Participation by 10th - form students in groupwork activities in speaking lessons at Thanh Ha high school, Hai Duong = Sự tham gia của học sinh lớp 10 vào hoạt

The teachers' suggestions to increase their students' participation in group work activities in speaking lessons...33 3.11.. LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Students’ attitude towards speaking

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

ĐẶNG THỊ HOA

PARTICIPATION BY 10th-FORM STUDENTS IN

GROUPWORK ACTIVITIES IN SPEAKING LESSONS

AT THANH HA HIGH SCHOOL, HAI DUONG

( Sự tham gia của học sinh lớp 10 vào hoạt động nhóm trong giờ học nói

tại trường THPT Thanh Hà, Hải Dương)

M.A.MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD : ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

CODE : 601410

HANOI – 2011

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

ĐẶNG THỊ HOA

PARTICIPATION BY 10th-FORM STUDENTS IN

GROUPWORK ACTIVITIES IN SPEAKING LESSONS

AT THANH HA HIGH SCHOOL, HAI DUONG

( Sự tham gia của học sinh lớp 10 vào hoạt động nhóm trong giờ học nói

tại trường THPT Thanh Hà, Hải Dương)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD : ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

CODE : 601410

SUPERVISOR: ĐỖ THỊ MAI THANH, M.A

HANOI - 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration .i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

Table of content iv

List of abbreviations vii

List of tables and figures viii

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale for the study 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research question 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Methods of the study 2

6 Design of the study 3

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 5

Chapter 1 - LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Speaking skill and teaching speaking skill 5

1.1.1 Definitions of speaking 5

1.1.2 Teaching and learning speaking skill 5

1.2 The students' participation and the factors affecting their participation in speaking lesson 6

1.2.1 Definitions of students' participation 6

1.2.2 The factors affecting students' participation in speaking lesson 6

1.2.2.1 Teachers' teaching methods 7

1.2.2.2 Teachers' personalities and characteristics 7

1.2.2.3 Students' learning style 7

1 2.3.4 Students' learning motivation 7

1.2.3.5 Students' language level 8

1.3 Group work activities in language teaching and learning 8

1.3.1 Definitions of group work 8

1.3.2 Types of groupwork 8

1.3.3 Advantages of using group work activities in speaking lesson 9

1.3.4 Difficulties of using group work activities in speaking lesson 13

1.3.4.1 Time 13

1.3.4.2 Class organization and management 13

1.3.4.3 Student- related difficulties 13

1.3.5 The role of the teacher and the role of each student in group work activities 14

1.3.5.1 The role of the teacher 14

1.3.5.2 The role of each student in group work activities 15

1.3.6 Types of speaking tasks carried out in group work activities in textbook English 10 16

1.3.7 How to design group work activities effectively 18

1.3.7.1 Forming students in groups 18

1.3.7.2 Preparing for students to work in group 20

1.3.7.3 Monitoring group work activities 20

1.3.7.4 Ending group work activities 21

1.4 Summary 21

CHAPTER 2: METHODS OF THE STUDY 22

2.1 An overview of the research site 22

2.2 Subjects 23

2.3 Methods of data collection 23

2.4 Summary 24

CHAPTER 3: PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA 25

3.1 The students' and teachers' attitudes towards learning and teaching speaking skill 25

3.2 The students and teachers' opinions on the frequency of group work activities in speaking lessons the teachers at school are implementing 25

3.3 The students' and teachers' opinions on the design of the activities for groupwork 27

3.4 The students and teachers' opinions on the benefits of groupwork activities 27

3.5 The students' attitudes towards the current groupwork activities 28

3.6 The students' participation in the groupwork activities 29

3.7 The students' preference of kinds of groupwork activities 30

3.8 The students and teachers' problems in implementing groupwork activities .31

3.9 The students' suggestions to increase their participation in group work activities in

speaking lessons 32

3.10 The teachers' suggestions to increase their students' participation in group work activities in speaking lessons 33

3.11 Summary 34

CHAPTER 4 - FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 35

4.1 The major findings 35

4.1.1 The teachers and students' acknowledgements about groupwork activities 35

4.1.2 The factors affecting the grade 10 students 'participation in groupwork activities 35

4.1.2.1 Subjective factors 35

4.1.2.2 Objective factors 36

4.1.3 The students' preference of the groupwork activities and the frequency of the groupwork activities the teachers at school are applying 36

