A study on students behavior in group work in speaking classes at vinh uiniversity masters thesis in education

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY LÊ THỊ THANH BÌNH A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ BEHAVIOR IN GROUP WORK IN SPEAKING CLASSES AT VINH UNIVERSITY Major: Teaching English to Sp

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

LÊ THỊ THANH BÌNH

A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ BEHAVIOR IN GROUP WORK IN SPEAKING

CLASSES AT VINH UNIVERSITY

MASTER‘S THESIS IN EDUCATION

Nghe An, 2014

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

LÊ THỊ THANH BÌNH

A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ BEHAVIOR IN GROUP WORK IN SPEAKING

CLASSES AT VINH UNIVERSITY

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

Code: 60140111

MASTER‘S THESIS IN EDUCATION

SUPERVISOR: Lê Phạm Hoài Hương, Assoc Prof., Ph.D

Nghe An, 2014

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my very affectionate and deeply-felt thanks

to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Le Pham Hoai Huong, for giving effective

instructions and invaluable advice during the preparation and completion of this

graduation paper I owe her a dept of gratitude that cannot be measured

I also wish to acknowledge my debt to all the teachers of the Foreign

Languages Department at Vinh University as well as some teachers from Vietnam

National University, Hanoi – College of Foreign Languages, whose lectures and

ideas have inspired my thesis and whom it is impossible to thank individually

My appreciation also goes to the students at Vinh University for their valuable

assistance in completing my survey questionnaire and providing me with a lot of

useful information

Finally, I would like to send my great thanks to my family, my friends who

have directly or indirectly helped me with their encouragement and advice

On the whole, without all these help my graduation paper would not have

possibly been completed

Due to limited scope, it is sure that in this graduation paper, mistakes are

inevitable, that is why I hope to receive further comments and advice to make it

better

Vinh, 2014

LE THI THANH BINH

ABSTRACT

This study was set out to investigate students‘ behavior in group work in speaking classes at Vinh University The study used both quantitative and qualitative approaches in methodology A questionnaire was sent to 100 students who came from different regions from mountainous areas to city centers and had no common in major Interview data was also collected with 10 students and 5 teachers These teachers have had a period of time applying group work in English speaking classes In addition, observation was conducted in some classes with group work activities

Results highlight the complexity of what happens when students work in groups in English speaking classes Some dominant behavior of students in group work includes impatience, selfishness, impoliteness, embarrassment and non- cooperation with partners The study also shows that there is a conflict between teachers‘ intentions and students‘ interests They seem dissatisfied with some of teachers‘ decision, especially comments and marks Therefore, teachers‘ roles in those classes are strongly emphasized although students are still center of the class Based on the findings of the study, implications were made for teachers and students in managing group work

TABLES AND CHARTS

Table 2.1: Stages in implementing group work (Ngoh, 1991) 15

Chart 4.1: Students‘ opinions of the importance of group work in speaking classes 34

Chart 4.2: Students‘ interests in their roles in group work 36

Chart 4.3: Students‘ attitudes towards speaking activities in group work 37

Chart 4.4: Students‘ preference for grouping techniques 38

Chart 4.5: Students‘ misbehavior perceived by group members in speaking classes 39

Chart 4 6: Students‘ speaking habits effects on others in group work 40

Chart 4.7: Teacher‘s influence on students‘ behavior in group work 41

Chart 4.8: Effects of classroom settings on students in group work 42

Chart 4.9: Students‘ behavior with difficult tasks 43

Chart 4.10: Reasons causing students‘ low participant 44

Table 4 2: Students‘ suggestions for teachers implementing group work in speaking classes 45

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

CLL: Cooperative Language Learning

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

ESL: English as a Second Language

GW: Group Work

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

Table of contents v

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Research aims: 2

1.3 Research questions: 2

1.4 Research significance 3

1.5 Scope of the study 3

1.6 Structure thesis 3

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Introduction 4

2.2 Definitions of key terms 4

2.2.1.Group work 4

2.2.2.Speaking 4

2.2.3 Behaviour 6

2.3.Group work 9

2.3.1.Advantages 9

2.3.2 Disadvantages 10

2.3.3.The formation of group work 12

2.3.3.4 Procedures for pair work and group work 14

2.4.Speaking 16

2.4.1.Characteristics of speaking 16

2.4.2 Problems with speaking and speaking activities 17

2.4.2.1 Problems with speaking 17

2.4.2.2.Problems with speaking activities 18

2.4.3.Principles for choosing speaking activities 19

2.4.5 Types of classroom speaking performance 21

2.5.Group work in speaking lesson 22

2.6.Behavior 24

2.6.1 The reasons why behavior problems occur 24

2.6.2.Factors affecting students‘ behavior in the class 25

2.7.Previous studies 27

2.8.Summary 28

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 29

3.1.Introduction 29

3.2.Research methodology 29

3.3.Paricipants 30

3.4.Data collection methods 30

3.4.1.Questionnaire 30

3.4.2.Interview 31

3.4.3.Observation 32

3.5.Data analysis 32

3.6.Summary 33

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 34

4.1 Introduction 34

4.2.Findings 34

4.2.1 The reality of applying group work in speaking classes at Vinh University 34

4.2.1.1.Students‘ opinions of the importance of group work in speaking classes 34

