An investigation into the perceptions and actual behaviors of the teachers and the students at the faculty of foreign language of ho chi minh city university of industry about group work in speaking lessons

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES HỒ THỊ HIỀN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE PERCEPTIONS AND ACTUAL BEHAVIORS OF THE TEACHERS AND THE STUDENTS AT THE FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE OF HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY ABOUT GROUP WORK IN SPEAKING LESSONS (ĐIỀU TRA QUAN ĐIỂM VÀ HOẠT ĐỘNG THƯC TẾ CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ SINH VIÊN KHOA NGOẠI NGỮ - TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP TP HCM VÊ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM TRONG GIỜ HỌC NÓI) MINOR M.A THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 HÀ NỘI, 2011 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES HỒ THỊ HIỀN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE PERCEPTIONS AND ACTUAL BEHAVIORS OF THE TEACHERS AND THE STUDENTS AT THE FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE OF HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY ABOUT GROUP WORK IN SPEAKING LESSONS (ĐIỀU TRA QUAN ĐIỂM VÀ HOẠT ĐỘNG THƯC TẾ CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ SINH VIÊN KHOA NGOẠI NGỮ - TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP TP HCM VÊ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM TRONG GIỜ HỌC NÓI) MINOR M.A THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Tô Thị Thu Hương, Ph.D HÀ NỘI, 2011 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Table of contents PART I: INTRODUCTION………………………… ………………….… ………… 1 Rationale The purposes of the study…… Research questions 4.Methods of the study Scopes of the study Design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Communicative language teaching 1.2 Group work 1.2.1 Definitions of group work 1.2.2 Advantages and disadvantages of group work 1.2.2.1 Advantages of group work 1.2.2.2 Disadvantages of group work 1.2.3 Teacher’s roles in carrying out group work 1.2.4 How to organize group work in speaking lessons 1.2.5 Group formation 10 1.2.6 Group Size .11 1.3 Perception and behavior 11 1.3.1 Definition of perception 11 1.3.2 Definition of behavior…………………………………………………………12 1.3.3 Relationship between perception and behavior in teaching and learning language 13 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 15 2.1 Background of the study 15 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com v 2.1.1 Description of the students at FFL, HUI 15 2.1.2 Description of the teachers at FFL - HUI.…………………… …… 15 2.1.3 Description of the physical setting … 16 2.1.4 Description of the subject matter ………………………………………….16 2.2 Design and data analysis 16 2.2.1 The student sample 16 2.2.2 The teacher sample 17 2.2.3 Research instruments 17 2.2.4 Procedure…………………………………………………………… ……18 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS 3.1 Questionnaire results………………………………………………… ………19 3.1.1 The teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the best way to teach and learn speaking in class 19 3.1.2 The students’ feelings when they work in groups .20 3.1.3 The teachers’ perceptions of the appropriate time for each group work activity…………………………………………………………………………… …… 21 3.1.4 The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of preferred group members .21 3.1.5 The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of the most appropriate number of members in each group .22 3.1.6 The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of the benefits and the weaknesses of group work for improving speaking skill .23 3.1.7 The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of the things should be done by the instructor before activity………………………………… ………………………… … 25 3.1.8 The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of the things should be done by the instructor during activity 25 3.1.9 The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of what the teachers should after activity ………………………………………………………………… ……… 26 3.1.10 The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of the difficulties when carrying out group work 26 3.2 Class observation 27 CHAPTER 4: MAJOR FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS…………………… 32 4.1 Major findings …………………………………………………………………….32 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vi 4.2 Recommendations ……………………………………………………………… 36 PART III CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………………… 43 References Apendix A- Teacher questionaire Apendix B- Student questionaire Apendix C- Observation sheet Apendix D- Collected data LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale - English has been widely used in many areas such as politics, economics, tourism, electronics, telecommunication, culture and science and technology English is not only a means but also a key to accessing the latest achievements of science and technology Therefore, it is necessary for many Vietnamese to have a good command of English to satisfy the growing needs in a developing country like Vietnam - Being a teacher of English at Faculty of Foreign Language – Ho Chi Minh University of Industry (FFL-HUI), the researcher is well aware of the importance of using group work to help energize the speaking class Like many other teachers working here, however, the researcher has also faced many challenges in organizing and managing group work during English speaking lessons For instance, the noise created by students when they work in groups, student’s laziness, students’ use of their mother tongue, etc - In fact, there is a close relationship between one’s perception and