Chuyên đề tốt nghiệp: The use of group work in teaching english speaking among grade 5 students at quynh loi primary school.

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NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITYFACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ENGLISH

PHAM THI KHANH

AN ACTION RESEARCH INTO THE USE OF GROUP WORK IN

TEACHING ENGLISH SPEAKING AMONG GRADE 5 STUDENTS AT

QUYNH LOI PRIMARY SCHOOL.

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NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ENGLISH

PHAM THI KHANH

TEACHING ENGLISH SPEAKING AMONG GRADE 5 STUDENTS AT QUYNH LOI PRIMARY SCHOOL.

Supervisor:Nguyen Do Huong Giang, M.A

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Pham Thị Khanh- 11192547- Business English 61A

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

Surname, First name:Pham Thi Khanh Student ID: 11192547

Title of thesis:

TEACHING ENGLISH SPEAKING AMONG GRADE 5 STUDENTS AT QUYNH LOI PRIMARY SCHOOL.

I hereby claim that I am the sole author of this bachelor thesis Where the work of others has been consulted, I have not used any sources except those listed in thebibliography and identified as references All verbatim or referential sources used in the bibliography are particularly clear in the text.

I further confirm that this thesis has not been represented at any other

institution The paper version of this thesis is identical to the soft version

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submitted-Pham Thị Khanh- 11192547- Business English 61A

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my research supervisor, Nguyen Do Huong Giang, M.A for providing me with precious guidance throughout this research Her strategies and vision have

significantly created an influence on my mindset I really admire her deep knowledge and her motivation during the time I complete the research It was an

invaluable privilege for me to work under her guidance, follow her recommended methodology I am tremendously appreciative for what she has supported my thesis.I would like to thank her for her caring, empathy, and enthusiasm.

I am extremely grateful to my family for their support in terms of finance and spiritual life during the time I join university I also express my thanks to my friends in Business English department, National Economics University for their urgent feedback and suggestions to correct my mistakes.

Last but not least, I would like to thank all people who have supported me

to finish the whole research.

Place, Date Signature

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

One of the best method for connecting people in this life seems to be

through language Yet, if people wish to communicate with the rest of the world,

they may need to learn an international language, called English, and Vietnamese people are no exception Pupils begin learning English in elementary school or even in kindergarten, but it appears that the old-fashioned approaches are ineffective for them, as evidenced by the fact that many university students’

English speaking abilities are poor for communication Language is employed in

both oral and written communication because of its nature so it is urgent to do a

research on an aspect of English speaking.

The aim of this study is to determine whether the Effortless English approach is successful in enhancing the speaking abilities of 36 students in class 5B at Quynh Loi Primary School as they participated in an action research project over the course of two months Data gathered for analysis in response to the two research questions: (1) What are the difficulties that learners at Quynh Loi Primary school encounter in English speaking? (2) How does group work improve the ability to communicate among students at Quynh Loi Primary school? Because methodology is a crucial component of this study, the author uses interview, questionnaire, and observation sheet as effective instruments to collect data Moreover, the research's limitations, ramifications, and suggestions for future

research are presented

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LIST OF ABBREVIATION

EFL English as a Foreign Language MPC MacMillan Publisher

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 Action research SpITAÌ - - - + + + 111v ng vn nưệt 14

Figure 4.1: The number of students’ evaluations for English speaking 18

Figure 4.2: Problems affecting students’ speaking performance - 19

Figure 4.3: The frequency of studying group work in English speaking classes 20

Figure 4.4: The number of group work participants and the frequency of activities

Figure 4.5: The evaluation on 5B students’ English speaking 24 Figure 4.6: The students’ responses on their struggles in speaking English classes 25 Figure 4.7: The attitudes of students towards group WOFK -««+<<«++ 27 Figure 4.8: The number of students improving in group work activities in English

Speaking ClaSSES TA 4 28 Figure 4.9: Comparison of speaking aspects between two f€SfS 29