4.2 Recommendations 36

4.2.1 Students should be well- prepared for groupwork activities 36

4.2.2 The students should be always sustained in groupwork activities 38

4.2.3 The groups' results should be appropriately evaluated 38

4.2.4 Groupwork activities should be appropriately provided 39

4.2.5 How to treat the students' noise and overuse of Vietnamese during groupwork activities 39

4.2.6 The things administrators should do 40

4.3 Summary 40

PART III- CONCLUSION 41

1 Summary of the thesis 41

2 Limitations of the thesis 41

3 Suggestions for the further study 42

REFERENCES 43 APPENDIX 1 I APPENDIX 2 V

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLT refers to Communicative Language Teaching

EFL refers to English as a First Language

ESL refers to English as a Second Language

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1: Students’ attitude towards speaking skill

Table 3.2a: Identifying the students' opinions on about the frequency of applying group work activities in speaking lessons

Table 3.2b: Identifying the students' opinions on the frequency of group work activities employed in speaking lessons

Table 3.3: Exploring the students' opinions on the design of the activities for groupwork Table 3.4: The students and teachers' opinions on benefits of groupwork activities

Table 3.5: The students' attitudes towards the current groupwork activities

Table 3.6: The students' participation in the groupwork activities

Table 3.7: The students' preference of kinds of groupwork activities in order

Table 3.8: The students' difficulties when participating in groupwork activities

Table 3.9: The students' suggestions to increase their participation in group work activities

in speaking lessons

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationales for the study

With the undeniable role of communication, English has proven to be the most effective tool

to involve Vietnam in the process of globalization and vice versa English has helped open a new integrating chance those who knows to make use of it Having fully recognized the importance of this, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training has made English a compulsory subject at secondary schools all over the country and it has become one of the three main subjects at high schools As a result, the high school curriculum has laid a great deal of stress on teaching and learning this widely-used language especially in a communicative way The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training has recently put into practice a new series of English textbooks, which focus on the Communicative Language Teaching In order to apply this method effectively, the use of group work activities in teaching speaking skill is emphasized, as is stated in the teacher‟s guide books

In the new textbook, English 10, most of the activities in speaking lessons are encouraged to

be organized in group work activities It has been reported by a number of the studies that in speaking lessons, group work activities make it possible for the teacher to devote more time to the students' oral production, which perhaps before had not been a priority in the foreign language classroom Thanks to group work activities, less confident students get the chance to put their knowledge of the new language into practice in a non-threatening environment, away from the critical eye and ear of the teacher Instead of being dependent on the teacher, students get used to helping and learning from each other Meanwhile, the teacher is left free to discreetly monitor progress and give help, advice and encouragement where and when it is needed Small groups provide greater intensity of involvement, so that the quality of language practice is increased Despite the enormous benefits of using group work activities in developing the students' speaking ability, both the teachers and the students at Thanh Ha high school are generally not much successful in teaching or learning through this type of activity Almost the teachers often complained that their students did not fully participate in group work activities Therefore, they had a lot of difficulties using group work activities in their class This led me to carry out an investigation into the matter in the hope to work out and

explain how the 10th form students participate into group work activities in speaking lessons will be identified and better understood Furthermore, based on the study, practical teaching ideas to improve the students' participation into the group work activities in speaking lessons will be drawn out

2 Aims of the study

The study aims to

- investigate current participation by the 10th form student in group work activities

in speaking lessons at Thanh Ha high school, Hai Duong

- identify the factors affecting the students' participation in groupwork speaking activities

- discuss and recommend practical teaching ideas to involve the 10th form students

in more effective groupwork activities in speaking lessons

3 Research questions

For the purpose of investigating participation by the 10th form student into groupwork

activities in speaking lessons at Thanh Ha High School, Hai Duong, the researcher sets up the

following research questions to guide her in doing this research

- How do the 10th form students participate in group work activities in speaking lessons

at Thanh Ha high school, Hai Duong?

