Using group work to improve speaking skills of the first year students at hanoi university of industry

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** ĐỖ THỊ HUYỀN USING GROUP-WORK TO IMPROVE SPEAK

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

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

ĐỖ THỊ HUYỀN

USING GROUP-WORK TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS

OF THE FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY

OF INDUSTRY

Sử dụng hoạt động nhóm để cải thiện kỹ năng nói của sinh viên năm nhất

trường Đại học Công nghiệp Hà Nội

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

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

ĐỖ THỊ HUYỀN

USING GROUP-WORK TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS

OF THE FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY

OF INDUSTRY

Sử dụng hoạt động nhóm để cải thiện kỹ năng nói của sinh viên năm nhất

trường Đại học Công nghiệp Hà Nội

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Trần Xuân Điệp

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like primarily to thank Assoc Prof Trần Xuân Điệp for helping me

complete this study This paper would not have been possible without his constant support and encouragement His patience and helpful criticism helped me confidently express my ideas into this paper I regard myself extremely fortunate in

having him as my dissertation supervisor

I would also like to express my sincere thanks to all my lecturers at the Faculty

of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies for their valuable lectures which have helped me a great deal in gaining a lot of theoretical as well as practical knowledge

My special thanks go to my dear students at Hanoi University of Industry who helped me a lot by participating in speaking lessons and interviews enthusiastically Finally, I would also like to express my deep gratitude and love to my devoted parents, my husband and my friends who gave me time and encouraged me to

complete this study

ABSTRACT

Among four macro skills namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing, learners have favored speaking because it is used frequently in daily life However, students still have been faced with difficulties in learning speaking skills Therefore, the study was conducted for the purpose of offering group-work techniques, namely group discussion as a key to improve speaking skills of the first-year students at Hanoi University of Industry This is a report on the study of using group-work in order to improve speaking skills of the first-year students at Hanoi University of Industry The writer used action research as the method in carrying out the research

It was done in four steps, namely planning, acting, observing, and reflecting The data were collected from the students’ speaking scores in the pre-test and post-test, classroom observation, and semi-structured interviews The research was conducted

in two cycles Each cycle consisted of three meetings The study showed the improvements of the students’ scoring and performance In the pre-test, the mean score was 5.6 but in the post-test, their mean score increased to 6.1 The improvement of students’ speaking skill was recorded with the mean score of 6.9 The result shows that there are some improvements on the students’ speaking skill quantitatively and qualitatively

LISTS OF ABBRIVIATION

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

HaUI: Hanoi University of Industry

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LISTS OF TABLES AND GRAPHS viii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Objectives of the study 1

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Significance of the study 2

5 Method of the study 2

6 Organization of the study 2

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1 Theoretical background 4

1.1 Theoretical background of speaking 4

1.1.1 Nature of speaking skill 4

1.1.2 Teaching speaking in a classroom 5

1.1.3 Testing Speaking 6

1.2 Theoretical background of group-work 11

1.2.1 Definition of group-work 11

1.2.3 Disadvantages of group-work 13

1.2.4 The principles in organizing group-work in speaking class 14

1.2.4.1 The preparation steps 14

1.2.4.2 Designing group-work activities 15

1.2.4.3 Steps of organizing group activities 16

1.2.4.4 Group formation 17

1.2.4.5 Group size 18

2 Review of existing related works 19

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 21

2.1 Research design 21

2.2 The context of the study 21

2.2.1 The location and time of research 21

2.2.2 The students 21

2.2.3 The textbook 21

2.3 Procedure of the research 21

2.3.1 Planning 21

2.3.2 Acting 22

2.3.3 Observing 22

2.3.4 Reflecting 22

2.4 Data collection instruments 23

2.4.1 Semi-structured interviews 23

2.4.2 Observation and field notes 24

2.4.3 Records 24

2.5 Methods of data analysis 25

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS OF THE STUDY 26

3.1 The condition before the research 26

3.1.1 The results of interviews 26

3.1.2 The results of pre-test 27

3.2 Research implementation 28

3.3 Findings and discussion 32

3.3.1 Findings 32

3.3.2 Discussion 34

PART C: CONCLUSION 36

1 A summary of findings and concluding remarks 36

2 Limitations 36

3 Suggestions for further study 37

REFERENCES 39

APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS BEFORE CYCLE 1 I (ENGLISH VERSION) I APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS BEFORE CYCLE 1