Figure 4.10: Result of evaluating student’s attitudes during the two phrases 30

Figure 4.11: The result of evaluating students’ improvement in knowledge and

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGBEMETNTT 55-5 5< < HH HH9 0088 08080 i EXECUTIVE SUMMA RRYY œ- <5 s0 000908906 ii

LIST OF ABBREVIA THON - 5 <5 c HH 0 0000098886 iii 1.1.2 Student profile scccsscccsscsssccssscssncsssccsssccssacessscessccesacessecesscesssscesaseesees 3 1.2 Scope Of the Study scssscssssssssscsssscsscssssscssscsscssssscssesssssssssssssssssssssssssonees 3 1.3 Research Questions d <5 6 G5 %9 9 994.9899498 9498989408894888949898 996 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW W Go HH HH ung, 5

2.1 Overview Of ðFOUID WOTFÌK << 6 G5 %9 9.9.9.9 094.909009609468894080990 5

2.1.1 The definition of Group WOTĂK c5 << << Sex s9 9 n9 1n 5 2.1.2 The purposes Of Group WOTK 7G << S1 Y9 1 9 1n, 5 2.1.3 Some common activities Of STOHD WOTK c- <5 << se 6 2.2 Group working in teaching English in general - s ss=s«« 7

2.2.1 The procedures in running A SOUP WOFĂ S555 << s + s54 7 2.2.2 The difficulties of students when working in @ gT0OIp 8 2.2.3 Group working in teaching English Speaking cssccssscssssssssssssseees 9 2.2.3.1 The problem of students with speaking skill 9 2.2.3.2 The principles of teaching English speaking 10 2.2.3.3 The benefits of using group work in teaching English speaking 10 2.3 The use of group work among grade 5 at Quynh Loi primary school 11

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLUOCTY GỌI im 0900 13

3.1 Action ]Ñ©s€arFCH o5 << 5 s9 0 TH 0 00096006 13 3.1.1 Definition Of dCÍHOTI F©€S€ŒFFCÏH 5G 5= 5 S3 Y0 189951 89595855958551 8956 13 3.1.2 The process Of Action T€SŒ[FCÏL 0= <GĂ HH vợ 13

3.1.3 The benefits of action F€S€QFCÏH So S01 n9 ng 15

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CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 18

4.1 Imitial (|3 (a 5-5 << G9 Họ TT 0000000009 0090006 18

4.1.1 Results from learner questionnaire Error! Bookmark not defined 4.1.2 Results from interviewing teachers Error! Bookmark not defined 4.2 Action DÌÏ4IN 0 (G5 5 9 9 4 9 009.000.0000 00009 8004.0894069 896 22

MÀ NN T168 27.75 nen .eố.e 22 4.2.2 The action plan Procedure o- G5 << G5 < 1 1 v.v 1 9 ng 24

4.4 Evaluation of the DFOC€(ÌUIF 5-6 <5 << S69 899989958989959899566565866 30 4.5 Comparison between two DHFASS o G0909 09688896889866856 30

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICA TION - <5 << 32 5.1 COIICÏUSÏOTN co G G5 9E 99 99 1 999.999.9804 0904.099804.089400909689040809408696 32 5.2 Implications of the study - 5< <5 5< SH n0 80 32 5.3 Limitations of the SẦUYy <5 << 5< SH HH 00006080 33 5.4 Suggestions for further Studies o- 5555 9S 90 930195 1265, 33

APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire for students

APPENDIX 2: Interview question for teachers

APPENDIX 3: THE RAW DATA COLLECTED IN THE FIRST PHRASE APPENDIX 4: THE RAW DATA COLLECTED IN THE SECOND PHRASE

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the introduction of the research describes main ideas about the background, the scope of the study and research questions.

1.1 Background to the study

It cannot be denied that using foreign languages to communicate is one of the indispensable parts in the development of the society Language, especially

English, is considered as a major mean of communication for people to use in almost parts of the world No matter what mother tongue of people in the world is,

that people tend to learn modern English can be a key to get integrated with the world and expect to get a better chance in their future In Vietnamese education system, English is a mandatory subject in the curriculum, which is taught by both Vietnamese teachers and native speakers, starting from Kinder Garten to higher education level such as University In spite of long period of training, a great number of Vietnamese students find it hard to master English due to many reasons The fact is that many students at foundation or even elementary level may lack

confidence in interacting with teachers or their classmates during English classes Many of those students reported that they are not familiar with English accent

enough to understand the spoken messages, consequently, they do not know how to respond or answer.