- What are the factors affecting the students' participation at Thanh Ha high school, Hai

Duong?

- What are the suggestions teachers should make to increase the 10th form students'

participation in the groupwork activities more effective in speaking lessons at Thanh

Ha high school, Hai Duong?

4 Scope of study

The study was carried out with 200 grade 10 students and four teachers who are directly in charge of teaching grade 10 at Thanh Ha high school Because of the limit of the researcher's time, and some other conditions, the focus of the study is only on the investigation into the students' participation in groupwork activities in speaking lessons including how they

participate in group work activities, what factors affecting their participation Though she is aware of the necessity of some other speaking activities, the researcher can not cover such related activities as groupwork presentation, groupwork writing report and groupwork cross checked activities Moreover, the number of participants in the study may not be large enough

to come to a widely applicable conclusion

5 Methods of study

To conduct the study, quantitative and qualitative methods will be used Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews will be used to collect information and evidence for the study All the comments, recommendations and conclusions provided in the study will be based on the data analysis

6 Design of the study

The thesis consists of three main parts:

Part I, INTRODUCTION, provides some brief information about the reasons for choosing the topic, the aims, the methods, the scope as well as the design of the study

Part II, DEVELOPMENT, is composed of four chapters:

Chapter 1, LITERATURE REVIEW, presents various concepts relevant to the research topic such as speaking skill, definitions of groupwork, advantages and disadvantages of groupwork activities, the teacher and students' roles in groupwork activities and kinds of groupwork activities

Chapter 2, METHODS OF THE STUDY, provides the methodology underlying the research which includes the general information about the situation of teaching and learning English at Thanh Ha high school This chapter also deals with the methods of data collection such as survey questionnaires and interviews

Chapter 3, PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA, gives a detailed presentation of data and description of data analysis Explanations, interpretation of the findings are mentioned

Chapter 4, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS, provides the summary of the findings Based on the findings, the research recommends some possible teaching ideas to make the

10th form students' participation in the group work activities more effective in speaking lessons

Part III, CONCLUSION, gives a brief summary of the whole thesis, the limitations of the study and provides some suggestions for further study

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

To begin with the study, in this chapter, the researcher will present some theoretical background based on which the study will be carried out The first section overviews the speaking skill The second section presents the students' participation and the factors affecting their participation in speaking lesson Then group work activities in language teaching and learning are discussed in the third section

1.1 Speaking skill and teaching speaking skill

1.1.1 Definitions of speaking

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.” Speaking is one of the basic skills that must be mastered by students since it is very important for them to communicate in the class

or outside the class They must practice it especially in learning teaching in order to be fluent, without an ability to speak, it would be impossible to have a natural communication among people Brown and Yule (1989: 14) state in their book “Speaking is to express the needs request, information, service, etc.” The speakers say a word to the listener not only to express what in their mind but also to express what they need Most people might spend their everyday life communicating with others Bygate (1987) claims that "speaking is a skill which deserves attention as much as the literary skills in both native and foreign languages" When students speak in a confident and comfortable way, they can interact better in real daily situations Because of this, it is necessary to encourage the development of the students' ability of fluency

in spoken English Developing fluency implies taking risks by using language in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere –an atmosphere of trust and support Speaking fluently, of course, involves speaking easily and appropriately with others

1.1.2 Teaching and learning speaking skill

People use oral language as their most means of communication- all peoples have developed a form of oral language Skill and fluency in speaking have dramatic effects upon life in general The recent emphasis on communication has focused particular attention on ways of promoting

speaking skills This is a question of developing not only language competence but also language use Speaking activities aim, therefore, to develop the confidence, desire, and ability

to use the target language accurately and appropriately and effectively for the purposes of communication as well Teaching speaking is to prepare students to be able to use language How this preparation is done and how successful it is depend on how we as teachers understand our aims For students, learning to speak a foreign language is considered to be one

of the most difficult aspects of language learning To help students be able to use that foreign language to express themselves intelligibly, reasonably, accurately without too much hesitation, teachers must provide them with an environment within in which they can communicate freely, and in which they can work together independently with only the minimum amount of direction from the teachers In the light of what is known about the nature of language learning process and given many demands while speaking activities can make learners, it is important to set attainable objectives and to have realistic expectation about learners' achievements This requires a certain attitude on the part of the teachers towards the learners' performance, particularly with regard to the class organization as group work and the use of communicative strategies to teach simultaneously