(VIETNAMESE VERSION) I APPENDIX 3: INTERVIEW SRIPTS BEFORE CYCLE 1 IN ENGLISH

(SUMMARY II APPENDIX 4: PRE-TEST IV APPENDIX 5: INTERVENING ACTIVITIES IN CYCLE 1 V APPENDIX 6: POST-TEST FOR CYCLE 1 IX APPENDIX 7: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AFTER CYCLE 1 X (ENGLISH VERSION) X APPENDIX 8: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AFTER CYCLE 1

(VIETNAMESE VERSION) X APPENDIX 9: INTERVENING ACTIVITIES IN CYCLE 2 XI APPENDIX 10: POST-TEST FOR CYCLE 2 XIII APPENDIX 11: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AFTER CYCLE 2 XIII (ENGLISH VERSION) XIII APPENDIX 12: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AFTER CYCLE 2

(VIETNAMESE VERSION) XIV APPENDIX 13: TYPICAL STUDENTS’ IMPROVEMENT SCRIPTS

RECORDED IN PRE-TEST, POST-TEST 1, AND POST-TEST 2 XV APPENDIX 14: THE RESULTS OF STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN

PRE-TEST, POST-TEST 1, AND POST-TEST 2 XX APPENDIX 15: GROUP OBSERVATION CHECKLISTError! Bookmark not defined.

LISTS OF TABLES AND GRAPHS

Table 1.1: The scoring of rubric of speaking 8

Table 1.2: Criteria of vocabulary proficiency 9

Table 1.3: Criteria of fluency proficiency 10

Table 1.4: Criteria of pronunciation proficiency 10

Table 1.5: Criteria of grammar proficiency 11

Table 2.1: Technique of collecting data 23

Table 2.2: The scales of speaking test 24

Table 2.3: Process of the research 22

Table 3.2: Pre-research situation 26

Table 3.3: Feature of students’ speech 27

Table 3.4: Overall implementation of the research 28

Table 3.5: Results of cycle 1 30

Table 3.6: Results of cycle 2 31

Table 3.7: Summary of the research findings 32

Graph 3.3: The improvement of students’ speaking score 34

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Teaching speaking skill is of great importance in second language learning Lerris (1999) asserts that teaching speaking helps learners to use language more fluently and speaking is a chance to notice the gaps between what they want to say and what they can say

Group-work techniques are widely accepted to be an effective way to encourage students to use the language and to motivate them to become more involved Richards and Loc Khart (1994) point out that students not only play more active roles in the learning process but also get the benefits of sharing ideas with their team members through taking part in groups Doff (1988) states that students feel less anxiety when they work privately with their peers than when they are in front of the whole class Group-work can help shy students, who never say anything in a whole class activity

How to promote students’ speaking skill is still a challenging question Nine years’ experience as a teacher of English at HaUI has helped the researcher realize the fact that students are usually reluctant to speak when they are asked in speaking lessons They find it difficult to express their ideas in English In addition, their participation

in speaking classes is unequal To tackle these problems, group-work activities are

taken into a careful consideration in order to enhance students’ speaking skills

2 Objectives of the study

The aim of this study is to explore how group-work makes a contribution towards improving speaking skills of the first-year students at HaUI Accordingly, this study will address the following research questions:

1 How is group-work used to improve speaking skills of the first-year students at HaUI?

2 To what extent can group-work improve students’ speaking skills after it is applied?

3 Scope of the study

Due to the small scale of the study and the limitation of time, this study only focuses on examining how group-work techniques are used to improve the speaking skills of a group of nineteen first-year students at HaUI

4 Significance of the study

This study is conducted with the expectation that its finding will provide readers with useful information Specifically, this study will bring evidence to support the positive effects of using group-work on improve students’ speaking skill In addition, it is expected that the thesis will better inform the teachers of a student-centered approach to teaching speaking skills in order to gain the highest participation of students

5 Method of the study

To achieve the objectives stated, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used The qualitative data collected for the study come from semi-interviews before and after intervention The quantitative data were the students’ score of speaking based on average score of each aspect of speaking competence and the calculation

of average score of students’ speaking for the whole performance

6 Organization of the study

Part A: Introduction includes the rationale, aims, scope, significance and

methodology of the study

Part B: Development

Chapter 1: Literature review presents literature related to the study including the

theoretical background of speaking such as nature of speaking skill, teaching speaking in a classroom and testing speaking and review of existing related works Theoretical background of group-work elaborates the definition of group-work, the advantages and disadvantages of group-work, and the principles in organizing group-work in speaking class

