(SKKN 2022) some suggested solutions to organize pair work and group work effectively in teaching english for students

THANH HOA INSTITUTION OF EDUCATION & TRAINING TRIEU SON DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION&TRAINING *************************** EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS TO ORGANIZE PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK EFFECTIVELY IN TEACHING ENGLISH FOR STUDENTS Performed by: Nguyen Thi Mai Function: Teacher Work place: Trieu Thi Trinh secondary school Initiative experience in the field: English TABLE CONTENT Contents Page INTRODUCTION 1.1 Reasons for choosing the topic 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Objects of the study 1.4 Scope and research methodology 1.5 New points of the study 2 MAIN CONTENT 2.1 Theoretical background 2.2 Practical background 2.3 Solutions and methods for implementation 2.3.1 Solutions 2.3.2 Methods for implementation 2.3.2.1 What are pair work and group work? 2.3.2.2 Main advantages, problems and solution to the problems 2.3.2.3 The ways to organize pair work and group work activities effectively 2.3.2.4 Some demonstrations for pair work and group work activities 2.3.2.5 Suggestion for some popular kinds of practice 2.4 Result after applying the study CONCLUSION 4 5 REFERENCE BOOK 15 10 12 13 14 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC As we know, in traditional classroom, the teacher controls the class with authority, there is no active role of students during teaching- learning process Therefore, the introduction of a new English textbook at secondary school in the last few years has created some difficulties for teacher This innovation demands a move in the direction of a more learner- centered approach to teaching The main objective of teaching English is to have communicative lesson However, in fact, the teacher- student interaction is very limited in the classroom Many teachers have troubles adapting their teaching and the new textbook to their own students’ learning needs These difficulties include the use of group and pair work As a teacher of English at secondary school, I myself always desire to find out and apply the new methods of teaching in order to meet the educational goals I have been a teacher of English at secondary school for nearly 20 years From my own experiences, I find that using pair work and group work is one of the teaching strategies of collaborative language teaching which provides chances for communication and interaction among students and between students and teacher Language classroom is the place where teacher and learners come together for interaction and can learn in natural settings The effective use of pair work and group work in language class can provide a value experience to students and give them the opportunity to practically experience the ideas presented and strengthen their learning I have applied pair and group work activities in teaching English at secondary school, especially for 7th grade students and got satisfactory results I, therefore, in this research, would like to share my own experience in how to use and organize pair work and group work effectively 1.2 AIMS OF THE STUDY - To introduce pair work and group work and show the advantages and disadvantages of working in pairs and groups - To suggest how to organize pair and group work effectively and how to deal with initial problems that may arise - To show how pair work and group work can be used for various classroom activities - To help teachers be confident in using pair and group work themselves 1.3 OBJECTS OF THE STUDY Students in grade at Trieu Thi Trinh Secondary school 1.4 SCOPE AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY - Scope: Researching in the process of teaching English at Trieu Thi Trinh secondary school - Research methodology: making survey, reading reference books, applying in teaching, observing and drawing out experiences 1.5 NEW POINTS OF THE STUDY 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), I can base such decision on any of the following principles, and I see they are quite effective 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 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 students 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, ect 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 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 level 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 characteristics, e.g sex, age, nationality, mother tongue or ethnic origin In short, our paring and 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 MAIN CONTENT 2.1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Language teaching came into its own as a profession in the last century Since the 1960s, there has been an increasing attempt in research on teaching and learning and types and quantities of the relative amount of participation by the teacher and students Group work and pair work started getting attention of educationists in the 70s During the 1980s and 1990s, the development of communicative language teaching brought an important change in the role of students Working together is worthwhile as “ pair and group work immediately increase the amount of students’ talking time” ( Harmer, 1991) Researchers are convinced that the students who take the initiative in learning learn more things and learn better than those who sit and passively wait to be taught They also claim that a teacher’s dominance in class makes it dull and it kills the students’ interests I am myself of the view that students are more motivated to engage in further communication when they have