on some suggestions on using cooperative

activities in speaking lessons

The last part, “Conclusion”, presents the summary of the major findings; points out

some shortcomings revealed during the process of completing this research paper and suggestsfurther studies

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

To begin with the study, in this chapter, the researcher will present some theoreticalbackground based on which the study will be carried out The first section overviews theteaching and learning of the speaking skill Then cooperative learning and its activities arediscussed in the second section

1.1 The teaching and learning of the speaking skill

A glance through the past century or so of language teaching will give an interestingpicture of how varied approaches and methods applied in language teaching are David Nunan(1991b: 228, cited in Bang, N & Ngoc, N.B) remarks “It has been realized that there neverwas and probably never will be a method for all” As a matter of fact, there is no perfectlygood language teaching method for all, instead we need to get on well with the approach tolanguage teaching we have chosen and design effective tasks and techniques informed by thatapproach New methods have appeared, developed and replaced the previous ones for the onlypurpose: to find out the best way to teach a foreign language

In recent years, there has been a preference for learning foreign languages in generaland English in particular as a means of communication Thus, Communicative LanguageTeaching becomes the most preferable method The following part will concern with thecommunicative approach and its implication for teaching and learning the speaking skill

1.1.1 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

Being founded in the early 1960s “CLT” has recently become a fashionable term tocover a variety of developments in syllabus design and to a lesser extent, in the methodology

of teaching a foreign language, especially English CLT is emphasized as an appropriateapproach to language teaching for the 21st century.

1.1.1.1 The nature of CLT

For many years, language teaching was seen as helping learners develop linguisticcompetence – that is, helping students master the sounds, words and grammar patterns ofEnglish The idea was that by studying the bits and pieces of a language, students couldeventually put them all together and communicate

In the mid - 1970s the notion of linguistic competence came to be viewed as a

component of the broader idea of communicative competence According to Canale and Swain

(1980), the second language learners cannot be expected to achieve a satisfactory level ofcommunicative competence if no knowledge of probability of occurrence of grammaticalforms and communicative function is developed Their view of communicative competenceconsists of four areas of knowledge and skills

Grammatical competence Strategic competence

Communicative competence

Sociolinguistic competence Discourse competence

 Grammatical competence: Ability to use correct grammar, vocabulary and

pronunciation

 Sociolinguistic competence: Ability to use appropriate language in different contexts and settings

 Discourse competence: Ability to combine language elements to show cohesion in

form and coherence in thought

 Strategic competence: Ability to use verbal and non-verbal communication strategies

It is concluded that using language well is not simply a question of its grammar but itsoverall appropriateness and acceptability CLT is the approach which recognizescommunicative competence as its aim These four components of communicative competencehave several practical implications for EFL teachers Since communicative competence is amultifaceted construct, it is important for teachers to understand the difficulties learners facewhen they are speaking English

1.1.1.2 Features of CLT

According to Littlewood (1981:1), one of the most characteristic features of CLT isthat it plays systematic attention to functional as well as structural aspects of language.Furthermore, David Nunan (1991a: 279, cited in Bang, N & Ngoc, N.B) offers five features tocharacterize CLT:

 An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language.

 The introduction of authentic texts into learning situation

 The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on the learning process itself

 An enhancement of the learner‟s own experiences as important contributing elements

to negotiate meaning in class Richards and Rogers (2001:158) emphasize that one dimension

of CLT is “ its learner-centered and experience- based view of second language teaching”.

Far from being a „transmitter‟ of knowledge, the teacher is a „facilitator‟ Characterized byhigh participation, the CLT classroom becomes a place for students to engage in meaningfullanguage use

In the light of the CLT approach which takes the learners‟ communicative competence

as the final goal, a T.E.F.L class is considered to be successful if the learners speak English asmuch as they can and the teacher speaks it as little as possible Larsen-Freeman (1986:132)

states that “activities in the Communicative Approach are often carried out by students in

small groups” CLT favours interaction among small numbers of students in order to

maximize the time allotted to each student for learning to negotiate meaning

Clearly, cooperative learning is stressed in CLT In the book “A Course in TEFL”,

Nguyen Bang and Nguyen Ba Ngoc list cooperative learning as one feature that CLT bears A

classroom that is cooperative and therefore not competitive – usually involves the abovelearner-centered characteristics As students work together in pairs and groups, they shareinformation and come to each other‟s aid They are a “team” whose players must worktogether in order to achieve goals successfully