Chapter 2: Methodology shows the procedure for carrying on the research such as

semi-structured interviews and pre-test before intervention, records, intervention, observation, semi-structured interviews, post-test after intervention, and methods of data analysis

Chapter 3: The results of the study report the main findings obtained from the data

collection and discuss the prominent aspects

Part C: Conclusion is the summary of the whole study The limitations of the study

and suggestions for further study are also recommended in this part

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1 Theoretical background

1.1 Theoretical background of speaking

1.1.1 Nature of speaking skill

It is widely accepted that speaking consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning Brown (1994), Burns and Joyce (1997) state that speaking is “an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information” (Brown, 1994b; Burns & Joyce, 1997) It means when people speak, they interact and use language to express their ideas, feeling and thought They also share information with others through communication Chaney and Burk (1998) also argue that speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in

a variety of contexts” Referring to speaking or communication in language teaching and learning, Brown (2001) affirms that interaction is the heart of communication; it is what communication is all about, for example in the cases of sending messages; receiving them; interpreting them in a context; negotiating meanings; and collaborating to accomplish certain purposes Interaction is the collaborative exchange of thoughts, feeling, or ideas between two or more people resulting in a reciprocal effect on each other

Gower, Phillips, and Walters (2005) state the two main aspects of the speaking skill including “accuracy” and “fluency” It is agreed that accuracy involves the correct use of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation Burkart (1998) asserts that speaking

is an activity which involves the areas of knowledge, namely pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary It is the use of the right words in the right order with the

right pronunciation Clark and Clark (1997) say that in speaking, a speaker expresses his thought and feeling in words, phrases, and sentences following a

certain structure which regulates the meaningful units and meaning of sentences With the focus of controlled and guided activities, students are encouraged to

attempt to use the language items they have learnt in order to communicate accurately In terms of fluency, in the work of Richard and Plat (1993), fluency refers to the level of communication proficiency which “includes (a) the ability to produce written and/ or spoken language with ease; (b) the ability to speak with good but not necessarily perfect command of intonation, vocabulary and grammar; (c) the ability to produce continuous speech without causing comprehension difficulties or a breakdown of communication.”

In summary, it can be concluded that speaking is ability to express something which involved the ability in utilizing the words in the correct order, correct pronunciation, right grammatical form, and meaningful context (fluency) and making a good choice of words (vocabulary) in the process of interpreting and negotiating meaning

in conveying messages to establish and maintain social relationship

1.1.2 Teaching speaking in a classroom

In a foreign country, students hear spoken language regularly and the without any conscious effort they imitate and perform their own utterances on the basis of what they have heard Progressively, they come at a stage where they can speak like people around them In the mother country, EFL students need to practice the language regularly inside the classroom through performing different activities Accordingly, it is teachers’ duty to provide activities that involve interaction among learners O’Malley & Pierce (1996) suggest that different kinds of speaking activities are appropriate at different levels of proficiency Therefore, teachers

should give learners ample practice in classroom at all levels so that they could

express themselves in situations where they can produce spontaneous language Practice activities may serve the learning/ teaching goal of speaking proficiency Richard & Lockhart (1996) define practice activities as tasks used to perform sentence patterns They also states that the use of variety of different tasks in language teaching is said to make language teaching more communicative because

it provides a purpose for classroom activity

Learning to speak entails learners’ engagement in communicative situations so that they will activate their speaking capacity As a result, the development of oral skill requires students to make active use of the language that is correct in its grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation Accordingly, fluency and accuracy are essential aspects that need to be developed in classroom interaction In terms of fluency and accuracy, Byrne (1997) also states that the main goal in teaching the productive skill of speaking should be oral fluency, the ability to express reasonably, accurately, and without hesitation

Ur (1996) suggests activities in speaking in the classroom as follows:

a Use group-work

b Base the activity on easy language

c Make a careful choice and of topic and task to stimulate interest

d Give some instructions or training in discussion skills

e Keep students speaking the target language

In this study, the researcher utilized group-work activities in the hope of increasing interaction among learners; accordingly, they can build confidence in speaking and improve their speaking skill Topics were chosen carefully for the purpose of stimulating learners’ interest and motivating a great deal of discussion among group members To accomplish these goals, chosen topics should not be too difficult for

them because awkward ones might discourage them from engaging in discussion

1.1.3 Testing Speaking

Oller (1979) defines language test as a device that tries to assess how many students have learned a foreign-language course In this definition, Oller refers to the measurement of how far students master the reachable objectives of language course

