Applying kagan cooperative learning structures to improve 11th grade students’ speaking skills at a high school in thai binh

PHAM THI NHUNG APPLYING KAGAN COOPERATIVE LEARNING STRUCTURES TO IMPROVE 11 TH GRADE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN THAI BINH Áp dụng các cấu trúc học hợp tác của Kagan

PHAM THI NHUNG

APPLYING KAGAN COOPERATIVE LEARNING STRUCTURES

TO IMPROVE 11 TH GRADE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS

AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN THAI BINH

(Áp dụng các cấu trúc học hợp tác của Kagan nhằm cải thiện kĩ năng nói cho học sinh

lớp 11 tại một trường trung học phổ thông ở Thái Bình)

M.A MINOR THESIS (Type I)

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Hanoi - 2020

PHAM THI NHUNG

APPLYING KAGAN COOPERATIVE LEARNING STRUCTURES

TO IMPROVE 11TH GRADE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS

AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN THAI BINH

(Áp dụng các cấu trúc học hợp tác của Kagan nhằm cải thiện kĩ năng nói cho học sinh

lớp 11 tại một trường trung học phổ thông ở Thái Bình)

M.A MINOR THESIS (Type I)

Field: English teaching methodology Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor: Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa, Ph.D

Hanoi – 2020

I, Pham Thi Nhung, hereby certify that the thesis entitled “Applying Kagan cooperative learning structures to improve 11th grade students’ speaking skills at a high school in Thai Binh” is submitted for the partial fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Arts at the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi I also declare that this thesis is my own research and efforts and it has not been submitted for any other purposes

Ha Noi, 2020

The study would not been completed without the invaluable assistance and encouragement of many people for whom I am grateful

I especially would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor Dr Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa, whose useful instructions and advice, as well as detail critical comments and encouragement have helped me a great deal from the beginning to the end of the thesis writing process

I also would like to thank to the teachers and the staff of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies who have given me useful advice and favorable conditions for the completion of the thesis

Post-My sincere thanks go to all teachers of English and students in Me Linh high school who have wholeheartedly helped me much with enthusiastic contribution and cooperation

I am really in debt to my beloved family, my friends who always support me and show great patience all the time in my life They all are my precious persons who make me keep moving forward

At last, I realize that although I made my best effort, this thesis is still far from perfection Therefore, any constructive criticism and suggestions for the improvement of this thesis are highly appreciated Then, I really hope that this thesis is able to give contribution to the readers and useful for the teaching and learning process

The main objective of learning English is using English as a means of communication To achieve that objective, teachers can use appropriate techniques which match with the learners’ characteristics in teaching speaking Kagan cooperative learning structures (KCLS), a student-centered instructional approach,

is believed to have the potential to encourage more interactions among students and maximize the improvement of each student’s learning process, thus have good effect on teaching in classroom That is the reason why in this action research project, KCLS was applied in the speaking lessons of a grade 11 class at a high school in Thai Binh with a view to improving the students’ speaking skills

The findings from the data collected via questionnaire, teacher’ journals and speaking test scores showed great improvement in students’ speaking skills both in linguistic and paralinguistic features The students also have positive attitudes toward the use of KCLS in class This project provides recommendations to English teachers for implementing a cooperative learning approach when teaching of English speaking skills in the context of high school in Vietnam

KCLS: Kagan cooperative learning structures CL: Cooperative learning

Table 1: Kagan Structure Functions 10 Table 2: The results of the pre-questionnaire 28 Table 3: The application of KCLS in speaking lessons 32 Chart 1: The Comparison between the Average Scores of Students’ Pre-test and Post-test in Terms of Fluency, Accuracy, Pronunciation, and Vocabulary 37 Table 4: The results of the post questionnaire 38

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES v

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale for the research 1

1.2 Research objectives 2

1.3 Research questions 3

1.4 Scope of the research 3

1.5 Significance of the research 3

1.6 Structure of the research 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Speaking 5

2.2 Teaching speaking 7

2.3 Kagan cooperative learning structures 9

2.4 Principles of Kagan cooperative learning structures 13

2.5 Advantages of Kagan cooperative learning structures 14

2.6 Role of the teacher in cooperative learning 15

2.7 Roles of students in cooperative learning 16

2.8 How is cooperative learning applied in Vietnam? 17

2.9 Summary 19

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 20

3.1 The context of the study 20

3.1.1 The 11th grade English program 20

3.1.2 The students at MLHS 21

3.1.3 The teachers at MLHS 21

3.2 Research method: Action research 22

3.3 Participants 24

3.4 Data collection techniques and instruments 25

3.4.1 Teacher’s journal 25

3.4.2 Questionnaire 25

3.5 Data analysis 27

3.6 Research procedure 27

3.6.1 Planning 28

3.6.2 Action 32

3.6.3 Observation 33

3.6.4 Reflection 33

3.7 Summary 34

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 35

4.1 Data analysis 35

4.1.1 Analysis of the teacher’s journal 35

4.1.2 Analysis of speaking tests 36

4.1.3 Analysis of students’ post- questionnaire 38

4.2 Discussion of the findings 40

4.2.1 How can the use of Kagan cooperative learning structures in teaching English speaking enhance Me Linh 11th grade students’ speaking skills? 41

4.2.2 What are the students’ opinions of Kagan cooperative learning structures? 41

4.3 Difficulties in KCLS application in speaking classes 42

4.4 Some cautions concerning KCLS application in speaking classes 45

4.5 Summary 47

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 48

5.1 Summary of the major findings 48

5.2 Implications 49

5.3 Limitations 50

5.4 Suggestions 51

REFERENCES 52

ANNEXES 56

1.1 Rationale for the research

In order to be able to use any language, learners have to master language skills such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing Although all four skills are equally important, the speaking skill could be seen as the leading skill during the language learning process As Nunan argues, to most people, mastering the art of speaking is the single most important aspect of learning a second language, and success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the language (Nunan, 1991: 39) Therefore, developing learners’ speaking skill is of vital importance in language programs in general, and EFL/ESL programs in particular