These characteristics will be the principles for teachers to choose appropriatetechniques as well as activities in class to improve the students‟ communicative competence.All learning activities should be selected according to how well they engage the students inmeaningful and authentic language use rather than only mechanical practice of languagepatterns to achieve accuracy in language forms

1.1.2 The role of speaking in foreign language teaching

It is known that language has been divided into different skill areas based on thepurpose of analysis and instruction In view of language teaching there are mainly four macro-

skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing It has been accepted for many years that

communication is the proper aim for language teaching That means we learn a language so as

to communicate well in that language

For that reason, speaking skill plays an important role in foreign language teachingbecause effective speaking ability helps learners not only to acquire the language better butalso to communicate successfully

According to Ur (1996:120), speaking seems intuitively the most important of all fourskills Speaking is regarded as the first step to confirm who knows or does not know a

language Ur (1996) indicates that people who know a language are referred to as “speakers”

of that language, as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing; and many if not mostforeign language learners are primarily interested in learning to speak

Hence, having dealt with the importance of oral skills in language teaching andlearning it is essential that language teachers should pay much attention to teaching speakingskill In fact, the current teaching and learning of the speaking skill at Vietnam‟s uppersecondary schools has been taken into consideration since the new textbooks were introduced.Lessons are arranged according to topics which are true to life and familiar with students Likeother skills, teaching procedure of the speaking skill is divided into three stages (pre-speaking,while-speaking and post-speaking) This refers to the domination of communicative approachand characterized features of the new textbooks

The development of communicative skills can take place only if learners havemotivation and opportunity to express their own identity and to relate to the people aroundthem That requires the kind of learning atmosphere which gives them a sense of security andvalue as individuals In turn, this atmosphere depends, to a large extent, on the existence ofinterpersonal relationships which do not create inhibitions, but are supportive and accepting

In order to improve students‟ speaking ability, for teachers, they should play a positiverole in helping students get involved in speaking activities in the classroom Rather thanleading students to pure memorization, the teacher can provide a rich environment wherestudents have real communication, authentic materials and meaningful tasks that promote orallanguage Gradually, students will know how to use their target language correctly andcommunicatively in everyday conversations

1.2 Cooperative learning and its activities

1.2.1 What is cooperative learning?

So far, many definitions of cooperative learning have been stated by differentresearchers

Johnson, Johnson and Holubec, leaders of cooperative learning since 1970s, offer the

following definition: “Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that

students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning” (1993:9).

Olsen and Kagan (1992: 8) define cooperative learning as “group learning activity

organized so that learning is dependent on the socially structured exchange of information between learners in groups and in which each learner is held accountable for his or her own learning and is motivated to increase the learning of others”.

According to Richards & Rodgers (2001: 192), Cooperative learning is “an approach

to teaching that makes maximum use of cooperative activities involving pairs and small groups of learners in the classroom”.

In second language teaching, cooperative learning has been embraced as a way ofpromoting communicative interaction in the classroom and is seen as an extension of theprinciples of CLT It is viewed as a learner - centered approach to teaching held to offeradvantages over teacher - fronted classroom methods

The word “cooperative” in Cooperative Learning emphasizes: it seeks to developclassrooms that foster cooperation rather than competition in learning In other words, withincooperative learning, students benefit from sharing ideas rather than working alone and theyhelp one another to achieve the learning goals as a group This is in contrast with thetraditional method where students work individually or competitively and are generallyconcerned with improving their own grade or reaching their own goals only

To sum up, cooperative learning is a pedagogical technique in which students worktogether in small and mixed groups on a structured learning task with the aim of maximizingtheir own and each other's learning This learning strategy has been applied to a wide variety

of content areas at all levels so it becomes one of the most widespread and fruitful areas oftheory, research, and practice in education

1.2.2 Essential components of cooperative learning and activities

Cooperative learning is distinguished from whole class instruction, individualizedinstruction and traditional forms of group work According to Johnson and Johnson (1999a)

the key elements that must be present in order for a small group learning activity to be

cooperative include:

 Positive Interdependence

Positive interdependence is defined as having specific roles for each participant that arenecessary for the group to work toward the goal(s) set by the teacher, i.e., each student have aparticular role within the group No single student is fully capable of performing all the tasksrequired by a particular assignment or project (Ransdell , 2003: 5)

