Rationales of the study
In recent years, together with the increasing need for English learning, great efforts have been made in order to improve the quality of English teaching It is certain that teaching English is a complex process involving many complex factors Larsen – Freeman (1991) points out: language teaching can be summarized into three fields: language learner/ learning (How to learn); language/culture (What to learn); teacher/ teaching (How to teach) (Johnson, 2002) Since 1960s, the research on classroom discourse has grown rapidly Before that, teaching methodology has been explored and an effective teaching method is tried to be found Since teaching methods do not play a decisive role in language classrooms, the focus has shifted from teaching methods to teacher‟s talk in classroom process, or teacher‟s instructions
Giving instructions is particularly important to language teaching According to pedagogical theory, instructions that the teacher uses in the classroom determine to a larger degree whether a class will succeed or not since almost all of the classroom activities and teacher‟s help are organized and provided to the students through instructions
In Vietnam, English has become an international language of communication as well as a compulsory subject at most schools and universities English proficiency is very necessary for those who want to get a better job or, for the least of it, pass the English exam at the end of their study course In order to improve the English teaching and learning quality, teachers at Thai Nguyen University, where I work, have been using different techniques, one of which is group work – key features of learner – centered orientation They believe that group work help to provide their students with more opportunities to exchange their ideas make them more confident and creative in learning and promote their autonomy by allowing them to make their own decisions in the group However, many teachers complain that they are facing many challenges in organizing and managing, especially giving instructions for group work Some teachers do not use English frequently and sometimes not confident in their use of the language
Therefore, the effectiveness of their instructions for group work in class may not as high as being expected Along with a possible lack on the part of teachers to give instructions in English in the classroom, there may also be a reason on the part of class size Most of the non-English major classes at Thai Nguyen University are large
Hence, the noise as well as the mixed ability of the students may lead them to an inadequate understanding about the instructions given Since a better understanding of the teacher‟s instructions for group work can undoubtedly help students successfully fulfill their tasks in the group and certainly improve their learning, it is necessary to do some research on teachers‟ instructions for group work from both theoretical and practical perspective The author hopes to make a modest contribution to an increased understanding of giving instructions for group work in non-English major classrooms at Thai Nguyen University Basing on which group work can be organized in a more effective way to create variety, dynamism, and freshness in the classroom.
Aims and significance of the study
The study is conducted with a purpose to investigate how instructions are used for group work in 2 nd year non-English major classrooms Thus, the specific purpose is to provide reality evidence of the use of instructions for group work in 2 nd year non- English major classrooms In this way, the factors that influence to the effectiveness of an instruction will be clarified so that suggestions for better instructions will be discussed in order to help teachers improve their instructions for group work consciously
The study of teachers‟ instructions for group work in 2 nd year non-English major at Thai Nguyen University (TNU) is significant in three different ways First to the teachers, they should realize the fact that instructions play the decisive role to the success of group work They are the guiders that provide the students with all necessary information such as time limitation, group size, and detailed tasks assigned to each student Therefore, a carefully planned instruction is really needed when organizing a group activity Similarly, an appropriate procedure is inevitable in giving instructions
In order to help the students fulfill their tasks successfully, the teacher should explain systematically That means the teacher must have good organizational skills In addition to effective instructions, a friendly and co-operative climate should be created so that students feel encouraging and rewarding to study Furthermore, teacher‟s eye contact and body language are also crucial When giving instructions, the teacher should bear in mind that they could use gestures such as using fingers to select students or to show the number of members in a group, or use eye contact to warn some noisy students as well as to check their understanding of the instructions In fact, many teachers have neither the habit of using the body language and eye contact nor the skill to utilize them, so the effectiveness is not high as they expect
Secondly, the research provides evidence of how instructions are used by teachers at Thai Nguyen University It also reveals the teachers and students‟ attitudes toward good instructions Therefore, from the research results, the teacher can decide which techniques and procedure should be used to make effective group activities
Finally, instructions are indispensable to the students in learning They may make progress after each lesson if the teachers‟ instructions for the class activities are well organized.
Scope of the study
It is a fact that teachers have many ways to divide the class into small groups so that students can work together at the same time in an activity Thus, to limit the scope of the study, the researcher intends to investigate only instructions for activities in which the teacher divides the class into groups of two, three, four or five since they are the common size of group activities in the classroom at Thai Nguyen University
Moreover, the respondents of this study are limited to 2 nd year non-English majors chosen randomly at TNU, therefore, their opinion about teachers‟ instructions might not be a representative of all students at TNU in particular and students learning English in general.
Research questions
As stated in the introduction, the study is designed to seek answers to the following questions:
1 How instructions are used for group work in 2 nd year non-English major classrooms at TNU?
2 What facilitates and hinders the teachers when giving instructions to group work?
3 What recommendations for improvement are needed to make instructions for group work more effective?
Methods of the study
In order to examine the situation of the study, the researcher used the following methods: observation checklists for every class of the teachers chosen, post – lesson interviews for the teachers and post lesson questionnaires for the students
The post – lesson interview questions are aimed at obtaining information about the teachers‟ own judgments on their teaching, particularly on the instructions
After each lesson, a questionnaire will be distributed to the students to get information about their evaluation and reasons for their successful or unsuccessful in following the teacher‟s instructions The author uses questionnaires for this stage because of the fact that they are easy to construct and uniquely capable of gathering a large amount of information quickly in a form that is readily processable (Dornyei, 2003)
Observation of the teachers‟ classes will be carried out over a period of two months to obtain information about their actual teaching practices Specific episodes of events observed during the lesson will be used to generate discussion topics during post – lesson interviews.
