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

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

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-oOo -

TRẦN THỊ THANH HOA

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

HIGH SCHOOL IN PHU THO PROVINCE

( NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ SỰ THAM GIA CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM

TRONG GIỜ HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Hanoi - 2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-oOo -

TRẦN THỊ THANH HOA

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

HIGH SCHOOL IN PHU THO PROVINCE

( NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ SỰ THAM GIA CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM

TRONG GIỜ HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01

Supervisor : Assoc Prof Lê Văn Canh, PhD

Hanoi - 2019

DECLARATION

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

SCHOOL IN PHU THO PROVINCE”

I certify that no part of the thesis has been copied or reproduced by me from any

other works without acknowledgement and that the thesis is originally written by

me under strict guidance of my supervisor

Hanoi, 2019 Student‟s signature

Trần Thị Thanh Hoa

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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

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

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

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

of writing this thesis

ABSTRACT

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

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL: English as a Foreign language T: Teacher

SCT : Sociocultural theory Ss:Students

ZPD: The zone of proximal development

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF FIGURES viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 The research questions 2

4 Methods of the study 2

5 The scope of the study 2

6 The significance of the study 2

7 Organization of the thesis 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 The Sociocultural perspectives on language learning: the role of social interaction 4

2.2 Group work 5

2.2.1 Definition of group activities 5

2.2.2 The role of group work activities in language teaching 6

2.2.3 Challenges in Group work 8

2.3 Participation as learning 9

2.4 Students‟ attitudes towards group work 11

2.5 Overview of the research projects related to the thesis topic 12

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 15

3.1 Introduction 15

3.2 The case study methodology 15

3.2.1 Definitions of case study 15

3.2.2 Why choosing case study 16

3.2.3 Descriptive case study 17

3.3 Research procedures 18

3.3.1 The context of the study 18

3.3.2 The course book 18

3.3.3 The teachers 19

3.3.4 The students 19

3.4 Data collection 20

3.4 1 Data collection instruments 20

3.4.2 Data collection procedures 23

3.5 Summary 24

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 25

4.1 Data analysis 25

4.1.1 Data from questionnaires 25

4.2 Findings and Discussion 39

4.3 Chapter summary 41

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS 42

1 Conclusion 42

2 Limitations of the study 42

3 Suggestions for further research 42

REFERENCES 44 APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE I APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEW III APPENDIX 3: LESSON PLAN IN THE CLASSROOM IV APPENDIX 4: INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT SUMMARY XIII

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1: Description to Questionnaire 21 Table 4.1: Summarizing the results of questionnaires in five weeks 34

LIST OF FIGURES

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

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

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

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

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

Figure 4.5: Frequency of participation by class A 28

Figure 4.6: Frequency of participation by class B 29

Figure 4.7: Reasons of active participation by class A 30

Figure 4.8: Reasons of passive participation by class A 31

Figure 4.9: Reasons of active participation by class B 32

Figure 4.10: Reasons of passive participation by class B 32

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

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

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

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

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

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

in the usefulness of group work to my students‟ learning English, I have a strong desire of investing the students‟ level of participation in group work and what factors influence students‟ participation in group work activities from their own perceptions in order to design and set appropriate and effective group activities for

my students

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

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

2 Aims of the study

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

3 The research questions

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

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

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

4 Methods of the study

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

5 The scope of the study

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

6 The significance of the study

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

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

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

7 Organization of the thesis

The thesis is organized as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2.2 Group work

2.2.1 Definition of group activities

In this study, Brown‟s (2000) definition of group work is adopted According

to Brown, group work is when individuals work together, they depend on each other and they have a common goal If someone in the group is affected by an event or a thing, it will affect the whole group This definition is adopted because it reflects the nature of group work in an EFL classroom This means that in the EFL

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

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

2.2.2 The role of group work activities in language teaching

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

Group work activities can promote students’ responsibility and autonomy

All students work together, share their ideas, and always have desire to achieve the goal in group activities In addition, one of their main tasks is to take charge of their group activities Every learner is responsible for himself and others,

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

Group work increase students’ talking time and oral fluency

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

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

language It is also one of the most effective ways to motivate participants to become more involved Richards and Loc Khart (1994) point out that students not only play more active roles in the learning process but also get the benefits of sharing ideas with their group members through participation in groups Doff (1988, p.141) also shares the idea that while working in groups, “students felt less anxiety when they are privately than when they are on shown in front of the whole class Pair work and group-work can help shy students, who would never say anything in

a whole class activity.”

