Using group work to improve speaking skills of the 10th grade students at yen phong 2 high school in bac ninh province

DECLARATION Le Thi Dung, hereby certify that this M.A thesis entitled “Using group work to improve speaking skills of the 10 th grade students at Yen Phong 2 High School in Bac Ninh pr

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

-   -

LE THI DUNG

USING GROUP WORK TO IMPROVE SPEAKING

PHONG 2 HIGH SCHOOL IN BAC NINH PROVINCE

M.A THESIS (APPLICATION ORIENTATION)

Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN - 2020

ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN

TRƯỜNG NGOẠI NGỮ -   -

LÊ THỊ DUNG

SỬ DỤNG HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM ĐỂ NÂNG CAO

KĨ NĂNG NÓI CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT YÊN PHONG SỐ 2 TỈNH BẮC NINH

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ

Ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh

Mã số: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN - 2020

DECLARATION

Le Thi Dung, hereby certify that this M.A thesis entitled “Using group work

to improve speaking skills of the 10 th grade students at Yen Phong 2 High School

in Bac Ninh province” is the result of my own study in the fulfillment of the

requirement for the Degree of Master at School of Foreign Languages , Thai

Nguyen university I commit that this thesis has not been submitted anywhere for

any degree

Thai Nguyen, 2020 Approved by Supervisor Student

Dr Van Thi Quynh Hoa Le Thi Dung

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to acknowledge the debt of gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Van Thi Quynh Hoa for her helpful suggestions, invaluable critical feedback and encouragement in the writing of this study Without her guidance and help, this work would not have been completed

My sincere thanks go to all the staff at the Department of Post-graduate Studies, Thai Nguyen University for giving me assistance and the lecturers who conducted the Master's course for providing me with valuable knowledge

I would also like to express my deep sense of gratitude to my dear students, whose participation in and dedication to the research remain invaluable have been acknowledged Without their precious support, the thesis would not have taken shaped

Finally, the support extended to me by the members of my family has been immeasurable I would also like to express my thanks to my parents and my husband for their wholehearted encouragement

Bac Ninh, October 24th 2020

Le Thi Dung

ABSTRACT

Speaking skill is always considered an obstacle for most learners at Yen Phong 2 High School It is showed more clearly in speaking skill learning process Therefore, the main purpose of the thesis is to provide effective speaking activities

as well as to investigate the application of group work towards enhancing grade 10 students‟ speaking skill The survey questionnaires for students, class observation and T-test were used as the major instruments to collect data about the effectiveness

of group work in developing their speaking skill The subjects involved in the study were 42 students in class 10A1 at Yen Phong 2 High School They participated in the survey questionnaire, and T-test to help the researcher do better in this research The results of the study showed that group work has positive influence on the development of students‟ speaking skill and has the potential to help students deal with some challenges that they may encounter in speaking lessons Based on the findings, some suggestions were given to both students and teachers to cooperate to improve grade 10 students‟ speaking skill

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LISTS OF TABLES, FIGURES AND CHARTS viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the study 2

1.3 Significance of the study 2

1.3.1 Theoretical aspect 2

1.3.2 Practical aspect 2

1.4 Scope of the study 3

1.5 Organization of the thesis 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Speaking skill and its related concepts 4

2.1.1 The importance of speaking skill in the classroom 4

2.1.2 Types of classroom speaking performance 5

2.2 Group work in a speaking lesson 5

2.2.1 Definition and description of group work 5

2.2.2 The advantages and disadvantages of using group work in the classroom 6

2.2.3 Group formation 8

2.2.4 Group –size 9

2.2.5 Teacher roles in group work activities 9

2.2.6 Common oral activities for group work 10

2.3 Previous study related to group work 15

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 18

3.1 Context and participants of the study 18

3.1.1 The context 18

3.1.2 Student participants 19

3.2 Reasons to choose action research method 19

3.3 Phases of action research 20

3.4 Weekly schedules and research procedures 22

3.4.1 Weekly schedules 23

3.4.2 Research procedures 27

3.5 Data collection instruments 28

3.5.1 The questionnaires for students 28

3.5.2 Class observation 29

3.5.3 Test 29

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 31

4.1 Analysis of the information collected from the survey questionnaires 31

4.1.1 Students‟ perception on the difficulty of speaking skill 31

4.1.2 Students‟ interest degree in English speaking lessons in class 31

4.1.3 Students‟ interest degree in learning speaking English 32

4.1.4 Students‟ speaking English circumstances 33

4.1.5 Students‟ times speaking English in a forty-five speaking class 34

4.1.6 The students‟ opinion on the frequency of having problems when speaking English 35

4.1.7 Students‟ difficulties in speaking English 35

4.1.8 Students‟ participating in speaking activities in class 36

4.1.9 Students‟ interests in speaking activities 37

4.1.10 Students‟ perception on the importance of speaking skill 38

4.2 Analysis of the information collected from class observation 39

4.2.1 Meeting 1: 13/ 12/2019 39

4.2.2 Meeting 2: 10/3/2020 39

4.3 Analysis of the information collected from pretest and posttest 40

4.3.1 Distribution of Pre-test Scores 40

4.3.2 Distribution of Post-test Scores 41

4.3.3 Comparison of Data on the Pre-test and Post-test Scores of the

Students 42

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 43

5.1 Summary of major findings 43

5.2 Recommendations 44

5.3 Limitations 45

5.4 Recommendations for further research 46

REFERENCES 47 APPENDIX I

LISTS OF TABLES, FIGURES AND CHARTS TABLES

Table 3.1: The timetable of the action implementation 23

Table 3.2: Analysis and Statistical tools 30

Table 4.1: Students‟ perception on the difficulty of speaking skill 31

Table 4.2: Students‟ interest degree in learning speaking English 32

Table 4.3: Students‟ times speaking English in a forty-five speaking class 34

Table 4.4: The students‟ opinion on the frequency of having problems when speaking English 35

