Groupwork activities in developing speaking skills among efl tenth grade students in quang ngai province

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY TRAN THI NGOC QUYNH GROUPWORK ACTIVITIES IN DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILLS AMONG EFL TENTH-GRADE STUDENTS IN QUANG NGAI PROVINCE Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 8140111 Supervisor: HA THANH HAI, Ph.D BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN TRẦN THỊ NGỌC QUỲNH HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM TRONG VIỆC PHÁT TRIỂN KĨ NĂNG NÓI ĐỐI VỚI HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TẠI TỈNH QUẢNG NGÃI Ngành: Lý luận phƣơng pháp giảng dạy Tiếng Anh Mã số: 8140111 Ngƣời hƣớng dẫn: TS HÀ THANH HẢI i DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP The thesis, titled "Groupwork Activities in Developing Speaking Skills among EFL Tenth-Grade Students in Quang Ngai Province," is being supervised by Quy Nhon University lecturer Ha Thanh Hai, Ph.D I declare that all of the work provided in this paper was conducted by myself, except where reference is made in the text of the thesis I also confirm that this work is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M.A thesis in English at Quy Nhon University I also confirm that this work is submitted in partial fulfillment for the M.A thesis in English Quy Nhon University The thesis has not been accepted for any degree, and it has not been submitted for any degree or diploma candidate Quy Nhon, March 2023 Tran Thi Ngoc Quynh ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Ha Thanh Hai, who was willing to sacrifice his valuable time not only to improve my thesis, but also to encourage me to carry out my thesis I appreciate his flexible guidelines, recommendations, and great management abilities for supporting me in overcoming challenges in my work I feel fortune to have gotten the assistance of my supervisor My gratitude also goes to all lecturers who have brought me a lot of knowledge This study was made possible by the participation of passionate high school students in Quang Ngai Province, particularly the tenth-graders of class A1 and A9 at Huynh Thuc Khang High School, who donated their time for the research I was also appreciative of my colleagues' assistance, support, and management in thesis writing I am truly thankful to my great friends, Mr Nguyen Duy Linh, Ms Duong Thi Ngoc Vu, Ms Vu Thi Kim Khue, Ms Tran Thi Thu Ha, Mr Dang Xuan Hung, Ms Huynh Thi Minh Thy, Ms Pham Nguyen Minh Tram and other beloved people They encouraged and assisted me when I encountered obstacles while writing my thesis and provided me with useful insight into my thesis as well Last but not least, I am grateful for all the support I got from my family, who gave me motivation throughout my thesis studies iii ABSTRACT Speaking is an essential skill in learning any language However, many students find it challenging to develop their speaking skills Groupwork activities are suggested as one of the methods that have been shown to enhance the speaking abilities of EFL learners This research aims at examining whether groupwork activities have any significant effects on the speaking skills of EFL 10th grade students The research used a quasiexperimental method and a mixed-method approach, with 60 EFL tenthgraders from a high school in Quang Ngai Province These participants were divided into two groups: the control group and the experimental group The study instruments were used to analyze the quantitative and qualitative data: speaking tests, a questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews The findings showed that there was a significant difference in speaking skills between the control group and the experimental group Besides, the majority of the experimental group participants had positive perceptions towards learning and enhancing their speaking skills through groupwork activities Implications, limitations, and suggestions for further studies are addressed based on the findings of the study Keywords: Group work activities, EFL tenth-grade students, speaking skills, students’perceptions iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv ABBREVIATION vii LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES ix CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 RESEARCH RATIONALE 1.1.1 Theoretical reasons 1.1.2 Contextual reasons 1.2 AIMS OF THE STUDY 1.2.1 General aim 1.2.2 Specific objectives 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY CHAPTER THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 SPEAKING SKILLS 2.1.1 Definition of speaking skills 2.1.2 The importance