1.2 The students' participation and the factors affecting their participation in speaking lesson

1.2.1 Definitions of students' participation

Many linguists pointed out that students' participation plays a crucially important role which helps to determine the level of proficiency by different students in language learning According to Howard, Short, and Clark (1996) participation is the student‟s active engagement in the classroom to promote effective learning Peacock (1997) defined students' participation in language learning in term of on task and off task This means that students are on task when they "engaged in the pedagogic work of the day" and students are off task when they have "a complete lack of attention to the task" Sylvelyn, Judith & Paulin (2009) stated that students' participation is when students who actively engage in classroom discussions, rather than be passive learners who simply take in knowledge

1.2.2 The factors affecting students' participation in speaking lesson

1.2.2.1 Teaching methods

Hammer (1991) claimed that teachers' teaching methods have direct effects on students' learning in both positive and negative ways especially in speaking lesson It is clear that good and proper method will attract students in their learning If students find their teacher' method deadly boring, they will certainly become de-motivated and do not want to participate in the speaking activities On the contrary, if the students are interested in their teacher' method, there is no doubt that they will be ready to engage in the activities It is necessary that teachers need to apply appropriate methods for their students' level

1.2.2.2 Teachers' personalities and characteristics

Teachers' personalities and characteristics are considered to be the key influence on students' liking of their success in different at school The teacher's prestige will make students feel secure in his or her lecture and thus they are wiling to participate in language learning more Barry and King (1994) pointed out the necessary characteristics of teachers like being nature, being warm, being pleasant, being approachable and being tolerant Besides, a good teacher owns certain qualities such as encouragement to active learning, friendliness, support, ability

to create positive and friendly learning environment He or she gets students involved in his lesson and encourage them take part in the lesson enthusiastically It may be well worth noting that teachers' personalities and characteristics enhance students' participation in learning in speaking lessons

1.2.2.3 Students' learning style

Students' learning style refers to their general approach towards using particular types of learning activities It is evidenced in the students' attitudes towards and preferences for particular activities, the particular choice of activities they use for learning, the way in which they approach the use of particular types of learning tasks

There are different learning styles identified by educators and psychologists Richard (1994, cited in Knowles, 1992) classified students' styles into four types as follows: Concrete learning style, analytical learning style, communicative learning style, authority- oriented learning style

1 2.3.4 Students' learning motivation

Motivation is viewed as a major factor affecting students' participation in language learning It affects directly students' failure and success in language learning Motivation is understood as interest and enthusiasm for the activities used in classes, persistence with learning task It is also indicated as by levels of attention and levels of concentration and enjoyment

1.2.3.5 Students' language level

In a class, there is clear difference in language level This leads to different language learning skills and affects uneven participation of students Although the classroom is the first and only environment for all students to practice in speaking lesson, some students find it difficult to speak in the target language, other students would like to express everything they think As a result, in a speaking lesson, some students may take many turns while others do not speak for the entire lesson and sit quietly or do their own work

1.3 Group work activities in language teaching and learning

1.3.1 Definitions of group work

Group work has been incorporated into language teaching and learning in most parts of the world since the emergence of the CLT up work, in a language class, is a co- operative during which students share aims and responsibilities to complete a task assigned by the teacher in groups or in pairs"

According to Sprott (cited in Metcalfe 1959:9), " a group as a number of people who interact with another one, who are psychological aware of one another and who perceive themselves to

be a group" Doff (1988: 137) defines group work is a process that “the teacher divides the class into small groups to work together (usually four or five students in each group), as in pair work, all the groups work at the same time.”