Design of the study
The thesis consists of three main parts
Part I is the introduction in which rationales, aims, significance, research questions, scope, methods and design of the study are presented
Part II, development, consists of three chapters
Chapter 1 comes to basic concepts and knowledge relevant to the study as communicative teaching theory, the use of teacher talk, group work – its advantages and organization, the nature of instructions, and principles for giving instructions when organizing group work
Chapter 2 provides with an overview of the teachers and students chosen, the classroom conditions, timetable and teachers and students relationship at TNU Data collection and statistical result are also presented in the chapter
Chapter 3 discusses the findings of the research and suggests recommendations for the improvement of instruction giving
Part III, the conclusion, summarizes the major findings obtained from the study Then it deals with the limitations and puts forward some suggestions for further study.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Communicative language teaching
The growth of interest in the utility of Communicative Language Teaching has been shaped in the changes in the British language teaching tradition dating from late 1960s
CLT marks the beginning of a great innovation within language teaching because of its superior principles, which are widely accepted nowadays It is claimed to involve the making of new and different assumptions about the two fundamental questions: what is learnt and how is learned In fact, the communicative approach in language teaching originates from the theory of language as communication It then has been so rapidly adopted and widely disseminated that it quickly occupied the status of orthodoxy in British language teaching circles, and attained support of leading methodologists, applied linguists, scholars and publishers as well as -institutions (Richard, 1985)
CLT is often mentioned as an approach that comprises two sets of theories: assumption of what to teach, and assumption of how to teach
Assumption of what to teach
As regards the first assumption, the theory of language in CLT shows that language is for communication At the level of language theory, CLT has characteristics defined by Richards and Rodgers (2001) as follows:
Language is a system of for the expression of meaning
The primary function of language is to allow interaction and communication
The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative use
The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structural features, but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in discourse
Therefore, the purpose of language teaching is to develop "communicative competence", a basic concept in CLT
Hymes (1972) defined "communicative competence" as "what a speaker needs to know in order to be communicatively competent in a speech community,."( Hymes, 1972, cited in Richards and Rodgers, 2001) His viewpoint shows that acquiring communicative competence means acquiring both knowledge and ability for language use Sharing the same view of communicative competence with Hymes and Yalden, Munby (1979) stated:
"To communicate effectively, a speaker must know not only how to produce any and all grammatical utterances of a language but also how to use them effectively The speaker must know what to say, with whom, and when and where."
Apart from those definitions, Canale and Swain (1980) also described the concept of
"communicative competence" in term of four dimensions They are grammatical competence (grammatical and lexical capacity); sociolinguistic competence (the ability to understand and produce appropriate language in the social context which the communication happens); discourse competence (the ability to comprehend the message underlying a coherent and cohesive text); and strategic competence (the ability to employ communicative strategies to initiate and redirect communication)
Assumption of how to teach
If the first assumption in CLT is concerned with what should be taught, (in this case, that is communicative competence), then the second assumption is related to how the teaching should be carried out In other words, syllabus theory and syllabus models are the secondcentral point that is mentioned in CLT
One of the linguists devoting great contribution to communicative development is Wilkin D.A who proposed the first syllabus models which was developed into his later book Notional Syllabus in 1976 This syllabus model, remarked by Richards (2001) as an tempt to illustrate the functional view of language in syllabus design, specifies the two categories namely notional (e.g., frequency, motion, location) and communicative function (e.g., requests, offers, apologies, complaints) That is to say, a notional syllabus comprises not only grammatical and lexical elements but also the necessary concepts, notions as well as topics for learners to communicate about (Richards,
2001) Wilkin' viewpoint of syllabus model is also strongly supported by Brumfit and Roberts (1983: 85)
Syllabus aiming at communicative competence no longer concentrates so much on grammar but looks at the nature of meaning and of interaction Syllabus of this kind is usually referred to as "Functional" or "Notional" or "Functional/ Notional."
However, notional syllabus faces the criticisms from other scholars such as Henry Widdowson and Margie Berns Berns, M (1984: 15), argued that the textbooks based on the functional view might be "sorely inadequate and even misleading in their presentation of language as interaction." She also warned that if the context, a real key to transmitting meaning to both form and function, was not seriously paid attention in the textbook, learners' communicative competence development would be limited
Therefore, the notional syllabus deals with the components of discourse, but may not be concerned with discourse itself Similarly, Widdowson, H (1979) criticized Wilkin' notional syllabus model as the replacement of one kind of list (e.g., a list of grammar items) with another kind of list (e.g., a list of notions and functions) He meant notional syllabus focuses on products rather than communicative processes
It is apparent that there exist varieties of opinions about notional syllabus However, it is these arguments that contribute to the further development of CLT, which is the most favorite approach now
Another point to make about CLT is learner- centeredness Students in a learner- centered approach are seen as being able to play a more active and participatory role than in traditional approaches Accordingly, teacher roles will be redefined with the change in activity organization because individual learner is thought to have unique interests styles, needs and goals, which should be reflected in the design of method of instruction (Richards and Rodgers, 2001) To be more specific, teacher's instruction in learner- centered approach includes:
techniques that focus on or account for learners' needs, styles, and goals
techniques that give some control to the student (group work or strategy training)
techniques that include the consultation and input of students and that do not presuppose objectives in advanced
techniques that allow for student‟ creativity and innovation
techniques that enhance a student's sense of competence and self- worth
In brief, CLT is identified with the following characteristics:
It makes communicative competence the goal of teaching
It develops procedures for the teaching of the four language skills that acknowledge the interdependence of language and communication
It considers learner and his communicative needs the centre of language teaching process
These characteristics will be the principles for teacher to choose appropriate techniques for increasing students' participation in communicative activities in classroom The concepts communicative activities will be discussed in the next section
For some time after the rise of communicative language teaching, the status of grammar in the curriculum was rather uncertain Some linguists, like Cross (1995) or
Ur (1996), maintained that it was not necessary to teach grammar, that the ability to use second language (knowing „how‟) would develop automatically if the learners were required to focus on meaning in the process of using language to communicate In recent years, this view has come under serious challenges, and it now seemed to be widely accepted that there is value in classroom tasks which require learners to focus on form It is also accepted that grammar is an essential source in using language communicatively
In CLT, the types of classroom activities and the way they should be conducted will influence learning Good teaching allows both learning and acquisition Learning would include activities while acquisitions presumably takes place during activities where the focus is on the content or the function of language The acquisition process is in fact the major theoretical rationale for the communicative approach, and the evidence is quite clear that without a stage of language use for communication, language teaching is not very efficient
Group work in communicative language teaching
Group work in the second language classroom has been recently recommended by Flander (1970); Adams, McLean and Castanos (1976), especially by Adrian Doff (1988: 137) which defines it as a process that “the teacher divides the class into small groups to work together, all the group work at the same time ”
According to Joe Landsberger (1996), the philosophy of working in groups involves shared and/or learned values, resources, and ways of doing things However, each group, and each individual, will only be as effective if they are willing to embrace and/or respect differences within the group