of speaking skills 2.1.3 Characteristics of speaking skills 2.1.4 Speaking activities in the classroom 2.1.5 Speaking Testing and Assessment 11 2.1.6 The problems in developing the students' speaking skills 12 2.2 GROUPWORK ACTIVITIES 14 v 2.2.1 Definition of groupwork activities 14 2.2.2 The benefits of groupwork activities 14 2.3 THE APPLICATION OF GROUPWORK ACTIVITIES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING SPEAKING SKILLS 16 2.5 RELATED STUDIES 19 CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES 22 3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN 22 3.2 RESEARCH SETTING 22 3.3 RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS 23 3.3.1 Teacher 23 3.3.2 Students 23 3.4 MATERIALS 25 3.4.1 The textbook (Tieng Anh 10) 25 3.4.2 Lesson plan 25 3.5 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS 27 3.5.1 Speaking tests 27 3.5.2 Questionnaire 29 3.5.3 Semi-structured interviews 31 3.6 EXPERIMENT 32 3.7 RESEARCH PROCEDURES 32 3.8 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES 33 3.8.1 Speaking tests 34 3.8.2 Questionnaire 34 3.8.3 Semi-structured Interviews 34 3.9 DATA ANALYSIS 35 3.9.1 Data from Pre-test and Post-test 35 3.9.2 Data from Questionnaire 35 3.9.3 Data from Semi-structured Interviews 36 vi CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 37 4.1 MAIN FINDINGS 37 4.1.1 The effects of groupwork activities on learning speaking skills 37 4.1.2 The perceptions towards the use of groupwork activities in learning speaking skills 43 4.2 DISCUSSION 55 4.2.1 The results for the Research Question 1: 55 4.2.2 The results for the Research Question 2: 58 4.3 SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS 60 CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 61 5.1 CONCLUSIONS 61 5.2 PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS 63 5.2.1 Administrators 63 5.2.2 Teachers 63 5.2.3 Students 64 5.3 LIMITATIONS 65 5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS 65 REFERENCES 67 APPENDICES vii ABBREVIATION EFL English as foreign language MOET Ministry of Education and Training L2 Second language CEFR Common European Framework of Reference for Languages viii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: The information of the participants 24 Table 3.2 General lesson plans 25 Table 3.3: Pre-test and Post-test format 28 Table 3.4: Descriptive Statistic for the pre-test and the post-test 29 Table 3.5: The Criteria for Rating Scale 31 Table 4.1: The results from pre-test between the two groups before the intervention 37 Table 4.2: The results from post-test between the two groups after the intervention 38 Table 4.3: Difference in results between the pre-test and post-test within the experimental group 40 Table 4.4: Students’ achievement 40 Table 4.5: Students' perceptions towards the advantages of groupwork activities 44 Table 4.6: Students’ perceptions towards the drawbacks of groupwork activities 47 Table 4.7: Students’ perceptions towards suggestions for groupwork activities 49 when necessary Fun corner and wrap-up (6 minutes) Game: Magic wheel Present a game prepared for presentation on Groupwork/ a computer screen The selected numbers Individual will represent English questions, pictures, work requests, and suggestions… related to music The group that gives the wrong answer or has no answer will be deducted points until the group with the highest score wins Goodbye and Bye activity If the task is complet ed earlier, the teacher can conduct this game as a backup UNIT 13: FILMS AND CINEMA Topic: A film you have ever seen I.OBJECTIVES Language By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: -Ask and answer questions about the plot of a film based on prompts - Tell what kinds of film they like and dislike - Express their opinions about a film, using attitudinal adjectives -Talk about a film they have seen Core competences decision making, pairwork, groupwork, motivation, adaptability, unity, integrated, mainly communicative Listening : listen and put a tick General Oral communication:answer the questions competences Written communication : write the answers/ take notes Self-control & independent learning: perform speaking tasks Communication and collaboration : work in pairs or groups Kindness: Wait for each student's turn to answer the questions Attributes Diligence: complete learning tasks Leadership: collaborate with teachers to enhance language skills II.RESOURCES AND MATERIAL Cards Student’s book pages 134, 135 Teacher’s book pages 149,150 Internet, Computer, projector Posters, handouts… III.PROCEDURE Warm-up and review, Ask and tick, Ask and answer, Fun corner and wrap-up Procedure