4.2.1.2 Students‘ interests in their roles in group work 35

4.2.1.3 Students‘ attitudes towards speaking activities in group work 36

4.2.1.4.Students‘ preference for grouping techniques 37

4.2.2.Students‘ behavior in group work in speaking classes 39

4.2.2.1.Students‘ misbehavior perceived by group members in speaking classes 39

4.2.2.2 Students‘ speaking habits in group work 40

4.2.2.3.Teacher‘s influence on students‘ behavior in group work 41

4.2.2.4 The effects of classroom settings on students in group work 42

4.2.2.5 Students‘ behavior with difficult tasks 42

4.2.2.6 Reasons causing students‘ low participation 43

4.2.3 Students‘ suggestions for teachers implementing group work in speaking classes 44

4.3 Discussion 46

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION .52

5.1 Summary of key findings 52

5.2.1.Implications for teachers 52

5.2.2.Implications for students 58

5.3.Limitations of the research 65

5.4.Suggestions for further studies 66

REFERENCES 67

APPENDIX I 70

APPENDIX II 75

APPENDIX III 76

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

Nowadays, people seem to familiar with terms ―global citizen‖, ―interaction‖,

―collaboration‖ which highly consider the relationship between person and person Therefore, the word ―group work‖ has gradually become a key term in any fields of life such as business, sport and education It can be seen that group work enhance effective and efficient achievement of an organization‘s work; members of a team are more committed to work on goals that they help to create Moreover, everyone

in group work can contribute their unique abilities and they have a sense of

belonging (Davis, 1993) Problem-solving, persuasive argumentation and teamwork

are necessary skills and valued by employers

Group work is also emphasized in Communicative Language Teaching which

is popular in teaching methodology in many countries Barkley (2005) believes that learners will obtain several benefits Group work is one pedagogical strategy that promotes participation and interaction It fosters a deeper and more active learning process, and it also provides instructors with valuable demonstrations of the degree

to which students understand particular topics or concepts In addition to exposing students to different approaches and ways of thinking, working with other students

in groups can promote a sense of belonging that combats the anonymity and isolation that many students experience at a large campus Some students may initially be reluctant to participate in group work, so sharing the reasons for group work with your students can help to convince the reluctant ones It might help them

to know that research has shown that groups frequently devise more and better solutions than the most advanced individual Working together in groups also gives students the opportunity to learn from and teach each other Classroom research has shown that students often learn better from each other than they do from a teacher However, the complexity of what occurs when students are placed in groups

as part of their English speaking lessons should be explored It is difficult to find

out what the students actually behave in these situations It is clear that students in groups often do not do what the teacher expects Neither do the students always move towards the teacher‘s intentions when working in groups Breen (1987: 23) warns that ‗learners are capable of playing havoc with the most carefully designed and much-used task‘

Being a teacher at Vinh University, the author has recognized that group work

is widely used in any English speaking classes but students‘ behavior is various And she wants to do research on it with the hope to find out positive and negative sides of group work and contribute some suggestions to build better speaking classes

Those reasons above lead to the study “A study on students’ behavior in group work in English speaking classes at Vinh University”

The research tries to answer the following questions:

1 What do students think of group work carried out in English speaking classes at Vinh university?

2 How do students behave in group work in English speaking classes at this university?

3 What should be changed to improve the effectiveness of group work in English speaking classes?

1.4 Research significance

The research zooms in the way students behave and react with each other and with teachers That helps teachers know what students like to do and what they do not The research focuses on understanding students‘ needs, thoughts and ideas in group work From that teachers can modify group work effectively in order that students feel excited to join in any activities with others

1.5 Scope of the study

Many sides of group work have been studied by researchers They have described its advantages and disadvantages, methods to manage group work They have also found out activities related to group work in reading, writing, listening and writing In this thesis, the author would like to pay attention on students‘ behavior in group work in English speaking class

The research collects statistics from survey with 100 students, interview 10 students and observations of some classes at Vinh University

1.6 Thesis structure

The study consists of five chapters:

Chapter 1, entitled ―Introduction‖, outlines the background of the study In this part, the author presents the reasons for choosing the topic, the purposes, the scope, the research questions, and the organization of the study

Chapter 2 , ‗Literature Review‘, presents an overview of what is group work, its advantages and disadvantages; definition of behavior; previous studies related to this topic in foreign countries and in Vietnam

In Chapter 3, ―Methodology‖ presents the detailed procedure of the study: the methodology, population selection, data collection and analysis

Chapter 4 is the ―Findings and Discussion‖ which provides data description and analysis with findings

The last chapter, ―Conclusion and Recommendations‖, summarizes main points and contents of the study based on the results of the study; suggests some techniques for teaching and presents the recommendation for further research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction

This chapter presents the literature review First, it will present the definitions

of key terms such as ―group work‖, ―speaking‖, ―behavior‖ Then, it introduces the roles of group work in speaking classes and its relationship with students‘ behavior Readers can find out some previous studies of this topic in foreign countries and Vietnam Especially, it explains the reason why there should be the current study

2.2 Definitions of key terms

2.2.1.Group work

While there are some very different ways of defining groups – often depending upon which aspect of them that commentators and researchers want to focus upon – it is worthwhile looking to a definition that takes things back to basics

Forsyth (2006: 2-3) defines a group as ―two or more individuals who are connected

to one another by social relationships‖ This definition has the merit of bringing

together three elements: the number of individuals involved, connection, and relationship

Doff (1988: 137) also defines group work as 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)

Like pair work, group work also gives students more opportunities to practice the target language in the whole class In addition, students can work independently and freely under the teacher‘s control without the pressure of the whole class watching what they are doing

2.2.2.Speaking

Speaking is the productive skill in the oral mode It is crucial to human communication Different linguistics have different concepts of speaking: Brown (1994) defines speaking as a process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information Brown and Yule (1983) also

range of pronunciation, adding that spoken language is made by using the loosely

organized syntax, and non-specific words, phrases and filters such as oh, well, uhuh

etc Speaking requires learners to use grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation to produce speech and understand when, where, why and in what ways to produce language

It is obvious that speaking is the key to human communication Though speaking takes many definitions, following are some of the definitions by the most

famous researchers According to Byrne (1976:8), ―Speaking is a two-way process between the speaker(s) and the listener(s) involving the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding.‖ Both the listener and the speaker have a

positive function to perform: the speaker has to encode the message to be conveyed

in appropriate language, while the listener has to decode the message The message itself in normal speech usually contains a great deal of information that the listener needs And at the same time, the listener is helped by the speakers‘ prosodic features such as stress and intonation which accompany the spoken utterances and form part of its meaning, and also by his facial and body movements

