Aims of the study
The aim of the study is to investigate whether the use of group work in English speaking lessons promotes students‟ interest and the difficulties that teachers and students face with when conducting this technique.
Scope of the study
The study focuses on group work to promote students‟ interest in English speaking lessons, especially group work that was appropriate to 11th grade students in mountainous areas Group work in this study was tested with the participation of these students.
Hypothesis
This study was set up to test the following hypothesis: “Group work helps promote students‟ interest in English speaking lessons.”
Methods of the study
Group work activities were designed and conducted on the students of grade 11 Data was collected through group work implemented by the students Data was also collected by photos and notes taking.
Organization of the study
This study consists of three parts:
Part A, Introduction , presents rationale, aims, scope, hypothesis, methods and design of the study
Part B, Development, consists of three chapters
Chapter 1 discusses the theoretical background relevant to issues of the study The first section presents teaching speaking skills in general, the second section discusses the learners‟ interest in learning languages and the last section is the discussion of group work activity
Chapter 2 discusses the methodology of the study In this chapter, the hypothesis, data collection instrument and data collection procedure are presented
Chapter 3 presents data analysis and findings show the results of the research In this chapter, the author tried to find out the answers to the hypothesis
Part C, Conclusion , summarizes the key issues as well as the limitations of the study and makes suggestions for further research
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
The importance of teaching speaking skills
For many years, teaching speaking has been underestimated and English teachers seem to teach speaking just as a repetition of drills or memorization of dialogues
Nowadays, the world requires that the goal of teaching speaking should improve students‟ communicative skills so that students can express themselves with their new language
According to communicative language teaching, teaching speaking skills involves the use of language through different communicative activities
When using communicative activities in speaking, it is very important to make sure that students feel comfortable and confident to participate in learning activities This makes students find it easy to discuss and share ideas with their partners Students should be given more chances to speak in class so that they can attain mutual understanding and practice language
Communicative activities offer opportunities to improve speaking skills as well as cognitive ability It is clear that successful communication is an integrated accomplishment When participating in communicative activities, students will become more active; have opportunities to interact with other In brief, communication activities can boost proficiency and greatly improve communicative competence
There are various definitions of speaking and the popular acceptance comes from Jones, R (1989: 86) who defines speaking as “Speaking is a form of communication, so it is important that what you say conveyed in the most effective way” Chaney states that “ speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non- verbal symbols, in a variety of context” (Chaney, 1998, p.13)
As for Ur(1996) , people who know a language are referred to as
“speakers” of that language as if speaking includes all others kinds of knowing Florez claims that speaking is “an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving.” (Florez,
1999) To help students to become “speakers” of a new language, it is important for language teachers to pay attention to teaching speaking skills rather than leading students to memorization The teacher should give their students opportunities to practice language so that they can promote their language
Teaching speaking for students is very important because the goal of teaching speaking skills is communicative efficiency Students should be able to make themselves understand what they said, using their current proficiency to the fullest They can try to avoid misunderstanding in the message due to faulty pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, and to see the social and cultural rules that apply in each communication situation
In teaching English speaking, teachers may face many difficulties that prevent them from a good conduction such as: number of learners, types of learners, size of class, and types of materials Therefore, the teachers must have a variety of techniques and procedures through which are suitable for students.
Characteristics of a successful speaking lesson
According to Ur (1996), there are four characteristics of a successful speaking lesson The first characteristic is “learners talk a lot” This means that the amount of learning in a speaking lesson is correlated with the amount of talking by the learner Thus, the more time learners engage with in the course of a lesson, the more language they can obtain, so learners speaking time makes a speaking lesson successfully
The second characteristic that he mentions is “participation is even”
He means that classroom discussion should not be dominated by a minority of talkative participants All students should have opportunities to speak, and contributions are fairly evenly distributed It is clearly that a successful speaking lesson must provide opportunities of speaking to all learners with different levels
“Motivation is high” is the third characteristic of a successful speaking activity Learners are eager to speak because they are interested in the topic, they find the topic is familiar and want to talk about it and they want to contribute to achieve the task objective The activities that teachers design should make learners have a high motivation Brown (1994) states that it is when students‟ learning styles are matched with appropriate approaches in teaching that their motivation, performances, and achievements will increase and be enhanced Nunan (1989) points out that accommodating learners‟ needs and preferences is vital in designing a learner-centered curriculum
Understanding of students‟ preferred way of learning helps the teacher not only to alter his or her teaching style but also to diversify classroom tasks or activities to accommodate different learning style
The last characteristic is “Language is of an acceptable level” Ur means that learners express themselves with suitable language, easily comprehensible to each other To help learners get success in speaking, the teacher should choose the suitable topics for learners so that learners can express their own ideas with their vocabulary, experience and knowledge
Besides, the teacher should provide relevant information, vocabulary and structures related to the topic before organizing the activity so that all learners are willing to participate in speaking.