Table 4.5: Students‟ participating in speaking activities in class 36

Table 4.6: Students‟ perception on the importance of speaking skill 38

Table 4.7: Distribution of Pre-test Scores 40

Table 4.8: Distribution of Post-test Scores 41

Table 4.9: Test of Difference between the Pre-test and Post-test Scores of the students 42

FIGURES Figure 3.1: Action research spiral (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2000:564) 21

Figure 3.2: Action research framework (adapted from Lewin, 1946) 21

Figure 4.1: Students‟ speaking English circumstances 33

Figure 4.2: Students‟ difficulties in speaking English 35

CHARTS Chart 4.1: Students‟ interest degree in speaking lessons 32

Chart 4.2: Students‟ interests in speaking activities 38

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the writer presents the rationale, aims, significance, scopes

and the organization of this study

1.1 Rationale

Until now, English has been considered very important in every field of each society such as: diplomacy, business, aviation, education and science and technology Because of its globalization, English has become the crucial medium in communication Therefore, teaching speaking skill is of great importance in second language learning Lerris (1999) asserts that teaching speaking helps learners to use language more fluently and speaking is a chance to notice the gaps between what they want to say and what they can say

Group work techniques are widely accepted to be an effective way to encourage students to use the language and to motivate them to become more involved Richards and Loc Khart (1994) point out that students not only play more active roles in the learning process but also get the benefits of sharing ideas with their team members through taking part in groups Doff (1988) states that students feel less anxiety when they work privately with their peers than when they are in front of the whole class Group work can help shy students, who never say anything

in a whole class activity How to promote students‟ speaking skill is still a challenging question

At Yen Phong 2 High School, the input of the students is low, so most of them are not good at speaking English Fourteen years‟ experience as a teacher of English at a high school has helped the researcher realize the fact that students are usually reluctant to speak when they are asked in speaking lessons They find it difficult to express their ideas in English In addition, their participation in speaking classes is unequal Therefore, the question that is always asked for each teacher is how to improve students' ability to speak English There have been a number of teachers doing master thesis, but none of them related to students' speaking skills

To tackle these problems, group work is taken into a careful consideration in order

to enhance students‟ speaking skills

The question now arises as to how to find the best way to improve speaking skills of the of 10th grade students at Yen Phong 2 High School, hence this study is conducted

1.2 Aims of the study

The aim of this study is to explore how group work makes a contribution towards improving speaking skills of the 10th grade students at Yen Phong 2 High School In addition, the study also introduces some group work activities that can be applied in teaching speaking skill The ultimate goal of this study is to help students feel confident in communicating in English

With the above-mentioned aims, the study tries to answer the following research questions:

1 What are students’ attitudes towards group work in speaking English? 2- To what extent does group work improve students’ speaking skill?

1.3 Significance of the study

1.4 Scope of the study

The researcher intends to start with an overview of the current situations of students‟ learning English speaking skill, then analyze the effects of group work activities on students‟ speaking and make some recommendations on the effective use of group work to motivate students to practice speaking English more As an action research project, the study was conducted with the researcher‟s own students

in her own class with the participation of 42 students in class 10A1 at Yen Phong 2 High School They are chosen because it is assumed that the 10th grade students do not experience more group work in the first year at a high school

1.5 Organization of the thesis

The graduation thesis consists of five chapters, organized as follows:

Chapter 1 Introduction This chapter mentions the background and

rationale to conduct the study, states the aims, the significances, the scope, and organization of the graduation thesis

Chapter 2 Literature Review This chapter represents theoretical

background knowledge related to speaking skill, and a brief review of the previous studies on group work and its impacts on students‟ speaking ability

Chapter 3 Methodology This chapter states the subjects of the study,

research instruments, and data collection procedures employed in this research

Chapter 4 Findings and Discussions This chapter analyzes and discusses

the results collected from survey questionnaire, class observation and tests Besides, the limitations of the study are introduced

Chapter 5 Conclusions and Recommendations This chapter summarizes

the main points discussed in the previous parts, presents the limitations of the thesis and provides some suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the writer gives general knowledge about speaking skills and its related concepts; group work method and several previous studies on using group work in teaching English speaking skills

2.1 Speaking skill and its related concepts

2.1.1 The importance of speaking skill in the classroom

Among the four skills in learning English, speaking and writing are the productive skills However, speaking is regarded as very important for language teaching and learning Speaking is a bridge to reach other skills Speaking helps learners to read better, to listen more effectively and write more accurately Speaking is surely the most effective means of communication (Ur, 1996)

There are two most important reasons why speaking should be taught in the classroom The first reason is speaking is a good source of motivation for students Nunan (1991) points out, “success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the (target) language” For the students who have ability to speak English eligibly, they want to speak English; they know to express themselves in English Thus, they always speak when possible But for those who cannot speak English well, they do not want to speak in groups As a result, they may soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning English In addition to this, in the English speaking class, if the speaking activities are organized in the suitable way, speaking can have a lot `of fun and therefore can raise motivation in the learners If the speaking is practiced successfully, the other skills can also be improved through speaking