his/her behaviors Yu (2004) stated that teachers' perceptions "construct" their practices, which in turn, lead to whatever progress both the learners and the teachers achieve Practice and progress in language learning and teaching will re-construct teachers' perceptions of L2 development Teachers need to reflect upon their own ideas and practices to be better informed Dewey (1933) argued that teachers should be reflective-practitioners through questioning the beliefs and methods in their own experimental approach to schooling psychology and sociology being tools or resources for the construction of new educational hypotheses to be tested against experience - To meet the increased needs of teachers and students, at FFL- HUI, the author of this study is determined to choose this area to research on This study is intended to make a modest contribution to investigating what the teachers’ and students’ points of views about group work activities and what they really before, during and after this activity The results of the study, hopefully, enhance the flexibility of using group work to create positive, dynamic and effective atmosphere in English speaking (speaking) lessons, and more importantly improve students’ oral practice of English Aims of the study The first purpose of this study was to examine teachers’ and students’ perceptions of using group work to teach and learn English speaking at the FFL-HUI That is to say, the researcher aimed at finding how the participants at the chosen setting think about the LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com effectiveness of this activity to improve English speaking skill for the learners Moreover, the study also aimed at investigating the actual behaviors of the participants when group working in the real lessons to compare with their perceptions Finally, the results of this study helped to facilitate the application of group work in teaching and learning speaking to improve the effectiveness of speaking lessons at the FFL-HUI Research questions a What are FFL-HUI teachers’ perceptions of group work in English speaking class? 1.b What are FFL-HUI students’ perceptions of group work in English speaking class? 2.a What are the teachers’ actual behaviors when group working in English speaking class? 2.b What are the students’ actual behaviors when group working in English speaking class? How to further improve the effectiveness of group work in speaking lessons at FFL-HUI Research methodology To achieve the aims of the study, a mixed method combining both qualitative and quantitative styles was used Scope of the study The study only focuses on speaking skill Instead, the researcher only intends to draw a brief overview of the point of view and actual behaviors of the teachers who have experienced in teaching speaking and of the third-year students in the FLL-HUI about group work Design of the study The study consists of three main parts: Part I, Introduction, presents the rationale, purposes, research questions, scope, methods and the design of the study Part II, Development, is organized into four chapters - Chapter 1, Literature review, reviews such basic concepts and knowledge relevant to the study such as Communicative Language Teaching approach, some basic factors of group work as well as theory of perception and its importance in language teaching - Chapter 2, Methodology, provides an overview of the current situation of teaching and learning speaking at FFL-HUI Sampling, Instruments and Procedures for Data collection and analysis are also presented in this chapter - Chapter 3, Results, presents the research results, LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com - Chapter 4, Recommendations, discusses the major findings of the research and also suggests some recommendations to further improve the effectiveness of group work in teaching speaking at FFL-HUI Part III, Conclusion, summarizes the major findings and suggestions The limitations of the study and recommendations for further studies are also included in this part References and appendices complete the thesis PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Communicative language teaching 1.2 Group work - Definitions of group work - Advantages and disadvantages of group work - Advantages of group work - Disadvantages of group work - Teacher’s roles in carrying out group work - How to organize group work in speaking lessons - Group formation - Group Size 1.3 Perception and behavior - Definition of perception - Definition of behavior - Relationship between perception and behavior in teaching and learning language CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 Background to the study 2.1.1 The students at FFL - HUI - A lot of them are from the south of Vietnam, others are from the central, even from provinces in the north of the nation - There are about 3000 students at the FFL-HUI whose ages are from 18 to 22 They are following different courses including university level (4 years long); college level (3 years long); and vocational college (3 years long) 2.1.2 The teachers at FFL - HUI FFL-HUI consists of over 40 teachers of different ages The female teachers take 80% and the male ones take 20% The youngest teachers are about 23 years old and the LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com oldest are about 55 At present, about 90% of the teachers at the FFL-HUI are the Masters of Art The rest numbers are still Bachelors or Art They have from to 30 years of teaching experience A lot of them have studied overseas and got the M.A certificates there The teachers at FFL-HUI are from many different areas in the country, thus, their accents and behaviors are quite different 2.1.3 The physical setting At FFL - HUI, English teaching and learning activities are mostly carried out inside the classrooms which are specially designed for the faculty There are about 12 classrooms with 16 desks in each Every classroom is equipped with a board, a teacher’s table, an LCD plasma TV which can be easily used as a projector or a TV, a modern system of loudspeakers The desks are about 1.5 meters long and put in two parallel rows In term of class size, the average number of students in each class is from 30 to 35 This number is still large in a language class The materials for reference and self-study are available for both teachers and students In the school library, there are a number of language books which are quite helpful for teachers and students, it takes quite a long time to find and get the materials though The small library at the faculty office is also available for readers in the department There are not many books here but it is being improved There is a lab room at the faculty which is really modern for the language lessons There are about 35 computers which are connected to Internet The teacher’s computer and the students’ ones are linked closely 2.2 Samples and data collection tools 2.2.1 The student sample 60 third-year students at the FFL – HUI (including 10 males and 50 females) took part in the questionnaire survey These students are the ones who consent to participate in the research 10 students were randomly selected among these 60 for interviews to get clearer explanations for the choice in the questionnaire 2.2.2 The teacher sample The researcher only aimed at finding the perceptions and behaviors of the teachers who have experienced in teaching speaking to English-major students Therefore, the questionnaires were delivered to 10 teachers who have been teaching speaking English for more than years 2.2.3 Research instruments LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Two questionnaires, one for teachers and the other for students were developed The former has 12 multiple – choice, open – ended questions; the later has 12 similar questions The questions in the two questionnaires are mainly used to explore the teachers’ and students’ perceptions, or the way they think about, of using group work to teach speaking efficiently Oral interviews were given after the researcher had analyzed the results of the questionnaires for triangulation The researcher carried out the interviews with 10 students and teachers All of them are the members who did the questionnaires and randomly chosen The purposes of interviewing are to get clearer explanations for the choices in the questionnaires 2.2.4 Procedure Data were collected and analyzed in the following steps: - Delivering questionnaires to the 10 teachers and 60 third-year students at the FFLHUI - Analyzing the questionnaires data by looking for and grouping the common and recurrent themes in the data with the use of descriptive statistics - Interviewing the teachers and the students to get further information for the data in the questionnaires - Basing on the interviews and the questionnaires, identifying the contents to observe in the teachers’ and the students’ actual classroom practice - Collecting the data on the teachers’ and the students’ practices via class observations Observation of 10 speaking lessons was made according to designed criteria - Analyzing observation data based on the observation scheme - Comparing the results of actual class observation with the teachers’ and the students’ perceptions reported in the questionnaires and interviews In short, necessary issues relating to how to carry out the thesis were illustrated clearly in the chapter We have decribed specifically the real situations of the context, participants as well as the method of collecting, analyzing the data The following chapter will present the major results of the study CHAPTER 3: RESULTS 3.1.1 The teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the best way to teach and learn speaking in class 3.1.2 The students’ feelings when they work in groups LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 3.1.3 The teachers’ perceptions of the appropriate time for each group work activity 3.1.4 The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of preferred group members 3.1.5 The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of the most appropriate number of members in each group 3.1.6 The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of the benefits and the weaknesses of group work for improving speaking skill 3.1.7 The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of the things that should be done by the instructor before activity 3.1.8 The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of the things should be done by the instructor during activity 3.1.9 The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of what the teachers should after activity 3.1.10 The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of the difficulties when carrying out group work 3.2 Class observation CHAPTER 4: MAJOR FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 4.1 Major findings 4.1.1 The organization of groups - Both the teachers and the students at the FFL – HUI think that a group should contain from to members The appropriate number of group members is an influential factor to the effectiveness of an activity because if the groups are too large, it can reduce the students’ interest in participating into the task, or it can create opportunities for the lazy students to another thing rather than getting involved into the discussion - The investigated teachers at the FFL – HUI think that putting students of the same proficiency, different sexes, random groups and surrounding students is the good ways