ACTIVITIES Work Notes arrangement Warm-up and review (5 minutes) Greet the class Activity : Matching (film categorization) Divide the class into four groups Whole class Show some films posters on the board Stick the table on the blackboard and ask Ss to match the films with the correct types Groupwork Type Film Science fiction film Thor Cartoon Tom and Jerry Horror film Halloween Detective film The adventures of Sherlock Holmes Thriller Rush hour Romantic comedy Four weddings and a funeral The representatives write the results on the board T gives correct answers The group with the most correct answers will be the winner Ask Ss if they have seen any of these films and know their Vietnamse titles Then introduce the topic of the lesson Individual work PRACTICE Task 1: Ask and tick (8 minutes) a.Goal Students ask and answer about their preferences for a particular types of films b.Input Vocabularies - science fiction(n) - horror(n) - thrillers (n) - detective (n) c Outcome d Procedure Students can share Ss how much they like each kind of film to put a tick on the table, then compare the answers with his/her partner Step 1: Ask all students to pay attention to the Individual vocabularies about the types of movies that the work representatives provide Step 2: Ask Ss to study the table on p.134 and tick the boxes that suit their preferences for a particular types of films Step 3: Ask students to move around the classroom and find as partners that the same preferences as Whole class/ them as possible Then they have to take notes of Individual who and how many friends like or dislike the same work types of films as them (Mingling Step 4: Call on some Ssto report their likes and activity) dislikes and the number of friends who have the same tastes as them PRACTICE Task 2: Ask and answer (Role-play) ( minutes) a.Goal Ask and answer to find out what partners feel about each kind of film b.Input An example as a dialogue *Vocab: exciting/moving/good fun/violent/boring/terrifying… Agreement I agree Yes, exactly Right! Sure! Disagreement I don’t think so Yes but… I don’t totally agree with you You must be kidding! c.Outcome Students can ask and answer to find out what partners feel about each kind of film d.Procedure Step 1: Ask Ss to brainstorm the adjectives that can used to describe films (E.g:interesting, exciting, boring…) *Note:Ss may confuse these adjectives with their-ed Whole counterparts, T should explain the differences class Step 2: Give Ss more new words and elicit the expressions of agreement/disagreement then explain the meaning if any Step 3: Call on three Ss to read the model conversation in the textbook, then correct Ss’ Group intonation and pronunciation if necessary Step 4: Divide the class into groups of and instruct Ss to find out what the other members of their group feel about the given types of films Ss should base themselves on the model conversation T goes around offering help Step 5: Call on some Ss to report their findings, take note of their errors if any and correct them work PRACTICE Task : Ask and answer (Interview) (8 minutes) a.Goal Ask to find out the partners' preferences for films with the use of the cues b.Input An example, the structure “prefer something to something” c.Outcome Students can ask to find out the partners' preferences for films with the use of the cues d Step 1: Introduce the structure which can be used to Pairwork Procedure talk about one’ preferences Get Ss to make sentences with the structure (Check if Ss can use the structure corectly) Step 2: T calls on two Ss to read the model conversation in the textbook T needs to correct Ss’ intonation and pronunciation if necessary) Step 3: Instruct Ss to work in pairs and find out about their partner’s preference for a particular type of films, basing them on the model conversation Go around offering help Step 4: Call on some Ss to report their findings While they speak, T takes note of their errors if any then give them feedback PRACTICE Task : Ask and answer (Role-play/Interview) (12 minutes) a.Goal Talk about about a film they have seen b.Input Questions relating to film c Outcome Students can talk about a film they have seen d Step 1: Chooses a good student and asks him/her for Procedure suggestions from the task to create a sample conversation Then divide the class into groups of four Pairwork Step 2: Do the same, students ask and answer each Groupw other in turn and take notes of their partners’ story ork Go around offering help Step 3: Call on some Ss to report their partners’ Individual story Take notes of their errors if any and give work feedback Step 4: Summary and emphasize the main points