For the second reason, nowadays, the demand for communication among people is really important Without it, the life does not exist For this, speaking always plays an important role in people‟s lives Speaking is considered as survival skill in real life (Ur, 1996; p 134)

For the ideas above, speaking skill also plays the key role in foreign

2.1.2 Types of classroom speaking performance

According to Brown (1994), there are six categories relating of oral production:

- Imitative: which accounts for very small portion of speaking time in the speaking time when learners are practicing an intonation contour trying to pinpoint

a certain vowel sound, etc…

- Intensive: includes any speaking performance that is designed to practice some phonological or grammar aspect of language

- Responsive: is short replies to teacher or student initiated questions or comments These replies are usually sufficient and do not extend into dialogue

- Transactional (dialogue): is carried out for the purpose of conveying or exchanging specific information Conversations, for example, may have more of a negative nature to them than merely responsive speech Such conversation could readily be the part of group work activities as well

- Interpersonal (dialogue): carries out more for the purpose of maintaining social relationship than the transmission of facts and information These conversations are a little trickier for learners because they can involve some or all the following factors: a casual register, colloquial language, emotionally changed language, and slang etc

- Extensive (monologue): Finally, students at intermediate or advanced levels are called on to give extended monologues in the form of oral report, summaries, or perhaps short speeches Here the register is more formal and deliberative

2.2 Group work in a speaking lesson

2.2.1 Definition and description of group work

Student-based group work (also known as team work) has become an integral part of studying at a high school This mode of teaching has primarily arisen in an attempt to capture many of the benefits associated with collaborative activities (namely peer learning and graduate attribute development) What is really group work?

According to Adrian Doff (1988: 137), group work is a process that “the teacher divides the class into small groups to work together (usually four or five students in each group), as in pair work, all the groups work at the same time.”

When working in small groups, the students can be assigned with many kinds of tasks such as discussion, role-play, and presentations which help the speaking activities successful, varied and motivated

It can be clearly seen that group work is a cooperative activity in which the students work at the same time, sharing ideas and responsibility and independently have their own ideas which contribute to the group work‟s success without every minute observation from the teacher and other students

2.2.2 The advantages and disadvantages of using group work in the classroom Advantages

Clearly, group work can increase the student talking time, which increases the speaking skill In other word, group work helps improved communication The students who have little chance to talk to each other now can share ideas, become close in the short time and above all solve the common problem assigned by the teacher

Besides, working in groups helps students to produce greater output Simply because of the number of people involved, each with different experience, knowledge, points of view and values, a larger number and variety of ideas can be given Moreover, the exchange of the ideas in the group can act as a stimulus which will encourage individuals to give more ideas, more opinions and therefore contribute more to group work

In addition to this, group work helps reduce bias The shared responsibility in

a group in coming to decisions can encourage individuals to explore seemingly realistic ideas and to challenge accepted ways of doing things Individual biases and prejudices can be challenged by the group, forcing the individual to recognize them Group pressure can also encourage individuals to accept that change is need

Finally, students‟ group work is free the teacher from the usual role of “an expert who always lectures” and allows him/her to walk to each group, to guide, to

answer questions from students or to encourage students to work actively (Harmer, 1999:116)

Disadvantages

One obvious disadvantage is the noise made by the groups who have a big argument on the problem or by the groups who are so excited about working with one another It is hard for the teacher to control these kinds of groups This can distract the other groups

The very bad effect of working in groups is that many passive students or lazy students let their friends do everything provided that they still have their names

in the group‟s result

Working in groups can cause competitions Most students working in a group unconsciously perceive the situations as a competition This generates a destructive behavior and drains the creative energy of the group For example, we often perceive disagreement with our ideas as a put-down The natural reaction is to regain our self-esteem, often by trying to sabotage the ideas of those who disagreed with us Instead of looking for ways to improve their ideas we chose to destroy them Eager to express our own ideas, we may totally ignore what others suggest Power-seekers may use ploys such as highlighting flaws in others' arguments, barbed questions and displays of expertise to show their supremacy These types of behavior create an atmosphere which is incompatible with effective problem solving

Another disadvantage is that working in group is a relatively slow process compared with working alone It requires individuals to come together at an assigned time, usually for about a long time, and this can cause organizational problems It is really time -consuming It is not only time-consuming for the students in groups but also for the teacher The teacher needs more time to organize the group work and control all the members in the groups let alone the unsuitable students in groups which makes the class in disorder

To conclude, although there are some disadvantages of group work, the advantages still outweighs Learning from each other in small groups is much more effective than from the teacher alone (Harmer, 1999:116)

2.2.3 Group formation

Small groups or learning teams can be formed in three ways: randomly (counting off or by seat proximity), teacher-selected, or student-selected Random group assignments avoid cliques and ensure that students interact with different students throughout the semester Once you know your students fairly well, teacher-selected groups can be useful for pairing weak and strong students, students with common interests or shared learning styles, etc According to I- Jung (2004), frequently employed grouping methods include random, student-selected and teacher-selected groupings

Random grouping

Random grouping is often used for in-class activities because of its convenience and readiness that is random grouping is a way including collecting and gathering students ignoring any differences among students in terms of their language level, learning style, interests etc

With the seating arrangement, fixing the numbers, using playing cards, or distributing the card of different categories, random grouping is established

For the class of different levels, random group can be used to narrow down the gap between the students of different levels

Student-selected grouping

Compared to random grouping and teacher-selected grouping, selected is preferred Knowing well one another or getting on well with each other can help the students take part in the activities assigned well They can have more talking, making more performances and making the group work activities very interesting However, student-selected grouping can result in making so much noise because of too much socializing This can distract the group activities

better students This kind of grouping can help peer tutoring which is really the most effective way of learning from one another

2.2.4 Group –size

Group size is very flexible depending on many aspects such as task type, the time available, the class and how skillful the group members are? How big the group should be?