Ghaith (2002: 7) states that positive interdependence is a feeling among groupmembers that if one fails, all fail, if one succeeds, everybody succeeds Group membersrealize that each member‟s efforts benefit not only himself-herself, but all other groupmembers as well Positive interdependence provides a feeling of support within the group

 Face-to-face Promotive Interaction

It occurs when individuals encourage and facilitate each group member‟s efforts toachieve group goals In this element students do real work together, share resources andprovide each other with help, support and praise Ghaith (2002: 9) notes that face-to-faceinteraction is based on the idea that groups succeed only when members engage in dialoguewith each other to explain, debate, encourage, and question one another By this interaction,they promote each other‟s success

 Individual Accountability

Ghaith (2002: 7) indicates that individual accountability exists when each individualmember feels responsible to learn, to demonstrate their learning, and to contribute to thelearning of teammates The purpose of cooperative learning is to make each member astronger individual in their own right The success of the group is not measured by a particulargroup product, but by the individual progress of each group member To ensure that theperformance of each student has to be evaluated, feedback is given both to the individual and

to the group in order to ascertain who needs more assistance, support and encouragement inlearning The group must be accountable for achieving its goals and each member must beaccountable for contributing his share of the work

 Social skills

That element involves appropriate use of small-group and interpersonal skills.Instructors should not assume that every student has the necessary social skills to workeffectively with other group members They should teach their students leadership, trust-building, decision-making, communication and problem-solving skills just as thoroughly asthey would teach academic skills

Ghaith (2002: 7) views that collaborative skills receive emphasis because to worksuccessfully with others, students need to develop collaborative skills such as asking for help,making suggestions and disagreeing politely Social skills involve efforts to encourage allgroup members to participate to a roughly equal degree Means of doing this include providingeach member with a turn to speak or to add particular information that they need to contribute

to the group

It is a vital aspect of cooperative learning Ghaith (2002: 8) asserts that groupprocessing allows team members to address how well the group is functioning and to maintainthe effectiveness of the group Group processing takes place when students analyze anddiscuss how well their group is working together and how their group might function better inthe future Thus, group processing increases learning dramatically and builds a sense ofresponsibility as well as helps groups work more effectively

In short, when these components are incorporated into small groups work, the activitiesbecome cooperative ones and can make a difference in the student‟s academic and social skillsdevelopment

1.2.3 Cooperative learning techniques and activities in a speaking lesson

As mentioned above, cooperation is working together to accomplish shared goals.Within cooperative activities individuals seek outcomes that are beneficial to themselves and

to all other group members Class members are organized into small groups after receivinginstructions from the teacher Then they work through the assignment until all group memberssuccessfully understand and complete it Hence, in order to implement cooperative learning,

the teacher must decide whether cooperative activities will help meet the goals of the class.And he must also decide which type of cooperative activity to use according to his ownstudents and teaching context so as to give all students the best chance of learning to speakEnglish.

It is said that numerous descriptions exist of activity types that can be used withcooperative learning Here are some examples of cooperative learning activities which aredescribed by Coelho (1992b:132); Olsen and Kagan (1992:88):

Each group member receives a different piece of information Students regroup in topicgroups (expert ones) composed of people with the same piece to master the material and thenreturn to home groups (jigsaw ones) to share their information with each other Studentssynthesize the information through discussion Each student produces an assignment of part of

a group project to demonstrate synthesis of all the information presented by all groupmembers

Information - gap activities in language teaching are jigsaw activities in the form ofpair work Partners have data (in the form of text, tables, charts, etc.) with missing information

to be supplied during interaction with another partner

 Think – Pair – Share

Teacher poses a question (usually a low - consensus question) Students think of aresponse individually Then they pair up with another student and exchange thoughts At last,the pairs share their responses with other pairs or the entire class

 Three – Step Interview

Students are in pairs; one is interviewer and the other is interviewee During the secondstep students reverse roles For the final step, each shares with team member what was learnedduring the two interviews

 Cooperative projects

Topics may be different for each group Students identify subtopics for each group member and then synthesize their information for a group presentation Each group member

plays a part in the presentation and each group presents to the whole class Students need plenty of previous experience with more structured group work for this to be effective.