As a matter of fact, learning to speak a foreign language is often considered one

of the most difficult for students to learn (Brown and Lee, 2015) When learning speaking, learners are expected to master several important elements, such as pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension These elements are very important in the communication because if they do not master all the elements of speaking, the communication will not run very smoothly In addition, there are many factors that may affect students’ performance, for instance, the lack of opportunities for purposeful communication in meaningful situation Besides, class size and mixed ability class also reduce general learners’ motivation in acquiring EFL speaking skills

Drawing on my experience as a teacher of English at a high school in Thai Binh for seven years, teaching and learning English still focus on grammar and vocabulary Therefore, both teachers and students do not pay much attention to practicing speaking Consequently, there is a gap between the goals of the speaking lessons and what happens in the classroom The students still find it difficult to pronounce certain English words, and have limited English vocabulary Sometimes, they did not even understand the teacher’s instructions and were unconfident if they were asked to speak English Thus, dealing with the students’ problem of pronunciation is very necessary and urgent This is the responsibility of the students

comes from teachers who play a crucial role in creating opportunities for students to practice speaking skill Such chances can be created by applying appropriate techniques in teaching speaking to make the students capable of being active and creative in the learning process in classroom Among the alternatives, the researcher found the suggestion on using Kagan cooperative learning structures seemingly effective

Kagan cooperative learning structures have been carried out worldwide and in Vietnam This is an effective technique to teach speaking skills, which helps the students work together cooperatively By working together, the students can discuss, finish and submit the task given, so silence in speaking activities can be minimized Besides, cooperative learning allows the students to support one another to be brave and confident as well There are opportunities for the students to receive individual assistance from their mates They can work together to improve their vocabulary and pronunciation They have partners to practice speaking, and get feedback from their friends The students receive more chances to speak because cooperative learning requires and enhances the students’ communication skills

The need of improving the students’ speaking skills at Me Linh high school and the advantages of using cooperative learning structures in language teaching

have inspired me to conduct a study on: “Applying Kagan cooperative learning structures to improve 11 th grade students’ speaking skills at a high school in Thai Binh”

1.2 Research objectives

This research was designed to improve the students’ speaking skills by using KCLS Generally, the primary objectives of the study were set up as follows:

- Exploring how the use of KCLS in teaching English can enhance 11th grade

students’ English speaking skills

- Finding out the opinions of high school students of the use of KCLS in

English speaking lessons

1 How can the use of Kagan cooperative learning structures in teaching English speaking enhance Me Linh 11th grade students’ English speaking skills?

2 What are the students’ opinions of Kagan cooperative learning structures?

1.4 Scope of the research

Due to the limitation of time and knowledge, this thesis only focused on

using KCLS in teaching English speaking skills to 11th grade students at Me Linh high school during ten weeks of the first term of the school-year of 2018-2019 The speaking activities are selected and adapted from the text book “Tiếng Anh 11”

1.5 Significance of the research

Briefly, English teachers, students and researchers can benefit from the results of this research

Firstly, English teachers, especially those who have never had enough attention to their students’ English speaking ability and how to improve it, will have some new look at the methodology of teaching speaking skills using cooperative learning structures

Secondly, for students, the new method is expected to bring a lively and interesting environment for their speaking lessons in which they can benefit directly Students can experience a new way of learning speaking and have chance

to practice English without stressing Besides, they can also get some good experiences for their self - studying to improve their English speaking skills

Finally, for the researchers, the study can provide useful information for further studies of the same topic in the future

1.6 Structure of the research

The study was divided into three parts which are presented as follows:

Chapter 1- Introduction presents the rationale and the aims of the study, research

questions, significance, scope as well as organization of the study

Chapter 2- Literature review reviews the literature relevant to the study which

consists of the concept of teaching speaking, cooperative learning, the application of

Chapter 3- Methodology presents information about the context of the study, the

participants, the instruments, the data collection procedure and data analysis procedure

Chapter 4 – Data analysis, findings and discussion is the main part of the study

that reports and discusses the main findings according to research matter

Chapter 5- Conclusion presents the author’s reflection and the outcomes of the

study as well as indicates some limitations of the study, and finally gives some suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the writer presents the theories that underlie the study The theories cover the concept of speaking, teaching speaking, KCLS, roles of teachers and students in cooperative learning

2.1 Speaking

Speaking can be defined as the process of sharing information between speaker and listener in any circumstance It becomes very indispensable since it is used to convey ideas or arguments particularly in the classroom setting Speaking is one of language skills learned by the students in a foreign language It involves a process of building and sharing meaning through the use of language orally Speaking is a kind of bridge for learners between classroom and the world outside (Hadfield, 1999:7) By learning speaking, the students will know the way to express language communicatively The students will learn how to express utterances meaningfully Besides that, it also leads them to make interaction in the society by using the language Because of that, speaking is one of important skill that should

be mastered by the students in learning foreign language

In teaching speaking, there are some aspects which need to be considered by the teacher Brown (2001: 268-269) proposes four aspects of speaking skills, namely fluency, accuracy, pronunciation, and vocabulary They become the main requirements that must exist for the teacher to design the speaking activities for his/her students Therefore, a good speaking activity has to cover all these four following aspects

Harris (1974:81) states that the fluency is the case of speed of the flow of the speech A speaker is considered as a fluent speaker if he/she can use the language quickly and confidently, with few hesitation or unnatural pauses, false start, word searches, etc Speakers need to know where he/she has to pause and stop his/her speaking in appropriate place and produce words in his/her speech into groups of words that form a meaningful unit (phrases or clauses)

While, accuracy focuses on issues of appropriation and other formal factors

It relates to the use of grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary (Brumfit, 1984) Nunan (2003:55) states that accuracy happens when students’ speech matches what people actually say when they use the target language Thus, in order to achieve the level of accuracy the students are demanded to use the correct grammatical structures in their speech