Ages and interests of the students are not important factor to concern before arranging the learners into groups In the mean time, the investigated students think that working in groups with the students of the same interests, mix proficiency levels, surrounding partners, different interests, randomly grouped really promotes them in completing the task as well as improves their speaking skill Most of the students not care for the same or different age and gender partners when working in class - All of the teachers agree that the most appropriate time for each group activity is about 15 minutes If the time-limitation is less than 15 minutes, the students can not complete the task and possibly feel stressed In contrast, if the task lasts so long, the students may finish it much earlier than the time given and start chatting or doing something else LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 4.1.2 Before starting group working Before beginning the activity, the investigated teachers think that they should give clear instructions and then putting the students into appropriate groups, telling them the aims of the activity or giving them some time to get ready for the task In the mean time, the students think that the most important thing to be done by their teachers before starting a group work activity is giving clear instructions, then creating competitive atmosphere among the class After that, the teacher also needs to provide necessary related vocabulary and necessary structures which will be helpful for the students to express the ideas while discussing 4.1.3 During the group work activity The teachers have quite similar perceptions of what they should while their students are working in groups The most important thing to be done is to go around and provide helps when necessary Next, the teachers need to minimize the their talking time and let the students speak in stead The teachers also think that it is necessary for them to give the feedback, praise and encouragement when the students are discussing Alternatively, 90% of the teachers also think that they should stand at some corners of the classroom and keep an eye on the groups, they also need to keep close to the quiet students and take notes for feedbacks later All of the teachers have the same opinion that it is not good for the teachers to just stand in front of the class or remain the teachers’ seat and observe the students’ behaviors They had better come closer to the students They also disagree with the idea that the teachers keep close to the talkative students Especially, 100% of the teachers think that they should avoid speaking so much and keeping interrupting and reminding students’ errors during activity For the students, in their mind, they expect their teachers to go around and provide helps and take notes for feedback to take notes the mistakes and then correct them later The teachers also need to give their students feedbacks, praises and encouragement which help them feel more confident and excited about speaking English Most of the students not think that their teachers should be passive and quiet In short, the students and the teachers have quite similar ideas of what the instructors should during the activity 4.1.4 After finishing group working After the time set for the task is over, all of the students and the teachers have the same perception that the teachers should give feedback for the students’ work The students expect the teachers to correct the mistakes that they make during the discussion LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com However, the teachers not think so They not pay much attention to the errors but to the proficiency and the ideas rather than correcting the mistakes The teachers think that it is more important to promote the learners’ interests in learning the subject and help them increase the ability to express ideas naturally, especially for the third-year students 4.1.5 Difficulties of the teachers and the students in group working For the students, their main problems are that they not know to express their own ideas even when they have something to say Other students have other difficulties such as they not have enough time to prepare and speak, or the students are quiet so that their friends not let them speak For the teachers, they not the same things like the students, thus, their difficulties in applying group work are quite different from those of the students The most popular problem of the teachers have is the immovable class setting arrangement That is to say, the tables and the chairs are immovable to form group work activities They have to ask their students to move from this place to another one to form the right groups It may take a lot of time 100% of the teachers find it hard to organize a group work activity because of the unsuitable physical setting The second biggest problem that all of the 10 teachers agree with is the multi – level class Although, the students had mostly the same level of English proficiency at the beginning of the course, in the third – year, their levels are obviously different They are not at the same levels any more Therefore, it is not simple for the teachers to put the students in the right groups in accordance of the same proficiency levels The next problems are that the students overuse mother tongue in groups, the students’ resistant participation and large class-size Interestingly, only a few teachers said the subjective reasons cause troubles for them to carry out the group work activities For instance, only of the 10 teachers said that he is lack of teaching experiences and academic training about group work One another teachers said she sometimes does not have enough money to buy