of the lesson Fun-corner and wrap-up (3 minutes) Option 1: Game : Puzzle Groupwork (The topic relates to films and cinema) Ask students to choose the number of sentences and Individual answer, then find keywords for the crossword work Students who guess correctly will receive points for their group The group with the highest score wins Option 2: Goobye and Bye activity If the task is compl eted earlier , the teache r can condu ct this game as a backu p UNIT 14: THE WORLD CUP Topic: The World Cup winnners I.OBJECTIVES Language By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: - Use some football vocabulary to ask and answer about the World Cup - Talk about the World Cup winners decision making, pairwork, groupwork, motivation, adaptability, Core competences unity, initiative General Listening: listen and answer the questions, listen a song competences Oral communication: talk about football teams Written communication: complete the sentences Self-control & independent learning: perform speaking tasks Communication and collaboration: work in pairs or groups Attributes Kindness: Students work in pairs to ask and answer the questions They wait for their turns to perform their tasks Diligence: complete learning tasks Leadership: collaborate with teachers to enhance language skills II RESOURCES AND MATERIAL:  Student’s book Page 145-147 Teacher’s guide Pages 157 Textbook/handouts/posters/song, computer,internet, projector… III PROCEDURE Warm-up/Listen then Answer – Look and Answer – Look, ask and answer – Let’s sing – Fun corner and wrap-up   Procedure Steps & activities Work arangement Warm-up and Lead-in: minutes *Game: Matching Whole T prepares posters of national football teams and class/ corresponding flags (numbered flags) Groupwork T divides the class into groups T introduces the game and asks Ss to match the national football teams with their flags T calls on the groups to send their representatives to the board to complete the activity Which group has quicker and more correct answers will win the game T turns on the song “The Cup of life” and ask: -Who sang this song? -Which event was it sung? Lead-in: Today we are going to practise asking and answering questions about the World Cup and talking about the World Cup winners PRACTICE Activity Ask and Answer: A World Cup Quiz ( 12 minutes) Ask and answer the questions a Goal: Picture cues b.Input 1.England National Football Team 2.France National Football Team 3.Italy National Football Team 4.Germany National Football Team Vocab: -draw (v,n) -lose the match to sb -defeat Sb -hold-held-held(v) - quarter final -semi final -final match c.Outcome Students can answer some questions relating the pictures Questions: -Which national football team has been the most successful at the FIFA Confederations Cups? -How many times has the World Cup taken place until now? -Where did the 1998 World Cup take place? -What nationality was the top scorer in the 1998 World Cup? -Who is considered the "King of Football" all time? Notes Key: (Students can say anything they know) d.Procedure Step 1: T prepares questions about the teams above and writes each question on different card Step 2: T asks students to name the team in the photos Individual from the textbook work Step 3: T divides the class into groups of or and introduces the quiz (Ss take turn to answer the quiz in their own groups) T might pre-teach Ss some vocabulary Step 4: T distributes the cards to the different groups on Groupwork/ the desk Ss take turn to pick any card and answer the Individual question written in the card If a question is answered work correctly, it should be put aside If not, it can be picked up again and answered by another student Step 5: T goes around to check the answer with each student and the whole class Step 6: T calls on some Ss to talk about national Individual football teams, using the information they gain via the work quiz Practice Activity : Ask and answer 12 minutes To ask and answer with the help of a sample and the table cues a.Goal A conversation sample, A table of World Cup football results b Input c Outcome Pupils can ask answer with the help of the a conversation sample and a table *Complete the table: d Step 1: T introduces the task and gets Ss to read the Pair work Procedure model conversation then writes the model questions on the board (T might remind Ss that past tense is used in this dialogue) Step 1: T divides the class into groups of T distributes handouts and a representative student ask some questions to other groupmates to fill in the missing information T goes around offering help and checks Time Year Host country Winner Score