The main objective of most group work is the outcome The entire group wants the outcome to be good; however, the whole point of group work is for everyone in the group to work as a team to accomplish the outcome of the task It is important for everyone to work together When one person is not helping with the group effort or working on their part of the project, it causes the whole group to strain, and can also causes detrimental defects to the outcome of the task
In fact, all-class teaching is often undervalued as a method It is very valuable in developing a sense of unity and ensuring that nobody is left behind; it also helps learners stay focused on the task if they know they are likely to be asked a question in the open class However, working in pairs or small groups is the best way to ensure that tasks are discussed thoroughly and that people who might be reluctant to speak in front of the whole class get a chance to contribute For some subjects such as foreign languages, group work is the only way to make sure that students get the practice they need More generally, group work fosters negotiation and co-operative skills, especially if the groups are changed regularly They can also help provide motivation; students will often work hard on a group project or performance, which they know, is going to be seen by the whole class
Using group work in the classroom has been recently recommended by Flander (1970);
Adams, Mc Lean and Castanos (1976), especially by Long , Porter, and Patricia (1985)
They all have used pedagogical arguments to support group work There are at least 5 pedagogical arguments for the use of group work in second language learning In order to have a deeper understanding about group work, to accept and apply it in secondary language classroom, it is essential to begin with a brief review of those arguments
First, Long assumes that group work in creases language practice opportunities In all probability, one of the main reasons for low achievements by many second language learners is simply that they do not have enough time to practise the new language In the secondary schools nowadays there is a large number of students in a confined classroom This makes learners have a few chance to speak Moreover, most of the classrooms are teacher – untied ones in which the teacher talks most of the time while a majority of students listen, take notes and sit silently Flander makes it clear that when lessons are organized in teacher – centered manner, a typical talk for at least half, and often for as much as two thirds of any class period In these classrooms, only a small number of students speak relatively frequently with the teacher This leads to a small number of successful learners and a relatively large number of failures Group work certainly helps but it cannot solve this problem entirely To illustrate with the public school setting, suppose that just half the time available for individual student talk is devoted to work in group of three instead of to lockstep practice, in which one student talk while other listen (or not, as the case may be) This will change the total individual practice time available to each student from one hour to five and a half hours It means that through group activities in the classroom, every student has much more chance to talk, discuss and find solution to the task given Thus, it is not a surprise if their learning result is improved
The teacher-centered classroom, the lock step, limits not only the quantity of talk students can engage in, but also its quality This is because the teacher – fronted lessons favor a highly conventionalized variety of conversation In such settings, one speaker asks a series of known information, or display questions, such as Do you come to class at 7.00? or Do you live with your parents? The question to which there is only one correct answer The second speaker responds and then in the classroom, typically has the correctness of the respond confirmed (yes, right, good) Only rarely does genuine communication takes place Another unfortunate effect of this sort of pseudo – communication is that students‟ attention tends to wander The reason is that students are asked to give a prompt and brief answer, which requires little thought Then, teachers quickly „correct‟ any errors and students appreciate just as quickly that what they say is less important than how they say it Group work can help a great deal in such situations First, unlike the lockstep with its single, distance initiator of talk (the teacher) and its group interlocutor (the students) face – to - face communication in a small group is a natural setting for conversation Second, two or three students working together for five minutes at a stretch are no limited to producing hurried, isolated sentences of utterances, thereby developing discourse competence, not just a sentence grammar Third, as shown by Long, Adams, Mc Lean and Castanos, students can take on roles and adopt positions, which in lockstep work are usually the teacher‟s exclusive preserve and can then practice a range of language functions associated with those roles and positions Finally, given appropriate materials to work with and problems to solve, students can develop at least some of the variety of skills that make up communicative competence in a second language Clearly, group work improves the quality of student talk
The third argument is that group work helps individualize instruction In a large teacher – centered classroom, many individual differences are ignored because it is impossible for the teacher to give individual attention to the students and to check all their work
The individual differences include students‟ age, cognitive stage, sex, attitude, motivation, aptitude, personality, interest, cognitive style, and prior language learning experience I would be a great success if these differences were reflected in the pacing of instruction, in its linguistic and culture content, in the level of intellectual challenge it poses, in the manner of its presentation and in the kinds of the classroom roles students are assigned Although group work obviously cannot handle all these differences, still it can help That is, small groups of students can work on different sets of materials suited to their needs Moreover, they can do so simultaneously, thereby avoiding the risk of boring other students who do not have the same problem Group work, then, is a first step toward individualization of instruction, which everyone agrees is a good idea, but which few teachers or textbooks seems to do much about
Furthermore, group work promotes a positive affective climate In a teacher – centered classroom many students, especially shy or linguistically insecure, experience considerable stress when called upon in a public arena Research (see, for example, Rowe, 1974 White and Lightbrown, 1983) has shown that if students pause longer than about one second before beginning to respond or while making a response; or appear not to know the answer, or make an error, teachers will tend to interrupt, repeat or rephrase the question She may immediately ask a different one, „correct‟ and/ or switch to another students Not all teachers do these things, of course, but most teachers do so more than they could realize or would want to admit In contrast, working in small groups, students have a relatively intimate setting and, usually, a supportive environment As far as the small group setting is concerned, Barnes (1973:19) states that an intimate group allows us to be relatively in explicitly and in coherent change the direction in the middle of sentence, to be uncertain and self – contradictory Moreover, freedom from requirement for accuracy at all costs and entry into the richer and more accommodating set of relationships provided by small group interaction promote a positive affective climate This in turn allows for the development of the kind of personalized, creative talk for which most aural – oral classes are trying to prepare learners
Beside the pedagogical arguments for the use of group work as an aid to second language teaching, there is now an independent psycholinguistic evidence for group work utilizing This evidence emerged from recent work on the nature of non – native/ non – native conversation It is useful and necessary for us – Vietnamese teachers and learners of English – to study this rationale
Concerning the psycholinguistic rationale, many linguists like Long (1985), Adams,
Mc Leans and Castanos (1976) examine the quality and the quality of speech in both teacher – led class discussions and small group discussions The result is that the amount and variety of student talk were found significantly greater in small groups than in the teacher – led discussions, and group work enabled students to use language of a broader range of social and interpersonal function than does lockstep, teacher – led classroom interaction This finding suggested that, compared with teacher – led instruction, group work could serve as a more effective aid to second language learning
Comparing the accuracy of student production in teacher – fronted discussion and small group discussion on decision – making tasks, Pica and Doughty (in press) found that students perform at the same level of grammatical accuracy in their second language output in unsupervised group work as in „public‟ lockstep work conducted by the teacher In addition, they found that the individual students talked more in their teacher – fronted discussions
Research into error correction by Pica and Doughty also found that the frequency of error correction and completions by students is higher in group work than in lock – step teaching In a more detailed study, Bruton and Samuda (1980) stated that learners seem more apt to repair lexical errors during group work, whereas pay an equal amount of attention to errors of syntax and pronunciation