In spite of the different definitions, it can be said that in group work, all the members have chances to cooperate with others They learn to negotiate to listen to different opinions They participate more equally and in most cases they feel free to experiment and use the language

In group work, the focus is not only on the product but also on the process and the skills which are activated in order to achieve it

1.3.2 Types of group work

Davis (1993) divides group work into 3 types:

- informal learning groups

- formal learning groups

- study teams

Informal learning groups are temporary clusterings 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 often required to work in groups of three to five to do a specific speaking tasks set in the textbook, English 10 The speaking tasks in this book are designed to develop students' communicative competence Group work activities are often conducted and last about seven minutes to ten minutes

1.3.3 Advantages of using group work activities in speaking lesson

Many different kinds of speaking activities such as brainstorming, discussion, interview, dialogue ect can be performed in groups It can not be denied benefits of group work in these types of activities Beebe and Masterson (1982) describe cooperative learning in group work as:

"The glue that binds the organizations The oil that smoothes the organization's function

The thread that ties the system together The force that pervades the organization The binding agent that cements all relationships"

Building on Long and Porter‟s (1985) account of the advantages of group/pair work for language pedagogy, Jacobs (1998) provides a comprehensive list of ten potential advantages (see the table ), comparing the typical characteristics of groupwork with those of teacher-centred instruction

Ten potential advantages of group

activities in language instruction (based

2 The variety of speech acts can increase In teacher-fronted classrooms, students are

cast in a responsive role, but in groupwork they can perform a wide range of roles, including those involved in the negotiation

student but in groupwork the needs of individual students can be attended to

4 Anxiety can be reduced Students feel less nervous speaking in an L2

in front of their peers than in front of the whole class

5 Motivation can increase Students will be less competitive when

working in groups and are more likely to encourage each other

6 Enjoyment can increase Students are „social animals‟ and thus enjoy

interacting with others in groups; in fronted classrooms student-student interaction is often proscribed

teacher-7 Independence can increase Group activities help students to become

independent learners

8 Social integration can increase Group activities enable students to get to

know each other

9 Students can learn how to work together

with others

In typical teacher-fronted classrooms students are discouraged from helping each other; group work helps students to learn collaborative skills

students are willing to take risks and can scaffold each other‟s efforts

According to Harmer (1991) group work provides more opportunities for students' initiation, practice in negotiation of meaning, extended conversational exchanges, face- to- face give and take and adoption of roles Ur (1996, p.232) also shares the same idea: "In group work, learners perform a learning task through small group interaction It is a form of learner

activation that is of particular value in the practice of oral fluency; learners in class divided into five groups get 5 times as many opportunities to talk as in full class organization"

In short, group work can be beneficial for every student in a class Groups make well- informed and better quality decisions more often than do individuals because of the varied experiences individual bring to a group Group members also learn about themselves when they work with others because they receive feedback Group interaction can enhance both comprehension and satisfaction especially in developing speaking skill Group work enables students to use the language It also motivates them more involved and concentrates on the task assigned In a non- threatening performance environment of collaborative classroom motivation is often improved as students feel less inhibited and more able to explore possibilities for self- expression

Furthermore, groupwork has advantages not only for the learners but also for the teachers First of all they save time Instead of asking individual students to practice a structure or answer the questions, he/she can divide the class into pairs and make them do the exercise at the same time As a result students are able to practice the language more during the lessons When the time is saved, the teacher can take his/her students through much bigger material and many more activities This will be for sure appreciated by the students who will not have time to get bored because of the variety of activities and their own participation in the lesson

As a result, the lesson will seem to be more interesting, the teacher will be liked by the students, and he/she will enjoy his/her work because it will bring him/her satisfaction, pleasure, and fulfillment Group work may be a good way to help the teacher to check students' progress in learning The teacher can do it without students' knowledge about the fact that they are observed and checked Walking round the class and listening to the students, the teacher can not only make notes of the most common mistakes to discuss them later, but also discover whether they are able to communicate with each other in the foreign language or not Such discovery helps the teacher to decide which parts of material need to be repeated or explained later Another important advantage for the teacher is that group work gives him/her time to consult the lesson plan and organize materials for the next stage of the lesson Although the teacher can be prepared for the lesson very well, sometimes it may happen that

he/she simply forgets what he/she must do next Group activities are the best for looking up the lesson plan It is also good for organizing materials for the next activity, for example hanging pictures or pieces of a text on walls, writing something on the blackboard, etc