Besides fluency and accuracy, pronunciation is also needed in speaking According to Thornbury (2005:128-129): “Pronunciation refers to the student’s ability to produce comprehensible utterances to fulfill the task requirements.” Harmer (2001:28-33) provides more issues related to pronunciation He suggests pitch, intonation, individual sounds, sounds and spelling, and stress Pronunciation becomes important because it gives meaning to what is being said Wrong pronunciation may cause misunderstanding or people involved in a conversation are offended

Lastly, vocabulary becomes a very important aspect which can be used to determine students’ English speaking fluency It means that the choice of words should be suitable with the topic A good speaker must have many vocabularies to support him to deliver his idea The people cannot communicate effectively or express their ideas both oral and in written form if they do not have sufficient vocabulary Thornbury (2005:22) suggests three usual things used by speakers in what they are being said:

- When people speaking, they are involving high proportion of words and expressions that express their attitude (stance) to what is being said

- Speakers usually employ words and expressions that express positive and negative appraisal because a lot of speech has an interpersonal function, and by identifying what people like and dislike, they are able to express solidarity

- A speech also usually employs deictic language, i.e words and expressions that point to the place, time, and participants in the intermediate or a more distant context

Vocabulary means the appropriate diction which is used in communication Therefore, it is necessary for the English teacher to put some effort in order to enrich the students’ vocabulary

The writer concludes that the four aspects of speaking are very important to be concerned by a speaker in order that the listeners can understand what the speaker says easily

2.2 Teaching speaking

Teaching speaking can be defined as interactions of oral communication between teachers and students in the classroom Kayi (2006) says that teaching speaking has some functions to the students:

1 Teach the students to produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns

2 Use word and sentence stress and intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second language

3 Select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting, audience, situation and subject matter

4 Organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence

5 Use language as a means of expressing values and judgments

6 Use the language quickly and confident with few unnatural pauses

The aim of teaching speaking in the classroom is to maintain students’ ability

to speak well and to improve their ability in oral communication According to Harmer (2001) the aim of teaching speaking is to train students for communication

To do that, the teacher should be able to develop activities which promote students

to use language in real communication Moreover, Wenxia (2008) says that the teacher should think, when teaching, not only about presenting language in a certain situation, but also as a communicative act Learning to speak in English will be easier when learners are actively engaged in attempting to communicate There are some principles that should be considered by the teacher in teaching speaking Brown (1994:275) mentions some principles that should be followed by the teacher

in speaking skills First, use techniques that cover the spectrum of learner needs, from language based focus on accuracy to message-based focus on interaction, meaning and fluency Second, provide intrinsically motivating techniques Third, encourage the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts Fourth, provide appropriate feedback and correction Fifth, capitalize on the natural link between speaking and listening Sixth, give students opportunities to initiate oral communication Seventh, encourage the developmental of speaking strategies

English teachers have a responsibility to improve students’ English speaking skills; therefore the teachers must have a good teaching method in order to solve the problems faced by the students in learning English The teachers also need appropriate techniques in teaching speaking to make the students capable of being active and creative in the learning process in the classroom According to Ur (1999:120), in order to have a successful speaking activity, teachers should focus on some following characteristics:

- Learners talk a lot

- Participation is even: It is said that the students should be grouped and organized

to maximize the amount of student talk for each student

- Motivation is high: Learners are eager to speak: because they are interested in topic and have something new to say about it, or just because they want to contribute to achieving a task objective

- Language is of an acceptable level: Learners express themselves in utterance that

is relevant, easily comprehensive to each other, and of an acceptable level of language accuracy

Many teachers realize that the best strategy for motivating the students to communicate in English is by changing the situation in the class By creating an interesting and motivating environment, the students are expected to be immersed in the activities given by the teachers This idea is also supported by Bailey (2003:48) saying that an ideal teacher should provide opportunities for students to talk by using group work or pair work, and limiting teacher talk Therefore, the teacher

should keep encouraging the students to get involved during the process of learning

in the class most of the time

2.3 Kagan cooperative learning structures

Kagan (2013) noted that structures are one of the two distinguishing differences between the Kagan cooperative learning method and other cooperative learning strategies and can be used to transform concepts and theory into daily classroom procedure Kagan continued by stating that these structures express the social organization among individuals working as a team by presenting a series of steps or elements that depict the patterns of interaction In fact, Kagan and Kagan (2009:53) defined structures as “content-free, repeatable instruction sequences that organize the interaction of student to implement the basic principles of cooperative learning” Kagan (2013:6) extended the definition of structures by stating: “Kagan Cooperative Learning Structures are instructional strategies They are content free: They facilitate teaching and learning any content Structures are repeatable: They are used over and over with different content to create fresh activities All Kagan Structures are carefully designed sequences of steps that organize the interaction of students with each other, the academic content, and the instructor Cooperative Learning Structures are designed to include the four basic principles that distinguish true cooperative learning Kagan Structures are easy to learn, and easy to use, so they promote sustained implementation”

Kagan (2013) has created over 200 structures, and each one involves certain steps with intended learning outcomes For example, one Kagan structure is Inside-Outside Circle This structure functions nicely with any size group and can be utilized with students of all ages, from kindergarten through adults Rimmerman (1996) stated that to employ this structure, students form two large concentric circles, with the students in the inside circle facing out and the students in the outside circle facing in so that each student in the circle is aligned with a partner Rimmerman continued by stating that the teacher then states a prompt and partners discuss, using an equal amount of time to share, the prompt given by the teacher

Kagan and Kagan (2009) offered that once the students have had time to discuss and share information with the group, one of the circles can then rotate a given number of partners left or right to gain a new partner and the process begins again from the beginning

In this cooperative learning approach, the emphasis is on the selection of a structure, not on the curriculum - bound activity According to Davidson (1994) and Kagan (1990), in order to execute Kagan cooperative learning with fidelity, it is necessary for teachers to learn structures and incorporate them into their lessons Kagan’s concept is consistent with some of the elements of cooperative learning proposed by the Johnson and Johnson (1999a) and Slavin (1990), particularly positive interdependence and individual accountability, but, in addition, he proposes that the steps of the chosen structure be taught prior to the implementation of cooperative learning (Davidson, 1994)