more opportunities to speak Using pair work and group work stimulates the learners’ experience of various types of interaction and helps to generate a more relaxed and cooperative classroom atmosphere It is during group and pair work that a lot of real learning takes place since the students can use language really to communicate with one another 2.2 PRACTICAL BACKGROUND - There is a tendency of teacher- dominated lesson and students usually get bored with teacher- centered presentation - Teachers at secondary schools are in the period of getting used to new English textbook Pair work and group work didn’t use to be organized in class, so a lot of us – teachers of English at secondary school – get stuck in organizing pair work and group work effectively - Some teachers haven’t been clearly aware of the roles of pair work and group work in teaching and learning a foreign language - A few teacher reject the possibility of success of pair and group work They give different reasons for their belief, some of the reasons are lack of resources, students use mother tongue during pair and group work , discipline problem due to noise generated during pair and group work activities and so on As a result, despite being an important part of collaborative teaching and learning, pair and group work generally neglected in teaching English at secondary school 2.3 SOLUTIONS AND METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTATION 2.3.1 SOLUTIONS a Teacher should know well about what pair work and group work are, their both advantages and disadvantages as well as solutions to their problems b The ways to organize pair work and group work activities effectively so that we can make use of their benefits and limit their problems In order to organize pair and group work well, teacher will need to the followings: Select the activity Presentation Prepare any physical materials for group work ahead of time Anticipate the size and the selection of groups Anticipate how students will be organized within the groups (tasks and roles) Control the class well Consider the timing of the group work Give feedback c Some demonstrations for pair work and group work activities d Suggestion for some popular kinds of practice 2.3.2 METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTATION 2.3.2.1 What are pair work and group work? Pair work: Pair work is a procession which “the teacher divides the whole class in pair Every student works with his of her partner in pairs, and all the pairs work at the same time (It is sometimes called “simultaneous pair work”) This is not the same as “public” or “open” pair work, with pairs of students speaking in turn in front of the class” (Doff, 1988:137) There are two main types of pair work: fixed pairs and flexible pairs, given by Byrne (1983) In the former, students work with the same partner to practice the target language In the later, students keep changing their partners they like This may make the activity more interesting but the class noisier It can be seen that pair work can get students to practice the target language more and increase students’ talking time in the class Group work : 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 2.3.2.2 Main advantages, problems and solution to the problems For certain types of activity, pair work and group work have a number of advantages over working with the whole class together Teachers should think what the main advantages are, and also what problems might be involved in pair work, group work and the solutions for these Here are some main advantages and problems: Advantages Problems - More language practice - Noise arrangements - More speaking time - Students make mistakes - Students are more involved - Lose control of the class - Students feel secure, confident ………………… - Students help one another - Give students the sense of achievement when reaching a team goal Now, we will discuss each heading in more detail First, let’s start with the advantages - More language practice: Pair work and group work give students far more chance to speak English For example, students are given an exercise of making sentences (question & answer), working in pair, each student makes as many sentences as they can If the exercise were done ‘round the class’, students would only say one sentence each , and in a large class many students would say nothing at all - More speaking time: Learners in a class that is divided into groups of or 22 pairs get six times or fifteen times as many opportunities to talk as in full class organization - Student are more involved: Some activities will probably be dominated by a few students and others would lose interest if they are conducted with the whole class together Working in pairs or groups encourages students to be more involved and to concentrate on the task - Students feel confident: Students feel less anxiety when they are working privately than when they are on show in front of the whole class Pair work and group work can help shy students who would never say anything in a whole class activity - Students help each other: Pair work and group work encourage students to share ideas and knowledge In a reading activity, students can help each other to explore the meaning of a text; in a discussion activity, students can give each other new ideas Now talk about the problems, and discuss the ways of recovering them: - Noise arrangements: Obviously pair work and group work in a large class will be noisy, and this can not be helped But: - Usually the students themselves are not disturbed by the noise; it is more noticeable to the teacher standing at the side or to someone in the next room - The noise