The smaller the group is, the more chance each member has The fewer skills of managing the teacher need to have However, when the group is small, there will be a lot of small groups in the class This also leads to the lack of time for them to give report to the class So how many members in each group is enough?

Many authors have suggested that three to five in one group can be the best number Four-member group is suggested by Honeyfield (1991), I-Jung (2004), Ngoh (1991) Four members in a group might lead to more interesting and challenging tasks, with a wide range of opinions being expressed, and more negotiation required for the group members to reach an agreement Six members in

a group should be the maximum number (Honeyfield, 1991; I-Jung, 2004) It can clearly be seen that four is the optimum size to manage students learning It allows a good range of experiences and individual contributions

2.2.5 Teacher roles in group work activities

In Communicative Language Teaching, the teacher has the roles of a guide,

an instructor, an organizer, an assessor, a prompter and a participant (Hammer, 1991) When carrying out group work, even though the students are more independent, the teacher still plays an important role in conducting( designing) the tasks, analyzing the need The teacher will be of great help for the students as the group members interacting with each other as well as helping them with the difficulties

According to Cross (1992:54), the teacher is the manager of an activity who must plant it, organize it, start it, monitor it, time it and in the end conclude it The teacher in the group work activities is not the free one but the one who is active with assisting, supervising and monitoring…the groups The teacher is not only at the

beginning or the end of the learning process but from beginning to the end of it The teacher is activity selector This is very important because the teacher has to create activities that fit the students' skills and abilities, assign group tasks that allow a fair division of energy as well as set up "competitions" among groups; He/she is an instructor so that the students will be not misleading; He/she is a performance controller While the students are working in groups, this is the time for the teacher

to help, to assist them with the knowledge and may be tackling the difficulties they have with the group; He/she is a group evaluator In the group work, the teacher not only evaluates the whole group work but also each member of the group If the teacher has good comments on each group‟s performance, this helps a lot because it

is both good for the students and the teacher himself It is the ideas for the following activities

Whether group work is successful or not, they depend much on how and where the teacher applies these roles

2.2.6 Common oral activities for group work

There are many activities that can be applied for group work but which one

is suitable for the each class type?

For the most common activities, the researcher has quoted three ones which are being used mainly among the students in her class They are: group discussion, debating and cross grouping The reason why the researcher makes a choice among many other activities is that they are used in every speaking lesson in new English

10 textbook

Group discussion

Discussion sections create great opportunity for students to use active learning strategies to make your classroom a more interactive environment In this kind of activity, the students have a chance to share their ideas with their friends Moreover, their individuals‟ opinions are also clearly seen and highly appreciated

In this part, the students have used a lot of discussion language to show their ideas

to their partners According to Ur, ( 1992: 2), discussion is the “most natural and effective way for learners to practice talking freely in English is by thinking out

some problem or situation together through verbal interchange of ideas; or in simpler terms, to discuss” He also adds some factors to the good (or successful) discussion, that is, topic, group work activity and role play

Sometimes in the group discussion, the group has also to find a solution to a problem of different kind In groups, students can summarize main points; review problems such as for exams, compare and contrast knowledge, ideas, or theories; solve problems; or generate comments for you on class progress or on their levels of skill and understanding

Debating

In the book, “Discussion that works”, (1992:105) even though Penny Ur lists some limitations in debating, he also shows his regret if debating is completely excluded from group work because there are many students enjoying this kind of discussion and he also emphasized the importance of debating when he affirms the things learned in this activity much better than any other ones It is much more interesting when he clearly presents some very useful steps in designing the debating activity including the number of people in each group, the quantity of group, the debating topics, group selection, and time limit as well as motivation creation

This is also called “For and against” (Ur, 1996, p134, box 9.6) that is the whole is divided into two big group that One group is for and the other is against This kind of group work activity includes 2 stages The first is preparation, the second is debating In the first stage, the teacher thinks of the arguments would be for or against In the second stage, the teacher divides the class into 2 groups One has to think of the reasons which agree with the topics set by the teacher and the other group also thinks of the reason but disagrees with that Then, one or two main speakers present the case for each group, and after that, the discussion is then thrown open for free participation Very importantly, at the end of the discussion, the teacher has to put the issue to the vote At this point the teacher may abandon the view of the group he/she does not accept and vote according to his/her own inclination

Cross grouping

Cross grouping is a new kind of activity that can make a lot of improvement

in speaking It is not only the involvement of the member in each group but also the exchange of member in each group for the new and may be more attractive environment for speaking activity It can be also called “Jigsaw” First, the students

in a class are divided into some small groups After discussing with the partners in the experts groups, the students are mixed and they will share the opinion with other partners in other cooperative group For this, the ideas are exchanged and students can learn from one another

Problems and solutions in making the group work activities in class effective

According to Jacobs and Hall (1994), there are many problems associated with group work which can be solved with careful preparation, clear instructions and appropriate facilitations