According to Ur (1996), there are nine reasons for conducting a test A test can be used as a means to:

a give the teacher information about where the students are at the moment, to help to decide what to teach next;

b give the students information about what they know, so that they also have an awareness of what they need to learn or review;

c assess for some purpose external to current teaching (a final grade for the course, selection);

d motivate students to learn or review specific materials;

e get a noisy class to keep quiet and concentrate;

f provide a clear indication that class has reached a “station” in learning such as the end of a unit, thus contributing a sense of structure in the course as a whole;

g get students to make an effort (in doing the test itself), which is likely to lead to better result and feeling of satisfaction;

h give students task which themselves may actually provide useful review or practice, as well as testing;

i provide students with a sense of achievement and progress in their learning

Ur (1996) suggests that the techniques of speaking test to test oral proficiency are as follows:

a Questions and answers

Thornbury (2005) proposes two main ways of scoring in spoken test, holistic

scoring and analytic scoring

In line with the description above, Madsen (1983) states that holistic scoring is used

to evaluate a wide variety of criteria simultaneously such as appropriateness, fluency, grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation He asserts that the holistic scoring concentrates on communication while not overlooking the components of

speech According to Madsen (1983), in this type of scoring, teachers can adapt the rating scale and prepare their own one The scale is applied to achieve the consistency in scoring Detail definition of its scale interval can be seen in the

following table of scoring rubrics:

Table 1.1 The Scoring Rubric of Speaking

6 – 10 Limitation affected the task

0 – 5 Inadequate for the task

Grammar

21 – 25 Clear and appropriate use of grammar

16 – 20 Few inaccurate grammar

11 – 15 Inaccuracy of grammar do not seriously impede understanding

6 – 10 Inaccuracy of grammar do not impede understanding

0 – 5 Inaccuracy of grammar makes understanding almost impossible

Pronunciation

21 – 25 Clear pronunciation

16 – 20 Few inaccurate pronunciation

11 – 15 Inaccuracy of pronunciation do not seriously impede understanding

6 – 10 Inaccuracy of pronunciation do not impede understanding

0 – 5 Inaccuracy of pronunciation makes understanding almost impossible

Hughes (2003) designs a scale to score speaking test In the scale, the students are tested on pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and fluency Below is the speaking test scale stated by Hughes

Table 1.2 Criteria of Vocabulary Proficiency

Score

1 Vocabulary inadequate for even the simplest conversation 1,0 – 4,5

2 Constant limited to basic personal and survival areas (time, food,

transportation, family, etc)

4,6 – 5,5

3 Choice of words sometimes inaccurate, limitations of vocabulary,

prevent discussion of some common professional and social topic

5,6 – 6,5

4 Professional vocabulary adequate to discuss special interests;

general vocabulary permits discussion of any non-technical

subject with some circumlocutions

6,6 – 7,5

5 Professional vocabulary broad and precise; general vocabulary

adequate to cope complex practical problems and varied social

situation

7,6 – 8,5

6 Vocabulary apparently as accurate and extensive as that of an

educated native speaker

8,6 – 10,0

Table 1.3 Criteria of Fluency Proficiency

4 Speech is occasionally hesitant, with some unevenness caused by

rephrasing and grouping for words

6,6 – 7,5

5 Speech is effortless and smooth, but perceptively non-native in

speed and evenness

7,6 – 8,5

6 Speech on all professional and general topics as effortless and

smooth as a native speakers’