created by pair work and group work is usually “good” noise “ Group work , by its nature, is designed to generate noise” ( Nunan and Lamb p.14, 1996) Students use English or engage in a learning task Teacher should stop the activity when most groups or pairs have finished or prepare a “reserve” task to occupy members of groups who finish earlier than expected - Students make mistakes: During a pair or group activity, the teacher can not control all the language used, and should not try to so When doing controlled language practice in pairs or groups, the number of mistakes can be reduced by: - Giving enough preparation, the activity can be done with the whole class first, and pair work used for final stage - Checking afterwards The teacher can ask some pairs or groups what they said , and then correct mistakes if necessary - Difficult to control class: The teacher has less control over what students are doing in pair work and group work than in normal class To stop activities getting out control, it is important to: - Give clear instructions about when to start, what to and when to stop - Give clearly defined tasks which don’t continue for too long - Set up a routine, so that students accept the idea of working in pairs or groups, and know exactly what to 2.3.2.3 The ways to organize pair work and group work activities effectively * Steps in the classroom: Select the activity An activity that is best suited for group work may meet the following criteria: - The activity has multiple tasks that can be shared among group members or a single task, such as generating ideas, that benefit from the participation of all individuals within a group - The activity involves problem solving and discussion Examples of activities that may be suited for group work are investigations of materials (newspapers, scientific specimens) and development of ideas or arguments Presentation It is advisable to give the instructions before giving out materials of dividing the class into groups; and a preliminary rehearsal or ‘dry run’ of a sample of the activity with the full class can help to clarify things If your students have already done similar activities, you will be able to shorten the process, giving only brief guidelines; It is mainly the first time of doing something with a class that such care needs to be invested in instructing Try to foresee what language will be needed, and have a preliminary quick review of appropriate grammar or vocabulary Finally before giving the sign to start tell the class what the arrangements are for stopping: If there is a time limit, or a set signal for stopping, say what it is; if the groups simply stop when they have finished, then tell them what they will have to next It is wise to have a reserve task planned to occupy members of groups who finish earlier than expected Preparation of materials The teacher will need to personally collect, or organize students to collect, physical specimens for investigation For example, if the teacher anticipates doing a lesson on the role of the media, she or he might ask the students to bring into class examples of newspapers and magazines There should be materials sufficient for each group Size and selection of group Group size normally ranges between 3-5 students Group size can sometimes go larger, although groups larger than not ensure that everyone will participate Since groups often report their work back to the whole class, teachers also take into account the total number of groups within the class Group membership can be determined in different ways A random selection might be done by "counting off" with students (go around the room systematically having students count 1, 2, 3, etc., with each numbers representing a group) or selecting groups on the basis of birth date In a nonrandom selection, groups will be selected based on the teachers' prior knowledge Usually, groups are selected to maximize diversity within the group, since diversity enhances learning Such groups often have a balance of girls and boys, and students with differing ability levels Teachers can also use their best judgment about personality mixes that would enhance the work of the group Sometimes groups are organized only for one activity Other times, teachers use the same small groups for a series of activities, so that students get used to working with one another If the tables and chairs cannot be moved for group work, then students can form groups by turning around in seats to face the children behind Organize students within the group A laissez-faire approach to group work would be that the teacher give a general assignment to the group like organize a research project on 'qualities of good leaders' and the students are left to organize themselves A highly structured approach would be that the teacher assigns a specific role to each group member Depending upon the task, the roles might include 'materials handler', 'scribe', 'reporter to the large group' and so on A semistructured approach might be that the teacher recommend certain roles, but leaves it to the group to assign roles A more structured approach, with rotation of tasks within a group, is often used with younger children A less structured approach can be used with students with experience in group work or for simple tasks that not require that students take on different roles Control the class during students’ working time Teacher goes from group to group, pair to pair, monitor, and either contribute or keep out of the way whichever is likely to be more helpful If you decide to intervene, your contribution may take the form of : - Providing general approval and support; - Helping students