It should be noted that Doughty and Pica (1984) also studied negotiation, the percentage of conversational adjustments They found that more negotiation was occurred in the small group (66 percent) than in lockstep format (45 percent) The reason, according to them, was that students are reluctant to indicate a lack of understanding in front of their teacher and an entire class of students and so they do not negotiate as much comprehensible input in whole-class settings
I.2.3 General Strategies for a successful group work
Plan for each stage of group work
Teacher’s instructions for a successful group work
Classroom process research, as Gaies (1983) calls “the study of communication in the classroom”, has taken different forms: interaction analysis, teacher talk and discourse analysis (Ellis, 1985: 143) All dimensions of classroom process, from questioning to disciplining students, providing the feedback and especially giving instructions, involve in teacher talk There is no learning without teaching Therefore, as a tool of implementing plans and achieving teaching goals, teacher talk plays a vital important role in language learning As Nunan (1991) points out that teacher talk is of crucial importance, not only the organization of the classroom but also for the processes of acquisition It is important for the organization and management of the classroom because it is through language that teachers either succeed or fail in implementing their teaching plans In terms of acquisition, teacher talk is important because it is probably the major source of comprehensible target language input that the learner is likely to receive The amount and type of teacher talk is even regarded as a decisive factor of success or failure in classroom teaching
According to second language acquisition theory, plenty of and high – quality input is the necessary element for successful language learning There is no learning without input “If the second language is learnt as a foreign language in a language class in a non-supportive environment, instruction is likely to be the major or even the only source of target language input” (Stern, 1983: 400) Classroom is the chief source for language learners and teacher talk, particularly teacher instructions, serves as the major target language input for them Stern proposed a teaching learning model, which identified two principle factors, the language teacher and the language learner
“The teacher, like the learner, brings to language teaching certain characteristics which may have bearing on educational treatment: age, sex, previous education, and personal qualities Above all, the language teacher brings to it a language background and experience, professional training as a linguist and teacher, previous language teaching experience, and more or less formulated theoretical presuppositions about language, language learning and teaching” (Stern, 1983: 500) These characteristics of language teacher are reflected in different characteristics and forms of teacher talk, and certainly of teacher‟s instructions
I.3.2 The definition of teacher’s instructions for group work
For most Vietnamese learners of English, classroom is the main place where they frequently expose to the target language In the classroom, the teacher tries to use English whenever it is possible The language used by the teacher has “two purposes: it serves both as the subject matter of the lesson and as the medium of instruction” (Willis 1987: 163) The previous purpose of language used in the classroom is obvious while the later has not been fully defined Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Encyclopedic defines teacher‟s instruction as a “process of teaching knowledge or teaching given”
The Longman dictionary of Contemporary English provides the following definition for an instruction: a statement/ order telling someone what they must do Another definition of instruction is that: It is "the purposeful direction of the learning process" and is one of the major teacher class activities (along with planning and management)
Professional educators have developed a variety of models of instruction, each designed to produce classroom learning Joyce, Weil, and Calhoun (2003) describe four categories of models of teaching/instruction (behavioral systems, information processing, personal development, and social interaction) that summarize the vast majority of instructional methods Each model differs in the specific type or measure of learning that is targeted Therefore, as a teacher make decisions about "best instructional practices" she/he must be certain that she/he connect recommended practices with specific desired outcomes This point is often omitted; discussion of best practices then becomes a debate about desired outcomes rather than a discussion of how to achieve them
As stated before, instruction (the purposeful guidance of the learning process) is complex and can take many forms It is a vitally important classroom activity, but must be considered in the context of such factors as measures of desired student learning (including overlapping objectives taught to objectives tested), controlling student behavior (classroom management activities), individualize differences among students, and school processes
However, within the small scope of this research, the writer intends to study only instructions which are used for group work Basing on the discussions before, it is unnecessary to state about the importance of teachers‟ instructions in organizing group work since the effectiveness of a group work is greatly defined by all the steps that the teacher takes as well as her/his language including instructions, and her/his manner when organizing them As noted by G.S Hughes (1981), the teacher almost indifferently uses variety of forms of situation, ranging from commands (Look at page…) to request (Could you open the book at page…, please?) and suggestion (Why not open the book at page….?) Thus, it is certain that the instruction for group work is a wide category of sentences teachers use when organize group works
In this study, group work is referred to classroom activities, which are in dyads (pairs), in triads, groups of four or even half the class In other word, within the scope of this study, the writer try to do a research on how instructions are used for every group activity organized in the classroom
I.3.3 The importance of instructions in organizing group work
Group work can be frustrating for both students and teachers if instructions are not clear Students may question the teacher‟s organizational skills, and they may waste precious time puzzling over directions Therefore, instructions should clearly delineate the task and/or explain the teacher‟s expectations They should indicate the degree of freedom given to students in structuring the task and assigning group roles Clear instructions always include the time involved Students cannot manage their time wisely if they cannot plan ahead Numerous studies have identified “time on task” as a factor critical to student achievement In fact, instructions should also include a
“sponge” or extension activity that teams must turn to if they complete the initial assignment This “sponge” typically involves more challenging problems to solve or more complex issues to discuss
I.3.4 Principles of giving instructions to group work
It is widely believed that the meaningful, situational use of the language in the classroom may have positive effect on learning because of its communicative potential
Using the class language naturally associates the foreign language to situations where an information gap does occur, such as: a teacher instructs learners to an exercise in their books: “Open your book at page…, please.” then checks their understanding of something (OK, did you get that?), which is indeed exchange real information with the learners Therefore, it is wise that the teacher justify the amount of new vocabulary and structures used when speaking to the students if she/he does not want to re – explain all his – her words Jim Scrivener (1994) suggested five steps when giving instructions so as to avoid the problem of quantity and over complexity of language used
- Become aware of the teacher‟s own instruction giving
- Have a pre-plan instruction: collect essential information, use simple and clear language
- In class, create silence beforehand, make eye contact with the students before giving instructions, use authority tone and gesture to pace the instructions an clarify their meaning
- Use demonstration as much as possible
- Check understanding by getting evidence from the student Teacher may ask the students to show him/her what they are going to do
The five steps prepare the teacher with pre - stage, while - stage and post –stage when she/he gives instructions for a group activity Basing on the suggested stages, the teacher needs to simplify their language and uses natural language without too many commands She/ he is also encouraged to use gesture and facial expressions as well as changing intonation properly during instructions in order to achieve the highest effectiveness
Concerning the question of to use or not to use mother tongue in instructions for group works, a common pattern followed by many teachers is the repetition of complex instructions in translation This pattern means an attempt is made in the L2 first to offer the better pupils an opportunity to try to understand, whereas repetition in the mother tongue will allow the weaker ones to understand the instructions anyway and maybe to start identifying the function of the foreign language used Students in order to show and check their understanding of what is happening in the activity or to support their peers‟ understanding classroom events also use the mother tongue Nevertheless, the task of running an activity in the foreign language is not easy It is not just the matter of general language competence, but also of the specific needs of classroom language and the teacher‟s sense of measuring his/ her words so as to provide comprehensible input.