Some students talk too much or dominate the group

a Talk to the students privately Explain that while you are pleased that they have a lot to contribute, you would like other learners to have more opportunities to think for themselves Sometimes, the students just need to be made aware of the situation

b Even if you have not planned to assign roles to group members, do so at

an appropriate point during the group task, either for all groups or for only the one(s) with a dominant students Ensure that some roles require significant periods

of silence (e.g summarizer, detective, recorder, observer, timekeeper, a liaison among the groups.) Alternately, speak privately to the dominant students and give him or her one of these roles

c Ask the entire group to reflect on how it is functioning with questions such as: How well did you complete the task as a group? Did someone take the lead, and

if so, how did this come about? Whose ideas are most strongly presented in the solution to the task? Was there anything you thought but didn‟t actually say?

d During long period of group work , call for regulation periods of reflective silence (e.g., after every fifteen to twenty minutes) in which students think (and

write) about the points that have been made, contradictions that have surfaced, omissions that should be added, and where the discussion should go next When signaling for the discussion to resume, invite students who have said little to read out what they have written

Some students speak too little or are “freeloading”

a Speak to the students privately to determine the reason for lack of participation, e.g., introversion, fear of looking stupid, feeling unprepared, fearing a trap, feeling unwelcome, past experiences, trying to be cool, lack of reward

b Consider using even smaller groups Quiet students may feel more comfortable participating in this situation, and “freeloading” students will be less able to coast on the other‟s efforts

c Ask students occasionally to hand in their group notes or their preparation notes

d As when handling dominating students, assign ones to one or all of the group members Some roles that require active vocal participation are spokesperson, skeptic, organizer, facilitator, liaison to other group

e Suggest go round (or Circle of voices), so that each group member has to contribute

f Offer a general reminder, either to the whole class or to a group in particular, that every student has valuable input and that there is no poor question

Be sure to respond appropriately, then, when students have comments or questions

g Recognize that quantity is not quality There is a place for silence in discussion

h If the students are shy, consider incorporating an electric discussion into the course Students may find it easier to contribute on a class bulletin board, chat room

i Remind students that the content of the group work will be tested on a quiz

or test You could design a test question in which students must summarize their group‟s result

Students are not listening to fellow group members

a Comment on the issue in the general class setting

b Tell the students that in the plenary session, you will call on one member

of each group (your choice) to summarize the group‟s discussion or answers

c Call a time-out, and restructure the activity so that all students must connect what they say to what the previous person just said

Students lack the social skills needed to work with others

a Encourage students who prefer to work alone to stay in group work and at the same time assist the group by assigning them a task that would give them some sort of isolation

b Explain and ask students to get familiar with active and tolerant listening

c Show students the way to give and receive constructive criticism

d Tell the students how to negotiate, manage disagreements

e Pre-teach students the way to refuse, disagree, argue……… politely in English

f Use pair work and group work frequently so that students will become more skillful

Students overuse mother-tongue

a At the beginning of the activity, teachers should emphasize that students must use the target language in group work

b During the group work, teachers move around the classroom to remind learners of this rule and provide them with language assistance

c Make the work task oriented

d Join the group briefly to encourage and facilitate the learner‟s participation

e Set rules, agreed to by the class, for disciplining frequent offenders

f Limit the time available It is better to have a shorter time than is strictly necessary for full practice of the language because students tend to use mother tongue of spare time at the end of the group

g Pre -teach some words or phrase necessary for group work activities

h Give someone in the group the role of language monitor

2.3 Previous study related to group work

To achieve fluent speaking ability may entail a number of hardships, so effective group work seems to be remarkably involved in the process of speaking practice It is the reason why many researchers concern about investigating issues related to second or foreign language learners‟ speaking and components around

communicative competence To support this research, there are some previous

studies consulted by the researcher

The research conducted by Meng (2009) found that the teacher‟s role will change from a lecturer to a guide leading learners Learners also assume new roles

in the group work They are collaborators and active participants rather than only passive knowledge receivers The class mode changes from teacher-centered to learner-centered

The research conducted by Hamzah and Ting (2010) showed the students‟ positive responses towards the group work activities in class This contributed to a significant increase in students‟ participation in their groups Hence, group work could have significant pedagogical implications and could be a practical technique

if they are carefully planned to teach speaking skills amongst the students

Divya John‟s research, carried out in 2017 was a reflective study using a sample activity conducted in the English class for engineering students These students were in an English class where all of them were well aware of the importance of making improvement in their English speaking skill, because this helped them to convey a complete and successful message to communicate Evaluations of both students and the researcher were carried out and analyzed Focusing on the factors analyzed, he came up with guidelines and recommendations for ideal group work and he suggested a 5D procedure which is:

1 Direct: the teacher directs the students how to go about the group work

2 Discuss: the students discuss among themselves

3 Develop: the students develop the content for presentation

4 Deliver: the students deliver the content in front of the class

5 Document: the teacher documents the feedback

The researcher recommended creating meaningful activities, controlling the attitude of the students with careful internal evaluation and observation for speaking, and including a final oral exam The study concluded with the idea that the best way to foster speaking skills is through group work and when done with enough planning and monitoring, group work can inspire students in any class, regardless of age, subject of study, aptitude and attitude

Salmi Ibtissem (2013) also admitted the significance of using work group to motivate speaking skill in class In his research, he made effort to explain the importance of establishing a comfortable and friendly environment as an attempt to get learners to use the language appropriately Therefore, the research targets to describe two aspects: group work activities and its benefits in improving learners‟ speaking proficiency The relationship between group work activities and students‟ speaking output was studied The results revealed that group work is considered to

be the appropriate and quite effective technique for improving learners‟ language use and classroom performance, which also affects learners‟ oral proficiency