Using the basic principles and key concepts of cooperative learning as a corner stone, Kagan and Kagan (2009) created ten functions of cooperative structures, categorized into two functions: interpersonal and academic The cooperative structures are classified according to their principle purpose and are labeled as either class building, team building, social skills, communication skills, decision-making, knowledge building, procedure learning, processing information, thinking skills, and presenting information Various structures are feasible and advantageous for meeting diverse objectives In fact, many structures can be placed

in more than one category Kagan and Kagan’s description of critical attributes and the advantages to the community of learners is reviewed in table 1:

Table 1: Kagan Structure Functions

Teambuilding Students interact with their Enthusiasm, trust, and support

Interpersonal assigned teammates in a pleasant

and productive manner

which produces more efficient academic work

Social Skills

Interpersonal

Students obtain and refine social skills, character virtues, and emotional

intelligence

More polite, cooperative, respectful, responsible students who are able to understand different viewpoints

non-Making

Interpersonal

All students are given time to verbalize and hear other points of view before making a consensual decision for the team

Creation of more unified teams due to increased skills with conflict resolution, win-win, and consensual decision making Knowledge

building

Academic

Students work together to gain knowledge and comprehension

Produces a high level of mastery

of academic content and basic skills

Allows content to move to term memory and clean the working memory

long-Thinking Skills

Academic

Students create and exchange novel, unique, and set-breaking ideas

Fosters an environment in which students questions, reflect, evaluate, and apply information Presenting

Information

Academic

These structures allow for the sharing of information and ideas among teams or the class as a whole

Engages the community in higher level thinking and understanding multiple points

of view

KCLS enable students to work as teams, partner, classmate These structures empower learners to work to together for learning language By participating in KCLS students are not frustrated alone, they are supported by each other The students learn multiple ways to solve language problem and learn to tackle a language challenge as a group These structures prepare happy place for students so they don’t feel tired And they learn language concepts deeply Followings are some

of the favorite KCLS which can be used by the researcher in order to have students interact and develop the speaking skills According to Kagan (2001) these are:

Three Step Interview: Students are paired One student interviews the other

on a given topic Then students reverse roles and repeat step 1 In the third step, pairs join Then, in Round Robin format, share what they have learned from their interviews

Think- pair- share: It involves a three-step cooperative structure During the

first step individuals think silently about a question posed by the instructor Individuals pair up during the second step and exchange thoughts In the third step, the pairs share their responses with other pairs, other teams, or the entire group

Corners: In corners activity, students were asked to make a decision about a

problem or question Each of the four corners of the classroom is labeled with a different response (strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree) Students move to the corner that best aligns with their thinking They share their ideas with others in their corner and then come to consensus One member of each group shares the result of the discussions with the whole class

Two stay two stray: There are some step in two stay two stray learning

Teacher divides students become some small groups, each group consist of four people Each group discuss about the assignment that has been given by the teacher Two people from each group will leave the group and visit at other groups to share the result and information from the assignment Two people that stay in a group, receive the two students from the other groups to share the result and information from the assignment Then two students who become visitors, they return to their

own group and report the result Each group compares and discusses their result then one of the students from each group presents the results of their discussion in front of the classmate

Jigsaw: The curriculum to be learned is divided among group members into

parts and each individual is asked to have access to a particular part of that curriculum after they have had successful cooperation sharing the whole information within the group and at the end of the activity each individual learner would have a quiz about the whole curriculum

Inside- outside circle: In the inside-outside circle strategy, the teacher poses

a particular question or a problem to the students The teacher's role is to facilitate and guide discussions The teacher divides the class into two equal groups The inner circle is formed by one of the groups and the other group forms an outer circle Students in the inside circle stand facing the students in the outside circle The teacher poses a particular question to the students The students are given some time to think about it Then, each student in the inner circle is given time to share their opinions about the question with his or her partners of the outside circle and vice versa On the teacher’s signal, the students take one step to their left in the outside circle and have another quick discussion with their new partner The teacher gives adequate time for the students to take down new ideas and information in their notebooks

2.4 Principles of Kagan cooperative learning structures

Kagan & High (2002) suggest that all the cooperative learning structures are carefully structured and designed to implement four basic principles of cooperative learning (PIES) The four basic elements are:

1) Positive interdependence occurs when gains of individual or teams are positively correlated For example, there is not positive interdependence when the teacher is working with the whole-class, the teacher makes a question, and student responds it, students are not on the same side, they are competing for the attention

of the teacher Besides, Jacobs (2006) asserts that positive interdependence is a

perception among group members, he explains it with a good phrase “What helps one group member helps all, and what hurts one group member hurts all”

2) Individual accountability is observed when all students in a group of held accountable for doing a share of the work and for mastery of the material to be learned The element of individual accountability teaches the students to perform higher as individuals by learning as a team For example, if the teacher lets students know that following a discussion they will be asked to list ideas they have heard from others, then there is individual accountability for listening and the group will

be less likely to have everyone talking and no one listening

3) Equal participation is noticed when each member of group is afforded equal shares of responsibility When Kagan structures are used, the interaction is very carefully designed so there is far more equal participation (Kagan & High, 2002) As a rule, the structures are constructed so that everyone can contribute equally, with no one being forgotten or opting out (Stenlev, 2003)

4) Simulations interaction is allowed when class time is designed to allow many student interactions during the period According to Kagan & High (2002), when the teacher calls on one student in a whole-class, the teacher has only one of thirty students producing language, this is a little over 3% of the class When teachers use Kagan structures 50% of the class is producing language For example, when the teacher makes a question, instead of calling on 3 students and each one giving one answer, with one of the structures everybody is participating

2.5 Advantages of Kagan cooperative learning structures

In general, KCLS have a number of advantages for ESL students, including:

- Greater comprehensible input: When students work together within one of the

structures, they adjust their speech to the level of their group work That way there

is a great and comprehensible input

- Natural context: Language is used in real-life, functional interaction, reducing

problems of transference In other words, a group of students with different functional ideas work together toward a common goal in a real life context

- Negotiation of meaning: Students have the opportunity to adjust their language

output to make sure they understand each other

- Lowered affective filter: Whereas it is frightening to speak out in front of the class,

it is easy for students to talk with supportive teammate

- Peer support: Students encourage and support each other in language use

- Enhanced motivation: Because the structures are engaging interaction sequence

and students need to understand each other there is high motivation to speak and listen for understanding

- Greater language use: While working with the structures, teachers are giving

students more time to speak out in the classroom In contrast, while using class question-answer, teachers would take more time because the teacher is asking

whole-a question whole-and responding to ewhole-ach student, one whole-at whole-a time

- Social skills: Cooperative learning increases a long list of social skills, including

listening, taking turns, speaking٫ conflict resolution skills, leadership skills, and teamwork skills Students coming from cooperative learning classrooms are more polite and considerate of others They can make team learning in language learning and they say their ideas and attitudes to second language

- Diversity skills: As a result of working in heterogeneous cooperative teams,

students learn to understand and work with others who differ from themselves These skills are essential for the 21st century as we are becoming more and more diverse

These and many other advantages of the Kagan structures are documented and detailed at length in three publications: (Kagan, 1995; Kagan, Kagan, & Kagan, 2000; Kagan & McGroarty, 1993)

2.6 Role of the teacher in cooperative learning

According to Kagan (2008), teachers will have an extra work to learn the structures, but once they know them, teaching will be easier Likewise, Johnson et

al (1994:199), as cited in Richards and Rodgers (2001) also suggest that “the cooperative learning teacher has to create a highly structured and well- organized

learning environment in the classroom, setting goals, planning and structuring tasks, establishing the physical arrangement of the classroom, assigning students to groups and roles, and selecting materials and time” In Vietnam, this could be a difficult role for teachers, due to many of the students might not want to work in groups because many schools come from educational backgrounds where classes are largely teacher-fronted, with the teacher transmitting knowledge and students’ memorizing what is being transmitted They tend to take it for granted that this is the only, or at least the best way to learn When they are placed in cooperative learning settings, their past experience may come into conflict with their new experience In addition, when working in groups students might get off task, put each other down, and get noisy To deal with this problem, Kagan (1994) suggests that teachers should make students aware that in their life they will be in many relationships, relationships with teammates, loved ones, friends, and in the workplace, and one thing that will determine the success of all those relationships,

is how much they show the other person that they know and understand what they are communicating, this is why to work in groups cooperatively is the vital importance

Nevertheless, teachers in cooperative learning are resources who have the responsibility of keeping students on task They become a guide and a source of encouragement Cooperative teachers have numerous materials and necessary information, from which students in cooperative learning will drop upon to achieve their objectives Teachers are motivated to assist students to be creative, to engage

in critical thought, and to identify and solve problems cooperatively

2.7 Roles of students in cooperative learning

In cooperative learning, the students play an important role as the teacher, they have to make sure their classmates give examples, or alternatives to the group, ensure all members have achieved the goals, and propose task or procedures According to Richards and Rodgers (2001:199) “students are taught to plan, monitor, and evaluate their own learning” Moreover, Kagan (1994) agrees that in

the process of teaching teachers learn more about the topics they teach, as they try

to determine the easiest way to convey understanding to students, so what he recommends is not to forget their experience and let students teach and do what they most want to do – interact with their peers

2.8 How is cooperative learning applied in Vietnam?

In Vietnam, the purpose of reforming teaching and learning of foreign languages in the national system has been stressed in the National Foreign Language 2020 Project According to this project, by 2020 all learners are expected

to have the capacity of communicating with others in foreign languages successfully, particularly in English (Ministry of Education and Training, 2008) Focusing on developing students’ communicative ability, it is necessary that the English class has to break with the familiar routine of working with texts in a mere handful of “traditional” ways, such as asking and answering comprehension questions, translation and vocabulary tests Given the importance of speaking skill,

in recent years there have been a lot of changes in the instructional approach of teaching and learning English in Vietnam Different techniques have been applied

in English classes in order to create chances for students to use the target language meaningfully and communicatively, which helps enhance students’ oral production

in English as a foreign language Plenty of research has been done on different strategies to achieve the supportive environment and maximize students’ learning, resulting in advice, techniques, articles, and resource books for teachers

The application of cooperative learning in teaching speaking skills has also been implemented in many universities, college and schools in Vietnam

The study entitled “Applying cooperative learning to develop speaking skills for first-year EFL students at Vinh University” by Hoang Thi Lan (2005) points out some common difficulties of Vietnamese learners of English Then, she proposes corresponding methods for each problem Besides, many other scholars also concern about the problems of students’ speaking skills, for example, Le Thi Bich Thuy (2006) in the study entitled “An action research on application of cooperative

learning to second-year students at Gia Lai Teachers’ Training College” In this study, she justifies the effect of cooperative activities on improving learners’ participation and motivation in speaking classes

Besides, Phi Thanh Tra (2006) had a research on the application of cooperative learning at high schools in Vietnam The results of the research indicated that students were more motivated by cooperative learning in speaking lessons than the traditional teaching method There were some factors of a cooperative learning that have created these changes such as real-life goals, or useful materials Quach Thi Tuyet Thanh (2010) recently applied cooperative learning in the aspect of enhancing participation in speaking lessons of second-year college students of English at Thanh Do University After her research, she noted that the most important aspect of college faculty life is empowering students by organizing them in to a cooperative team She also had another conclusion that by studying in teams, students’ language competence became better, namely speaking and listening skills Nguyen Thi Xuan Huong (2012) also had a research to experiment cooperative learning principles in a large class The findings show that among various techniques employed by the teachers at universities; cooperative learning proves its effectiveness in the students’ speaking skills improvement