The informants
The author intends to carry out the study with nine teachers (coded as T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7, T8, and T9) who were divided into 3 groups All of the teachers were eager to contribute to the study and did not mind having the author observe their lessons during one semester Their profiles are described in table 1
Group Age Sex Teaching experience
1 (T1-T3) 40 - 50 2 1 more than 20 years BA degree
Table1 Teacher’s profiles (Total number of tea cher: 9)
There were about 500 second year non-English majors in nine classes engaged in the study They were all from Faculty of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and History
The number of students in each class is about 60 – 70 students with a mixed lever of language proficiency Many of them had 7 years learning English at secondary schools but some others had only 3 years of exposure to the language In their first and second year at the University, they learn general English with New Headway – Elementary by John and Liz Soar (1995).
Data collection instruments
In the study, the author employs both qualitative and quantitative methods to get data for answering the research questions According to Larsen Freeman and Long (1991:14), both qualitative and quantitative paradigms are not competing, but complementary, and the choice between the two is unnecessary They also assert that much can be gained from a combination of the two Within the scope of this study, such a combination of both research paradigms is believed to gain more in-depth data for analysis
Since this study is designed to understand the phenomenon under investigation in a particular context, at Thai Nguyen University, it is a case study in nature According to Gillham (2001: 1), a case study is:
A unit of human activity embedded in the real world
Which can only be studied or understood in context
Which exists here and now
That emerges in with its context so that precise boundaries are difficult to draw
Thus, a case study is one that seeks a range of different kinds of evidence which is there in the case setting, and which has to be abstracted and collated to get the best possible answer to the research question
The study of cases, according to McDonough and McDonough (1997: 204) is not only a qualitative undertaking, nor does it present an either/or perspective in quantitative/qualitative terms Where, for example, researchers need to study large scale trends, cases will usually be selected on the basis of random sampling and the data submitted to statistical analysis Besides, classroom is a special and restricted setting It is not possible to select so many teachers randomly to be in one class or another because of the huge task of detail analysis, and it is impossible to control all the variables that might influence the outcome in a large-scale study It is why the case study was chosen for the study
Since the study aims to investigate the teacher‟s instruction - giving procedures, a post – lesson questionnaire was administered to the students in the observed class to get information about their evaluation and reasons for their successful or unsuccessful result in following the teacher‟s instructions The author uses a questionnaire for this stage because of the fact that they are easy to construct and uniquely capable of gathering a large amount of information quickly in a form that is readily processable (Dornyei, 2003)
Beside questionnaires, classroom observations are the main tools to collect more information about the procedures used by the teachers
Observations of the teachers‟ classes were carried out over a period of two months to obtain information about their actual teaching practices Each observation consisted of three steps: Before the lesson, during the lesson, and after the lesson In before – the – lesson step, the author met the teachers to know their aims in teaching the lesson, to read their lesson plan In during – the lesson step, an observation sheet was used to record the instruction procedure The after – the – lesson step was for discussion and exchanging ideas between observers and the teachers
In order to get information about the teachers‟ preparation for their lessons and their beliefs regarding instructions and instruction giving procedures, the pre – lesson interview questions were designed Then, after the lesson, the post – lesson interview questions were utilized to obtain information about the teachers‟ own judgments on their teaching, particularly on the instructions
Specific episodes of events observed during the lessons were used to generate discussion topics during post – lesson interviews.
The current situation of English teaching and learning at TNU
The Foreign Languages Faculty, one of the thirteen faculties of Thai Nguyen College of Education, was founded in 1995 There are 83 teachers in the faculty, of which thirty teachers are responsible for teaching English to non – English major students in other departments of the college Recently, the quality as well as quantity of students enrolling to the university has increased gradually Therefore, the thirty teachers have been loaded with 1,000 students per year, (50 to 60 students in each class on average)
This situation leads to the reduction of the language teaching effectiveness and creates challenges to teachers of English to deal with such crowded and mix- ability classes
The non- English major students at the University are learning New Headway – Elementary by John and Liz Soar (1995) which is divided into two semesters with five credits each The final test designed after each semester mainly evaluates students‟ proficiency of reading and writing This testing system is likely affect students‟ learning strategies and their view to the importance of participating to the classroom activities
CHAPTER THREE: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
III.1 Data analysis III.1.1 Classroom observations III.1.1.1 The organization and content of the teachers’ instructions
Classroom observation in nine classes with the nine teachers was applied to identify how instructions were used for group work
1 The sequence of the information is in a sensible order
1 CE SE SE CE CE SE SE SE CE
2 SE SE LE CE SE CE CE SE SE
3 SE CE SE SE SE SE CE CE SE
2 Appropriate pacing maintains student engagement
1 CE SE SE SE LE CE LE NE CE
2 SE CE SE SE SE CE NE SE SE
3 LE SE CE SE CE CE SE CE LE
3 Demonstration and models precede practice exercises
1 LE NE SE SE SE CE NE SE LE
2 SE SE CE CE SE SE CE SE CE
3 SE LE SE CE CE CE SE SE SE
4 A variety of techniques is utilized to make content concepts clear (e.g., modeling, visuals, hands-on activities, demonstrations, body language)
1 LE SE LE SE CE SE CE SE SE
2 SE NE LE SE SE NE SE LE CE
3 SE SE SE CE SE SE CE SE SE
5 Scaffolding techniques are applied consistently
1 SE CE CE SE CE SE SE LE SE
2 SE SE CE SE NE SE SE NE SE
3 CE SE CE CE SE CE SE SE CE
6 Teacher takes into account the specific knowledge and experience of the students, adds explanations as necessary and refers to the students‟ experience
1 SE CE SE SE SE CE SE LE SE
2 SE SE CE SE CE SE SE SE SE
3 CE SE SE CE SE CE SE CE CE
Table 2 : The organization and content of the teachers’ instructions (CE: clear evidence
SE: Some evidence LE: limited evidence NE: No evidence)
The observation indicates, overall, that teachers in group 2 (T4 – T6) show the most positive evidence of a good instruction for group work in which there is only one limited evidence in maintaining the students‟ engagement during the instruction