When it comes to English speaking, people believe that one of their purpose is to interact with foreigners “Language learning helps to develop communication

skills which are really vital if you’re applying for a job or just in daily life, you need to be able to communicate.” (Nuffield Languages Inquiry, 2000) Hence,

teaching students to have communicative equipments in English is vital in almost

every English lessons Since speaking skill not only serves the aim of exchanging

information, it is also the tool to enhance the self-confidence in speaking the target language among students However, tons of matters arise when students get involved in speaking activities in class Within the limit of the research, the thesis focuses on the problems in English speaking among students at grade 5, who are at the level of elementary They usually encounter a lot of challenges because of the various distinctions including pronunciation and grammar _ between Vietnamese and English Moreover, teachers are likely to concentrate on solving writing and reading exercises in course books and use traditional method to teach vocabulary and sentences, so they may lack time to engage students in

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communicative activities such as speaking, storytelling or even debating Therefore, it is necessary for teachers to address current problems by applying

effective teaching methods to encourage students to speak English actively.

When teaching in a big class, it could be an obstacle for a lecturer to observe

and cover all students’ performance throughout one period Therefore, group work

is considered as one of appropriate way for the teacher to manage the progress of the students in learning how to communicate According to Daniel Muijs and David Reynolds (2005:53), students are supposed to work together and support

each individual to boost their skill in a group.

Thanks to this, students can have more opportunities to talk with their classmates and share their opinions directly by raising their voices and listening to

other’s thoughts as well.

The facts mentioned ahead inspired the researcher to orient her study to find the way to motivate the interests of students in learning English, and actively participating in speaking in class and in their daily life Eventually, the writer decides to conduct a research THE USE OF GROUP WORK IN TEACHING

ENGLISH SPEAKING AMONG GRADE 5 STUDENTS AT QUYNH LOI PRIMARY SCHOOL.

1.1.1 Teaching materials

The application of textbooks for EFL teaching context is mandatory at almost all educational levels in Vietnam Recently, most of public primary schools in Vietnam have followed English course books published by Vietnam Education Publishing House In general, these books are written by Vietnamese

teachers in collaboration with MPC, so they contain cultural communicative aspects referring to common daily life in Vietnam It implies some sides of culture such as family life, history, music or world heritage sites in Vietnam Consequently, students may find it easy to apply the words and sentences they have learnt into practice on a regular basis.

For grade 5, English textbook is designed with 20 Units according to two

semesters Normally, each Unit is divided into 3 lessons, half of the tasks belong to communicative activities with the purpose to boost their speaking and listening skills The topics are easy to be put into discussion with a wide range of vocabulary and model sentences Moreover, many case studies and situations have been designed in order to develop their interaction and motivate they to use English to

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solve practical cases which can happen in daily life Therefore, it can be suitable to carry out the research by using group work in teaching English speaking among grade 5 students.

In addition to textbook, students need to complete their activity book as a source of supplement to their lesson However, this book is rather vital to back up reading and writing skills Thanks to this, students have a helpful tool to enrich their vocabulary and consolidate their lessons They can remember the information better and recall their knowledge when they need to put into speaking activities.

1.1.2 Student profile

In this study, student profiles are gathered to help teachers with lesson planning, classroom instruction, and action research The lecturer could improve the quality of the classes by creating more relevant and engaging lessons for the concerned pupils as part of their learning assessment process

with the use of these data.

Through the process of observing students’ performance, the researcher has

grouped students in two level The first group including talent students who are

good at English and confident in speaking The second group are students who

have worse performance in English speaking They both take part in the survey test and join the lessons integrated with group work.