Learners’ interest in learning languages
Ellis (1994) (cited in Keller, 1984) states that interest is one of the main elements of motivation and a positive response to stimulate based on existing cognitive structures in such a way that learners‟ curiosity is aroused and sustained In other words, interest shows learners‟ desire to learn the target language It can be seen that students who are given opportunities for communication will be eager to talk to share information with others
Ellis (cited in Dickinson, 1987) also points out that “interest is engendered if learners become self-centered” This means they are able to determine their learning objectives, choose their own way of achieving these, and evaluate their own progress In this case, students have the desire to talk or to ask for information They want to know and try to talk it through to achieve their goals
There have been some studies on the factors affecting students‟ interest in learning a foreign language so far Some factors such as language level, learner level, learning situation level were stated by Dornyei (2001) and internal and external factors stated by Williams and Burnden (1997)
Although researchers have had some different views in this issue, they all have come to an agreement with a list of common factors affecting students‟ interest These factors can be divided into three main factors: Students‟ motivation, teaching techniques of teachers and teachers‟ personalities
Motivation is an important factor that leads to students‟ success in learning in general, and in learning language in particular And when students have their own motivation they will have interests in learning So what is motivation?
According to Littlewood (1998), “motivation is a complex phenomenon and includes many components: the individual‟s drive and need for achievement and success, curiosity, desire for stimulation and new experience that make up her motivation In other words, motivation is both intrinsically and extrinsically- originated.”
Intrinsic motivation is a type of motivation that plays an important role in most learners‟ second language learning success For many learners, the purpose for learning a different language is the "interest in the culture and the target language group" or the "positive attitudes towards the target language group" while for some others it is the interest in learning tasks Teaching methods and learning activities can attract them, arouse and maintain their interest in doing the tasks In short, intrinsic motivation "Involves the arousal and maintenance of curiosity and can ebb and flow as a result of such factors as learners' particular interests and the extent to which they fell personality involved in learning activities."
While Extrinsic motivation derives from the influence of some kinds of outside indicators, including the influence of the teacher, the learner's desire to please significant people or their wish to succeed in an external exam, or peer group influence, which are different from the wish to learn for its own sake or interest in learning tasks
Teaching techniques of teachers is considered one of the main factors that affect students‟ interest According to the new methods of teaching, the teachers no longer played the role of the knowledge provider and the students were the passive knowledge receivers, the teaching techniques is really important to guide students in their learning process and different teaching techniques create different degrees of students‟ participation and interest in the lesson
The last factor that I would like to mention is teachers‟ personal qualities So as to draw students‟ attention and interest, teachers should make students trust and feel comfortable when they participate in speaking lesson
Barry (1993) points out some characteristics a teacher should have The necessary characteristics are being natural, being warm, being pleasant, and being tolerant
Being natural means the relationship between him and his students will be closer, if the teacher behaves naturally, which promotes students‟ interest in the lesson Being warm is when the teacher considers students as his friends Students therefore will find it easy to express themselves in the lesson Being pleasant will make the classroom‟s climate comfortable and interesting, which increases students‟ motivation and participation Being tolerant that Barry mentions is when the teacher is and patient with all students so as to stimulate all students to participate in the lesson.
Group work
There are a lot of definitions about group work, but here I would like to review some typical definition of group work According to Adrian Doff
(1988: 137), group work is a process in which “the teacher divides the class into small groups to work together (usually four or five students in each group), all the groups work at the same time” Rod Killen (2004) indicates that “Group work occurs when you ask two or more students to work together.”