Together with the two other groups, group 2 has 4/9 periods observed in which the teacher takes into account the specific knowledge and experience of the students, adds explanations as necessary and refers to the students‟ experience
From table 2 we can see that teachers in group 2 have the most appropriate pacing during instructions There is only one period with limited evidence but 4/9 periods containing clear evidence for appropriate pacing Comparing with group 3, it can be recognized that teachers in group 3 are less experienced, in other word, they are not as successful because they have only 2/9 periods with clear evidence for maintaining students‟ engagements by pacing instructions while there are 2/9 lessons having no evidence Group 1 shows the normal pacing while instructing students with 8/9 lessons containing some or a lot of evidences of appropriate pacing to maintain students‟ engagements
Demonstrations and models are extremely important to the success of an instruction as well as a group activity Teachers should not assume that all students are attentive to their instructions The fact is that there are certainly some or groups of students having private talks or thinking of something else instead of listening to the teacher The result is that many students may not be clear about their tasks immediately after the instruction Therefore, teachers‟ demonstrations or models could be of great help
From table 2 it can be referred that teachers in group 2 rarely forget making demonstrations or models with all lessons observed containing evidences while teachers in group 1 and 3 sometimes pass the step
III.1.1.2 The language used for the instructions
7 The use of speech is appropriate for students' proficiency level (e.g., slower rate, enunciation, and simple sentence structure for beginners)
1 SE CE CE CE SE SE LE SE LE
2 SE SE CE CE CE CE SE NE SE
3 SE CE SE SE CE SE SE SE CE
8 The use of language is in highly effective ways to emphasize the purpose and the requirement of the activity
1 LE SE SE CE SE SE LE SE SE
2 NE SE CE SE CE CE NE SE SE
3 SE SE SE CE SE SE SE LE SE
9 Teacher shows the flexibility in paraphrasing the instruction
1 LE LE SE SE CE SE LE SE SE
2 LE SE SE SE SE CE SE SE SE
3 SE CE LE SE CE SE CE SE LE Delivery
10 An authoritative tone is used
1 CE CE CE SE CE CE SE SE CE
2 SE CE CE SE CE SE SE CE SE
3 CE SE CE CE SE CE LE SE NE
11 The volume and rate varies to show emphasis
1 SE SE SE CE SE CE SE CE SE
2 SE CE SE CE CE SE CE SE SE
3 SE CE SE SE LE SE SE SE LE
12 The pronunciation and enunciation are clear
1 SE SE CE CE SE CE CE SE CE
2 LE SE LE SE CE SE SE LE CE
3 SE LE SE CE SE CE CE SE SE
Table 3:The language used for the instructions (CE: clear evidence SE: Some evidence
LE: limited evidence NE: No evidence)
Concerning the language the teachers used when they give instructions, table 3 shows that 4/9 lessons of group 1 and 5/9 lessons of group 2 showed clear evidences of the appropriateness for students' proficiency level (e.g., slower rate, enunciation, and simple sentence structure for beginners) The number was totally different from that of group 3, which had 2/9 lessons showing limited evidences and 1/9 lessons containing no evidences of appropriate use of the language during instructions The „old‟ teachers (group 1) seemed to find difficult to paraphrase the instructions with 3/9 lessons of limited evidence and 5/9 lessons of some evidences that showed the flexibility of the instructions Group 3 dealt with the same difficulty with 2/9 lessons giving limited evidences and 6/9 lessons consisting of some evidences whereas group 2 did not stuck in paraphrasing instructions during group work They had 3/9 lessons with clear evidences and 6/9 lessons having some evidences which showed that the teacher were successful in making the instructions flexible
The authoritative tone used for instructions seemed to be a strength of the experienced teachers in group 1, who used that kind of tone in 7/9 lessons observed Teachers in group 2 and group 3 did not show their lack of this skill However, group 3 still had one lesson with limited evidences and one lesson of no evidences showing that they can use the authoritative tone effectively
However, teachers in group 1 showed that their pronunciation and enunciation were not as clear as that of teachers in group 2 and group 3 who in turns had 5/9 and 4/9 lessons with clear evidences of correct pronunciation and enunciation Two teachers in group 1 were teachers of Russian more than 10 years ago Then they learned English and changed to teach English because it gradually became a fundamental subject in the University When changing to English, their pronunciation was still affected by the Russian accent Although they had tried their best, their pronunciation was not successful as they expected Some of them blamed for the old age that prevented them from pronouncing exactly
III.1.1.3 Physical expressions for the instructions
13 Teacher involves the whole class with eye contact
1 CE CE SE SE CE CE CE SE LE
2 SE CE SE SE CE CE LE SE SE
3 SE SE CE CE SE SE SE SE LE
14 Gestures are used effectively to pace the instructions and clarify their meanings
1 SE SE SE CE SE CE SE LE SE
2 SE CE SE SE CE SE LE NE LE
3 SE SE CE CE CE CE SE SE SE
Table 4: Physical expressions for the instructions (CE: clear evidence SE: Some evidence
LE: limited evidence NE: No evidence)
Relating to the use of eye contact when giving instructions, it can easily be seen from table 4 that teachers in group 1 and 2 were so confident and used their eye contact properly They all showed necessary evidence of using eye contact to involve the whole class and using gestures to pace the instructions and clarify their meanings
Teaching experience may be the reason for their confidence and they can be proud of the result On the contrary, teachers in group 3 are young and have only a few years of teaching experience which might have led to their limited evidence of involving the class with eye contact (in 3/9 lessons) They even showed no clues of pacing the instructions and clarifying their meanings with eye contact in one lesson One of the teachers admitted that she sometimes felt unconfident and that her students‟ eye light might stop her flow of thinking of the lesson procedure, which led to her unexpected result She also added that they did not have the habit of using body language, especially with the students She explained that she sometimes felt like a clown when trying to use the body language
III.1.1.4 Observation of the nine classrooms in details
This section discusses the observation of the nine classrooms Although the classrooms were chosen randomly, the author decided to choose among classes which were learning the same part of the text book to make it easier to compare Despite the explained observation checklist above, the author still would like to have a closer look to the instructions used in those classes
Classroom of the first teacher a Class description
- Lesson: Unit 12 – Life is an adventure (p91-92) (New Headway Elementary)
- Lesson aims: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to use „going to‟ to express their plans and intentions b Teaching procedure
The lesson was designed with three stages:
- Wrap up c Comment on teacher’s demonstration
In this stage, the teacher asked the students to retell the knowledge of the last lesson which is about the structure „going to The students were help to sum up the structure‟s use and provided with necessary vocabulary for practicing the structure