1.3.4 Difficulties of using group work activities in speaking lesson

1.3.4.1 Time

The activities of speaking such as brainstorming, discussion carried out through a group are time - consuming For many teachers one of the major frustrations about group work is the time it takes to accomplish the tasks It takes longer time for students to talk and listen to others Since each speaking lesson lasts only 45 minutes, it is difficult for teachers to use group work regularly

1.3.4.2 Class organization and management

The classrooms at the high schools are often big with unmovable desks and a large number of students This leads to difficulty relating to class organization and management Usually, it is hard for teachers to ask students to remove their seats or provide proper management

1.3.4.3 Student- related difficulties

The lack of knowledge to make meaningful contribution into group work is the typical difficulty faced by almost the students Speaking is one of the most complex of linguistic skills since it involves thinking of what to be said while saying what has been thought In order to be able to do this, patterns, structures, and words must be chosen to fit the right situation or attitude intended We cannot say about something if we have no words for it Once students do not know enough of the language to express themselves with ease, they often become reluctant

to participate in group work This also leads to students' overusing of mother tongue in group work When students cannot express their ideas in English, they will resort to use mother

tongue or chat with each other

Some group members are lazy They may rely too much on others to get the job done While some others may dominate the discussion, they may pressure others to confront to their opinions As a result, lazy students become even lazier in group work

There are also other situations in which the students' personality, students' learning style preference influence the students' participation in group work activities Some students who

are shy are often inhibited when being asked to express themselves freely in the front of the others Besides, the fear of being corrected by other members in the group may also cause the uneasy collaboration and lead to unproductive groups On the other hand, the students' learning style preference influences the students' performance in group work activities The students' learning style preference in Vietnam is greatly influenced by the Confucian culture They are often familiar with knowledge transmitted from their teachers than their peers Consequently, many students have negative responses when they are asked to work in groups

In conclusion, despite the limitations of using group work activities, there have been a number

of researchers who have reported their positive effects on the development of speaking ability

in language classroom Thus, they are worth considering being implemented into the classroom more regularly

1.3.5 The role of the teacher and the role of each student in group work activities

When students work in groups, teachers must assist them These are some of the things they have to do:

1.3.5.1 The role of the teacher

Select activities carefully: Teachers should ensure that the activities can be done reasonably

well with language and students It means that teachers should decide what they are going to pre- teach and let students ask for what they realise they need

Work out the instructions for an activity carefully: Presenting the activity to the class will

be a major factor in its success Teachers must keep instructions simple, and use mother tongue if necessary

Present the activity to the class: Teachers can use mother tongue if necessary; however, try

to use English as much as possible because both their explanation and evaluation activities are very real use of language in a classroom situation Teachers should give plenty of examples and students a "trial run"

Monitor the students' performance: While students are working in groups, teachers must

move around the class and to listen to them in order to find out how the students are getting

on Teachers can also join groups and work as a member Teachers should not correct mistakes as a rule, but make a note of them and use them as the basis of feedback

Provide feedback: There is a set of ways of providing feedback For example, teachers may

ask students to give their ideas first before giving their opinion A major kind of feedback is often concerned with language If during monitoring of the activities, teachers have detected mistakes, they may choose to point these out to the class afterwards Alternatively, they may use errors they have noted as the basis for remedial or further teaching

Keep a record: It is important to keep a record of the activities teachers have done with the

class, together with any comments on the students' performance Teachers should also note down any ideas for further activities which occur to them or modifications of existing ones

Donn Byrne (1986:77)

1.3.5.2 The role of each student in group work activities

According to Ruben (1998) students have to implement two kinds of roles in order to accomplish group goal They are task roles and group building and maintenance roles