1.2 Scope of the study

Within the focused area, the research aims to investigate the effectiveness of group work in stimulating the ability to speak in English among students at grade 5 This study illustrates the model of study in group that connects students together, advocates them to minimize the fear of speaking in an international language From practicing in group, it is believed that learners can develop their

reflection in English communication, become more confident in speaking instead of passively listening to teacher’s commands during the lesson To conduct this

study, students at Quynh Loi Primary school have been selected in the 2-month

course time.

1.3 Purposes of the study

The research has put an emphasis on discovering the obstacles that students usually face when they speak English These difficulties may come from diverse aspects, including the environment or themselves Once realizing the weak points

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of these students in terms of English speaking skills, the author will apply appropriate method to put group work into practice in order to investigate into its effects to helping students improve their English speaking From the outcome

collected and analyzed, the researcher can give the implication about the method

and propose further suggestion for other deeper researches 1.4 Research questions

Regarding the background of the research indicated above, two research questions have been given below to be addressed:

1 What are the difficulties that learners at Quynh Loi Primary school encounter in English speaking?

2 How does group work improve the ability to speak English among students at Quynh Loi Primary school?

1.5 Design of the study

This study consists of five chapter:

Chapter I - Introduction — explains the reasons for choosing the topic and states the background to the study, scope, purposes and the structure of the study.

Chapter II - Literature Review — reveals the theoretical background related to the topic and previous studies.

Chapter II - Methodology — shows the data collection instruments and data collection procedures.

Chapter IV — Data analysis and discussion - presents comprehensive analysis on the data collected, major findings, discussions.

Chapter V — Conclusion and Implication - summarizes the study, offers some implications for improvement, indicates the limitations of the study and

propose suggestions for further researches.

At the end of the study, the researchers listed the reference and appendices.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter obviously presents theoretic information about the hypotheses mentioned in the research to provide more knowledge for the readers.

2.1 Overview of group work

2.1.1 The definition of group work

Within the context of a classroom, students often get involved in various types of study activities to get the knowledge Therefore, teachers usually reform

their ways to deliver the lesson intelligibly to students Among these methods,

group work is seen as one of effective method to motivate the dynamic atmosphere in the class In terms of group work, Soraya (2010) defines group work as a situation in class that students are asked to work in smaller units or groups so that they can have chances to discuss by oral exchange To clarify, when students become a part of group work, they are given opportunities to tell their ideas and listen to other’s shares as well Thanks to this activity, pupils are encouraged to speak freely in their group to contribute to their given tasks.

In addition, as noted by Zainuddin (2009), the natural technique of group work is the arrangement of the class in groups so that each student works together rather than independently while planning and addressing a common problem under the teacher's supervision and guidance Teachers or lecturers can ask to discuss assignments, presentations, and other things; therefore, group work is formed to fulfil these tasks To Zainuddin, group work is a model used to connect people in a small unit to find the key to solve a concern However, to achieve the goals of group work, this activity should be put under the control of lecturers It may be

thought that if students are more engaged, they will learn more quickly, or they

can learn from one another and the experiences that group projects may provide In general, students are required to do tasks and problems in groups in order to tackle difficulties and complete tasks Therefore, group work can be applied as

a way in teaching and engage students’ participations into the topic of the lesson.

2.1.2 The purposes of group work

In fact, teachers usually expect to improve the quality of teaching so that students can study and remember the theory better Therefore, group work has been designed with an aim to meet the demand of teaching efficient Long and Porter

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(1985) indicates that the students are exposed to language that they can comprehend (comprehensible input) and that contains material that is unfamiliar to them When handled appropriately, group work is one of the most important sources of ideas to be applied This means that when students study in group, they can share the knowledge they had been taught and access to unknown information These can result in the various novel ideas for students to absorb and discuss during the lessons.