who are having difficultly; - Keeping the students using the target language (in many cases your mere presence will ensure this!) - Tactfully regulating participation in a discussion where you find some students are over dominant and others silent Time the group work The teacher should anticipate student questions about timing, the task results, sharing with the whole group, and so on After giving clear instructions to the students, the teacher should be available to answer questions, but not interfere with the groups' activities It is common in many classrooms that a small group activity constitutes 20 minutes of a 40 minute-period, with 10 minutes allowed for sharing small group work with the whole class Give feedback A feedback session usually takes place in the context of full-class interaction after the end of the group work Feedback on the tasks may take 10 many forms: - Giving the right solution, if there is one - Listening to and evaluating suggestions - Pooling ideas on the board - Displaying the materials the groups/ pairs have produced The main objective here is to express appreciation of the effort that has been invested and its results Feedback on language may be integrated into this discussion of the task, or provide the focus of a separate class session later ** Some common activities for pair work and group work A variety of activities can be applied in communicative English classes through the use of pair work and group work The list of some common activities is given below Role – play: the class is divided into pairs or groups Then these pairs and groups are given roles to act out Information gap activities: each participant in pairs or groups has information not shared by any other but require to complete Problem – solving: students are given some problems in real-life which need solving Then they work in pairs or in groups to find out solutions to these problems The lost twin: each student has a small card on which some features are printed There are two copies for each card Students then have to go around the class to find out who has the same card Picture card activities: Kim’s game: students in groups look at the items on a table for about thirty seconds Then the items are recovered, the groups have to describe and locate them Spot the differences: students are given two pictures, then they work to spot the differences What is my line: students in groups have to ask questions of another member within a limited time span and discover his or her occupation 2.3.2.4 Some demonstrations for pair work and group work activities UNIT 1: MY HOBBIES (SKILLS - WRITING) Task 3: Work in pairs Ask and answer questions about each other’s hobby Take notes below ……’s hobby Name of the hobby:…… When he/she started the hobby: ……… Who he/she shares it with: ……………… To this hobby you have to: ………… Feelings about the hobby: …………… UNIT 3: COMMUNITY SERVICE (LOOKING BACK) 11 Task Role-play Student A is a reporter and student B is a volunteer Student A asks the questions and writes down student B’s answers Then swap your roles Use the following questions as prompts: - When did you start working for your organization? - Why did you decide to volunteer? - What have you done so far with (name of organization)? - Was there anything that made you happy with your work last month? UNIT 5: VIETNAMESE FOOD AND DRINK (GETTING STARTED) Task 5: Game: What’s your favorite food and drink? Work in groups One student describes his favorite food or drink The rest of the group tries to guess which food or drink it is Example: A: It’s my favorite drink It’s a bit sour, but it’s also sweet B: Is it lemonade? B: Yes, it is./No, try again UNIT 7: TRAFFIC (A CLOSER LOOK 2) Task 2: Work in pairs Ask and answer questions about distances in your neighborhood Example: A: How far is it from your house to school? B: It’s about a kilometer You can use these cues: - your house – open-air market/ supermarket - your house – playground - your house – river - bus station – your village UNIT 10: SOURCES OF ENERGY (A CLOSER LOOK 2) Task 4: Work in pairs Tell your partner what you will be doing at the following points of time in the future Example: this time tomorrow I will be learning English this time tomorrow Or: This time tomorrow I will be learning English tomorrow afternoon this weekend this time next week when you are fifteen years old 12 UNIT 9: FESTIVALS AROUND THE WORLD (A CLOSER LOOK 1) Task 2: In groups, choose a festival Take turns to say the name of the festival, then add an action Example: A: I am going to Rio Carnival to watch performers dance B: I am going to Rio Carnival to watch performers dance, and musicians plays samba music C: I am going to Rio Carnival to watch performers dance, and musicians play samba music, and… UNIT 10: SOURCES OF ENERGY (SKILLS 1: SPEAKING) Task 4: Work in pairs Ask and answer questions about the advantages of each types of energy sources Example: A: What type of energy is oil? B: It is a non-renewable source of energy, because it cannot easily be replaced A: What are its advantages and disadvantages? B: It can be used to power machinery, but it also pollutes the environment 2.3.2.5 Suggestion for some popular kinds of practice Pair work and group work are not “teaching methods”, but ways of organizing the class They can be used for many different kinds of activity, and are naturally more suitable for some activities than for others Before deciding what kind of activity will be used teacher should answer the following questions: - Could you use pair work or group work for part of the activity? - If so, exactly what would students in pairs or groups? - What would you need