Clearly, group work is a co-operative activity, during which students share aims and responsibilities; moreover, they have chance for greater independence as they take some of their own learning decisions, without the teacher controlling every move Also they can work without the pressure of the whole class listening to what they are doing They learn to listen to different opinions They feel free to experiment and use the language, and the most important thing is that they have many chances to interact with each other
Davis (1993) divides group work into 3 types; they are informal learning groups, formal learning groups and study teams The three types of group work should be applied in teaching properly to get great effectiveness
Informal learning groups are temporary clustering of the students with a single class session Informal learning groups can be initiated, for example, by asking students to turn to partners and spend several minutes discussing a question the teacher has raised The teacher can also form groups of three or five to solve a problem Informal learning groups can be organized at anytime in a class of any size to check on students' understanding of the material, to give students an opportunity to apply what they are learning, or to provide a change of pace Informal learning groups have a short lifetime ranging from a few minutes to the class period With informal learning groups, the tasks are generally created quickly, for example, the teacher may say “discuss the questions with your partners” and have little explanation
Formal learning groups are teams established to complete a specific task, such as perform a lab experiment, write a report, or carry out a project
These groups may complete their task in a single class session or over several weeks Typically, students work together until the task is finished and their work is graded Formal learning groups can last several days or several weeks They require more planning They also have greater explanation
Study teams are long- term groups (usually existing during the course of a semester) with stable membership whose primary responsibility is to provide members with support, encouragement, and assistance in completing course requirements and assignments Study teams serve a broader purpose
They last the entire semester (or even several semesters)
From the above definitions of group work types, the term "group work activities" used in this thesis belongs to the first type- informal learning groups It means that students are required to work in groups of three to five to do a specific speaking tasks set in the textbook, English 11 The speaking tasks in this book are designed to develop students' communicative competence Group work activities are often conducted and last about ten minutes to fifteen minutes
According to Hayriye Kayi (2006), there are nine main group works activities that can be used to promote students‟ speaking skills a Discussion : A discussion can be held for various reasons, after a content-based lesson The students may aim to arrive at a conclusion, share ideas about an event, or find solutions in their discussion groups Before the discussion, it is essential that the purpose of the discussion activity is set by the teacher In this way, the discussion points are relevant to this purpose, so that students do not spend their time chatting with each other about irrelevant things b Role play: In role play Students pretend they are in various social contexts and have a variety of social roles In role-play activities, the teacher gives information to the learners such as who they are and what they think or feel Thus, the teacher can tell the student that “You are David, you go to the doctor and tell him what happened last night, and…” (Harmer, 1984) c Simulations: are very similar to role-plays but what makes simulations different than role plays is that they are more elaborate In simulations, students can bring items to the class to create a realistic environment For instance, if a student is acting as a singer, she brings a microphone to sing and so on Role plays and simulations have many advantages First, since they are entertaining, they motivate the students
Second, as Harmer (1984) suggests, they increase the self-confidence of hesitant students, because in role play and simulation activities, they will have a different role and do not have to speak for themselves, which means they do not have to take the same responsibility d Information gap: is the activity that students are supposed to be working in pairs One student will have the information that other partner does not have and the partners will share their information Information gap activities serve many purposes such as solving a problem or collecting information For example, filling in the gaps in a schedule or timetable (Partner A holds an airline timetable with some of the arrival and departure times missing Partner B has the same timetable but with different blank spaces The two partners are not permitted to see each other‟s timetables and must fill in the blanks by asking each other appropriate questions These activities are effective because everybody has the opportunity to talk extensively in the target language e Brainstorming: gives students opportunities to produce ideas in a limited time Depending on the context, either individual or group brainstorming is effective and learners generate ideas quickly and freely The good characteristic of brainstorming is that the students are not criticized for their ideas so students will be open to sharing new ideas f Storytelling: is the activity that students can briefly summarize a tale or story they heard from somebody beforehand, or they may create their own stories to tell their classmates Story telling fosters creative thinking It also helps students express ideas in the format of beginning, development, and ending, including the characters and setting a story has to have Students also can tell riddles or jokes For instance, at the very beginning of each class session, the teacher may call a few students to tell short riddles or jokes as an opening In this way, not only will the teacher address students‟ speaking ability, but also get the attention of the class g Interviews: get students to conduct interviews on selected topics with various people It is a good idea that the teacher provides a rubric to students so that they know what type of questions they can ask or what path to follow, but students should prepare their own interview questions Conducting interviews with people gives students a chance to practice their speaking ability not only in class but also outside and helps them becoming socialized