Task roles: When working in groups, students work together to gather information, make

recommendations, solve a problem or complete a specific task Task roles as a contributor, a analyzer, a coordinator, a recorder and a encourager are performed by students As a contributor, each student takes part in organizing the group's work, making all group members understand the task, taking the group's questions, or proposing new ideas or changing way of regarding the group problem goal As an analyzer, he helps solve the problems, move the group rapidly to the core of the problem and examine the reasoning behind each contribution

to the discussion As a coordinator, he shows or clarifies the relationships among various ideas and suggestions and tries to pull them together As a recorder, he writes down the group's responses, data or collection on a group response sheet or writes down the product of discussion As an encourager, he offers support or encouragement to group members and keeps others' feeling comfortable when working together

Group building and maintenance roles: These roles require all the members to assume

responsibility for promoting, building and maintaining positive attitudes and a positive group spirit Maintenance roles are concerned with the feelings of individual members and the emotional behavior of the group Each member of the group acts as an active listener, a compromiser and a follower As an active listener, the student recognizes the contributions of

the others and responds with specific verbal or non - verbal reinforcement For example, he can nod his head, smile or say " good" or "great idea" As a compromiser, he, together with other members, makes decisions when a discussion of two prominent positions emerges He also makes attempts to reconcile disagreement or relieves tension in conflict situations through jesting As a follower, he accepts the ideas of the others in a passive role

Leader roles: Each group should have its own leader If the student is appointed the leader of

the group by the teacher or his friends or he may volunteer, he will serves as a link between the group and the teacher and among group members It means that his function is not to dominate the group but to coordinate the group members' activities

1.3.6 Types of speaking tasks carried out in group work activities in textbook English 10

Many ESL teachers agree on that students learn to speak in the second language by

"interacting" Communicative language teaching and collaborative learning serve best for this aim CLT is based on real-life situations that require communication By using this method in ESL classes, students will have the opportunity of communicating with each other in the target language ESL teachers should create a classroom environment where students have real- life communication, authentic activities, and meaningful tasks that promote oral language This can occur when students collaborate in groups to achieve a goal or to complete

a task In the new English textbook 10, speaking lesson is one of the important skills Theme- based and task-based approaches are favored and adopted so as to create authentic language settings for learners and engage them in purposeful communication activities Obviously, teaching speaking is mainly based on having students complete the tasks via pairs or groups The following types of speaking tasks carried out in group work activities in textbook English 10:

Information Gap

In this activity, students are supposed to be working in pairs or in groups One or two students have the information that other partners do not have and they will share information Information gap activity serves purposes such as solving a problem, collecting information Each partner plays an important role because the task cannot be completed if the partners do

not provide the information the others need This activity is effective because everybody has opportunity to talk extensively in the target language

Brainstorming

On a given topic, students can produce ideas in a limited time Group brainstorming is effective when students generate ideas quickly and freely The good characteristic of brainstorming is that students should not be criticized for their ideas so they will be open to share new ideas

Discussion

This activity is often used in the new textbook In this activity, the students may aim to arrive, may aim at a conclusion, share ideas about an events, find solutions in their discussion groups Before the discussion, teachers have to set the purpose of the discussion activity In this way discussion points are relevant to this purpose, so that students do not spend their time chatting with each other about irrelevant things For efficient group discussions, it is always better not to form large groups, because quiet students may avoid contributing in large groups The group members can be either assigned by the teacher or the students may determine it by themselves, but groups should be rearranged in every discussion activity so that students can work with various people and learn to be open to different ideas It is important that whatever the aim of group discussion is, students should be encouraged to ask questions, paraphrase ideas, express support and check for clarification

Interviews

Students can conduct interviews on selected topics with various people Conducting interviews with people gives students a chance to practice their speaking ability not only in class but also outside and helps them become socialized After interviews, each student can present his or her results of the interviews to the class To help students carry out interviews effectively, teachers should provide a rubric to students so that they know what type of questions they can ask or what path to follow

Role- play:

One of the ways of getting students to speak is role-playing Students pretend they are in various social contexts and have a variety of social roles In role play activity, teacher can give

information to the students such as who they are and what they think or feel

Communication games: These activities are often designed in class According to Byrne and