Brown (1983) also reveals that speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking It is often spontaneous, open ended and evolving However, speech is not always unpredictable Language functions that tent to recur in certain discourse situations (declining and invitation, requesting time off from work) can be identified and charted Speaking requires not only that learners know how to produce specific points of language, such as grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary (linguistic competence), but also that they understand when, why and in what way to produce language (sociolinguistic competence) Scott (1978) mentions that an activity involving two or more people in which the participants are both hearers and speakers having to react to what they hear and

make their contribution is speaking Each has an intention or a set of intentions that

he wants to achieve in the interaction and an ability to interpret what is said to him which he can not predict exactly either in terms of form or in terms of meaning

Chaney (1988:13) defined ―Speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contexts‖

In general, different researchers have different concepts of speaking but they all agree with one very important feature of speaking, that is a two way process between the speaker and listener

2.2.3 Behaviour

According to wikipedia ―Behavior or behaviour is the range of actions and mannerisms made by organisms, systems or artificial entities in conjunction with themselves or their environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the (inanimate) physical environment It is the response of the system or organism to various stimuli or inputs, whether internal or external, conscious or subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary‖ Basing

on this definition, students‘ behaviors in groupwork are all actions and mannerisms which students behave with their partners, with group members and with teacher Under the circumstance of English language speaking class, they are various Some may be easily recognized but some probably need more time to analyze Some of them can be either positive or negative for the purpose of cooperating to study English language speaking

Durand (1990) outlines four possible functions of behavior: to escape, to obtain a tangible thing, to engage in sensory activities, and to get attention These functions describe the benefit students get from the behavior - a benefit they may not even be aware of - and help us understand how to intervene to help students change the behavior

Escape-motivated behavior occurs when a student attempts to avoid a task,

demand, situation, or person This can be easy to recognize - for example, when

instance, when kids argue to get out of doing an activity that makes them anxious Common school procedures, such as time-outs or sending the student to the principal's office, can reinforce escape-motivated behavior because they remove the student from the undesirable activity - just what the student wanted

We can understand tangible behavior in two ways: when the function of the

behavior is to obtain a tangible object like money or food or, when the function is to attain a specific agenda The student wants what he wants; when he wants it Students who are self-centered and have inflexible thinking often fall into this category Some children with a history of abuse or neglect may have a low frustration tolerance and operate with the assumption that the only way to get their needs met is to grab the thing they want or overpower someone

We see sensory behavior when a student is motivated by sensory input:

Things feel good, look good, taste good, or sound good Humming loudly while writing, chewing on the end of a pencil, or standing rather than sitting while working are all typical behaviors that fall into this category These become problems when they interfere with learning, are disruptive, or make students look odd to their peers

Finally, with attention-motivated behavior, the student tries to gain attention

from an adult or peer This can present as the student being belligerent, screaming,

or continually interrupting the teacher It can also work in the positive—that is, the girl who dresses up so a boy will notice her or a child who works hard on his reading so the teacher will praise him

Led by Rachel Scherr (2009), members of the Physics Education Research group at the University of Maryland have tried to systematize their observations of student behavior during tutorials Student activities during tutorials can be divided into four different behavioral clusters of activities Because each cluster of activities has different kinds of meaning, the researchers have chosen to describe the clusters

in terms of colors

When a group of students are in the blue behavioral cluster, they are either not

speaking or speaking quietly in low subdued tones with little or no gestures used Their eyes are directed towards their worksheet and typically their bodies are hunched over the desk Speech is not necessarily directed at others Students are said to be in a ―worksheet‖ frame for this particular behavioral cluster

Students are in the green behavioral cluster when they are actively talking to

one another about the tutorial content Students tend to gesture more frequently in this cluster, sit up straight, and make eye contact with one another as they talk Scherr and her colleagues indicate that the students are framing the tutorial as a

―discussion.‖

In the red behavioral cluster, students are interacting with the teaching

assistant or instructor for the course Eye contact is typically made with the teaching assistant or instructor and voices and gestures are more subdued in this frame They are in the ―receptive to TA‖ frame

When students in a group are laughing, fiddling about, and goofing off, they

are in the yellow behavioral cluster Students are typically laughing and fiddling

around during this frame They are more likely to be touching their faces or hair and are not talking about tutorial content Such behavior indicates that they frame that moment as an opportunity of socializing

Most teachers, in many different learning cultures, have moments when their students fail to cooperate in some way, thus disrupting the learning which should be taking place, sometimes getting significantly ―out of control‖ Such moment of disruption can be unsettling not just for teachers but also for students

Problem behavior can take many forms; Paul Waddon and Sean McGovern (1991) list disruptive talking, inaudible responses, cheating in test and unwilling to speak in the target language Of course, their list may reflect the education culture where they were teaching rather than being universal In other contexts we may add behaviours such as insolence to the teachers, insulting or bullying other students,

However, what is characterized as discipline depends on what counts as a well- ordered or disciplined classroom for the individual teacher (Brown and McIntyre 1993:44)

2.3.Group work

2.3.1.Advantages

Research on cooperative learning establishes that working collaborates with others can increase achievement (Slavin, 1990) Group-work provides students opportunities to learn by helping each other From a theoretical perspective, both the help- giver and the help- receiver stand to benefit from sharing information Group work has been incorporated into language teaching and learning in most parts of the world since the emergence of the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in the early 1970s, and has taken firm root in many present-day ESL or EFL classrooms This approach came into being because of the ever-growing need for the use of language for communicative purposes, and because of the fact that a lot

of educators and linguists became more and more dissatisfied with the Lingual and Grammar-Translation methods of language teaching In this context, there began a movement away from traditional lesson formats where emphasis was put on the mastery of different items of grammar, hence shifting practice from controlled activities such as mechanical memorization of dialogs and drills towards communicative activities, which can be successfully done through group work According to Brumfit (1984), group work is often considered an essential feature of communicative language teaching In favor of it, Long & Porter (1985) hold that

Audio-GW can promote students‘ practice, the quality of their talk, their motivation, and positive classroom atmosphere Salmon (1988) supports Long & Porter‘s ideas and adds that group work also helps increase students‘ confidence