to before the pair /group stage? - Is there anything you would after it? - Is there anything you would after it? Here are suggestions for some popular kinds of practice: Pattern practice: This can be done in pairs when practicing the structures Any controlled oral practice can be done first with the whole class, and then in pairs Practicing short dialogues: Acting out short dialogues can very easily be done in pairs, with little chance of making mistakes It can be done first with pairs of students in front of the class and then with all students working in pairs at the same time Reading a text and answering questions: Students can discuss questions in pairs or groups and then read the text or they can read the text silently and then ask and answer questions in pairs or groups This is a good way of involving the whole class in answering questions 13 Short-writing exercises: Student can sit in groups and decide together what to write One student acts as “secretary” This can be difficult to organize but in a large class it has the advantages that students correct each others’ mistakes and the teacher only has a few papers to mark at the end Pair work can be used for correcting written work (eg: homework)students sit in pairs and correct what their partner has written Discussions: With more advanced class, discussions can be conducted in group It is important to define the discussion clearly and to ask each group to report their conclusions afterwards Grammar exercises: Student can grammar exercises orally in pairs; the teacher goes through the answers afterwards with the who class and students write the exercises for homework This is more interesting and productive than students doing exercises alone, in silence 2.4 RESULT AFTER APPLYING THE STUDY After a year applying pair work and group work activities in teaching English at Trieu Thi Trinh secondary school, I have got some satisfactory results Most of my students have become more interested in learning English and of course their ability to use English in communication has been improved step by step Moreover, their learning results in English subject has got better ( as detailed in the following tables) - At the beginning of the school year: Students Excellent-good 20% - At the end of the school year: Average 55% Weak (bad) 25% Students Average 55% Weak (bad) 10% Excellent-good 35% 14 CONCLUSION This is the second year I have studied about the topic “Some suggested solutions to organize pair work and group work effectively in teaching English” but for 7th grade students In my observation, students are more interested and less anxious when they work in groups and in pairs Moreover, pair work and group work can increase the amount of talking for individual students; encourage boarder skills and participation, cooperation, negotiation and so on The fact is that the students felt more confident, comfortable and relaxed in working in pairs and in small group; the interaction between students were better as they could discuss freely, and learn from each other as well However, there were some factors which needed considering when pair work and group work activities took place First of all, before asking students to work in pairs and in groups, teachers should have given clear instructions, and provided students with necessary vocabulary Moreover, to get the whole class involved in the lesson, the teacher should have moved around the class and helped the students if necessary Also, if the teacher had praised students properly, they would have worked more effectively In addition, the way of grouping students should be suitable for the task given and might encourage students to work more effectively as well Students liked to work with the ones who were at higher level of proficiency Therefore, students with different proficiency level should be arranged to sit together Also, the number of students in each group shouldn’t be too large As found from the data collection, the suitable number for a group was or students To sum up, despite these problems, the use of pair work and group work techniques really increased students’ interest and participation in activities Surely, this study can not avoid having limitations and making mistakes Yet I hope it will be helpful for teaching English at high school and suitable for communicative teaching approach CERTIFIED BY THE PRINCIPAL Trieu Son, April 2022 I pledge that this is my experience initiative , not copy the content of other people, this experience initiative is applied effectively in the classes PERFORMER Nguyễn Thị Mai 15 REFERENCE BOOKS English language teaching methodology ( Teacher 's work book) Practical handbook of language teaching (David Cross) Giáo trình giáo học pháp (Tở ngoại ngữ –Khoa ngôn ngữ và văn hóa Anh - Mi - Úc – Trường đại học quốc gia Hà Nội) Berns M (1984), Group Work Management, London Byrne D.(1983), Teaching Oral English, London; Longman Doff A (1988), Teaching E: A Training Course for Teachers, Cambridge University Press 16 ... experience in how to use and organize pair work and group work effectively 1.2 AIMS OF THE STUDY - To introduce pair work and group work and show the advantages and disadvantages of working in pairs and. .. about the topic ? ?Some suggested solutions to organize pair work and group work effectively in teaching English? ?? but for 7th grade students In my observation, students are more interested and less... demonstrations for pair work and group work activities d Suggestion for some popular kinds of practice 2.3.2 METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTATION 2.3.2.1 What are pair work and group work? Pair work: Pair work is