In this stage, the teacher arranged an activity for the students to practice using
„going to‟ The teacher grouped the students by asking three students sitting next to one another at the same desk to be a group Using this grouping method the teacher could save time and easily control the groups The students were also pleased because they could do the task with someone they know very well This could be a strength, but could also be a weakness because the familiarity may make them bored and incurious to know about the partner
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Cause analysis for the results of the study
The teachers themselves are also the important factors contributing to their success It can be drawn out from the previous parts that there obviously some techniques needed for a successful instruction Teachers in group 1 and 2 are experienced teachers with many well – organized activities In their lessons, they mostly followed all necessary steps when giving an instruction, such as waiting for a few seconds to attract the students before instructing, using short and clear sentences in normal speed and making some demonstrations before having the whole class practice Most instructions utilized by these teachers had the similar structure so the students were gradually familiar with the procedure and followed properly
III.3 Cause analysis for the result of the study
The result of the present study shows that the instructions used in the classrooms under investigation is not really high and created a little interest among the students There are certain reasons for the ineffective of the instructions
The learning situation has not been separated or isolated from the total context (Reid, 2002: 4) In Vietnam, both teachers and students have been greatly influenced by the cultural tradition The relationship between teacher and student is much more hierarchical The teacher is more direct in making decisions about what is going on in the classroom That is, the teacher is an authority figure and has great power in controlling the class Students are familiar with the idea that the teacher must know all and present knowledge in class, the students are constrained to accept without questioning or being suspicious That means students often do not dare to ask questions if they feel ambiguous about what the teacher asks them to do If not their teacher may assume that they are not well – behave It is certain that no one wants to make the teacher angry!
In Thai Nguyen University most classes are big As the author has mentioned previously in this study, all classes in the research are more than fifty students That will leave no more than about a minute for each student during the average session, so it is hard to arrange the practice of speaking Besides, certain other rules have to be observed in classroom setting The classroom is characteristically reluctant to allow overlapping or simultaneous talk because of the requirement for centralizing attention
Some teachers in group one said that they tended to use Vietnamese for the second time of instruction because they were not sure if there students could understand the instructions paraphrased Moreover, a large class prevented the teachers from recognizing problems from the students if they did not complained The teachers tended to give instructions to students sitting in the front of the classrooms Students sitting at the back, in most of the time, could not understand the rules as clearly as they were supposed to do The reason was because when sitting at the back of such a crowded class the students were likely to distracted by many small stuffs, such as thing happening outside the windows, small talks of other students, etc which averted them from listening to the teachers‟ talk Besides, students who were not really good at learning often chose the seats at the back of the room Thus, those students could not easily understand what the teacher said right at the first time, even when they paid good attention The teacher could hardly take care of more than fifty students at once, so they would let the activity started right after some students said they were ready
III.3.3 Factors concerned with the learners
It is important to remember the teachers have a certain amount of power in the classroom, but the learners also clearly influence the pace and direction of interaction
Learners have their preferences and utilize their own learning strategies and these sometimes run contrary to the teacher‟s plan Different students with different personality do not have identical psychological process while learning English
Students‟ needs, motivation and learning factors influence their learning process
Teacher‟s instruction is inevitably affected by what the students believe At TNU, students are used to the instructions in Vietnamese or short and simple ones Teachers were the ones to be blamed for the students‟ laziness in trying to understand instructions in English Many students said that when the teacher said something in English, they would not listen and waited for the translation which would come right afterward Teachers formed the habit and teachers were the ones who „ruined‟ their students
However, the students themselves were the factor that hindered the success of the instructions They were too crowded and easily distracted by other factors Moreover, they were in different levels of proficiency which were of great difficulties for the teachers to differentiate their instructions
III.3.4 The limited teaching time
Through interviewing with the teachers, they complained that the teaching time is so limited and so many teaching contents were required to be accomplished in a rather limited time Explanation for instructions is time consuming It was not easy to explain every rule for group work in English and then in Vietnamese or a paraphrase in English Besides, it is sometimes unable to predict the result of an activity In other word, an activity may last longer (or shorter) than the teachers‟ intention Thus, the teachers are somehow passive, especially the young ones
III.3.5 Teachers’ awareness toward instructions for group work
For many years, teachers and educational organizations have been interested in finding the right teaching method, and have not realize the importance of instructions in language teaching in general and instructions for group work in particular When teachers prepare their lessons, traditionally, they always focus on the teaching method, and pay no attention to the instruction for each activity they intent to use They restricted their talk to classroom language, fluent in saying: “work in pairs”, “answer the questions” ,etc They do not realize the role of explanation in each instruction such as “please work with the students next to you”, or “answer your friend‟s questions” By the same token, the educational organizations always train teachers to find and use the right method, totally neglect to train them how to talk in classrooms As a result, many teachers lack the related theories of giving instructions Besides, most teachers have been used to the traditional way to teach foreign language, which requires few specialized skills on the part of teachers and teachers are regarded as an authority who dominate the whole of the class If an activity is not successful, then the fault will certainly go to the students Many teachers may blame for their students‟ proficiency or their lack of concentration in the classroom.