After interviews, each student can present his or her study to the class
Moreover, students can interview each other and “introduce” his or her partner to the class h Playing cards is the game that students can form groups of four
Each suit will represent a topic, for instance, Diamonds: Earning money,
Hearts: family, Spades: personal experiences, Clubs: jobs in the future
Each student in a group will choose a card Then, each student will write 4-5 questions about that topic to ask the other people in the group However, the teacher should state at the very beginning of the activity that students are not allowed to prepare yes-no questions, because by saying yes or no students get little practice in spoken language production Rather, students ask open- ended questions to each other so that they reply in complete sentences e Picture Describing: another way to make use of pictures in a speaking activity is to give students just one picture and having them describe what it is in the picture For this activity students can form groups and each group is given a different picture Students discuss the picture with their groups, and then a spokesperson for each group describes the picture to the whole class This activity fosters the creativity and imagination of the learners as well as their public speaking skills
1.4.4 The benefits of teaching and learning speaking English by group work
- Increase in the amount of student practice: When students work in group they have more chances to practice Group work dramatically increases students talking time and students‟ participation
- Increase in the students’ confidence: Students, who are shy of speaking in front of the whole class, or to the teacher, often find it much easier to express themselves in front of a small group For teachers, because there are more than two people in a group, there is a greater chance of different opinions and varied contributions than in working individually or in pairs, it frees the teacher from her traditional role of “an expert who always lectures” and allows her to wander freely round the class, leading and encouraging discussion, giving help where needed.(Harmer, 1999: 116)
- Mutual help: Group work encourages students to share ideas and knowledge In a class, there are always weak and strong students, so working in groups, students can learn from each other a lot It recognizes the old maxims that “two heads are better than one”, thus promoting learner cooperation (Adrian Doff, 1988: 144).
Organization of group work
In order to prepare for group work, according to Felisa Tibbits from Harvard University, the teacher needs to do the following to make an effective group work
First, the teacher should select suitable activity for students An activity that is best suited for group work need to meet some necessary criteria: The activity has multiple tasks that can be shared among group members or a single task, such as generating ideas, that benefit from the participation of all individuals within a group, the activity involves problem solving and discussion and examples of activities that may be suited for group work are investigations of materials (newspapers, scientific specimens) and development of ideas or arguments
Second is the preparation of the materials The teacher will need to personally collect, or organize students to collect, physical specimens for investigation For example, if the teacher anticipates doing a lesson on the role of the media, she or he might ask the students to bring in to class newspapers and magazines There should be materials sufficient for each group
Third, size and selection of group should be prepared with consideration when organizing group work Generally, group size normally ranges between 3-5 students Group size can sometimes go larger although groups larger than
8 do not ensure that everyone will participate Since groups often report their work back to the whole class, teachers also take into account the total number of groups within the class
Group member can be determined in different ways A random selection might be done by “counting off” with students In a non random selection, groups will be selected based on the teachers‟ prior knowledge
Usually, groups are selected to maximize diversity within the group, since diversity enhances learning Such groups often have a balance of girls and boys, and students with differing ability levels Teachers can also use their best judgment about personality mixes that would enhance the work of the group
Sometimes groups are organized only for one activity Other times, teachers use the same small groups for a series of activities, so that students get used to working with one another If the tables and chairs cannot be moved for group work, then students can form groups by turning around in seats to face their partners behind
Finally, group work timing should be suitable for each activity It is necessary for the teacher to anticipate student questions about, the task results, timing, sharing with the whole group, and so on After giving clear instructions to the students, the teacher should be available to answer questions, but not interfere with the groups‟ activities
It is common in many classrooms that a small group activity constitutes
20 minutes of a 40 minute- period, with 10 minutes allowed for sharing small group work with the whole class Usually the results of the small group work are shared with the class This sharing can be oral (reporting out), visual (written or graphic representation), or both