In Viet Nam, researches into this topic matter are also common Pham Thanh Mai (2007) did research into group discussion and its impacts on speaking ability of the EFL students in Military Science Academy She formed groups randomly though to increase the reliability of the research, students participated in the research were selected in advance according to some criteria Pre-intervention questionnaires and post-intervention questionnaire were distributed before and after the implementation of group work During the research period, the researcher carefully recorded group work and individual presentations on a weekly basis for a period of two-month study The results of the study show that group discussion has great impact on speaking ability of the students Most of them found that their speaking ability had been improved after working in group discussion

Another research into the impacts of group work on students‟ speaking ability by Le Thuy Duong (2014) also showed that group work has positive influence on students‟ speaking ability It provides them with more opportunities to

speak, helps them reduce anxiety and increases their confidence Thanks to regular peer and group feedback, students step by step improved their fluency and accuracy

in speaking However, there were also some problems that the researcher encountered such as the difficulty level of the group task, the lack of time, effort to control group work, the high level of noise Duong (2014) then made some suggestions such as assigning a group leader, awarding students with good performance and simplifying the task for better group work practice

Do Thi Huyen (2017) also investigated the use of group work to improve first year students‟ speaking skills at Hanoi University of Industry The study again confirms the positive impacts of group work on students‟ speaking ability, especially on students‟ grammar and vocabulary mastery as well as fluency, which was proved by their improvements of scoring and performance In this study, the researcher strictly followed the cycle of action research framework starting with planning, then continuing with acting, observing and reflecting The researcher also proposed clear criteria for assessing pre-test and post-test in terms of pronunciation, grammar, word order, fluency and vocabulary Evaluation based on such criteria can make it clear about the improvement of students‟ speaking skills after the purposeful implementation of group work activities

According to the previous studies‟ results, the application of group work has significant impacts on enhancing students‟ speaking ability as well as promoting their responsibility and motivation Especially for 10th grade students who have not had many opportunities to practice this skill Therefore, the practitioner decided to conduct such activities in her class and investigate its influence on her students

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents a review of the methodology of the study It describes

in detail the subjects of the study, the research design, the procedures and the data collection instruments

3.1 Context and participants of the study

3.1.1 The context

The study was conducted at Yen Phong 2 High School in Bac Ninh Province The school was newly established about 16 years ago; therefore, the facilities are comparatively new and modern The school has a big size with 45 classes, but each grade only has a class majoring in English Most of students who pass the university entrance exams are in these classes The other classes including 10A1 are bad at English in general and at speaking in particular It is very difficult for them to master speaking skill

The course book used is the new English text book named “English 10” - Volume 2 by Hoang Van Van and Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa (2018), with the cooperation by David Kaye, published by Pearson Longman Press and Ministry of Education and Training The book consists of five units and two unit reviews Each unit includes eight parts which are Getting Started, Language, Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing, Communication and Culture, Looking Back and Project The second semester which lasts for twelve weeks with thirty seven periods and teachers are required to deal with the all units of volume 2 In the textbook, speaking is a frequent classroom activity with practice range from more controlled to freer ones More specifically, each unit starts by providing students with necessary language input and getting them to discuss simple matters, and ends with the preparation and completion of a project in which students are supposed to practice speaking in a

freer and more complicated way

3.2 Reasons to choose action research method

Dick (2002) defines action research as a natural way of acting and researching at the same time It is a form of self-reflective inquiry that teachers can use to improve the rationality and justice of their own practices, their understanding

of these practices, and the situations in which these practices are carried out (Carr & Kemmis, 1983) Action research provides teachers a means to investigate their own practice, have an insight into what they and their students actually do and fail to do, develop a deeper understanding of students, and based on that they are more able to decide what works best and what needs improvement in their classrooms (Gay & Airasian, 2003)

Basing on the definition and description of an action research, it can be seen that there are four distinguishing features making action research different from other types of research Firstly, action research is conducted by teachers themselves

Conducting an action research helps teachers identify the problems in their teaching practice as well as the problems their students encounter to be able to draw up a plan to solve it, implement and evaluate the effects of their solutions on their students‟ learning The second point is that action research is a reproduction cycle, which means after the evaluation, the process can be repeated with the revised plan Thirdly, it is collaborative Teachers conducting an action research have to participate, collaborate, and examine their knowledge and the ways they interpret themselves and their actions They do research in their own teaching context and collect data about how they teach as all the data comes from the class on which the researcher is working They invite students to study their own learning and to comment on their teaching method, curriculum and organization of their learning Last but not least, action research aims at changing things (Nunan, 1992) It means that for teachers, the study conducted aims to change and improve the situation within the class that they are taking care of, and it also affects the students‟ output

to some extents

In this study, the researcher‟s purpose is to investigate the challenges that her students face in developing their speaking skills, identify the impacts of group work intervention on enhancing their speaking ability and based on the findings to make suggestions on how to apply group work effectively in her own teaching context To achieve these aims, action research framework seems to be the most suitable; therefore, she decided to do this research following the steps proposed for an action research

3.3 Phases of action research

So far, a number of action research models have been proposed by various researchers According to Kemmis and Mctaggart (2000), action research has number of cycles, each cycle of an action research often involves the planning of a change, the acting and observation of the process and the consequences of the change, and the reflection on these processes and consequences After a cycle ends, the new cycle begins, following the same steps An illustration of action research's cycles by Kemmis and McTaggart (2000:564) is presented in the following figures