Students number off in groups Teacher asks a question (usually high - consensus).Groups work together to answer the question and make sure that everyone knows and canexplain the answer Teacher calls a number and students with that number raise their hands to

be called on, as in traditional classroom

Class is divided into small groups with one person appointed as the recorder Aquestion is posed with many answers and students are given time to think about answers Afterthe “think time”, members of the team share responses with one another round robin style Therecorder writes down the answers of the group members The person next to the recorder startsand each person in the group in order gives an answer until time is called

 Solve – Pair – Share

Teacher poses a problem (a low - consensus or high - consensus item that may beresolved with different strategies) Students then work out solutions individually Afterwardsstudents explain how they solved the problem in Interview or Round Robin structures

Clearly, pair work and group work are the ways teachers organize the class to carry outmany activities in learning language skills, especially in speaking skill In fact, group work is aco-operative activity Here, students share aims and responsibilities They have chances forgreater independence as they take some of their own learning decisions without the teachercontrolling every move, and they can work without the pressure of the whole class listening towhat they are doing They learn to negotiate, to listen to different opinions and points of view.They participate more equally and in most cases, they feel free to experiment and use thelanguage Moreover, cooperative learning activities provide meaningful, realistic practicecombined with useful developmental feedback Students are encouraged to view learning as adynamic process over which they have individual responsibility and group control

1.2.4 The role of cooperative activities in teaching speaking skill

Advancements in psychology, pedagogy and language teaching theories affirmed thatstudents at all levels must play an active role in their learning They must take up knowledge

by themselves and, at the same time, develop language competence through speakingactivities The practice of teaching English at schools has proved that language acquisitioncannot be successful just through learning by heart or repetition

In recent years, since the application of student-centered teaching more time has beenspent on students‟ speaking As far as we can see, the traditional classroom is teacher-centered, with the teacher as information giver whereas the cooperative classroom is student-centered, with the teacher as facilitator and the students as information seekers

As stated before, the main goal of the communicative approach to second languagelearning is communicative competence In an attempt to achieve this goal, educators areseeking instructional strategies and techniques which will improve students‟ ability tocommunicate in real - life situations The one that has brought success to language acquisition

is cooperative learning Therefore, cooperative activities must be taken into consideration inany language classroom

“Without the cooperation of its members society cannot survive, and the society of man has survived because the cooperativeness of its members made survival possible… It was not an advantageous individual here and there was not an advantageous individual here and there who did so, but the group In human societies the individuals who are most likely to survive are those who are best enabled to do so by their group.”

(Ashley Montagn, 1965, cited in Roger and Johnson)

From this statement, we can initially comprehend the importance of cooperation inforeign language teaching and learning Moreover, we all see that cooperative learning is aunique format, with different expectations for teachers and for students, compared totraditional activities such as whole class discussion, teacher presentation, or individual work.Actually, cooperative activities play an important part in language teaching and learningespecially for speaking skill The followings are some of the benefits of using cooperativeactivities in the classroom:

* Enhancing Students‟ Social Skills

In cooperative activities, students can exercise their collaborative skills and practiseworking with others to achieve mutual benefit for everyone Carter et al (2001:37) indicatethat social skills attained through cooperative learning include: communication skills (verbaland non-verbal), leadership (problem solving, decision making, the acceptance and support ofothers), trust building (maintain working relationships and enhance teamwork).

Obviously, using cooperative activities in the classrooms can help to teach students how

to socialize appropriately and can give them opportunities to practise This can provide tools

to transfer the skills learned into real-life situations

* Promoting Peer Interaction

Cooperative activities promote peer interaction, which helps the development oflanguage and the learning of concepts and content In cooperative learning, students haveopportunities to talk through the material, explain it to each other and look at it in differentways Giving and receiving information enhance student performance Students feel that theyhave a chance to succeed, and believe working toward a successful outcome is a valuable goal.Students‟ social relationships are improved because when students work together toward acommon goal they have a chance to get to know one another as individuals

* Increasing Students‟ Participation

When groups are used, students receive much more chance to speak There is anincrease in the percentage of time when students are talking, instead of the teacher Andduring the time for students to talk, many of them are speaking at any time (Lie, 2000: 125).Cooperative activities provide a context in which students may be more likely to interact than

in a whole class setting Students participate and interact with each other, thus an environmentfor productive learning is created

* Increasing Motivation and Positive Attitude toward Learning

In a traditional class, only teachers provide encouragement to students In cooperativeactivities, students can encourage and help each other By providing peer support, studentmotivation is increased As part of a learning team, students can achieve success by workingwell with others The cooperative atmosphere of working in a small group may help develop

"affective bonds" among students and greatly motivate them to work together (Lie, 2000:

125) Cooperative learning is said to foster positive attitudes toward working with othersand create thinking skills that are necessary to acquire and integrate knowledge.