It cannot be denied that to conduct a group work activities, teachers should have good preparation from beginning to end so that group work activities become effective and gain successfulness
1.5.2 Steps of organizing group work
Harmer (1991) divides group work organization into 3 steps : before activities, during activities and after activities In this part I will discuss more about them
In the before activities, the teacher should make students feel enthusiastic about what they are going to do They need to understand what they are going to do, and when they have to finish the task they are going to take part in Teacher‟s instructions should be clear to students so that they understand what to do and how to do in the task The important thing about instructions is that the students should understand and agree on what the task is To check students‟ comprehension teacher may ask them to repeat the instructions, or, in monolingual classes, to translate them in to their first language
In the during activities, while students are working in groups the teachers have a number of options They could, for instance, stand at their convenience in the classroom and keep an eye on what is happening, noting who appears to be stuck, disengaged, or about to finish In this position teacher can „tune in‟ to a particular group from some distance away The teachers can then decide whether to go over and help that group An alternative procedure is to go round the class watching and listening to specific groups
When students are working in groups the teacher has an ideal opportunity to work with individual students whom they feel would benefit from their teachers‟ attention They also have a great chance to act as observer, picking up information about students‟ progress
After activities happen when groups stop working together the teacher needs to organise feedback The teacher wants to let them discuss what occurred during the group session and, where necessary, add their own assessments and make corrections
Where groupwork has formed part of a practice session, our feedback may take the form of having a few groups quickly demonstrate the language they have been using The teachers can then correct it, if and when necessary, and this procedure will give both those students and the rest of the class good information for future learning and action
Finally, it is vital to remember that constructive feedback on the content of student work can greatly enhance students‟ future motivation The feedback the teachers give on language mistakes is only one part of that process.
METHODOLOGY
Hypothesis
As mentioned in the first part of the study, this study is aimed at testing the following hypothesis: Group work helps promote students‟ interest in English speaking lessons.
Setting of the study
The study was conducted at Duong Tu Minh High School, in Thai Nguyen province At our school, English is taught as a compulsory subject for students There are three levels of English: English 10, 11 and 12 The students have English lessons during the first term and second term of the school year.
Participants of the study
The study was conducted on 20 non-English-major students from grade
11, Duong Tu Minh High School The students were of different English competence Some of them have learned English for 5 years, while some have learned for 9 years In general, most of the students were at the elementary level of English and only a few of them at intermediate level Most of them can do grammar exercises very well but they have difficulties in mastering four language skills Among the four skills, they find speaking especially important but most difficult one That is the reason why most of students were bored and unmotivated in speaking classes.
Data collection instruments
Five group work activities were designed as the data collection instruments based on speaking units of Tieng Anh 11 but modified to be more suitable and interesting to the students These activities also required students to communicate orally with each others Three group work activities I chose to design were role play, playing cards and discussion because they were suitable to participants in this study A brief description of the five speaking activities will be outlined in the following discussion
- Objectives: Asking about the way/direction and answering the way
- Organization: Students worked in groups of 5
- Roles: The policemen (with a street map) – show the way Students – ask for the direction
At Roston railway station, three students asked two policemen about the way to a certain place required by teacher in the handout and they tried to ask the police to show them They had to describe the way to each other after asking the police
- Organization: Students work in pairs
- Roles: One student acted as a shop assistant and another student acted as a customer The shop assistant had a card with things to buy, the customer tried to buy things in the list on his card
- Objectives: Asking and answering about some topics in their life
- Organization: Students work in groups of 4
- Tasks: Each member chooses a card with a certain topic (family, personal experiences, favorite foods and jobs in the future) then prepared 4-5 questions about that topic to ask the other people in the group
- Objectives: Expressing agreement and disagreement
- Organization: Students worked in groups of 5
- Tasks: Students discuss whether they should go on a camping for April
30 th Holidays and give reasons
Agreement: I quite agree with you/ Great/ yes, let‟s do that/ that‟s a good idea
Disagreement: That‟s a good idea, but…/I can‟t agree with you more/I don‟t think that‟s a good idea…
- Objectives: Talking about the sports result of the Vietnamese athletes at 14 th Asian Games
- Organization: Students worked in groups of five
- Tasks: The teacher delivered each group a handout “Result of Vietnamese athletes at 14 th Asian Games”, and then students in each group discuss and take turn to talk about the information the sports result of the Vietnamese athletes at 14 th Asian Games.