From the literature review, it can be seen that all above researchers wanted to see if cooperative learning would have an effect on the improvement of students’ speaking skills They used analyses of direct observation of behaviors, student interviews and assessment of students’ performance in speaking tests to arrive at their conclusions They all found that cooperative learning activities enhance students’ motivation and interest in learning However, since these above researches were limited to the study of students at universities, they could not predict that the improvement they observed might also be seen among younger students They did not address the problems that often exist at high schools in rural areas The researcher, therefore, wishes to examine how well the Kagan cooperative learning structures work in her teaching context at Me Linh high school

2.9 Summary

In short, the chapter has so far presented the issues and aspects concerning the topic of the study As a teacher and a researcher at the same time, the language teacher should realize that theories and strategies of teaching speaking skills need to

be understood In the process of developing this study, using theories relating such

as speaking skills, teaching speaking skills, cooperative learning, KCLS, the benefits of cooperative learning, etc as background knowledge to plan the activities and materials were a good way to enhance students to learn most The through action research - the most important part of this study - will be presented in the next chapter

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter will provide the detailed description of the research’s methodology Firstly, an overview of MLHS, the teachers of English, the students and the teaching material are mentioned The justification for the use of an action research will be presented, and then instruments and procedures for carrying out the research as well as the methods of data analysis will be given

3.1 The context of the study

The study was conducted at Me Linh High School, a small school with above

1300 students mainly from poor and low- educated families in the south of Dong Hung district, Thai Binh province This school shares common features with classrooms elsewhere in Viet Nam: The class size here is generally from 40-50 students; the classroom is poorly equipped only with black-boards and desks for 4 students sharing one There are only two language laboratories

3.1.1 The 11 th grade English program

English is one of the compulsory subjects in every high school There are three forty-five minute English lessons for each grade per week The textbook

“Tiếng Anh 11” published by Educational Publishing House is the official material

to teach English for grade-11 classes It is designed with 16 units with 16 topics divided into 6 themes: Personal information, Education, Community, Health, Recreation, The world around us Within the frame work of each unit, the language input is respectively introduced through 5 sections: reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus Each section is designed to be taught separately in one period These sections are theme-based closely related to each other to ensure a smooth transition from one to another The beautifully colorful pictures, illustrations and audio tapes are provided to accompany with the textbook All the practice, activities, and exercises in this book are designed to help learners to improve their communicative competence, especially speaking skills

In this textbook, the learning objectives are clear and concise A detailed

overview of the topics, functions, structures/grammar, and skills within each unit can be found in the introductory table of contents

The course book aims at developing learners’ all the form language skills including speaking skills In each speaking lesson, students have to complete 3 or 4 tasks Task 1 and task 2 focus on learners language input and develop language competencies as well as language specific functions such as expressing preferences; talking about the nature, hobby, the social problem; expressing opinions; asking for and giving information; expressing agreements and disagreements; and making comparison and contrasting, etc Task 3-4 get students to synthesize specific competencies and develop a text for 1-2 minute speaking practice with or without the guidance from the teachers

3.1.2 The students at MLHS

Most of the students at MLHS come from the villages in the district The teaching of English in general and the teaching of speaking skills in particular has encountered with many difficulties The majority of the students do not pay much attention to English For many years, the students’ speaking ability at Me Linh high school are still limited and their attitude towards using cooperative learning structures to improve speaking ability is also a problem the researcher has to deal with Moreover, the class size is large with about 45 students for each It is difficult for teachers to teach English well

3.1.3 The teachers at MLHS

In terms of school staff, there are five English teachers of different ages from

30 to 40 currently working at MLHS They are very helpful and friendly, many of them are well educated, and got high prizes in the teaching festivals of the provinces However, in their teaching process, they tend to apply traditional methods, for example, only use given tasks in the textbooks and do not design more activities that help students practice speaking more frequently Consequently, the students have little interest in English lessons and their learning is passive and unsuccessful Their speaking ability is also not practiced and improved on a regular

basis The implementation of the research was carried out in 10 weeks (from September 10th to November 18th, 2018)

3.2 Research method: Action research

Regarding the aims of solving students’ problem in learning speaking skill and improving their speaking competence, this research was undertaken on the basis

of a classroom action research design

Action research is known for guiding applied research where action is taken

as a result of findings, set within a cyclical process of planning, acting, observing and reflecting (Hussey & Hussey, 1997: 64; Weideman, 1998: 28; Page & Meyer, 2000: 20; Habte, 2001: 53-56) The repetition of this process is known as the action research spiral or action research cycle (cf Davidoff & Van den Berg, 1990: 32;

Saunders et al., 2003:95)

According to Mills (2003, p.4), action research is “any systematic inquiry conducted by teacher researchers to gather information about the ways that their particular school operates, how they teach, and how well their students learn The information is gathered with the goals of gaining insight, developing reflective practice, effecting positive changes in the school environment and on educational practices in generals, and improving student outcomes.” Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1988) identify three characteristics of an action research, which are: “carried out by practitioners”, “collaborative” and “aimed at changing things”

Action research starts initially with an idea to change something during the intervention, usually expressed as an objective Since the stages of action research form the core of the research method, it is necessary to understand what each stage entails

Steps in action research vary from different points of view as Creswell (2005) asserts that “action research is a dynamic, flexible process” and there is “no blueprint exists for how to proceed.” Hence, it is really impossible to assert this or that researcher is right with exact four, five, six, seven or eight steps in their action research Sometimes, it is hard to define a clear cut between the steps and the

number of steps in action research may vary depending on different points of view

held by researchers

Traditionally, Lewin’s (1946) model of action research involves a cyclic sequence including two major phases: diagnosis and therapeutic These two phases are then divided into seven substages Sharing the view with Lewin’s idea of the repeating cycles of action research, Kemmis (1991) has developed a simple model

of the cyclical nature of the typical action research process He asserts that each cycle of an action research has four steps: plan, act, observe and reflect Slightly different, Susman (1978) identifies five steps to be implemented in an action research as diagnosing, action planning, taking action, evaluating, specifying learning Concerning action research as activity research, Nunan (2001) argues that the seven steps in the action research cycle are: initiation, preliminary, hypotheses, intervention, evaluation, dissemination, follow-up In contrast, Creswell (2005) looks at procedure of action research as detail process with 8 steps as: determine if action research is the best design to use; identify a problem to study; locate resources to help address the problem; identify information to be needed; implement the data collection; analyze the data; develop a plan for action; and implement the plan and reflect