8,6 – 10,0

Table 1.4 Criteria of Pronunciation Proficiency

Score

2 Frequent gross errors and very heavy accent make Understanding

difficult, require frequent repetition

4,6 – 5,5

3 “Foreign accent” requires concentrated listening and

mispronunciation lead to occasional misunderstanding Apparent

errors in grammar and vocabulary

5,6 – 6,5

4 Market “Foreign accent” and occasional mispronunciation which

do not interfere with misunderstanding

Table 1.5 Criteria of Grammar Proficiency

Score

1 Grammar almost entirely inaccurate in stock phrases 1,0 – 4,5

2 Constant errors showing control of very few major patterns and

frequently preventing communication

4,6 – 5,5

3 Frequent errors showing some major pattern uncontrolled and

causing occasional irritation and misunderstanding

5,6 – 6,5

4 Occasional errors showing imperfect control of some pattern but

no weakness that causes misunderstanding

6,6 – 7,5

6 No more than errors during the interview 8,6 – 10,0

1.2 Theoretical background of group-work

1.2.1 Definition of group-work

Doff (1998) defines group-work as a process that “the teacher divides the class into small groups to work together, usually four or five students in each group” Killen (2006) also indicates that “group-work occurs when you ask two or more students work together” According to Johnson (2012), “group-work, in a language class, is a co-operative activity, during which students share aims and responsibilities to complete a task assigned by the teacher” In general, group-work is agreed to be a process in which two or more learners work together to do a task which involves cooperation and self-generated language (Brown, 2001; Doff, 1998)

It means that in group-work, all the group members have chances for greater independence as they take some of their own learning decisions without the teacher controlling every move They learn to negotiate and 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 to achieve

According to Davis (1993), there are three general types of group-work including informal learning groups, formal learning groups and study teams

Informal learning group are temporary clustering of students within a single class session Informal learning groups can be initiated by asking students to turn to their neighbors and spending two minutes discussing the question that the teacher has posed The teacher can also form a group of three to five to solve the problem Informal groups can be formed at any time 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

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 This group may carry out their work in the single class session or over several weeks Typically, students work together until the task is finished and their project is graded

Study teams are long term groups (usually existing over the course of a semester) with stable membership whose primarily responsibility is to provide members with support, encouragement and assistance in completing course requirements and assignments Study teams serve a broader purpose They can last the entire semester

or several semesters

In this research, the researcher utilized the first type “informal learning groups” as the key one because she wanted to change members of groups every meetings She thought that working with new members in new groups would refresh every member and create a favorable condition for them to learn from different peers

1.2.2 The advantages of group-work

Significant research has been conducted into using group-work to improve learners’ speaking skill There is general agreement among scholars that group-work brings a variety of advantages, including enhancing students’ interaction, generating a

supportive atmosphere, creating chances to use the target language and promoting learners’ autonomy

Long and Porter (1985) state that group-work contribute to the enhancement of students’ interaction As it offers them more chances to interact with each other, greater involvement and accountability can be produced within a group Thanks to this, their communicative competence, cognitive learning, interactive skills and interpersonal relationships tend to be promoted (Zhenhui, 2001)

Zhenhui (2001) describes that a cooperative affective classroom atmosphere is likely to be created through group activities Since the pressure of being listened to

by the teacher tends to blur when working in groups, learners seemed to feel more relaxed and more ready to speak Cooperation and unity among them can be also facilitated

Another benefit is generating a better environment for students to use the target language Learning in groups, students, especially the poorly motivated ones, have greater opportunities for active, meaningful and varied use of the target language (Long, 1997, as cited in Zhenhui (2001) Such an ideal interactive environment is essential to communicative language learning

Furthermore, group activities can promote learner autonomy as in Brown (2001) According to Harmer (2007), students are likely to be more responsible for their learning because they can make their own decisions

Overall, group-work is commonly supposed to bring four main advantages such as enhancing students’ interaction, generating a supportive atmosphere, creating chances to use the target language and promoting learner autonomy However,

many researchers still question whether those benefits of group work really take

place in the real educational setting They have shown that group-work displays certain problems, which will be elaborated in the next section

1.2.3 Disadvantages of group-work

There is a fair amount of literature on problems of group-work Within the scope of this research, the most common problems in class, namely intolerable noises,

overuse of mother tongue, and unbalanced participation among group members will

be reviewed as follows:

Harmer (2007) points out that group-work in class inevitably results in a noisy and chaotic classroom Right from the beginning of a group activity, the organization stage involving grouping students might cause extensive noises Moreover, Burke (2011) adds that noises could be easily generated from students’ confusion when not understanding the instructions at the instruction stage Even worse, as Beebe and Masterson (2011) claim, once learners are unclear about what they are going to

do, they may then fall into mutual arguments or irrelevant chatting conversations Moreover, students, especially elementary or even intermediate ones, tend to rely much on their native language rather than using the target language Brown (2001) asserts this is exactly the distinctive feature of a monolingual class where all share a common mother tongue As Burke (2011) indicates, when engaging in group-work interaction, those of low linguistic competence often resort to their native language; teacher’s insistence on using English to communicate might lead to their complete silence