Data collection procedure
The teacher conducted five speaking lessons in which group work activities were implemented (one activity per period) The students were organized to work in groups with 5 activities as mentioned above During the activities, the teacher observed, took photos and took notes The teacher conducted five group work activities in five periods for 5 weeks These are the procedure of each activity
Period 1: Activity 1- Asking for direction
- Objectives: Asking about the way to somewhere using question “Can you tell me the way to…?” The students would be able to show the way (turn left/turn right/ go straight ahead/ next to/ in front of/ opposite to…)
The students were divided into 4 groups of 5 The groups were delivered the same street map Each group would ask and answer about the direction to a certain place in the map, which was assigned by the teacher
They had 5 minutes to work in their groups After the in-group speaking, each group performed in front of the whole class
Group 1 asked the way to the post office (G on the street map) Group 2 asked the way to the shoe shop
Group 3 asked the way to book shop
Group 4 asked the way to the park (J on the street map)
After asking for the direction, students should remember how to get there so they need to confirm with the policemen until they remember it
Period 2: Activity 2 – Asking for price
- Objective: The students would be able to ask and answer about prices
The teacher delivered handouts to students (Shopping list to customers and prices of products to shop assistant)
Students worked in pairs One student acted as a shop assistant and another student acted as a customer The shop assistant had a card (prices of products of a market in Vietnam) with things to buy, the customer tried to buy things in the list on his card (shopping list) They had five minutes to act their roles in pairs Then each pair presented in front of the whole class
- Objective: The students would be able to ask and answer about their family, personal experiences, favorite foods, or future jobs
Teacher prepared 4 cards of four topics on family, personal experiences, favorite foods and future jobs The students worked in groups of
4 Each student in each group chose a card with a certain topic The students had to write down some questions to ask other members about the topic they had in the card Then they practiced asking and answering the questions
- Objective: The students would be able to express agreement and disagreement, using “I quite agree with you/Great/Yes, let‟s do that/That‟s a good idea, that‟s a good idea, but…/I can‟t agree with you more/I don‟t think that‟s a good idea…”
Students worked in groups of five and had 5 minutes to prepare then discussed whether they should go on a camping for April 30 th Holidays
Students could use the reasons below:
- Reasons for agreeing: can enjoy spectacular scenery/can have a lot of outdoor activities/ can get close to nature/ can become more active…
+ Have to hire a coach, which costs a lot of money/ have to bring a lot of equipment and supplies which are quite heavy
During students‟ discussion, the teacher could go round to help them if they have any difficulty
- Objective: Talking about sport results
Teacher divided the class into groups of 5 students Teacher gives each group handout of result of the Vietnamese athletes at 14 th Asian Games
Students in each group discuss and take turn to talk about the information
Teacher went round to observe and gives help to students if necessary
After students‟ discussion the teacher checks students‟ feedback
Example: In bodybuilding, the Vietnamese athletes won one gold medal and one bronze medal.
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
Students’ participation
My class observation, notes and photos shot from the speaking lessons revealed that the students became more attentive and enthusiastic to speaking activities The quiet atmosphere did not last any more The students began to be more active in the group work The timid students found their chance to speak English They did not sit back and watch the lesson, but participated in the speaking activities
Through the five activities, the students‟ participation was quite even Most students had opportunities to speak From the photos and my notes, it was clear that the students‟ participation in activity 1, 2, and 4 was quite even They could use the language that teacher required With the role-play activities, the students seemed to be more interested in the topics When acting as the shop assistants and customers, the students used words and phrases properly and quite fluently
Group work activities 1 and 2 appeared to be the most effective in attracting the students to join In Activity 1, group 1, 2 and 4 could complete their roles very well Most of them could ask the directions using the question “Could you tell me the way ?” The other students could give the directions the way to the places Activity 1- Role play with the street maps In most other lessons, many students were shy of speaking in front of the whole class, and to the teacher They rarely spoke anything, especially in English But the author recognized that they found it much easier to express themselves in front of a small group In details, in group 1, 2, and 4, all the students participated in conversations However, only two of them participated in speaking in group 3
In Activity 2, for example, when the teacher organized students to role play, they were very excited and participated in the activity
Students liked the role as shop assistants and customers They quickly practiced with the situation, and spoke with excitement When the teacher checked students‟ feedback, Activity 2 – Role play
I saw that most students could ask and answer about prices Many of the students became more confident and voluntary to play their roles to the whole class and the teacher Nearly all the students were attentive when they practiced the topic However, group 3 was silent, only a student could use the language required The four boys were not attentive and couldn‟t use the language When the teacher guided again, they could only repeated what the teacher said