* Decreasing Anxiety

Students often feel anxious to speak in front of the whole class In contrast,there is less anxiety connected with speaking in the smaller group In addition, when a studentrepresents the group and reports to the whole class, he/she feels more support because theanswer is not just from one student alone but from the whole group (Lie, 2000: 125).Therefore, learners may feel less anxious and more confident when interacting with peersduring pair or small group activities than during whole-class discussions

It is obvious that cooperative learning is an effective strategy for classrooms withEnglish language learners Cooperative activities involving pairs and small groups providelearners with more time to speak the target language than teacher-fronted activities, andpromote learner autonomy and self-directed learning With the help of cooperative activities,the teacher can increase the quality of language practice and the opportunities for feedbackand monitoring as well

Overall, in this chapter the theoretical basis of the study has been reviewed Theresearcher has mentioned the communicative approach and speaking skill in foreign languageteaching The discussion of cooperative learning and its activities in teaching and learning thespeaking skill has set the background for the implications and recommendations of the study

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

This chapter is devoted to the discussion of two parts In the first part, an overview ofBac Ninh Specialized High School, the teachers of English, the students and the textbook arementioned In the second part, there is a description of the subjects, instruments andprocedures for carrying out the research as well as the methods of data analysis

2.1 Background to the study

2.1.1 The learning and teaching situation

Bac Ninh Specialized High School is a newly-established one It was formed in 1996

It is now located in the center of Bac Ninh city, Bac Ninh province, about 40km from Hanoi

In my school there are 80 teachers, 27 classes and 650 students from all over the province.Each class is specialized in one subject such as Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Informatics,Biology, History, Geography, Literature and English Since its foundation, BNSHS has alwaysproved itself to be a school of high teaching and learning quality in the province and has madecontributions to the education and training course of the nation

2.1.2 The learners

Academic and educational level:

All of the students entering the school are selected through an entrance examination inwhich they have to take 4 subjects: Mathematics, English, Literature and the major subject.The 12th form non-specialized English students have experienced in English for at leastsix years (4 years at secondary schools and 2 years at BNSHS) Although they are quiteinterested in the new way of studying English, their language skills are not very good

Socio-cultural background:

These non-specialized English students come from different districts in Bac Ninhprovince and have different English learning conditions Moreover, they are likely to be

motivated or de-motivated easily This matter of fact should be taken into consideration in using teaching methods and approaches so as to foster and develop their English efficiently.

2.1.3 The teachers of English group

Number & Age: 11 teachers from age 26 to age 48

Educational & professional background:

- Ten of them graduated from the English department, College of Foreign Languages,VNU and only one graduated from Thai Nguyen University of Education Two of them are takingthe M.A course and three completed their M.A course in 2007 and in 2009

- None of the teachers have ever been to an English speaking country and only two ofthem have taken refresher courses to improve their English and their teaching methods Few of themhave chances to work or contact with native speakers and experts for consultation

Methods of teaching:

Half of the teachers were trained under the strong influence of the traditional teachingmethod which emphasizes teacher-centeredness and accuracy in language learning The rest –the younger ones were trained to teach language based on the communicative approach whichemphasizes learner-centeredness There is one thing that all the teachers share, that is, they areall eager for knowledge and willing to help their students tackle with difficulties in learningEnglish

2.1.4 The teaching material

English 12 is the last volume in the new set of standard textbooks for high schools Thewhole course is divided into two semesters with a total of 105 periods 80 periods are used forspecialised content referring to 4 language skills and language knowledge of phonology,grammar and lexis whereas 25 periods are used for revising and testing

The textbook is designed under the tendency of theme-based approach with 16 teachingunits and 6 review units Each teaching unit covers a topic and is structured into five sections:

Reading, Listening, Speaking, Writing, and Language Focus The review units, called “Test Yourself”, aim to help students assess their own progress and serve as sample tests for teachers

when designing 45-minute tests for their classes Each review has four main components:

Listening, Reading, Writing and Language Focus No speaking practice is included.