Recommendations
A variation of activities that are suitable for students‟ life and interest can promote greater participation in lessons As we have said in the previous sections, the teacher can work less in class but they have to invest time at home in preparing materials and select appropriate tasks, exercises and activities for mix-ability students The materials and activities chosen for group work should be link to meaningful language use on the part of students and should involve the expressions of their opinions and thoughts In the context of TNU, when using the course book the teacher should exploit additional materials and design appropriate activities for group work
There are some major groups of activities structured for language classes that the teacher can apply to their classes, such as: Information gap, Content-focusing, Role play or Jigsaw reading Each type of activities has its own advantages For example, in New Headway – Elementary - Unit 14 – pp.110, 111, Reading texts and intended tasks, there are three texts introducing 3 people with a similar slot It is advisable that the teacher organize an information gap activity in which each student is responsible for the text of one of the characters, they may be asked to do some reading tasks, such as: scanning for the introductory information of the character, skimming certain information about them and answering questions, and so on Then without looking at others‟ texts, they are to exchange and compare their character‟s information with the others for similarities or differences
Teachers can also apply a game such as noughts and crosses game in to the lessons
Noughts and crosses is a simple game in which two players/ two teams take turns to write Os or Xs in a set of nine squares The first player to complete a row of three Os or three Xs is the winner In language practice, cells of the grid are filled with items the teacher wants to test, such as: nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc., or questions
Another type of valuable activities for students is role playing It is simultaneously interesting and useful to students because it emphasizes the "real-world" side of science
It challenges them to deal with complex problems with no single "right" answer In particular, role-playing presents the student a valuable opportunity to learn not just the course content, but other perspectives on it Below is a example of applying role play for the book: In Unit 12, p91, task 1, teacher can ask students to work in groups of 3 of which A is Rosie, B is Rosie‟s boss who is going to ask her some questions, C is B‟s secretary to write down all the questions and answers The group who first bring the teacher the paper will be the winner The role play can last 10 minutes
III.4.1.2 Suggested group activities with improved instructions
As we have mentioned in the previous section, the teacher can work less in class but they have to spend a lot of time before lessons to collect necessary materials for each activity in the lessons Moreover, they are suggested to rehearse their instructions, especially the sentences they are going to use before the lessons for better results As in the discussions of teachers‟ post – lesson interviews, teachers in group 3 with three inexperienced and just - graduate ones were interested in using academic words in their instructions For teachers, using complex sentences with academic word may be a good chance to practice their English, but it may cause confusing or misunderstanding
Regarding sentences that can be used for instructions, the author would like to suggest some activities with sentences for instructions which are hoped to contribute to the improvement of the just – graduate teachers
Introducing each other (Unit 1 – New Headway – Elementary)
In this activity, students work in group of three or four in three minutes
Teacher: (Stand in the middle front of the class, wait for three seconds)
“Class! We are working in groups of four now Work with the partners sitting at your table Huong, who are you working with?”
Huong: “I am working with….and….”
Teacher: “O.K You are going to ask your partners about their names and hometowns
What questions are you going to use?, Hoang”
Hoang: “We are going to use questions: What‟s your names? And Where are you from?”
Teacher: “That‟s correct Thank you And Your answer, Lan?”
Lan: “I‟m Lan I‟m from Ninh Binh”
Teacher: “Excellent! Now you have two minutes to ask you friends You have to remember all the names and hometowns because I‟m going to ask you after you finish
What computers can do?(Unit 5 – New Headway - Elementary)
Teacher: (Stand in the middle front of the class, wait for three seconds)
“Class! We are working in groups of three now Work with the partners sitting at your table Linh, are you working with Binh and Tien (Ss sitting behind Linh)?”
Linh: “No, I am working with….and….”
Teacher: “That‟s right You are going to discuss with your partners, make a list about what computers can do and cannot do So, can you tell me what computers can do?
Tri: “I think they can help us connect with our friends”
Teacher: “Excellent! What can‟t they do? Hue”
Hue: “They can‟t cook, teacher”
Teacher: “Correct! Now you have five minutes to discuss The group with the longest correct list will be the winner Let‟s start!”
These are only some suggested sentences which can be used for instructions Besides the appropriate language, the teachers must train themselves to have clear voice and useful and attractive body languages so that they can be pleased with their instructions
III.4.1.3 Improve instruction giving techniques
Basing on the theories of an effective instruction discussed in the literature review combining with the ideas of the teachers under the investigation, the author would suggest some key points for better instructions
It is revealed in the case study that the teacher tend to use simple and short instructions
Although some young teachers in group two sometimes used academic words which reduced the effectiveness of the instructions, they did not refuse the usefulness of a simple instructions and said they would tried to use English at the students‟ levels The teachers all said in the post interview that it was better to make instructions as concrete as possible It would be easier for the teachers and the students to remember and follow the instructions if the teachers had listed a series of steps to be followed the materials needed
When students are given too many directions at the same time, confusion is inevitable
Therefore, teachers should not pack all instructions into the start of an activity It is better to divide the activity into several installments, coming together for additional instructions between each episode For example, they might direct students “work only through Step two and then we‟ll talk about your results,” to be followed later by “Now complete Steps three through four” This way of dividing lessons will also add interest through varying the kinds of things that students are doing
Besides, further instruction to small groups might be needed because there may be still some groups or students who are unclear about their tasks Therefore, during the activities, the teacher should stroll around the classroom, give quick instructions and assistance when necessary, adjudges unexpected behaviors arising in groups, and keeps groups on tracks At the end of the group work, the teacher should bring the class together to check the work and sum up the main language points having been practiced in the activities or throughout the lesson
Finally, it is a good step to reinforce the oral instructions with written steps on the blackboard or newsprint It may be appropriate to uncover only one step at a time as the teacher gives that instruction Also, teachers should hand out worksheets or things to read only after they have given the instructions because once students have the materials in hand, they will start reading and stop listening
Giving instructions “different ways” is another key to the success The technique means to give instructions flexibly - both orally and in writing They can also be given symbolically, through pictures and diagrams, and concretely, by using sample sets of materials or examples of work to be completed Some students preferred to read instructions, and still others focus best when they could see what they were to do (through demonstrations or graphic representations)
III.4.1.5 Train students group work skills
An effective group work needs good cooperation between the teacher and students
Therefore, the teacher should train and instruct their students some skills to work in groups To be more specific, students should be taught some necessary language forms to fulfill the functions required for group work, such as: to agree, to disagree, to explain, to question, to repeat, to interrupt, to compare, etc Furthermore, teachers should train their students to obey some rules I group work, for example: start and stop work right after the teachers‟ command, be quick when moving to another activity, be self discipline, and listen carefully to teachers‟ instructions
III.4.1.6 Self -train to be effective instruction providers