In the five group activities, the students‟ participation was at least in the last activity (Discussion about the sports results of 14 th Asian Games) They were silent and the interaction among them was poor The students appeared to be interested in the topic, but many of them discussed in Vietnamese The reason could be that they were lack of vocabulary about the topic In details, the students of group 1 and 4 gave out only some information such as “In body-building, Vietnam won gold medal”, and “In swimming, Vietnam won a bronze medal” In group 2, the students almost spoke nothing in English, but chatted in Vietnamese about the topic
In brief, through the class observation, students‟ participation in group activities was better than in normal teaching activities The participation of students of the whole class is quite even among groups
According to my observation and note taking, many students took part in speaking in each activity, and the number of students who participated increased in group work activities Students had a lot of opportunities to speak in each activity
They listened to other students in the groups and they also give their opinions to create a real engaging speaking atmosphere It cannot be denied that their performance increased, they could express their ideas with better use of grammatical and more fluency These are some images that showed the studying atmosphere in speaking lessons
Acttivity 2 – Role play Activity 3- Discussion
The four photos showed that members of each groups seemed to be interested in the topics that teacher introduced and they practiced speaking actively Students gave their ideas and did as the teacher had required
Especially, in activity 3, they have opportunities to ask their friends about their family, personal experiences, favorite foods and jobs in the futures Each member of groups also talked about themselves This activity made them to understand each other better According to my observation, members of group
1, 2 and 4 had good interactions with each others They asked their friends many questions about family such as “How many people are there in your family?”, “What do your parents do” “How old is your mother?” Or questions about favorite food such as “What is your favorite food?” “Why do you like it?” Group 3 was quite silent; only two students could make suitable questions to others and seemed to dominate the group
Activity 1 - Discussion Activity 2 - Role play
Activity 3- Discussion Activity 2- Role play
Students‟ performances in activity 1, activity 2 and activity 4 also got great success Students in these activities talked a lot, each student contributed the discussion or role play Students understood the requirement of each activity and did well the task In activity 2, students are eager to speak when they have the shopping lists Students liked to act as a shop assistant and customer, the shop assistant tried to introduce her products and the customers tried to buy things Most pairs could develop the conversation, and have good interaction Especially, when I observed the conversation between Quynh anh Hanh I found they could speak and continue the conversation well They could not only ask for the price of products and answer about price but also continue the conversation naturally
In activity 5, students worked in groups of five students and took turns to talk about “the results of Vietnamese athletes at 14 th Asian Games” The task requirements were familiar with students so they could express the ideas very well The four groups focused on the topic, and when the teacher asked them to talk to the whole class they spoke with confidence Group 2 was not as good as the 3 groups because they had difficulty in pronounce scores, names of sports, but finally with the help of teacher they could speak as required
Students had more time and opportunities to practice English in the class In other speaking lessons in class before, only some students spoke There were few students who practiced speaking in the speaking lessons When I conducted speaking activities using group work, I found the class atmosphere has changed I and my colleague observed students‟ participation in each activity and have the result as follow:
As can be seen in the table, most students participated in speaking in each activity, and the number of students who participated increased in group work activities The total number of the 5 activities is 83 which made up 82% of the students The table shows that students not only participated in speaking but also participated with many times in each activity The total students‟ speaking time is 157 It is clear that there were a progress in students‟ participation in speaking lessons
Students’ attitude in speaking lessons
The five group work activities that I conducted had changed the class climate in active way Students were eager with the topics that teacher introduced Students paid attention to the teacher‟s instruction Students could repeat the requirement of the task and did as the teacher required These are some photos that showed clearly about the attention, focus and activeness of students in speaking lessons
Activity 1- Role play (G3) Activity 3- Discussion (G2)
Activity 2 – Role play Activity 3 – Discussion
These photos show that the students were interested in taking part in the activities in speaking lessons Especially, the organization of activity 1, 2 and 3 attracted the students‟ speaking participation the most They were attentive and eager to contribute their groups‟ conversation Looking at their faces, I could see their interest, curiosity to know the new things In activity 1 and 2, there were some groups tried to ask their friends and the teacher some words that they could not express in English so that they can express their ideas themselves and tried to remember Through my observation, I and my colleague found that when students could speak in English, these students seemed to be more interested in the next speaking activities