Similar to CLT, Cooperative Language Learning (CLL) also promotes learning through communication in pairs or small groups CLL is an approach to teaching that makes maximum use of cooperative activities involving pairs and small groups of learners in the classroom This means each learner is held

accountable for his or her own learning and is motivated to increase the learning of others (Olsen & Kagan, 1992, p.8) The concept ―cooperative‖ in CLL emphasizes

an important aspect: developing classrooms that foster cooperation rather than competition in learning That is to say, students in pairs or groups work together towards a common goal instead of competing with one another for individual

ambitions

Other benefits which group work may offer are mentioned below First of all,

it may maximize each learner‘s opportunity to speak and that practicing in pairs and groups will reduce to some extent the psychological burden of public performance Thanks to group work, students will also have more language practice opportunities and the time they will have for interacting with one another in pairs and groups is absolutely abundant Second, pair and small group activities enable students to take

a more active role in their learning as well as to act as an important resource person for one another (McGroarty, 1989) Last, students learn best when they are actively involved in the learning process via pairs or groups According to Davis (1993), students working in small groups tend to learn more of what is taught and retain it longer than when the same content is presented in other instructional formats

2.3.2 Disadvantages

Besides the aforesaid advantages, several possible problems and difficulties may arise in a class using group work Because a lot of groups work at the same time, the first problem language teachers might confront is that the class gets rather noisy and out of hand We think it is natural for a teacher to feel a need to keep control of the class, but we need to differentiate between ‗productive‘ and

‗unproductive‘ noises The former is exactly what most teachers want to achieve, not the latter A classroom full of students in pairs or groups talking and interacting

in English, even if it is really noisy, is surely what we wish A high level of noise during this session can be tolerated since this is a good sign signifying that the students feel engaged, included and enthusiastic about learning itself when

centered class like the above, where learners do most of the talking in pairs or groups, and take responsibilities for using communicative resources to complete a task, proves to be more conducive to language learning than a teacher-centered class Consequently, the noise which seems to be an inevitable problem in any classrooms can sometimes be very beneficial

Difficulty in monitoring the class is also a problem for teachers As Kumar (1992) mentions, large class size might make interaction and involvement difficult

It is obvious that in Vietnam‘s language teaching context, a classroom often houses approximately over 40 students That is to say, a teacher has to monitor at the same time lots of pairs and groups As a result, he or she will not be able to equally give help and advice to every pair or group

When conducting group work techniques, teachers may encounter some problems as follows:

Harmer (1999: 125) points out that ―Some pairs may find it impossible to concentrate on the task in hand and instead encourage each other to talk about something else, usually in their first language In some groups, members may defer

to the oldest person there, or to the man in otherwise female group People with loud voice can dominate proceedings, less extrovert people may not participate fully enough‖

He also states some following problems teachers deal with when applying group work in their teaching Firstly, group work is frequently noisy, so teachers may lose control of their class Secondly, some students would prefer to the focus of the teacher‘s attention rather than working with their peers Thirdly, individuals may fall into group roles that become fossilized, so that some are passive whereas others may dominate Finally, students in pairs or groups may not focus on the point

of their task, but talk about something else, often in their mother tongue

Obviously, it is difficult for teachers to control all groups at once Some students don‘t like working groups Also, they sometimes use their mother tongue instead of the target language when working in groups

In addition, Ngoh (1991) discovers that some students may choose to remain silent or may not listen to the others because of cultural differences or lack of co-operation among the students in pairs or in groups He also adds ―students who are linguistically deficient tend to resort to their mother tongue when they are engaged

in group work interaction‖ Another problem given by Ngoh (1991) is ―the administration of small group work is a demanding and arduous process, as it is a careful planning, preparation and constant motoring‖

Besides, teachers fear that the potential chaos and conflicts may arise within groups and that in classrooms where students share a common native language, they have the tendency to overuse the mother tongue With the former problem, teachers ought to effectively manage the conflicts that are inevitable in groups Cognitive conflict among students, if managed effectively, can be very constructive, leading to increased motivation and to higher levels of cognitive development and moral reasoning, as Johnson & Johnson (1979) propose With the latter problem, because students feel more secure with their own language, they tend to turn to mother tongue whenever they engage in a conversation or a discussion, and this can be tolerated only for the first time

To sum up, teachers have to deal with a number of problems while conducting group work However, those problems may be overcome if ― teachers consider various factors at different stages of pair work and group work from planning, practice, instruction, organization and process stage to the presentation stage‖ (Sim Grek Ngoh, 1991) Also, group work can be conducted successfully if an appropriate task is selected

2.3.3.The formation of group work

We have to decide how to put individual students into pairs and groups There are a number of factors we might consider when doing this According to Harmer (1999), we can base such a decision on any of the following principles:

Friendship

A key consideration when putting students in pairs or groups is to make sure that we put friends with friends rather than risking the possibility of people working with others whom they find difficult or unpleasant However, our observation may not always accurate and friendship can change from time to time

We can also ask students to get into pairs or groups with whom they like But letting students choose their partner(s) in this way may exclude less popular students

In addition, a sociogram can be used to group students In this way, students are asked to write their name, the students they like best in the class on a piece of paper and the students they don‘t like on the other side The teacher can use this information to make sociograms However, sociograms are time consuming and also fail to answer the problem of what to do with unpopular students

Streaming: Students can be streamed according to their ability

The first suggestion is that pairs and groups should have a mixture of weaker and stronger students Therefore, the more able students can help their less able students

The second one is that we can create groups in which all the student are at the same level This may give us the opportunity to go to a group of weaker students and give them special help they need However, some of the values of cooperative work may be lost

Besides, we can stream students on the basis of participation Students less participating in the lesson may be put together in a group However, the teacher should observe and support them in order to make them concentrate more on the lesson

Chance: Students can be put in pairs and groups by chance This is the easiest

way since it demands little pre-planning We can have students sitting next to or near each other work in pairs or groups Also, students can be put in pairs or groups

at random based on the order of their birthday, or some similar features such as wearing glasses, wearing black, or green, having the same occupation, etc

Changing groups: The group may change while an activity continues

Students can first work in pairs then in groups of four, then groups of eight, or even sixteen