Runnerup 1930 Uruguay Uruguay 4-2 Argentin a Step 2: T goes around offering help and checks Step 3: T calls on some groups to present their conversation in front of the class Step 4: T takes notes of their errors and gives feedback PRACTICE Pair work/ Groupwor k Activity Discuss 12 minutes Present or talk about the information about World Cup winners a.Goal The information in the table b.Input c.Outcome Students can present/talk about the task with the given information d.Procedure Step 1: T introduces the task: Ss take turn to talk about World Cup winners in different years Step 2: T gets Ss to read the model in the textbook Groupwor Step 3: Students continue working in their groups and k/ Whole take turn to talk about the World Cup winners in a class certain year, basing themselves on the notes they have taken in Task Step 4: T goes around checking and ofering help Step 5: T calls on some Ss to talk about different World Cup winners, T takes notes of Ss’ errors if any and corrects after Ss finish presenting Give comment on what the students have done Fun corner and wrap-up minutes Option 1: Game: Guessing -Answering A representative chooses a card (with questions relating Individual to the lesson) He/She asks team members who guess work/ and answer If a student answers correctly, his/her team Groupwor will get a score k Option 2: Goodbye and Bye activity If the task is complet ed earlier, the teacher can conduct this game as a backup APPENDIX : PHOTOS APPENDIX RAW CALCULATION Pre-test control Total N Valid Missing 30 Mean 5.0167 Std Deviation 99554 Minimum 3.50 Maximum 7.00 Post-test control Total N Valid Missing 30 Mean 6.1833 Std Deviation 92367 Minimum 4.50 Maximum 8.00 Pre-test experimental group Total N Valid Missing Mean Std Deviation 30 5.0833 1.02624 Minimum 3.00 Maximum 7.00 Post-test experimental group Statistics Total N Valid 30 Missing Mean 7.6833 Std Deviation 96921 Minimum 5.50 Maximum 9.00 Scale: ALL VARIABLES Case Processing Summary N Cases Valid Excludeda Total % 60 100.0 0 60 100.0 Listwise deletion based on all variables in the procedure Case Processing Summary N Cases Valid Excludeda Total % 30 100.0 0 30 100.0 a Listwise deletion based on all variables in the procedure One-Sample Test (EXPERIMENTAL GROUP) Test Value = 3.5 t id Total Sig (2tailed) df Mean Difference 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper 000 59 1.000 00000 -.1303 1303 12.453 59 000 2.80833 2.3571 3.2596 One-Sample Statistics N Mean Std Deviation Std Error Mean a1 30 4.0667 73968 13505 a2 30 4.0333 80872 14765 a3 30 3.9333 90719 16563 a4 30 3.9000 71197 12999 a5 30 3.3733 1.04826 19139 a6 30 3.8667 1.07425 19613 a7 30 4.1667 64772 11826 a8 30 3.9667 71840 13116 a9 30 4.0667 86834 15854 a10 30 4.0000 83045 15162 a11 30 3.9333 86834 15854 a12 30 3.9333 82768 15111 a13 30 3.9333 69149 12625 a14 30 4.0667 69149 12625 a15 30 3.8333 1.01992 18621 One-Sample Test Test Value = 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference t df Sig (2-tailed) Mean Difference Lower Upper a1 30.113 29 000 4.06667 3.7905 4.3429 a2 27.317 29 000 4.03333 3.7314 4.3353 a3 23.748 29 000 3.93333 3.5946 4.2721 a4 30.003 29 000 3.90000 3.6341 4.1659 a5 19.507 29 000 3.73333 3.3419 4.1248 a6 19.715 29 000 3.86667 3.4655 4.2678 a7 35.234 29 000 4.16667 3.9248 4.4085 a8 30.243 29 000 3.96667 3.6984 4.2349 a9 25.651 29 000 4.06667 3.7424 4.3909 a10 26.382 29 000 4.00000 3.6899 4.3101 a11 24.810 29 000 3.93333 3.6091 4.2576 a12 26.029 29 000 3.93333 3.6243 4.2424 a13 31.155 29 000 3.93333 3.6751 4.1915 a14 32.212 29 000 4.06667 3.8085 4.3249 a15 20.586 29 000 3.83333 3.4525 4.2142 One-Sample Statistics N Mean Std Deviation Std Error Mean D1 30 2.6000 1.03724 18937 D2 30 2.8333 1.11675 20389 D3 30 2.7333 1.01483 18528 D4 30 2.3000 91539 16713 D5 30 2.6667 1.02833 18775 D6 30 2.4667 93710 17109 D7 30 2.5667 1.04000 18988 One-Sample Test Test Value = 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference t df Sig (2-tailed) Mean Difference Lower Upper D1 13.730 29 000 2.60000 2.2127 2.9873 D2 13.896 29 000 2.83333 2.4163 3.2503 D3 14.752 29 000 2.73333 2.3544 3.1123 D4 13.762 29 000 2.30000 1.9582 2.6418 D5 14.203 29 000 2.66667 2.2827 3.0507 D6 14.417 29 000 2.46667 2.1167 2.8166 D7 13.517 29 000 2.56667 2.1783 2.9550 One-Sample Statistics N Mean Std Deviation Std Error Mean S1 30 3.7333 86834 15854 S2 30 3.8667 89955 16424 S3 30 3.9333 82768 15111 One-Sample Test Test Value = 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference t df Sig (2-tailed) Mean Difference Lower Upper S1 23.549 29 000 3.73333 3.4091 4.0576 S2 23.543 29 000 3.86667 3.5308 4.2026 S3 26.029 29 000 3.93333 3.6243 4.2424