In brief, these above processes of action research are different from one another since they are either basic, simple or elaborate models During the research, the model of action research proposed by Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1988, as cited

in Burns, 2010, p 7) seems to be the most suitable for the purpose and context of the current research This model consists of four main stages, namely planning, action, observation, and reflection

Stage 1: Planning:

- Identifying problem and causes of the problem

- Designing strategies for improvement (plan for action)

Stage 2: Acting

- Trying out the techniques of using Kagan cooperative learning structures in

English lessons and making records of what happened in class

Stage 3: Observing

- Teacher’s journal was made during the observation stage and a post-test was made for students after the trying-out stage that illustrated the changes in Me Linh eleventh-grade students’ English speaking skills

Stage 4: Reflection

- Get information from students on the extent to which the use of Kagan cooperative learning structures has helped improve students’ English speaking skills

- Conclusion and commendations were made

This research applied action research design because of some considerations First of all, the goals of action research are to apply knowledge to the local situation which suits with this research’s aims which is applying KCLS to improve the students’ speaking skills at Me Linh high school Moreover, the data analysis of an action research focuses on practical, not statistical significance, the application of its results emphasizes practical significance, problems or goals identified by it are currently faced These characteristics allow the research fulfill its main purpose that

is finding out the practical solutions to deal with the real problems faced by the students in the current situation Besides, a quick time frame of an action research is very advantageous for the researcher complete the study in the condition of limited time In sum, for the goals, characteristics and conditions of this research, an action research can be considered the most appropriate choice for it

3.3 Participants

The action research was carried out in a grade 11 class consisting of forty eight students, of which thirty three are girls and fifteen are boys They are of different language proficiency, learning style and attitudes to English subject Although all students started learning English from grade one, their English proficiency is not good Their speaking skills have not been concerned enough in each English lesson because they often concentrate on grammatical structures, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing skills which are needed for written

examinations Only a few students wish to take university entrance exams in English, which means few students have real interest in learning English Moreover, most of the students come from farmer families and poor workers whose agricultural activities are main inputs so they have a lot of difficulties in studying They do not have chance to communicate with English speaking people

3.4 Data collection techniques and instruments

The data collection techniques are decided on the basis of the research questions mentioned in the Introduction In this classroom action research, the data which are collected by teacher’s journal, questionnaires and tests are explained as follows:

3.4.1 Teacher’s journal

Journal writing has always been referred to as a reflective tool that offers the teacher to reflect her teaching experience, describe her feelings and reactions to the class activities as well as to express her thoughts about the new way of teaching The journals were structured to focus on the issues related to the research questions These were supposed to give the researcher useful information about the changes of students’ participation and behavior on cooperative learning activities implemented

during their speaking lessons

3.4.2 Questionnaire

Survey questionnaire is a written instrument consisting of a list of question and the respondents are to write down the answers or select from the suggested choices (Brown, 2001) This instrument is recommended to be among the most effective ones to collect data in social science Dornyei (2001) notes that through questionnaires a researcher can obtain three types of information: factual or demographic (who the participants are and their background/experiences); behavioral (what they do or did in the past); attitudinal (attitudes, opinions, beliefs,

interests and values) Questionnaire survey technique is considered a very effective

tool which enables researchers to gather large scale numerical data over a short period of time Therefore, questionnaire is appropriate for this study to collect more

truthful and reliable data for analysis The researcher handed out 2 survey questionnaires to the students in the first week and the last week of the research cycle The pre-questionnaire aimed at figuring out difficulties the students often faced when learning speaking skills, and the post-questionnaire were made to survey the changes of students’ motivation and attitudes about KCLS after series of cooperative learning structured speaking lessons were conducted The researcher decided to choose an adaption form of Likert scaling with 3-point scale and smiley face elements alongside the text of response options to help respondents process the categories Participants were asked to rate each statement at levels of 1 (agree); 2

(neither agree or disagree); 3 (disagree) (see ANNEX D)

3.4.3 Tests

According to Brown and Abeywickrama (2004), a test can be defined as a method of measuring a person’s ability, knowledge, or performance in a given domain In this research, the researcher conducted two sets of speaking tests The pre-test was conducted at the beginning of the teaching and learning process Meanwhile, the post-test was conducted at the end of the trying-out stage The researcher acted as an examiner The speaking tests were retrieved from the internet

and had three parts In the first part- General conversation, the examiner invited the

candidates to ask each other questions in order to elicit information about personal details, home town, school, jobs, family, etc within 3 minute At an appropriate point, candidates should be asked to spell something (e g name, hometown, e-mail address …) This part aimed to create warm atmosphere for the students with a view

to helping them feel comfortable in the examination In the second part, students

were asked to respond to visual prompts which include describing and interpreting a

picture or a photograph, talking about likes and dislikes, within 5-7 minute This aimed to check the students’ ability to speak fluently with correct stress and to

manage in discourse In the Simulated situation part, students’ tasks were making

and responding to suggestions, agreeing and disagreeing; making choices They also were asked to make a conversation and perform the result in pairs to assess the

students’ speaking skills

In this research, the students’ performance tests were scored by using the speaking rubric proposed by Gall, Borg, and Gall (2003: 571) It was an assessment rubric test consisting of four aspects: fluency, accuracy, vocabulary, and pronunciation Each aspect was scored 1 to 10 in which every score had different indicators: the higher the score, the more complicated the indicators will be and vice versa

Although there were some constraints of this instrument such as it could not adequately show the students’ participation in big cooperative learning groups (with more than two students), and there was only one examiner, there quantitative data were still valid and reliable because the design of the speaking tests closely met with the requirements of the standard speaking test evaluation Moreover, pair work

is a kind of small group work and in the test, the students had to work together to perform their work in the best way