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

Viewed from a sociocultural perspective, which emphasizes the role of social interaction in human cognitive development, group work can provide affordances for learning For example, Lightbrown & Spada (2006) assert that learning is supposed to happen when an individual interacts with an interlocutor within his/her zone of proximal development (ZPD) It can be deduced that cooperative learning provide opportunities of a social interaction in a classroom while interaction for EFL is very limited outside the classroom The sociocultural view of group work in second or foreign language learning will be discussed in details in the subsequent section

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

In general, group work is beneficial to second language learning in several ways However, the organization of group activities can be a challenge to teachers For example, some students may control the group a lot and make others uncomfortable So, the effectiveness of group work to student learning depends considerably on how group work is organized and the appropriateness of the tasks

or activities for the students to work in group

2.2.3 Challenges in Group work

Along with these benefits, however, there are also some negative aspects that may be related to group work For instance, McGraw and Tidwell (2001) say that students often have to deal with difficult issues such as getting credit without working equally, poor communication, culturally different approaches to work, lack

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“traditional teacher-centred classroom” and that “allowing learners to work without teacher supervision tends to disrupt the notion of teachers as “knowers” who impart their knowledge to students, who are simply receptacles” He believes that this perception is particularly common in teachers with little experience In practice, however, Ramirez (2005, p 4) emphasizes that during group work “the teacher is still the director and manager of the class and needs to make students aware of this” Nevertheless, the perception that group work challenges the “traditional teacher-centred classroom” could result in a negative attitude towards group work

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

2.3 Participation as learning

Class participation is an important aspect of student learning For examples, when students speak up in class, they will learn how to express their ideas in a way that others can understand; or when they ask questions, they learn how to gather information to improve their own understanding of a topic Moreover, it also is a valuable learning tool for teachers Through the questions of students, the teachers will learn what students do not understand, and can adjust your instruction accordingly Therefore, participation between lecturers and students is indispensable in the process of learning There are several reasons why participation

is important in the learning process

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

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

an active participant in the classroom

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

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

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

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

Classroom participation can help students to study better at school According to Scepansky (2003), higher levels of classroom participation also tended to score slightly higher on personality traits of openness and consciousness Classroom participation can send positive signals to students about the type of learning and thinking such as growth in critical thinking, active learning, development of listening, and speaking skills needed for career success, and the ability to join a disciplined conversation

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

Based on the literature and selected past research, it can be concluded that student‟s participation in the classroom will ensure the effectiveness of the learning process

2.4 Students’ attitudes towards group work

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

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

problem: If group work is proven to have highly beneficial results, it would seem wise to incorporate group work into the curriculum However, if students often dislike group work, and if these negative attitudes are related to a diminishing effectiveness of such groups, the instructor might be understandably reluctant to use group work If we hope to improve student attitudes toward group work, the first important thing is to explore the issues that might affect such attitudes This information might then be used to address student concerns and to explore possible techniques for improving students‟ attitudes and groups‟ effectiveness

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

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

be caused by the educator, due to practices such as determining groups without students‟ input, failing to reduce (or insignificantly reducing) the marks of social loafers, and not requiring peer evaluation

2.5 Overview of the research projects related to the thesis topic

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

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

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

Another study by Chen and Hird‟s (2006) aimed to examine both quantitative and qualitative data relating to student behaviour in groups collected in EFL lessons in China The researchers were interested to find out how 36 Chinese non- English major students behave in groups in EFL classroom in Normal University Both tape recordings of group discussion and interviews were used in this research The results presented the difficulty of generalizing about what happens when students get into groups in English lessons, and argues that there are still many unexplored aspects regarding how group work functions and what students actually do in groups in English classrooms

Payne and Monk-Turner (2006) also had a study to research how students perceive group work after completing a semester –long group project The participants were 145 students taking an upper division research methods class in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at a large regional university The data supported the idea that small groups may work more effectively together than larger one However, it sometimes inhibits the performance of the weakest members as those who are good in the group dominate the tasks carried out

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

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

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

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

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

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

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

3.2 The case study methodology

3.2.1 Definitions of case study

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

is Yin (2003) considers case as “a contemporary phenomenon within its real life context, especially when the boundaries between a phenomenon and context are not clear and the researcher has little control over the phenomenon and context” (p 13) His definition also reflects his support for the case study as a legitimate research method According to this definition, from Yinian viewpoint, case study is an empirical inquiry investigating the case or cases that follow to the above mentioned definition by solving the “how” or “why” questions related to the phenomenon of interest He finds it particularly instrumental to evaluate the program The rest of his technical definition draws attention to the aspects of data collection and analysis related to the situation under study: in order to investigate a different situation including “many more variables of interest than data points,” case study draws from diverse lines of evidence for triangulating purposes and avails itself of “prior development of theoretical propositions to guide data collection and analysis” (Yin,

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

a research strategy

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

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

Through all the definitions above, it can be concluded that case study is carried out with the aim of collecting information from one or more cases and study It mainly focuses on describing and explaining these cases through “how” and “why” questions Case studies can be single or multiple-case designs in which

a multiple design must follow a replication instead of a sampling logic In many case studies, a number of cases are studied This is to investigate some common phenomenon When there is no other cases for replication, the researcher is limited

to single-case designs

3.2.2 Why choosing case study

The opportunity to research students‟ participation in group work activities at

a high school in Phu Tho presented a ready-made case study However, in the research process a case study approach was not the only consideration Here I provide my reason to apply this methodology In the sub-sections, I explore two main components of this approach: identifying the case and theoretical underpinnings Finally, I outline the structure of the study