Tuly Khan (2016) also reports that students study negotiation techniques during group work time to manage input (asking clarification, requesting confirmation, verifying comprehension, repeating), as well as conversational maintenance techniques Therefore, teamwork is regarded as an environment to develop multi skills to negotiate or make a conversation Moreover, according to (Tarone 1980) and (Brown 2000): some strategies are adopted by students to make up for their being unskillful in using language items or their unfluency in managing

speaking in long turns They take chances to access to other’s opinions and show

their perspective by debating or discuss those ideas Thanks to this, students in the context of group can find it convenient to share their thoughts and develop their

2.1.3 Some common activities of group work

The group activities take place in a variety of settings that are suitable and conducive to encouraging student engagement The reason for this is that small group activities should motivate student to join with others and encourage them to work as closely as they can on group projects that are focused on learning objectives In comparison to a teacher-fronted classroom, there were noticeably more student educational actions, social skills behaviors, and verbal acts in groups.

The first type of group work activity is discussing Students will benefit from exchanging ideas and expertise about a subject to learn more about it They may choose words appropriately because of the particular topic “The discussion

activity provides students opportunities to develop their creativity by fixing different information dealing with one main decision” as noted by Zainuddin (2009) It implies that discussion is a way to divide a problem given by lecturers into several pieces of information to solve By addressing small matters, students can figure out details of a large picture After all, students contribute to build up the lesson and have strong memory about what they have learnt.

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Solving-problem is also a common activity to be seen among groups.

Zainuddin (2009) believes that the purposeful action of removing a challenge or confusion by a process of reasoning is known as problem-solving Working in

groups to solve problems and explore solutions helps foster initiative and

independence This practice fosters independent thought, which helps students become more self-reliant and confident Students, as a result, have tendency in seeking for their own solutions to handle the obstacles they come across Students are able to form a proper attitude, which is a scientific attitude that seriously considers all the facts and evaluates the result.

Role-playing for the purpose of language use in certain situations can be used to facilitate group learning It probably helps pupils improve their language abilities, including their understanding of language expression in order to communicate with others Due to the fact that role-playing allows students to improvise freely within the context of a situation, learning activities may be accomplished efficiently through practice in this setting Therefore, Zainuddin (2009) indicates that “role-playing itself is the spontaneous acting out of problems or situation”.

2.2 Group working in teaching English in general

2.2.1 The procedures in running a group work

To create instructional events using a small group method, learning sessions should include the following factors Reynolds (1994) argues that teachers will need the following strategies, including:

a) Controlling

The ability to organize a teaching or learning event; being explicit about objectives, outputs, and different alternatives and results; and method for creating contracts with people involved Teachers tend to provide more details and offer more interpretations of events as the facilitator of the entire class activity so that they can easily manage the class.

b) Creating

The ability to coordinate a group learning experience; prioritizing aspects that will facilitate or obstruct the creation of the necessary atmosphere; and being aware of the impact of timing, programmed order, and physical location on learning.

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c) Preparing

The ability to choose and produce the instructional supports and resources for the lesson; communicate accurate information to other members, ahead of time; and make the most of the physical setting are also necessary.

d) Managing

The ability to work with small groups face-to-face; awareness of options for and effects of various classroom strategies and techniques; the ability to start and end sessions; strategies for dealing with group members whose behavior causes difficulty; the ability to build trust; awareness of using dynamic groups at work; the ability to create and maintain the most favorable learning environment; and having options to deal.

e) Continuation

The ability to handle matters outside of group meetings, follow up on action

plans or choices made by the group, reorganize work that has been done, hire people as needed, and provide input to others outside the group who could be

impacted by group work f) Evaluating

The ability to determine in a variety of ways one's effectiveness in attaining one's teaching goals, the amount of knowledge gained or how the way they view the worth of the work in general; evaluating the impacts on other staff members or the system as a whole.

2.2.2 The difficulties of students when working in a group

No matter how perfect the lesson plan is, group work sometimes still leaks several demerits Within the context of interation, students can be “forced to speak a second language to someone who shares your first language is artificial”, Haines (1995) The frequent usage of the mother tongue by students who share the same

first language in groups partially explains why this is one of the main issues with

group work among those students It can be difficult for teachers to manage the quantity of noise, which is another major difficulty It takes longer to conduct group work since professors frequently need additional time to set up groups and explain what to do to the pupils.