Additionally, teachers can group students based on some following criteria given by Honeyfield (1991)

Free- grouping: students make their own decision about who to work with Same proficiency level grouping: students of the same proficiency level are

grouped together

Mixed proficiency level grouping: students are grouped so that each group

has a mix of proficiency levels

Random grouping: students are located to group in some random way on the

basic of who is sitting next to whom in the class

Grouping based on other differences: in a mixed class, students are grouped

so that each group has a mix of some other characteristics, e.g sex, age, nationality, mother tongue or ethnic origin

In short, our grouping decision is made based on a variety of factors We can put students in pairs or in groups differently according to our own purpose or the class‘s atmosphere or characteristic

2.3.3.4 Procedures for pair work and group work

Harmer (1999) suggests three stages in carrying out pair work and group work

as follows:

Before: we need to give instructions to let students understand what they are

going to do, give them ideas of when they will have finished the task they are going

to get involved in Sometimes, we may ask them to repeat the instructions or to translate them into their first language so as to check that they do understand In some cases, our instructions may involve a demonstration

During: while students are working in pairs or groups we have a number of

options We could, for instance, stand at the front or the side of the class or anywhere else in the classroom, and keep an eye on what is happening Therefore,

we can ―tune in‖ to a particular pair or group from some distance away We then decide whether to go over or to help that pair or group

Instead, we can also go round the class watching and listening to specific pairs and groups Then we may stop and intervene if it is appropriate or necessary We can give them support and suggestions but it is vital that we bear in mind the most appropriate way to do so

According to Sun Grek Ngoh (1991), group work can be organized in a lesson

Planning stage The teacher maps out the specific objectives she

intends to achieve, and the tasks to realize the objectives set

The teacher gives clear, detailed instructions for the required tasks

The teacher arranges the students into groups, making sure there is control and order

The students are engaged in oral interaction in groups in order to achieve the task assigned The group leaders present the product so that the other students can hear or read

The teacher assigns a related task to reinforce learning, and self- evaluates what has been done, and makes amendments to future group work

Table 2.1: Stages in implementing group work (Ngoh, 1991)

After: when pairs and groups stop working together we need to organize

feedback We may have a few pairs or groups quickly demonstrate the language they have been using We can then correct it, if and when necessary and this procedure will give both those students and the rest of the class good information for future learning and action Constructive feedback can greatly enhance students‘ future motivation

2.4.Speaking

2.4.1.Characteristics of speaking

Spoken and written language make different demands on language producers (Brown, 1983) Unlike readers or writers, speakers may need patience and imagination They take turns by turn in a conversation After a speech, the speaker should let a gap of time for the listener to say Communication rarely works when two or more people are speaking at the same time To have an integral and equal relationship, each person needs to feel that others are listening to their problems and speech, and they need to be able to do the same for others

The following are characteristics of speaking:

The context in which it occurs creates its form and meaning, ―including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking‖ (Maryann, 1999) It is often unlimited, open-ended, and evolving Nevertheless, speech may be predictable Language roles that tend to repeat in some discourse contexts can be recognized and painted

Speaking offers that participants know how to use and give out certain points

of language called ―linguistic competence‖ such as vocabulary, grammar, intonation, as well as that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language ―sociolinguistic competence‖

Bygate (1987) confirms speaking as an undervalued skill in many ways As the fact that almost all people can speak, and so take speaking skill too much for granted He also asserts that speaking skill deserves attention every bit as much as

carry out many of their most basic transactions Bygate also highly appreciates speaking by stating that speaking is the medium through which much language is learnt

In conclusion, it is reasonable that speaking is a way to communicate with people By studying what a speaker should do, what activities should be used in a speaking class, and what students‘ needs and suggestions, teachers can help learners enhance their speaking skill and oral competence

2.4.2 Problems with speaking and speaking activities

2.4.2.1 Problems with speaking

Brown (1994) studies characteristics of spoken language and finds out the problems of speaking He points out as follows:

- Clusterings: In order to speak fluently, speakers have to select from their

store of language clustering that is groups of words, not word by word

- Reduced forms: Contractions, elisions, reduced vowels, etc create difficulties

in teaching and learning spoken English If learners do not learn colloquial contractions, they can develop the kind of speaking that is stilted and bookish

- Colloquial language: Colloquialism appears both in monologues and

dialogues If learners are only exposed to standard English and/or ―textbook‖ language, they sometimes find it hard to understand and produce words, idioms and phrases of colloquial language

- Stress, rhyme and intonation: Learners of English often find it difficult to

pronounce English words, to stress the right syllables, to follow the stress-times rhythm and intonation patterns of spoken English

- Affective factors: Learners learning to speak often encounter the risk of

saying out things that may be wrong, stupid and incomprehensible At those times, they tend to be anxious because they do not want to be judged by other learners

- Interaction: The greatest difficulty that learners face in learning to speak

originates from the interactive natural of most communication Engaging in process

of negotiation of meaning with many discourse constraints, learners have to do the

complex task of choosing what to say, how to say, when to speak, etc Learners are affected by their interlocutors‘ performance

2.4.2.2.Problems with speaking activities

Speaking activities seem exciting, attractive and easy to design Nevertheless, there are problems teachers often meet when carrying out Ur (1996:121) lists out the following:

- Worries: Unlike reading, writing or listening activities speaking requires

some degree of real-time exposure to an audience The student speaker has to face the teacher and other students in class Learners are often worried about trying to says something in a foreign language in the classroom because they are worried about making mistakes, afraid of criticism or losing face, or simply shy of the attention that their speech attracts

- Nothing to say: Teachers often hear learners; even if they are not worried or

nervous, complain that they can not have anything to say They may have no motivation to express themselves beyond the guilty feeling that they should speak When they say something in class, they feel that they are forced to say

- Uneven or low participation: Usually, there are many students in one class

(between 25 and 35 students) Only one student can talk at a time in a large group This means that each one have only very little time for talking This problem is compounded by the tendency of some learners to dominate the group, while others speak very little or not at all In some cases some students haven‘t got any chance, intentionally and unintentionally, to speak for a long time