3.5 Data analysis

Qualitatively, the data collected from the teacher’s journal were organized and classified The researcher followed the framework proposed by Burns (1999) in Burns (2010) which consists of five stages: assembling the data, coding the data, comparing the data, building interpretations, reporting the outcomes

Quantitatively, the responses from the questionnaires were rated as to frequency and tabulated into percentages The researcher rounded off the percentages so that they do not always reflect 100% In addition, the students’ scores in pre-test and post-tests were compared to see the improvements of the students’ speaking skills

3.6 Research procedure

As stated in the previous part, this study used the model of action research developed by Kemmis and McTaggart in Burns (2010) As a researcher, the writer followed one reflective cycle consisting of four processes including: planning, action, observation, and reflection

3.6.1 Planning

3.6.1.1 Identifying the problem

During teaching- learning process in speaking lessons, the writer observed the students’ performance in class and see how good their speaking competence is during the teaching and learning process done by the English teacher Acting as a teacher and an observer, the researcher found that students had problems in their speaking Some students spoke with wrong pronunciation, they were not fluent when using English; the students’ vocabulary was still low, they got difficulties in expressing their ideas Some others were better, but they were not confident when using English to communicate The classroom atmosphere was not lively, either Many students were busy talking to their friends; the others kept silent or spoke Vietnamese when being asked Most of them were bored and were not active in the speaking class

In the first week of research cycle, the researcher held a pre-test in which the students were asked to work in pairs to make a conversation based on the given

situation (see ANNEX D) This pre-test was to measure how well their speaking

ability was The mean score of the test was 5.50 from range 1-10

Then, a pre-questionnaire survey were conducted to find out students’ difficulties in speaking lessons as well as the causes of students low English speaking skills The result of the questionnaire survey can be seen in the table below:

Table 2: The results of the pre-questionnaire

Disagree Neutral Agree

1 I don’t have enough vocabulary and

grammar to express my ideas

4 I feel afraid of making mistakes and

being criticized by classmates

5 My teacher did not usually give clear

instruction

6 My teacher did not usually give English

speaking communicative and interactive

activities

7 My teacher focuses on teaching

grammar and vocabulary

8 Some of better students dominate

speaking English in class

9 The topics for speaking in the textbook

are not interesting

10 The class time for English speaking is

limited

11 The assessment of speaking practice

was not regularly applied

According to table 1, difficulties encountered by the students in speaking skills in the current study include difficulties related to internal factors and external factors For the first type of factor, the major difficulty revealed by the participants

is lacking vocabulary and grammar in speaking English with over two third of agreed responses (79.2%) Another problem agreed by nearly 67% is the limitation

of chances to involve speaking activities The difficult factor related to lack of motivation in speaking English with classmates receives many responses with 66.6% Most of them agreed with being afraid of making mistakes and criticized by classmates as the significant hindering factor

Regarding the second type of factor, namely external issues affecting speaking learners in the current study; there were several external factors investigated As indicated in Table 1, most student respondents agreed with the

difficulties caused by their teachers’ teaching methods with the agreed responses

which were much higher than the disagreed ones In particular, the same percentage

of student respondents highly agreed with their teachers who did not give clear instruction and did not create interesting, communicative and interactive speaking activities (64.5% & 70.9%) Additionally, the results indicated that the participants encountered challenging factors caused by their teachers’ teaching grammar and vocabulary with 62.4% agreed responses

Compared to the internal factors, challenges caused by the topics for speaking in the textbooks saw higher disagreed responses than agreed ones A small number of students (31.3%) agreed that the topics in the textbooks were uninteresting The significant factor related to in-class English learning environment which was agreed by nearly two thirds (68.7%) is the limitation of speaking tests in the current context and the domination of better students (66.6%) In addition, 75%

of the students thought that the time for speaking seemed to be quite limited

After the problems were identified, the writer found that the difficulties for her students’ speaking skills arise from both internal factors which are related to learners and external factors regarding teaching methods, teaching curriculum and syllabus, in-class English learning environment However, the results highlight several factors, namely students’ lack of vocabulary and grammar, inappropriate teaching method, limited chances to involve speaking activities, limitation of communicative and interactive activities as the most inhibiting factors for students’ speaking skills From such inhibiting factors for students’ speaking skills in the current study, it is noticeable that the success of the speaking lesson depends largely

on ways that teachers teach their students The majority of the students admitted have suffered from some negative aspects of teaching methods, raising the need for the writer to reconsider the teaching methods that have been used to teach English speaking skills in order to understand possible mismatches between teaching methods and preferred student learning styles

3.6.1.2 Planning

The researcher considered the problems identified above, then some efforts were planned to solve the problems The efforts focused on improving the student’s speaking skills through cooperative leaning From the comments, ideas and suggestions from my students, my colleagues, professional books or journals and

my own teaching experience I designed the following strategies to improve the problem:

a Using the classroom English during the teaching and learning process

During the actions, the researcher planned to use the classroom English during the teaching and learning process in order to make the students more familiar with English words and to increase their opportunities to speak English The researcher planned to use English at class for several functions such as to greet the students in the beginning of the lesson, to explain the materials, to give the instruction of the tasks or activities, to give feedback, and also to end the lesson However, in some difficult aspects such in giving instructions and explaining the materials, the researcher would use the Vietnamese translation so that the students could understand her explanation

b Using the teaching media to attract students’ attention in learning English

In order to make the teaching and learning processes more understandable and interesting, the researcher would use some media such as power point slide, recorded dialogue, videos, cards of situations, and pictures The power point slides were used as the supplementary materials in addition to course book Pictures, situation cards, recorded dialogues were used to illustrate the real object to the students about the materials that were learnt Videos were used to give examples of dialogue to the students

c Applying some KCLS and organizing groups

During the actions, KCLS was employed in every meeting It was done in pairs and groups The students worked together to facilitate their learning They did some tasks which needed cooperation such as creating and practicing a dialog and