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

Yin (2003) suggests four types of design that case study researchers can make use of They include single holistic design, single embedded design, multiple holistic design and multiple embedded design Holistic designs require one unit of analysis, whereas embedded designs require multiple units of analysis Yin advises the apprentice researchers to select the design which provides them with the maximum instrumentality to answer their research questions, and to consider the strengths and limitations of each design and the certain pitfalls to be avoided while implementing each of them Broadly speaking, Yin (2003) suggests three common approaches to designing case studies These are exploratory, descriptive and explanatory case studies In this study, a descriptive approach was adopted

3.2.3 Descriptive case study

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

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

The case study research strategy also provides an excellent methodological framework for performing mixed-method research studies in the social sciences (Merriam,1998; Yin, 2003) A descriptive case study successfully provides multiple sources of qualitative and quantitative evidence for triangulating such experiential data in an all-encompassing manner (Yin, 2003) Yin (2003) also suggests that the case study method is appropriate “when a „how‟ or „why‟ question is being asked about a contemporary set of events, over which the investigator has little or no control” (p 9) This study‟s research questions align well with this viewpoint, asking how students participate in group work activities, and why they participated the way they did This design strategy focuses the inquiry on a single context (in this study, classroom-based English language lessons), but requires collecting and analyzing data from multiple units ( the students‟ responses to the questionnaire and interviews) within that context

3.3 Research procedures

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

1 A study's questions

2 Its propositions, if any

3 Its unit(s) of analysis

4 The logic linking the data to the propositions

5 The criteria for interpreting the findings

(Yin, 1994, p 20)

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

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

3.3.1 The context of the study

Thanh Thuy high school was founded over fifty years ago and it has officially become a high school in Phu Tho province at this time It has 27 classes in which the majority of students are non-major English Although there are many challenges the school has to face up with in the new era, English has also been put much emphasis on because of its popularity and necessity Thus, it is a compulsory subject in the teaching and learning curriculum Its aims are to help students acquire general English knowledge and the four English skills

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

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

3.3.2 The course book

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

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

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

10 to 15 years However, both of them are very good at teaching English with a flexible approach and always care about their students

3.3.4 The students

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

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

Figure 1 showed the distribution of students in the two classrooms

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

3.4 Data collection

3.4 1 Data collection instruments

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

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

3.4.1.1 The questionnaire

As mentioned earlier in this section, a questionnaire is used to collect as much data as possible in a short time In this research study closed format questions that consisted of multiple choices were used in an attempt to help students select the attitudes that are mostly related to their ideas However, in order for the results of

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

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

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

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

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

Table 3.1: Description to Questionnaire

No Question Aim Factors Covered Style

MCQ (more than one selection It means that in this section of the questionnaire, six positive points about group work are listed and students are asked to choose more

than one of them.)

of this section is similar to the second one, however the theme is different

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

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

The interview protocol has three following open-ended questions:

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

1 Mức độ tham gia nhóm của em có thay đổi không? Tại sao?

2 Cảm nhận của em về mức độ tham gia các hoạt động nhóm cho việc học tập của em?

3 Em học được gì qua hoạt động nhóm về môn Tiếng Anh cũng như áp dụng vào các môn khác ngoài Tiếng Anh?

The interview questions were designed in Vietnamese language to ensure proper responses from participant The use of the mother tongue language also helped students who could not understand English to contribute relevant information in relation to the topic under study

3.4.2 Data collection procedures

The time for data collection lasted during the third month of the second semester of the school year 2018-2019 This is the time when students learnt a majority of grade 11 knowledge Therefore, students may have an overview of their English ability or summarize the activities they participated in as well as evaluate the effects of those activities

The procedure for collecting data contains three stages as following:

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

experimental lesson (one lesson per week) Before answering the questions, they were informed in Vietnamese the purpose, methods and requirements of the study

to make sure they got the idea about what they would have to do and were willing

to take part in the study Then, the students completed the questionnaires It is very important to note that before participating in groupwork activities and answering questionnaire, students were instructed about the ways to work in group activities and how to evaluate their work in each learning period While students were completing the questions, anything that they wondered was clarified by the author

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

to design and carry out the interviews with 12 students who reported that they participated enthusiastically in group activities Interviews were conducted in a small room at the school and lasted approximately 15 minutes each Answers were

recorded by note-taking and 12 interviews were also filmed with consent

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

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

3.5 Summary

This chapter begins with an introduction then describes the research design employed in this study Population and sample study is also mentioned before discussing the research methodology used to conduct this research In collecting data, library and field research are used For field research, both quantitative and qualitative methods are chosen in which questionnaire and group of interviewees are involved in the research procedure The data that were collected are then analyzed and discussed and the results are displayed

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the research questions brought up in the first chapter will be answered through the analysis and discussion on the collected data from questionnaire and interviews After the data was collected, the next step was analyzing the whole data obtained With those techniques of data analysis, it is expected to answer the research question adequately and appropriately

4.1 Data analysis

4.1.1 Data from questionnaires

4.1.1.1 The role of students in group work activities

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

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

There are also other roles, including leader, presenter, summarizer, checker and secretary

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

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