- Mother-tongue use: When all, or a number of the learners share the same

mother tongue, they may tend to use it frequently This happens because the native language is easier to use and because they feel unnatural to speak to one another in

a foreign language and become learners feel less ―exposed‖ if they are speaking the language they master If they are talking in a small group, it can be quite difficult to get some classes, particularly the less disciplined or motivated ones, to keep to the

- Teacher domination: Teaching in a crowded class, many teachers tend to

spend much time explaining words, phrases and grammar structures in details for fear that otherwise the students can not understand and fail in their tests During explanation, teachers find it is easier and less time consuming to the use of the mother tongue Another important thing is that the teachers seem more interested in individual work (between teacher and one student or the whole group, or one student and another student or the whole group) They fear that other kinds of

student grouping (pair work and group work) may cause noise or discipline

problems

2.4.3.Principles for choosing speaking activities

It is clearly seen from the fact that if teachers utilize appropriate speaking techniques, they will have really effective results on students‘ speaking accuracy and fluency Nevertheless, to have a good lesson plan with useful techniques needs lots of energy and experience Brown (1994) presents some speaking techniques that teachers should consider deeply before designing a lesson His principles are as follows:

Techniques should cover learners' needs, from focus on accuracy to focus on interaction, meaning and fluency Students now still follow the traditional learning

ways, that they learn how to do the grammar correctly first to do the test well, and then notice the other factors They believe that grammar focus will aid them to pass highly the exam; interaction and fluency are only used after graduating Good studying result at school consequently is hoped to achieve first Therefore, teachers should know that and help them to get accuracy integrating with communicative skills and fluency shortly after

Techniques should be intrinsically motivating That is really important

Whether students like our lessons or not depends much on techniques Some teachers use the same plan but can not succeed as others because they do not hold in hand motivating methods We should look for students‘ interests and goals to appeal

them in lessons We should also help learners see how activities benefit them by telling them why teachers organize those activities

Techniques should encourage the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts Authentic materials are close and useful to students They can help them to

understand easier and quicker as well as relate problems to life effectively Therefore, they can help motivate participants

Provide appropriate feedback and correction In most ESL situations,

learners are totally dependent on teachers for useful linguistic feedback It is important that teachers take advantage of their knowledge of English to produce the kinds of corrective feedback that are appropriate at the moment

Capitalize on the natural link between speaking and listening Teachers

should integrate these two skills because many interactive techniques that involve speaking also include listening and these two skills can reinforce each other Skills

in producing language are often initiated through comprehension

Give learners opportunities to initiate oral communication Teachers should

allow learners to initiate language because parts of oral communication competence are the ability to initiate conversation, to nominate topics, to ask questions, to control conversations and to change the subject

Encourage the development of speaking strategies Teachers should make the

classroom the place for learners to be aware of and have a chance to practice their personal strategies for accomplishing oral communicative purposes

2.4.4 Stages of a speaking lesson

According to Erin Lowy (1999), a speaking lesson should have three stages: pre, while and post

The Pre-speaking stage: prepares students by getting them to think about the topic or situation before they speak about it Pre-speaking tasks can be brainstorming or discussion tasks, where students collect all their ideas on the topic; vocabulary preparation tasks, where the teacher pre-teaches key vocabulary to help

that they can speak English in good stress and intonation and this will help them speak out their ideas in English easily and fluently In this stage, the teacher will have to set up a pre task, organize pair/group work and give clear instructions about the task

The while-speaking stage: the teacher lets students work with each other without interfering with correcting any mistakes in order not to stop students from being influent She/ he just gives assistance when/if necessary At the while-speaking stage, the teacher doesn‘t have to do a lot of teaching – because his/her students will be working on the while-task by themselves, individually or in groups

In stead, the teacher will have to do a lot of monitoring and assisting weaker students who are having difficulty completing the task

The post-speaking stage: is like the follow-up stage After students have practiced speaking skill in the while-speaking stage, they do an extension speaking activity This helps students take the information from other groups or whatever they have produced in the while- speaking stage, and do something meaningful with

it At this stage, the teacher gets students to report their work and let the whole class share what they have got from pair/group work The teacher might give feed back, correct serious mistakes here and give students marks

2.4.5 Types of classroom speaking performance

Brown (1994:271-274) proposes six categories applied to the kinds of oral production that students are expected to carry out in the classroom:

- Imitative: takes a very limited portion of classroom speaking time when

learners are practicing an intonation contour or trying to pinpoint a certain vowel sound, etc

- Intensive: includes any speaking performance that is designed to practice

some phonological or grammatical aspect of language

- Responsive: is short replies to teachers or students initiated questions or

comments These replies are usually sufficient and do not extend into dialogues

- Transactional (dialogue): is carried out for the purpose of conveying or

exchanging specific information Conversations, for instance, may have more of a negotiative nature to them than merely responsive speech Such conversations could readily be part of group work activity

- Interpersonal (dialogue): carries out more for the purpose of maintaining

social relationships than for 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): students at intermediate or advanced levels are

called on to give extended monologues in the form of oral reports, summaries, or perhaps short speeches Here the register is more formal and deliberative

These above six categories of Brown are highly valuable in offering a guide in working out the types of classroom speaking performance The teachers should consider these points when teaching speaking skill

2.5.Group work in speaking lesson

According to Brown (2001), there are four typical benefits of group work in speaking lesson:

Group work generates interactive language

The teacher talk is really dominant for a long time in so-called traditional language classes The teacher lectures, explains grammar points, conducts drills and spends a little time for whole-class discussions in which each student might have a few seconds of class period to talk With traditional methods, the teacher tends to be the only person who initiates language in an artificial setting and the whole-class becomes a ―group interlocutor‖ Thanks to group work, student‘s opportunities for language practice as well as interaction are increased In other words, students have more chances to speak English in the classroom

Group work offers a positive affective climate

The second important benefit offered by group work is to make learners feel secure when speaking on public It is a nightmare for many students, especially the shy ones when being called to speak in front of the class and the teacher Their mind becomes completely empty and even they cannot say a word Nevertheless, a small group of peers provides a relatively intimate setting and a more supportive environment in which they will find it much easier to share their points of view in a natural way