Finally, group activities cause unbalanced participation among members This may

be because some may fall into roles that easily become fossilized; consequently, they turn out to be passive whereas the others might dominate as in Harmer (2007)

In summary, it is widely agreed that group-work might generate problems such as

intolerable noises, overuse of mother tongue, and unbalanced participation among members Therefore, it is necessary to apply principles in organizing group work in

speaking class

1.2.4 The principles in organizing group-work in speaking class

1.2.4.1 The preparation steps

Group-work can operate if everything is prepared well; accordingly, the preparation steps play an important part in making the group work smoothly Andrewes (2003) identifies some steps as follows:

Step 1: Plan for each stage of group activities

When teachers make lesson plans for each class, they should decide which topics might lend them to informal group-work They must think about the way that they will organize the students into groups, help groups, provide feedback to the groups and evaluate the product of group-work

Step 2: Give clear and short instructions

Teachers must explain students carefully how group activities will operate, what the objectives of this group task are, and when they make any assignment In addition to a well-designed task, each group needs a way of getting started, a way

of knowing when the task is done and some guidance about the participation of members

Step 3: Provide the necessary input

To work in groups well, students need certain input such as vocabulary and structure to operate; hence, teachers should prepare necessary things for students’ activities According to Sheil (1993), most students often experience the feeling of having nothing to say on the subject and this will certainly hinder their

communication process and make them feel inhibited or less confident to speak

Therefore, it is necessary that the teachers should assist the students to generate

ideas through brain storming and pre-teach useful vocabularies and structures 1.2.4.2 Designing group-work activities

The popular benefit of group-work is the positive atmosphere where students can learn from and help one another According to Andrewes (2003), a good group task is presented as follows:

Create group tasks that require interdependence

When structuring group tasks, it is necessary that teachers create group tasks that require interdependence and composition among groups Johnson and Smith (1991) report that the students in a group must perceive that they “sink and swim” together, that each member is responsible for and dependent on all the others, and that one cannot succeed unless all in the group succeed Strategies for promoting interdependence include specifying common rewards for the group, encouraging

students to divide the labor, and formulating tasks that compel students to reach a consensus

Make the group activities relevant

Johnson and Smith (1991) state that students must perceive the group tasks as

integral to the course objectives, not just busy work Create assignments that fit students’ skills and abilities Teachers should assign relatively easy tasks at the beginning of the term According to Pellowe (1996), as students become more knowledgeable, they need to increase the difficulty level

1.2.4.3 Steps of organizing group activities

Harmer (1999) divides group-work activities into three steps: before activities, during activities, and after activities

Before activities

The teacher makes students feel enthusiastic about the activity They need to understand what they are going to do, and they need to be given an idea of when they will have finished the task they are going to get involved in

The important thing about instructions is that students should understand and agree on what the task is To check their understanding of these instructions, the teacher may ask them to repeat the instructions, or, in monolingual classes, to translate them into their first language

During activities

While students are working, it is time for the teacher to assist them with the knowledge and in tackling difficulties they have with the group Also, he/ she can stand in the front or the side of the class (or at the back or anywhere else in the room), and keep an eye on what is happening, noting who or which group appears

to be stuck or disengaged The teacher can then decide to go over and help that group

After activities

When groups stop working together, the teacher needs to organize feedback The teacher can let them discuss what occurred, add his/ her own assessments and

make corrections It is important that the teacher not only evaluates the whole group-work but also each member of the group

It is vital to remember that constructive feedback on the content of student work can greatly enhance the students’ future motivation The feedback the teacher gives on language mistakes is only one part of that process

1.2.4.4 Group formation

Small groups can be formed in three ways: randomly, teacher-selected, or selected Grouping randomly can ensure that students interact with different students throughout the semester Once the teacher knows his/ her students fairly well, teacher-selected groups can be useful for grouping weak and strong students, students with common interests or shared learning styles According to I-Jung (2004), frequently employed grouping methods include random, student-selected and teacher-selected groupings

student-Random grouping

Random grouping is often used for in-class activities because of its convenience and readiness Random grouping is a way including collecting and gathering students ignoring differences among students in terms of their language levels, learning styles, or interests

With the seating arrangement, fixing the numbers, using cards, or distributing the card of different categories, random grouping is established For the class of different levels, random group can be used to narrow down the gap between the students of different levels