In addition to this Harmer (1999) claimed that another matter is how responsibly each member in the group behaves The contribution and participation

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of group members may not always be equal because some may be very responsible while others may be relatively inactive and even dependent Additionally, in a mixed-level group, better students can occasionally predominate As a result, less

talented kids frequently get less chance to participate Even if group work has some drawbacks, they are outweighed by its benefits.

2.2.3 Group working in teaching English speaking 2.2.3.1 The problem of students with speaking skill

Despite being taught English with four skills simultaneously, students seem to have troubles in speaking English As (Jaelani and Zabidi, 2020) show,

the anxiety of students in English speaking comes from internal features, they are called nervousness and fear of mispronunciation In terms of speaking, when students cannot master their fear in communicating with teachers or their classmates, they are likely to passively study speaking This means that they only can repeat teacher’s words or sentences and copy their friends’ ideas Unless the inconfidence in speaking can resolved, students get harder and harder in communicating with English.

The thesis mentioned above is consistent with the claim made by Douglas

(2002) who stated that speaking difficulties are typically brought on by a number of factors, including the inability to verbally express ideas, a limited vocabulary that causes communication to stop frequently, a limited comprehend of grammar that makes it challenging to speak according to the grammar, the inability to pronounce words correctly, and the lack of motivation to pronounce words clearly enough to avoid confusing the listener To be clear, verbal languages once cannot be achieved by students, speaking process may not

happen naturally as teacher’s expectation Next, the shortage of vocabulary

prevents students from speaking fluently although they have good ideas in their mind if they speak in their mother tongue Moreover, grammar rules play a significant role in speaking Students regard grammar as an obstacle so that they dare not speak smoothly even when they have rich vocabulary Besides, one of the most important factor is the courage to speak out Students, especially nonprofessional in English, cannot create courage to speak themselves, so they need teachers to raise their interests to interact in class If students are not

motivated with enthusiasm, they may be shy or even get ashamed when compared to their friends.

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2.2.3.2 The principles of teaching English speaking

In order to ensure that speaking classes operate smoothly and that their goals are achieved lecturers and teachers typically adhere to a number of guiding principles As a research conducted by Nunan (2003) that there have been at least

for principles in teaching English speaking.

First of all, it is vital to allow student to practice by focusing on both

accuracy and fluency The degree to which students’ speech corresponds to what speakers of the target language actually say is referred to as accuracy Fluency refers to how swiftly and confidently speakers utilize the language, with little hesitation or forced pauses, false starts and word searches The teacher must help pupils practice their fluency and acknowledge that making mistakes is a normal

aspect of learning a new language.

Secondly, it is necessary to minimize instructor's speech and use group or pair projects to provide students opportunities to communicate It is crucial for us

when language instructors are conscious of how much they can talk in class so that we do not really dominate the time that the students can speak Activities like pair work and group projects can be used to provide students more opportunities to speak the target language during class.

The next principle is to plan speaking tasks that requires negotiation for meaning Since engagement is trying to understand and to make the teacher comprehend when they interact in the target language Negotiating for meaning is the name given to this procedure It entails making sure that students are comprehended what they are stated, asking or clarification, and geting confirmation with what they understand.

The final requirement is to organize activities for the classroom that provide

instruction and practice in both transactional and interactional speaking Outside of the classroom, people typically engage in conversation for interactional or business-related reasons Speaking to someone in an interactional manner serves

social needs Communication used for transactional purposes, such as the trade of products and services, is referred to as transactional speech.

2.2.3.3 The benefits of using group work in teaching English speaking

As was earlier indicated, group work has been shown to have a variety of potential advantages for speaking classes, including increased opportunities for

students to practice, an increase in classroom engagement, an improvement in

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cooperation, and a promotion of learner autonomy (Long & Porte 1985) (Harmer, 1999) Students can exchange knowledge and understanding with other group

members when working in groups, which enhances the efficiency of lesson retention To produce an output in a group project, participants must collaborate

with the other team members; this enhances communication and mutual understanding Group work is a cooperative activity where students work simultaneously, share ideas and responsibility, and autonomously come up with their own ideas that help the group work succeed without constant teacher or fellow student supervision Students who participate in groups can also get a variety of abilities that are becoming more and more crucial in the professional world

(Caruso & Woolley, 2008; Mannix & Neale, 2005).