From the result of the analysis of the data, it is proven that the use of group work in teaching speaking is quite effective and it also promotes students‟ interest in English speaking lessons The use of group work makes the speaking and learning more enjoyable and interesting It is because group work helps the shy students express themselves easier There is also greater chance of different opinions and varied contributions From the data analysis, it is shown that the use of group work in teaching activities makes the class more active and alive Students are willing to take part in the activities without any forces from the teacher because they work together with their classmate group work activities
However, working in groups still has some limitations that I mentioned above, and the teacher should try to find out suitable solutions for them so that each lesson really become interesting and effective to our loved students
This chapter draws conclusion and implication for the teachers of English at Duong Tu Minh high school It also discusses the limitations of the study and proposes suggestions for further research
This study is done with the purpose of investigating the extent to which group work motivates students to participate in speaking activities Finding out the effectiveness of group work techniques in English speaking lessons to promote the students‟ interest and the difficulties that teachers and students face with when conducting this technique are also other aims of this research
To achieve this aims, the teachers‟ classroom observation were conducted The target populations are 20 students of grade 11 at Duong Tu Minh high school The findings of the study show that group work can increase students‟ interest and participation in speaking activities The study also reveals that how to exploit this technique is still a challenge for both teachers and students
It is hoped that the study will prove worthwhile to those who want to motivate students in speaking classes and who are concerned about the problem
This section presents the answers to the original hypothesis proposed at the beginning of the thesis: “Group work does promote students’ interest in English speaking lessons”
The research results showed that most of the students became more interested in English speaking lessons when the teacher organized them to work in groups properly This indicated that the students‟ interest was increased when they took part in pair work and group work activities It was easy to find out that the majority of the students felt active and free as they were put in groups to work together They became self-centered in their learning while their teacher worked as a consultant or a supervisor Working in groups, the students could express their opinions without being afraid of losing their face Thus, they felt comfortable and confident in the class
Therefore, their desire to learn the target language would be raised
Due to the limitation of knowledge and ability, the researcher cannot avoid having some mistakes The researcher herself can see that her research has some following defects The first is the number of students for the study
This study was conducted in only 20 students, so the study cannot show a large population of students in general
The second is the data collection methods For this research, she only collected data from her own class observation If she had interviewed students, the data would have reflected more aspects of students‟ evaluation on the effectiveness of group work in promoting the students‟ interest
Besides, the researcher did not have a full class observation form, she only based on the notes that she had taken during students‟ activities and memory so the findings may lack of validity Lastly, the activity for group work was not really multiform She did not have enough time to apply more group work activities mentioned in the literature review Therefore, the evaluation of the effectiveness of group work in reducing students' anxiety and encouraging real communication in her speaking lessons was not a satisfaction Obviously, mistakes are unavoidable All comments and remarks on this research will be highly appreciated
As no single research design is all-inclusive and complete, this study cannot cover everything in its field of study Many untouched issues will be interesting topics for further research such as strategies for conducting group work activities effectively in communicative English classes, strategies to involve students‟ group work activities, using group work to enhance students‟ participation in gaining the listening, reading and writing skill in English, and using games to increase students‟ interest in English classes
As shown is this study the use of group work can be effective in promoting students‟ interest and motivation in speaking activities in English classes In the section below, I would like to give some suggestions for teachers to conduct a successful group work activity
Suggestions for teachers and students The success in teaching and learning does not depend on not only the lesson program only, but also the ways the teacher presents the lesson and uses various techniques to make the class more lively and enjoyable Regarding to the teaching speaking by using group work, I would like to give some suggestions for the teacher and students as follows:
- The teacher should choose the materials that are suitable and not too difficult for the students As group work activities usually represent real – world scenarios, materials should simulate the materials that would be used in the real world Before assigning the group work to the students, the teachers should make sure that the students have fully understand what they have to do and have the enough information as well as structures and vocabulary they need in their speaking