Figure 3.1: Action research spiral (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2000:564)

The figure outlines four steps in action, the transition from one essential phase to another and how the progress can be done through the system It can be clearly seen that in an action research study, the researcher does not stop after receiving the results from his actions He must evaluate the effectiveness of his actions as well as the limitations of the methods After that, he should modify the plan, make some changes and do it again for better results These stages are inseparable but embedded in action and reflection

Figure 3.2: Action research framework (adapted from Lewin, 1946)

Figure 3.2 presents detailed action research model by Lewin (1946) The four steps in this model are described as follows:

- Diagnosing and plan: the researcher needs to identify the problem by observing the context or collecting information about the problem In addition, researcher also wishes to make a plan himself for the next action including opinion

of new method changing or any amendment for the current context The plan should

be clear enough to be understood and easy enough to be followed

- Implement action strategy: the researcher proposes different ways or methods which can be used to solve the problem After considering the advantages and disadvantages of different solutions, the researcher chooses one course of actions to apply in the study context The new method applied should be suitable for specific context

- Evaluate action strategy: This is an important stage In this stage, the researcher reviews what she or he has done and makes a conclusion on his own The findings of research study might base on some extents of evaluation stage The researcher analyzes the data to find out the consequences of a taken action, presents the general findings, what can be solved and what remains problematic, from which

he adjusts the plan to act again and another cycle in an action research begins

In this study, the researcher underwent the following action research framework by Kemmis and McTaggart (2000):

 Planning the action

 Implementing the action

 Observing the action

 Reflecting the action

3.4 Weekly schedules and research procedures

This part presents details about the group work topics and activities as well

as the procedures that the researcher followed to conduct this research

3.4.1 Weekly schedules

Due to the time constraint and the fact that there was a strict syllabus to follow, the researcher could only implement activities focusing on the two major parts in the textbook that require more speaking, namely Speaking and Project

The table below shows the topics, requirement, preparation and group activities of all speaking lessons that the researcher had to complete during the twelve weeks of the research It also gives information about the procedures the researcher followed in this period, which mainly involves the preparation process and the group speaking activities

Table 3.1: The timetable of the action implementation

Week Unit/ Topic Task

requirement Preparation Group activity

- Ask and answer about equal job opportunities for men and women with three students in a group

- Ask and answer questions in groups

- Report about their friends‟ opinions about equal job opportunities

- Get feedback from other group members and teacher

on gender equality in their class and school

- Do a survey on gender equality with different students in the class

- Report the survey results in groups

- Present in front of the whole class

- Ask and answer questions in groups

- Get feedback from other group members and teacher

UK and Russia

- Read about one country, either

UK or Russia, noting down the most interesting information and

- Read the traditions and customs in groups and then share them with other groups

- Discuss popular foods, drinks, sports

Week Unit/ Topic Task

requirement Preparation Group activity

- Giving a mini- talk about some cultural

aspects of Viet Nam

share with other groups

- Each group makes a list of popular foods and drinks, popular sports and festivals in Viet Nam Rank them in the order

of popularity

and festivals in Vietnam

- Get feedback from other group members and teacher

of Vietnamese culture and some Dos and Don‟ts to help them avoid embarrassment during their stay in Viet Nam

- Ask each group

to choose one aspect, discuss and collect information and make an outline for their presentation

- Students may prepare for the research at home before the class

- Collect information about the advantages of electronic

devices in learning

- Present about their ideas of a TV show in group

- Ask and answer questions in groups

- Present about how useful electronic devices are in learning

- Get feedback from other group members and teacher

- Ask students to choose between using and

- Discuss the reasons why they choose to use

or ban the electronic

Week Unit/ Topic Task

requirement Preparation Group activity

the use/ ban of electronic devices in the classroom as well as talk about possible rules of using the devices in class

banning electronic devices in the classroom, and provide reasons for their choice

- Ask students make a list of limiting the use

of the electronic devices (if they select using the devices)

devices in groups

- Present in groups in front of the whole class

- Get feedback from other group members and teacher

of pollution and talking about causes and negative effects of pollution on our

environment and health

- Identify types

of pollution

- Prepare a talk about causes and negative impacts

of pollution on our environment and health

- Each group chooses one type of pollution and learn about the causes and negative effects clearly

- Prepare group presentation then present in front of the class

- Listen to other groups‟ presentation, discuss and votes for the most interesting ideas

- Get feedback from other group members and teacher

- Ask students brainstorm all the necessary information and arrange it in logical order

- Encourage

- Discuss in groups

- Make a group presentation in front of the class and listen to other groups‟ contribution

- Get feedback from

Week Unit/ Topic Task

requirement Preparation Group activity

environmental pollution

students to search for some pictures or photos to support their ideas

other group members and teacher

33 Unit 10:

Ecotourism

- Speaking:

Talking about ecotourism in different places in Viet Nam and eco-tourists‟

activities

- Study some information about Sa Pa, Central

Highlands, and Can Gio Biosphere

Reserve

- Each group chooses a place to discuss

- Make presentation in groups and try to give

as many information about the place as possible

- Listen to their friends‟ presentation and give feedback

- Get feedback from other group members and teacher

34 Unit 10:

Ecotourism

(cont)

Project: Carry out a survey

to find out who in your group has been on an eco-tour and who has never been on one