Group work promotes learners’ responsibility and autonomy

The whole-class activities often give students a lot of time to relax even in a small class of fifteen to twenty students But when they participate in group work which places responsibility for action and progress upon each of the members of the group equally, it is difficult for them to ―hide‖ in a small group In addition, group work allows students to make their own decisions in the group without being told what to do by the teacher

Group work is a step toward individualizing instruction

Each student in a classroom has different language needs and ability Therefore, the teachers have some difficulties in managing the class with students at different levels of language But small groups can help students with varying abilities to accomplish individual goals In addition to variability in specific language abilities, another kind of individual difference among students are their age, sex, attitude, motivation, aptitude, personality, interests and language learning experience which can also be solved by group work When organizing the class, the teacher can recognize and capitalize upon these differences by careful selection of small groups and by administering different tasks to different groups

2.6.Behavior

2.6.1 The reasons why behavior problems occur

Brown(1993) pointed out that there are many reasons for problem behavior It can stem from a student‘s reactions to their teacher‘s behavior, from the other factors inside the classroom or from outside factors:

-The family

Students‘ experiences in their families have a profound influence on their attitudes to learning and to authority Sometimes indiscipine can be traced back to a difficult home situation Sometimes home attitudes to English, to learning in general, or even to teachers themselves can predispose students to behave problematically

-Education

Previous learning experiences of all kinds affects students‘ behaviour Students are influenced by what went before, and their expectations of the learning experience can be colored either by unpleasant memories or by what they were once allowed to get away with

- Self-esteem

A student‘s self - esteem is vitally important if effective learning is to take place Self - esteem may result partly from teacher approval (especially for children), from a student‘s peers or as a result of success A lack of respect from teacher and peers- or being asked to do something that they are almost certainly bound to fail - can make students feel frustrated and upset In such a situation disruptive behavior is an attractive option

- Boredom

When students are engaged with a task or a topic they are unlikely to behave disruptively But if they lose that engagement they may misbehave When pairs or groups finish early and are left unattended, boredom may lead to disruption; when the chosen topic or activity is inappropriate, students sometimes show their lack of

- External factors

If they are tired, they will not be able to concentrate If the classroom is too hot or too cold , this may result in students being too relaxed or too nervy Discomfort then leads to disengagement Noise from outside the classroom can impact badly upon students‘ concentration

-What the teacher does

A lot will depend on how we behave in class, especially when problem behaviour first take place Students who feel their self- esteem to have been damaged by the way we discipline them, especially if we appear unfair- are more likely to be badly behaved in the future

2.6.2.Factors affecting students’ behavior in the class

- Students’ learning styles

Learning style shows how students achieve the target language Willing (1985) (cited in Nunan, 1988: 93) classifies learning styles into four types The first is

―concrete learners‖ who prefer learning by games, pictures, films, videos, talking in pairs and learning through the use of cassettes The second is ―communicative learners‖ who like to learn by observing and listening to native speakers, talking to friends in English and learning English wherever possible Learners who like to study grammar, find their own mistakes, and learn through reading newspapers are called ―analytical learners‖ The last group is named ―authority oriented learners‖ who want their teacher to explain everything and they prefer writing everything in their notebooks, learning to read, studying grammar, and learning English words by seeing them

- Students’ motivation

Motivation is a key factor leading students‘ success in learning in general, and

in learning language in particular There are many different kinds of motivation such as integrative motivation, instrumental motivation, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, global motivation, situational motivation and so on

- Teaching techniques

It is obvious that different teaching techniques create different degrees of students‘ participation and interest in the lesson For example, techniques which focus on grammatical and phonological accuracy like choral repetition, drilling substitution, content explanation will result in learners‘ passiveness and limit their participation in learning In contrast, the techniques that involve students in communicative activities such as role-play, problem-solving, pair and group work, discussion, etc can encourage students to participate in the lesson

- Teachers’ personal qualities and characteristics

In order to involve students in the lesson, teachers should be ones that students trust and respect In other words, when students feel ―safe‖ in the class, they will be willing to participate in class activities Barry (1993) points out some characteristics

a teacher should have as follows:

- Being natural: if the teacher behaves naturally, the relationship between

him and his students will be closer, which increases students‘ participation and interest in the lesson

- Being warm: the teacher considers students as his friends Students

therefore will find it easy to express themselves in the lesson

- Being pleasant: this characteristic will make the classroom‘s atmosphere

relaxing and interesting, which of course increases students‘ creation and participation

- Being tolerant: the teacher should be fair and consistent with all students

so that he can encourage all his students to participate in the lesson

In addition, so as to interest students a teacher should have some following personal qualities such as sincere, friendly, supportive, well- organized, enthusiastic, flexible and so on

It is pointed out that no teacher has all characteristics and personal qualities listed below However, these characteristics and qualities can help much in increasing students‘ motivation, creating positive learning environments, and

2.7.Previous studies

In other countries

Doel (2005) had a study on difficult behavior in group work This article is

based on work with 24 group workers in a Children's Services agency in the English Midlands Focus groups to consider the training priorities for group workers revealed one of the most pressing issues was difficult behaviours in groups The article relates the topic of difficult behavior to the wider literature and suggests that the key to understanding and working with these behaviors in groups is the ability

of the group worker to unlock the meaning of the behavior, and to find a way to articulate this alongside group members Group workers' honesty with themselves

about the feelings aroused by difficult behaviours emerges as a significant factor The focus groups proved very effective in ensuring a programme which was in tune with the group workers' needs, and mirrored the good practice of the ―offer of group

work‖ to potential members The careful analysis of examples of difficult behavior proved effective in helping to understand the wider meaning of the behavior, and revealed the pivotal place of the group workers' feelings Amongst the examples of difficult behavior, none were of the more subtle kind, such as denial (Getzel and Mahony, 1989), or reluctance (Behroozi, 1992), and none related to responding to racist or sexist comments