materials and develop teaching aids - What are the teachers’ and the students’ behaviors in group working? In the first step - presentation, they often presented the task by explaining what the students have to do, what structures they have to practice and whom they have to work with The needed vocabulary was also provided in some classes before activity All of the teachers gave instructions in English, but some spoke slowly and clearly enough, some did not Some teachers gave examples by showing sample products; others made an example with some students As a result, in the classes in which the instructions were clearly provided, LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com the task was successfully performed In contrast, in the classes that the students were not clear what they have to or they misunderstood the instructions, that was because the teachers did not talk slowly and clearly enough, the task failed In forming groups of students, the teachers here preferred to put the students sitting near or close to each other or they based on some similar physical characteristics to form the groups They rarely based on ages or genders, levels of proficiency or interest to put the students in relevant groups The reasons for these choices were that the classroom furniture is fixed and they did not want to waste time on seeking for the students’ own information to form the groups The average number of students in each group was from to They never formed large-size groups because they thought it would cause some noise and waste of time In the second step – process, the teachers mainly took part in as a guider or an observer They were successful in letting the students work freely in their group and they offered some help only when necessary However, they failed in keeping the students using the target language and regulating the students’ participations in groups The students used a lot of Vietnamese during they worked in groups and there were still some students did nothing or did not take part in the group work The work was rarely on time in spite of the time limited set before the work has been started That was because the difficulty of the work was not accurately accounted There was often some noise when the work was too easy and the students easily finished it and began to chat There were also some complaints when the students could not finish the task on time because it was so difficult or too long The teachers often did the last step-feedback in different ways Most of them asked some groups to stand up and perform their work for the others in class to comment or correct some mistakes The teachers often gave some additional explanations and the key if there was one Some others gave comments, correct all the mistakes and gave marks One things should be emphasize here is that the teacher often tried to correct all the mistake appeared, both linguistic and grammatical ones That is not necessary according to communicative approach in language teaching The communicative approach shows that not all mistakes need to be corrected; the main aims of the language learning is to receive and convey meaningful ideas, and correcting should be focused on mistakes that interfere with this aim, not on inaccuracies of usage (Ur 1996:244) There were some cases where the teachers did not give feedback 4.2 Recommendations LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 10 Basing on the results of the investigations and the analysis of the collected data, the researcher gives some suggestions to promote the effectiveness of using group work in speaking lessons This session also gives the answer for the third research question (3) How to futher improve the effectiveness of group work in speaking lessons at EFLHUI? Basing on the investigated data and the real behaviors of the participant and also the quality of teaching and learning speaking at the FFL-HUI, the researcher gives some suggestions for the students, the teachers and the staff administration to improve the effectiveness of improving speaking lessons at the faculty PART III CONCLUSION Summary of the study Above all, the random selection of the participants in the FFL – HUI to carry out the research of increasing the effetiveness of using group work to teach speaking for the second – year students is a reliable way to investigate the perceptions of the participants at the research context By applying three research instruments namley questionnaires, class observation and interview for both the students and the terachers at the FFL – HUI, we have reached the answers to the three research questions For the first question, “What is the teachers and the students’ perception about using group work in English speaking lessons?” most of the participants think that it is crucial to use group work in English speaking lessons The teachers and the students agreed that group working helps the learners study more effectively, have more English speaking time and learn from their friends They are also well-aware of what they should before, during and after activity in order to increase the effectiveness of the activity The learners shared some of their opinions about the preferred techniques that they expect from the teachers, such as the way to form groups, the number of students in each group as well as the kind of activity For the second question, “what is the teachers and the learners’ actual behaviors of using group work in English speaking classes?” we have found that In the first step presentation, they often presented the task by explaining what the students have to do, what structures they have to practice and whom they have to work with The needed vocabulary was also provided in some classes before activity