Rixon (1979), even though games are often associated with fun, teacher should not lose sight

of their pedagogical values, particularly in second language teaching Games are effective because they provide motivation, lower students' stress, and give them the opportunity for real communication Naturally when playing games, students are trying to win or to beat other teams for themselves or on the behalf of their team They are so competitive while playing because they want to have a turn to play, to score points and to win In the class, students will definitely participate in the speaking activities

Problem solving: Problem- solving activities as well as others are utilized in the class to

facilitate communicative skills The students are often in groups, then they talk together to find out a solution for a problem or task given The problem solving activities stimulate the students to talk and to listen to the others

1.3.7 How to design group work activities effectively

1.3.7.1 Forming students in groups

According to Byrne in Longman Handbook for Language Teachers, the group size should be worked out in the relation to the total number of students in class Usually, a group of 3 to 5 is appropriate in speaking lessons Teachers can form groups themselves, normally on the basis

of the mixed class ability (i.e good and weak students together), since as a rule learners do help one another Sometimes, teachers want the students to work together on tasks which have been selected to suit their abilities If t means that teachers form students of more or less equal ability, so that they will be free to give their attention to those who most need help Byrne also suggests that each group should have an identifying label (i.e name or number) and set position in the classroom to work in so that when students are asked to work in groups, they can do so with the minimum fuss and delay Usually group work will involve some re- arrangement of the classroom furniture When concerning the allocation of members into groups, Hurd (2000) states that most selection methods fall into four categories They are:

 Random appointment

 Self- selection

the method

Students are randomly selected in groups

Students form their own groups

Students are selected in different groups based on criteria (e.g mark, skill )

Students are selected in groups based on their preference for a particular topic

Advantages of

the method

- Easy to manage

- Students find it fair

Students have their own choice, so they find it easy to work in groups

- Students find it fair

- Students can work with compatible members

- Students find

it comfortable when working with other members with the same interest

- Shirking will

be reduced Disadvantages

of the method

- Students have

no choice to form their group

- Students mostly tend to choose with their close friends

- Students do not find it fair

- That students with bad marks working

together in a group leads to bad results

- Can be time- consuming

Selection bias, may not break

up fiends

- Group size is affected as there are two few or two may nominations for

a particular

topic

Although there are a set of way forming group, it can be reported that there is no fixed rule to form students in group Teachers had better try different ways at different occasion in order to find out the most suitable one which helps his students to work most effectively in such groups

1.3.7.2 Preparing for students to work in group

When working in groups, many students often experience the feeling of having nothing to say

on the subject, which will certainly be an obstacle for communication process and make them feel inhibited or less confident to speak in group work Therefore, preparing students well for the group work must involve the pre-teaching of the relevant language Teachers also explain

to students why they are doing activities of this kind One thing important is that teachers should assist their students to generate some ideas through mini discussion or through brainstorming

1.3.7.3 Monitoring group work activities

When discussing monitoring group work, Jaques (1984) says that it is essential that teachers should monitor the groups but not to hover Sharing the same idea, Cohen (1986) emphasizes

on the supportive supervision of the teachers for the students in group work activities This type includes the following of the teachers' roles:

- giving feedback

- redirecting group with questions

- encouraging group to solve its own problem

1.3.7.4 Ending group work activities

To sustain students' motivation to involve in the groupwork activities, it is necessary that teachers should know how to end groupwork effectively Therefore, after students have finished their task, teachers should ensure that groups' performance is accessed and that the groups know their members are doing who needs more assistance in completing the task and lazy students need to know they cannot let others do all the work while they sit silently Giving groups an opportunity to evaluate other groups' performance is also important This creates competition among groups and each member of the groups tries their best to work effectively to become the winner

1.3.8 Summary

This chapter provided the theoretical background relevant to aspects concerning the topic of the study First it presents the general discussion of speaking skill and teaching and learning it Next comes an overview on students' participation and factors affecting their participation in speaking lessons Then it gives the theories relating to the groupwork activities in teaching and learning speaking skill such as definitions of groupwork, advantages and major difficulties of implementing groupwork activities, discussion on the roles of the teachers and students , emphasis on effective groupwork activity design in speaking lessons