Student-selected grouping

Compared to random grouping and teacher-selected grouping, student-selected grouping is preferred Knowing well one another can help students take part in the assigned activities well They can make more contribution, make more performances and make group-work activities interesting However, student-selected grouping can result in making so much noise because of too much socializing, which can distract group-work

Teacher-selected grouping

This kind of grouping is a little bit time-consuming The reason is that the teachers have to take students’ preferences, learning styles, and activeness into consideration to help the students who are at the low levels to keep up with better students This kind of group can help peer tutoring which is really an effective way of learning from one another

In this research, the researcher grouped students at a low level with the ones at a high level with the hope that students at a high level could help weaker ones by sharing knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation

1.2.4.5 Group size

Many researchers have suggested that three to five members in one group can be the best number According to Honeyfield (1991), I-Jung (2004), and Ngoh (1991), four members in a group might lead to more interesting and challenging tasks with a wide range of opinions being expressed, and more negotiation required for the group members to reach an agreement It can be seen that four is the optimum size to manage students learning It allows a good range of experiences and individual contributions

1.2.5 Group discussion

There are a variety of group-work techniques serving as a useful tool to increase

speaking opportunities for students, namely buzz groups, three-step interviews, debates, fishbowl, and discussion However, in order to match students’ levels and classroom condition, only discussion was chosen for this research Before discussion, the teacher pre-taught vocabularies related to the topic and focused on grammar items which served as a language tool for students to express their ideas According Kidsvatter (1996), a small-group discussion dividing the large classroom into small groups of students permits students to assume more responsibility for their own learning and develop social skills Ur (1997) states

that thinking out problems and a situation together through verbal interchange of ideas is simply called discussion As we can see from these definitions, discussion

is the exchange of information, opinions and ideas

Ornstein (2000) says that putting students into small group discussion can provide opportunities for students to actively engage in learning and for teachers to monitor students’ progress better It can also enhance students’ cooperation and social skills

Ur (1997) asserts that a characteristic of a successful discussion is the apparent motivation of the participants: their attention to the speaker(s), their expression – which they are reacting to the humor, seriousness, or difficulty of the ideas being expressed

2 Review of existing related works

As regards studies of group-work, Ningtyas Orilina Argawati conducted a study

entitled “improving students’ speaking skill using group discussion” (an experimental study on the first grade students of Wijaya Kusuma High School in 2014) The result of the study revealed the improvement on the students’ speaking skills and showed that it helped increase students’ confidence.in speaking The research shows improvements of their scoring and performance However, the study only dealt with the first grade students of senior high school with certain characteristics It means that other grades of students with some other characteristics were not focused and analyzed in this study

Siti Nurkasih, the teacher at SMP Negeri 1 Bojonegoro High School, in his study

“Improving students’ speaking skill through communicative group techniques” (An action research at the eighth-year students of SMP Negeri 1 Bojonegoro High School in the academic year of 2008/2009), also indicated that group-work techniques could create free atmosphere during the learning process, make the classroom situation more alive, help improve both the teaching-learning situation

in the classroom and students’ speaking skills Group techniques made a contribution in increasing students’ motivation and participation

In addition to above mentioned studies, Jassem (1997) was particularly interested

in developing students’ speaking skills He conducted research into tackling and enhancing Malaysian English majors’ skills in academic discussion by using various methods such as written assignment-oriented seminars It also handled an EFL context where Malaysians are usually silent and reluctant to practice speaking skills in classroom Lee (2009) has examined the reasons for improving Asian students’ low participation in class in Australia through combining both writing and speaking These studies show that improve speaking skills can be attributed to students’ preparation for seminars at home

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Research design

According to Kemmis and McTaggart (2005), Classroom action research is a concept of doing X to improve Y It means that the research was conducted by a class teacher to solve specific problems arising in the classroom In this study, group-work technique namely discussion was employed to improve students’ speaking skill This research was done in four steps: planning, acting, observing, and reflecting

2.2 The context of the study

2.2.1 The location and time of research

The research was conducted at Hanoi University of Industry for eight weeks (from September 12th to October 31st 2016)

2.2.2 The students

The subject of the research is nineteen first-year students who were in the second

semester They studied English for the first-half of the semester and passed the final exam with different scores of speaking