The raw data of the examples of difficult behavior is illuminating (Kurland and Salmon, 1993; Ward, 2002) Most concerned the behavior of an individual in the group, but some related to the group's behavior as a whole, and others to subgroups Some focused on the impact of the behavior on the group leader or co-leader, others concerned behavior between group members Perhaps these differences also reflect the range of group work, from working with groups as groups to working with individuals in groups

Hayes (2001) also conducted a study on student behavior and language during group problem solving To characterize students‘ behavior, activities and language

as they interact, he uses video and transcript of students working in an Intermediate

Mechanics class Key elements of discourse, such as the words ―just‖ or ―anyway,‖

or false starts, indicate speakers' expectations about an activity so we identify these elements and track the frequency with which they appear in student discourse, both

in total quantity and relative frequency He uses changes in both language and behavior to identify areas of struggle in problem solving followed by a shift in student understanding and expectations He finds that students come to a genuine resolution following struggle or knowingly accept an insufficient answer

Previous studies in Vietnam

Pham Thanh Mai (2007) had a study on group discussion and its impacts on speaking ability of the non-major students at the post-elementary level in Military Science Academy Oral data from a range of sources including group planning and individual presentations were collected from 16 non-major students at the post elementary level over a period of ten weeks The results showed that in group discussions students tended to focus on the content of the task, and assisted each other

in preparing for the individual presentations The findings also showed that students in pre-planning groups produced better presentations than those in unplanned groups in terms of tenses, subject-verb agreement and pronouncing morpheme-s in plurality Since the two activities, group work and individual presentations, are routine tasks at the college where the research had been conducted, the impacts of group planning have important pedagogical implications in organizing group and individual activities in the EFL classroom context

2.8.Summary

This chapter has presented basic understanding and concept about key terms such as ―group work‖, ― speaking‖ and ―behavior‖ It also reviewed the previous studies related to the current one The next chapter will focus on research methodology

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.1.Introduction

This chapter gives information on research methods, participants, data collection and analysis which related to how students behave in group work in speaking classes at Vinh University

3.2.Research methodology

For some reasons, the study has adopted both qualitative and quantitative

approaches John (2006) clarifies that qualitative research is collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data by observing what people do and say While, quantitative research refers to counts and measures of things, qualitative research refers to the meanings, concepts, definitions, characteristics, metaphors, symbols, and descriptions of things

Bawden (1990) defines qualitative data as studying the behavior of individuals in all the complexity of their real-life situations In contrast to quantitative data, qualitative data does not simply count things, but is a way of recording people's attitudes, feelings and behaviours in greater depth This method looks for categories such as events, descriptions, comments, behavior Besides, it can answer the 'why?' questions Thanks for those advantages, the author can have a close look at group work as a real - life situation She can describe how students behave in group work in speaking classes and get the reason why they have that kind of attitudes, feelings or behavior like that It also pays greater attention to

individual cases and creates openness Encouraging people to expand on their

responses can open up new topic areas not initially considered Therefore, the research can go further with special behavior of students in the classes

Kruger (2003) confirms that we can summarize vast sources of information and facilitate comparisons across categories and over time in quantitative research Generally, quantitative methods are designed to provide summaries of data that support generalizations about the phenomenon under study In order to accomplish

this, quantitative research usually involves few variables and many cases, and employs prescribed procedures to ensure validity and reliability This characteristic helps the researcher do the survey with 100 students and summary the data easily It contributes in generalization the way students usually behave in group work in speaking classes Besides, numbers of data shown on charts or tables make readers understand the fact further

3.3.Paricipants

This study was carried out with the participation of 100 students who were first year students at Vinh University They all passed the conditional test to learn English 1 They are at the age of about 20 Most of them are hard working but they

do not have really good English background They come from different departments with different majors Therefore, their purpose of learning English and their background knowledge are not similar Besides, they come from many parts of Nghe an, Thanh Hoa and Ha tinh; from city to mountainous area which cause many problems with accent, culture and behavior Ten teachers at Foreign Language Department also helped me to answer some interview questions Most of them have been teaching at this University for more than 10 years The youngest is about 35 and the oldest is about to retire They are very enthusiastic to join in the interview and generous to let the researcher observe their speaking lessons

3.4.Data collection methods

3.4.1.Questionnaire

First, questionnaire was chosen because student questionnaire is the most widely used as a method of evaluating and the quickest way to collect information from every student Munn and Drever (1990) think that when the participants respond

to the same questions in the same way, the answers become more reliable Nunan (1989) states that through using questionnaires, one can inquire into any aspect within teaching/learning process Also, teachers can find the chances to learn about classroom practices they use in class by analyzing these questionnaires In this study the

well as their background information The questionnaire focused specifically on group work

The questionnaire (Appendix I ) consists of 11 questions in English It was delivered to 100 students from 3 classes at Vinh University The questionnaire was delivered after the course in which the teachers had implemented group work aiming to motivate the students in learning English speaking This set of questions aimed to get data about the fact of group work in speaking classes at Vinh University; students‘ behavior and some suggestions for improvement the problem

By using questionnaire, the privacy of the respondents was protected and the students were able to provide an honest response to facilitate the study Also, time was arranged efficiently when questionnaire was used as the respondents intended for the study could be reached without difficulty And students were explained clearly what they needed to do

3.4.2.Interview

Besides the questionnaires, the researcher also conducted interviews with the

teachers and some discussions in order to get more data

According to Moser and Kalton (1971), interview is described as a means of eliciting relevant information and personal opinion from the respondents The advantages of interviews include the ability to examine the teachers‘ responses, take notes of their ideas and investigate their feelings about teaching speaking using group work activities By doing interviews with informal (unstructured) forms, the interviewees would be encouraged to talk and discuss freely and naturally It meant that the researcher could get some more reliable and specific information from the teachers This was confirmed in the study of Nunan (1989) Here, the researcher could motivate the respondents to show off their ideas freely and to find it easy to ask the questions that they were confused The author aimed to make the consistency between the respondents and her in case of attaining if the interviewees

understood the textual meanings, functional terms in the study