- - Discuss in groups, one

student is responsible for taking note of everybody‟s answers to complete the survey table

- Let the groups display their survey tables on the board or classroom walls

- Make a presentation

in front of the class

- Listen to their friends‟ presentation and give feedback

- Get feedback from other group members and teacher

35 REVIEW 4

3.4.2 Research procedures

As previously mentioned, this research followed the four steps of action research proposed by Kemmis and McTaggart (2000), which includes planning, implementing, observation, and reflection Information on how the researcher underwent each step is specified in the following part

Planning

In this stage, the researcher prepared detailed lesson plans for each class period Such information regarding the lexical items to provide students, types of speaking activities to be conducted, instructions to give, procedures to follow

Acting and Observing

For acting, the researcher carried out the lesson plans and conducted the teaching activities step by step The implementation of group work for speaking lessons lasted for twelve weeks Before each speaking lesson, students were instructed to do some preparation at home which mostly involves preparing for the topical lexical items, brainstorming ideas, collecting necessary information and preparing posters for illustration (if required) During the class time, students were required to work in groups to conduct such activities as carrying out a survey, discussing, making individual presentation in groups or making group presentation

in front of the class

During this stage, the researcher took the role of a teacher who provided the instructions, monitored the class activities, motivate interaction, facilitated students and provided constructive feedback to students Besides, the researcher also acted as

an observer, making notes on students‟ attitudes towards the implementation of group work, their level of participation and interaction, and their difficulties and strategies to overcome the difficulties

Reflection

In the final stage, the reflection, students were asked to provide feedback on other students‟ presentation and contribution in group work Students also received

feedback from the teacher about their strengths, weaknesses together with some advice on how to solve their problems After each speaking lesson, students were also required to complete a learning log in which they briefly reported on what they learnt from the lesson The researcher then collected these logs and analyzed to get more information on students‟ learning This helps the researcher to better evaluate the results of the classroom activity, students‟ improvement and based on that, necessary adjustments can be made in the following lessons

3.5 Data collection instruments

This study used three instruments: survey questionnaire for students, class observation, pre-test and post-test

3.5.1 The questionnaires for students

The survey questionnaire is one of the most effective instruments for collecting data in social science It puts less pressure on respondents, and analysis of answers is straightforward Gillham (2000) In this research, the survey questionnaires were employed as one of the main sources for the researcher to investigate students‟ difficulties in learning speaking as well as their attitude about the effectiveness of group work in helping them improve their speaking skill

The survey questionnaires were delivered to students of class 10A1 at Yen Phong 2 High School in the middle of the second semester of the school year 2019-2020

The researcher designed the questionnaire with closed questions and multiple choice questions to investigate how often students speak English in class and ask for the students‟ opinions about their interest in speaking lesson, their interest in group work, the group work activities they often participate in as well as their difficulties

in speaking to become good English speakers

The questionnaire consisted of two parts: in part I, students had to give some personal information about themselves such as name, class and gender In apart II, students had to give their opinions as well as answer some questions relating group work in English speaking class

Question 1: ask the students to give their opinion about the levels of difficulty of speaking skill

Question 2: ask how much they like English speaking lesson

Question 3: ask how much they feel interested in learning speaking English Question 4: ask when students speak English

Question 5: ask how many times the students speak English in a forty-five speaking class

Question 6: ask how often they have problems when speaking English

Question 7: students give their difficulties in speaking English

Question 8: ask students about the activities they like to participate in a speaking class

Question 9: ask about how much they are interested in English speaking activities

Question 10: ask students about the importance of English speaking skill

3.5.2 Class observation

In this thesis, the researcher prepared an observation sheet with some

statements to observe the students during the treatment by ticking yes or no cross

In the second semester, the researcher observed two speaking periods in class 10A1 to study the participants‟ attitudes and behavior in speaking lessons During the observed lessons, she just sat silently at the last row of the classroom in order not

to be involved in the class‟ activities Moreover, besides observing the class‟ general atmosphere, she tried to pay attention to the subjects who directly participated in speaking activities by using observation checklist to meet her purpose At the same time, she also took brief descriptions in detail for each observed speaking period By

this way, it would be very helpful for the demand of the data analysis

3.5.3 Test

A researcher made speaking test which is the main instrument used in this study which will be administered as pre-test and post-test The tests were administered to the group of the study The pre-test was designed with the contents from unit 1 to unit 5 of new English 10 textbook And the same instrument was used as post-test designed with the contents from unit 6 to unit 10 of new English

10 textbook Both of the tests include 3 parts: introduction, presentation about a chosen topic, and ask and answer the questions related to the topics

A pre-test was used to the group before starting the lessons The purpose of doing pretest is to get speaking score of the students before doing treatment In pre-test, the researcher called the students one by one to come in front of the class, sitting in front of the researcher‟s table and answering the teacher‟s questions as well as presenting the chosen topic orally

After all the lessons accomplish, the group was given the posttest Post-test was administered after finishing of giving treatment The purpose of doing post-test

is to get the students‟ speaking score after doing treatment In the post-test, the students were evaluated individually like in the pre-test The form of post-test is similar to pre-test

The data collected through the questionnaire, observation sheet and the two tests were analyzed using Microsoft Excel application The results were analyzed with the support of figures, tables and charts

Table 3.2: Analysis and Statistical tools Analysis Statistical Tools

1 Students‟ attitude in speaking English frequency, percentage

2 Comparison on the performance of the students T-test