In addition, Harmer (1999) listed a number of benefits of group work, such as the potential to increase student talking time and the improvement of problem-solving, teamwork, and interpersonal skills This may be explained by the fact that group projects typically involve several people, each with their own unique experience, knowledge, points of view, and values As a result, a wider range of ideas can be presented Also, the group's idea exchange can be a

motivating factor for participants to contribute more to group work activities by

offering additional thoughts and viewpoints Students undoubtedly become more engaged in their study as a result of this.

2.3 The use of group work among grade 5 at Quynh Loi primary school

The author has a chance to observe the performance of students at grade 5 of Quynh Loi primary school In general, grade 5 students are said to have a good sense of acquiring new knowledge, sensitive communication As compared to grade 3 or 4, grade 5 is more mature in their thoughts and behaviors, therefore, teachers who manage these classes highly value these

students’ attitudes It means that, to stimulate their interests in study, it is not

easy to provide quiz and ask them to solve They are fond of getting engaged in

interactive activities with groups or teams rather than pairs or individual works The lesson should be mixed with pictures, sounds or learning tools and the

content should relate to trends and famous quotes.

When it comes to English, Mrs Nguyen Thi Kim Cuc, who is chief

specialist for English at Quynh Loi primary school says that Students at grade

5 are more confident in raising their voice and showing off their ideas During English periods, students have opportunities to access high-end technology of

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teaching such as E-learning lesson plan, interactive games or colorful illustrations Books are just a common material for English in class, instead, they interact more with the computer and pictures They actively take chance to

participate in English activities such as IOE competitions for gifted students,

model classes or English speaking contests However, the fact is that only the minority of these pupils are eligible for English activities since they have talents

and hard-working enough to compete.

On the other hand, some students are still having good mindset in learning English but they are not interested in the lesson due to some reasons After attending English classes taught by both Vietnamese teachers and foreigners with more than 10 years of experience, the author realizes that the first obstacle hampering them is their fear of mispronunciation Although they are good at writing and reading, they are somewhat hesitated in speaking to respond to their teachers or classmates In addition, only a small number of students admit that they

cannot speak fluently because they are not able to understand English speaking.

Regard to apply group work to encourage students to speak, the outcomes show more positive points In comparison with individual work, students are more enthusiastic and excited when working in group of 4 or 6 people to solve teacher’s assignments In group, they are able to speak up their ideas, even unsuitable ideas without being interrupted by their teachers Besides, they are in favor of group work owning to the supports from their team work rather than working by themselves That fact inspires the researcher to carry out the study with the method

of action research and conduct some quick survey to collect the information.

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Action Research

3.1.1 Definition of action research

As can be seen in common lessons, many lecturers and trainers have conducted action research to improve their education program frequently Action

research can be indicated as a collaboration in which the researcher and a client

discover an existing issues and based on the problems, they find a solution and optimize it to solve (Bryman at el, 2011) In other words, action study refers to a combination between a researcher and students to diagnose the problems and address with appropriate solutions.

Action research in another way is known as a kind of “practicing research, self-study, site-based inquiry or emancipatory praxis It is a collaborative, democratic and participatory approach systematically into a matter of study within

a local situation” (Eileen, 2020) Because of its consistency and eligibility with the

nature of education and the decision - making process and action planning required within specific school contexts, action research has become commonplace in educational administration training programs.

3.1.2 The process of action research

Due to its cooperative principle in applying action study, the stages in conducting should be simultaneously and productively Learning should be accomplished with practice, gaining experience by trials and fails This kind of research can help improve the application of traditional teaching methods and change the viewpoint of lecturers in delivering the knowledge to students The methodology of action study can be shown by the cyclic model of Kemmis and McTaggart (1988) below.

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Figure 1.1 Action research spiral

Kemmis and McTaggart have produced the term ‘thematic concern’ to follow with the system of the action research question It tends to be advantageous and practical because the major concentration of the research may be entailed by the researcher To do that, the superb hard work within the reconnaissance has been inspected by the author Normally the research questions are likely to have a

connection with the action research spiral.