The textbook is also designed following the communicative approach and the centeredness approach This implies that the teacher should use new methods and techniques

learner-of teaching and re-organize the classroom in a way that students will have more opportunities

to learn independently, to participate more actively in the teaching-learning process and tointeract more effectively in communication

The study was also carried out with 5 teachers of English teaching grade 12 at BNSHS

2.2.2 Data collection instruments

Data for the study were collected from two different instruments: questionnaire andclassroom observation

There were two types of survey questionnaires: one for the teachers and the other forthe students Each questionnaire contains 12 questions to investigate the following issues:

* For teachers:

 Teachers‟ attitude towards the speaking skill

 Teachers‟ exploitation of cooperative activities in teaching speaking skill

 Teachers‟ difficulties in using cooperative activities

 Teachers‟ ideas about the benefits of cooperative activities

 Teachers‟ attitude towards the use of cooperative activities

* For students:

 Students‟ attitude towards the speaking skill

 Students‟ opinions about teachers‟ techniques used for teaching speaking skill

 Students‟ participation in pair work and group work

 Students‟ ideas about the benefits of cooperative activities

 Students‟ attitude towards the use of cooperative activities

Class observation was carried out later to reaffirm the information collected from thesequestionnaires and add some more useful and realistic information for this study: how theteachers conducted their lessons, what atmosphere there was in the class, what students‟attitudes were like and what interactions students had during the lessons

2.2.4 Methods of data analysis

The comments and perceptions made by the teachers and the students in response to thequestionnaires were sorted and categorized by the researcher The results were subsequentlytabulated and converted to percentages for the convenience of analysis Besides, informationgained through classroom observations helped to assist this analysis

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

The instruments which were described in chapter 2 helped the researcher gather data

In this chapter, the results derived from the analysis of the data collected are displayed They

are used to answer the research question “To what extent do the teachers at Bac Ninh

Specialized High School exploit cooperative activities in speaking lessons for the 12 th form

non - specialized English students?”

3.1 Analysis of the questionnaires

3.1.1 Results of teachers’ survey questionnaire

Based on the answers of all surveyed teachers, the researcher sees that there are twoteachers (40%) who have been teaching English for 9 years Meanwhile, the larger percentage(60%) is those who have been teaching English for over 20 years According to the number oftheir teaching years, they must have had much experience in teaching English

The survey questionnaire for the teachers consists of 12 questions as follows:

1 Which of the four language skills do you like teaching most?

2 How important do you think speaking skill is in learning English?

3 What do you think about the content of speaking lessons in the course book?

4 How do you organize your class speaking activities?

5 How often do you organize group work or pair work in your class?

6 On what basis do you often group your students for pair work and group work?

7 Do your students like working cooperatively on the assigned tasks?

8 Which of the following activities do you use in speaking lessons?

9 What do you often do when your students are doing activities in pairs or groups?

10 What difficulties do you have when students work together?

11 What are the benefits of cooperative activities to oral work?

12 Do you think that cooperative activities should be further exploited to improve students‟speaking ability?

The data collected from teachers are summarized in the table below

Table 1: Data collected from teachers (in percentage % )

Note: Questions 4, 8, 10 &11 may have more than one choice so the total percentage

may be higher than 100%

The questionnaire for teachers was conducted with 5 teachers of English at BNSHS

Data collected were analyzed according to the five aspects listed in the section 2.2.2

 Teachers’ attitude towards speaking skill (Q1, 2, 3)

Looking at question 1, we can easily see that 3 of the 5 teachers (60%) like teaching

speaking skill most, the same percentage of teachers (20%) like teaching reading and writing

skills No teacher chooses listening skill It is obvious that the number of teachers who like

teaching speaking skill is bigger than other skills They added that speaking skill helped

students know not only how to read, to write and to listen but also how to communicate with

English-speaking people all over the world

According to the result of question 2, the largest percentage (60%) agrees that it is an

important skill to students They believed that all three other skills were just taught to support

speaking skill and to help students speak English better Meanwhile, one of them (20%) finds

speaking skill very important The same percentage (20%) considers speaking skill as