All of the teachers gave instructions in English, but some spoke slowly and clearly enough, some did not Some teachers gave examples by showing sample products; others made an example with some students As a result, in the classes in which the instructions were clearly provided, the task was LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 11 successfully performed In contrast, in the classes that the students were not clear what they have to or they misunderstood the instructions, that was because the teachers did not talk slowly and clearly enough, the task failed In forming groups of students, the teachers here preferred to put the students sitting near or close to each other or they based on some similar physical characteristics to form the groups They rarely based on ages or genders, levels of proficiency or interest to put the students in relevant groups The reasons for these choices were that the classroom furniture is fixed and they did not want to waste time on seeking for the students’ own information to form the groups The average number of students in each group was from to They never formed large-size groups because they thought it would cause some noise and waste of time In the second step – process, the teachers mainly took part in as a guider or an observer They were successful in letting the students work freely in their group and they offered some help only when necessary However, they failed in keeping the students using the target language and regulating the students’ participations in groups The students used a lot of Vietnamese during they worked in groups and there were still some students did nothing or did not take part in the group work The work was rarely on time in spite of the time limited set before the work has been started That was because the difficulty of the work was not accurately accounted There was often some noise when the work was too easy and the students easily finished it and began to chat There were also some complaints when the students could not finish the task on time because it was so difficult or too long The teachers often did the last step-feedback in different ways Most of them asked some groups to stand up and perform their work for the others in class to comment or correct some mistakes The teachers often gave some additional explanations and the key if there was one Some others gave comments, correct all the mistakes and gave marks One things should be emphasize here is that the teacher often tried to correct all the mistake appeared, both linguistic and grammatical ones That is not necessary according to communicative approach in language teaching The communicative approach shows that not all mistakes need to be corrected; the main aims of the language learning is to receive and convey meaningful ideas, and correcting should be focused on mistakes that interfere with this aim, not on inaccuracies of usage (Ur 1996:244) There were some cases where the teachers did not give feedback LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 12 Last but not least, for the third research question, “How to further improve the effectiveness of group work in English speaking lessons?”, the reseacher has found that in order to have a good solution for the problem, it needs the efford and contribution from the the teachers, the students and the administration For the teachers, it is necessary for them to raise the students’ awareness of self-responsibility, use group work effectively They also need to train students the group work skill in every lesson Moreover, it is important for the teachers to establish good rapport with the students as well as train themselves to be good teachers For the atministration, they should reduce the class-sizes, improve classroom facilities, and it is crucil for them to give more support to the teachers For the students, they should be encouraged to cooperate with their teacher, take risks, and solve their own problems Limitations of the study As stated in the introduction of the study, the researcher only intends to investigate the perceptions and behaviors of the teachers and the third-year students at the FFL-HUI, then making some suggestions for improvement Therefore, in different settings or with other teachers and students, the results of the investigation may be different Moreover, the respondents of this study are limited to the third-year students at the FFL-HUI, thus their opinions about using group work in the speaking-class might not representative of all the students at the FFL-HUI in particular and all the students learning English nationwide in common Suggestions for further studies The following topics are suggested to carry out the research on: - The non-English majored teachers’ and students’ perceptions of using group work and their behaviors in the class practice - Maximizing the quality and quantity of interaction in speaking classes by using group work - Factors hinder the effectiveness of using group work to teach and learn speaking LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 13 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ... BEHAVIORS OF THE TEACHERS AND THE STUDENTS AT THE FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE OF HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY ABOUT GROUP WORK IN SPEAKING LESSONS (ĐIỀU TRA QUAN ĐIỂM VÀ HO? ??T ĐỘNG THƯC TẾ... NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES HỒ THỊ HIỀN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE PERCEPTIONS AND ACTUAL BEHAVIORS OF THE TEACHERS. .. work in speaking lessons at EFLHUI? Basing on the investigated data and the real behaviors of the participant and also the quality of teaching and learning speaking at the FFL-HUI, the researcher