Kemmis and McTaggart have designed the spiral system to describe the process of the action research The main focus of this study is entailed by the researcher so it can be more detailed when the author inspect the reconnaissance,

which connects consistently with spiral research In the views of Kemmis & McTaggart (1988), the cyclic model experiences through four steps.

“Planning” is to prepare the themes or topics and use co-lecturing to get access to the sessions The researcher should make all the crucial preparations before carrying out investigation The major goals of this step are to identify the issues and develop a method for preparation To find out the result of the improvement in

speaking, it is necessary to check the lesson plan first, then teaching equipment, or

even evaluation tools Planning also mentions the activities that may happen with the purpose of developing individually or collectively better After having prepared the

schedules suitably, it is vital to plan to collect data from actions.

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When the researcher “acts and observes”, she needs to focus on her

specialized fields and take chances to discuss and interact continually together with students throughout the lesson In this stage, the author can tell students to participate in group work to practice speaking to solve the given requirements.

These students, in the end, are given some worksheet by their teacher to check their progress This quiz is used for data collection and further researches.

“Observation” is the procedure that the author witnesses the situation happening during the speaking time To be well-prepared for the observation step, observer

should make a criteria sheet to monitor the details of the whole process.

Once having gathered data from students’ performance or feedbacks, the researcher ought to compare with her own reflection to ascertain their outcome At this step, the effectiveness of the activity is evaluated according to of its strengths and limitations, and the researcher considers just how well the teaching and learning process functions Depending on the experiment, teacher can edit her plan and adjust their method of delivery with blended leaning and continue enhancing their lecture for better Consequently, this practice can lead to a new action research cycle.

According to the reason given above, action research is a standardized investigation and a type of self-reflective inquiry carried out by participants in an educational environment as opposed to outside studies to address the issues that students have regarding the need to improve their English speaking abilities This thesis uses methodology to assess how effective students’ communication abilities have improved as a result of using group work.

3.1.3 The benefits of action research

Thanks to its collaborative function in doing research within the context of classroom, action study is believed to provide several advantageous compared to traditional method In terms of the useful keys, Koshy (2012) argues that action research can bring many advantages that help to promote the quality of the study because:

e The study can be conducted under a certain context or a specific case.

e Researcher can join the surveyed class as a participant — they do not need to separate from the situation.

e The research is seen as a project progress because of its continuous assessment and adjustments.

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e The theory merges with the practical research rather than the formulated

theory before.

e The study is likely to result in an open-ended conclusion

e The researcher can put the experience gained into practice after doing action research.

The values that people get from this study can be various in many aspects Instead of proposing complex, long-term solutions based on complicated data, action research offers an immediate and implementable path forward for resolving ingrained problems Especially, when it comes to teaching English speaking, this is an eligible method for teacher to apply to do experiment and modify their teaching styles or update their activities in their lesson plan.

3.2 Participants

The study has been made within the area of class 5A at Quynh Loi primary school in Hanoi, Vietnam This class has been selected for doing research because

the writer has nearly 30 periods for observations other teacher’s teaching method

and her 3 months teaching experience during apprentice time The researcher may have enough time to know how to manage 36 students and know their strengths and weakness Through teaching and discussing with these students, it is obvious to realize their problems and to categorize groups of students according to their levels.

Moreover, the researcher is also get involved in the study who plays an important role as a teacher of the class The class comprises of 36 students, they

are all at grade 5, have good psycological status and their English level are at A2

compared with Cambridge certificate They may regard English as a second language and put a lot of efforts into practicing or create more environment to speaking English Some of them have ever joined extra classes in some English centre besides studying school cirriculum, some of them are do not take part in any extra classes.

As the allowance of the headmaster of this school, in order to help students

learn English more effectively and to further the goal of students conversing in English, the author investigated this thesis.

3.3 Description of data collection instruments

The data collection conducted in this research consists of two kinds of instrument accordingly questionnaire and interview.

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