2.2.3 The textbook

The textbook for the students is “New Headway – Pre-intermediate – Third Edition” It includes 12 units; however, only the first six units were chosen for the second semester The teacher had to cover these six units in 90 periods with 45 minutes for each period Twelve out of ninety periods were spent for teaching speaking For the limited time, only the first three units with six periods of speaking were employed for the study

2.3 Procedure of the research

This research was held using the procedures in order to get the data objectively

2.3.1 Planning

In this phase, the researcher used pre-test so as to check what level students were

at, then designed lesson plans from the syllabus which include appropriate topics, and prepared materials which would be used at the cycle

group-2.3.4 Reflecting

Reflection in this research referred to the activity conducted by the researcher in analyzing what would happen during the implementation of group-work techniques By reflecting, the researcher knew the strengths and weaknesses of group-work techniques

The summary of research is illustrated in the table 3.1

Table 2.3 Process of the research

Pre-research: Gaining data

1 What are the qualities of a good friend?

2 What are the qualities of an ideal/ perfect partner?

3 Are blind dates a good idea? Why/ Why not?

Eighth Meeting: Post-test

4 Is living and working in different places a good idea?

Why/ Why not?

5 What are the disadvantages of working at night?

6 What are the advantages of working at night?

2.4 Data collection instruments

There are two kinds of data which the researcher collected The first one was quantitative data and the second one was the qualitative data

Data collection instruments were adapted basing on techniques of collecting data that Siti Nurkasih used in his research at the eighth-year students of SMP Negeri 1 Bojonegoro in the academic year of 2008/2009

Quantitative data refers to students’ speaking scores in the pre-test and post-test Qualitative data deal with any occurrences and changes during classroom activities Students’ behaviors, classroom situation, the process of classroom activity are the examples of qualitative data The researcher collected qualitative

data by using semi-structured interview, observation and field notes, and records 2.4.1 Semi-structured interviews

At the beginning of the research, an informal interview was conducted to get a quick look at the problems that prevented students from speaking in the English lessons

At the end of the cycle, all students from five groups were interviewed to talk about the strategies taken, their effects on students’ group-work, the benefits and limitations of using group-work in learning speaking skills The interview helped

to find the arising problems during the cycle

The teacher made a choice of semi-structured interviews because this type of interviews creates a comfortable environment for students to share their difficulties in learning speaking skills Semi-structured interviews have some degree of predetermined order but still ensures flexibility, allow open response in the participants’ own words, and offer them chances to explore issues supposed to

be important

2.4.2 Observation and field notes

In addition to the semi-structured interview, classroom observation was done to collect data comprehensively for the study The observation covered the classroom procedures, the students’ behavior and performance in the speaking lessons During the research period, the teacher’s observation was noted down in

the diary after each lesson

2.4.3 Records

For the pre-test and post-test, the researcher took records of students’ performance

before and after intervening activities

To be clear, the techniques of collecting data were illustrated in the following table

Table 2.1 Technique of collecting data

Kinds of data Participants Techniques Data Analysis

Quantitative Students Test Test Score Scoring Rubric

Scale Qualitative Researcher Observation Teacher’

diary

Descriptive Elaboration Qualitative Researcher

Students

Interview Recorded

from interview

Descriptive Elaboration

Table 2.2 The Scales of the Speaking Test Scores

Speaking

Aspects

Very Poor 1-3

Poor 3.1 – 5.5

Quite Good 5.6-7.5

Good 7.6-9

Very Good 9.1 - 10

Sco

re

Pronunciation of mistakes in

pronunciation

several mistakes

few mistakes

Make several mistakes

in grammar

Makes a few mistakes

in grammar

No mistakes

in grammar

Word Order No correct

order

Poor order Quite

good order

Good order

Very good order Fluency No speaking

produces correctly

Doesn’t speak fluently, think too long

Speaks rather fluently, somewha

t jumpy speaks

Quite fluently, sometime

s stops a moment

Speaks very fluently

Vocabulary Know no

vocabularies needed

Know few vocabularies needed

Know several vocabularies needed

Know many vocabularies needed

Know all vocabularies needed

Total Score

2.5 Methods of data analysis

Quantitative data, in this research, were students’ score of speaking analyzed by searching for its average score of each aspects of speaking competence Then, the researcher calculated the average score of students’ speaking for the whole performance Finally, the researcher compared the result of students’ pre-test score and post-test score Therefore, chances in students’ quantitative achievement could

be monitored

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS OF THE STUDY 3.1 The condition before the research

The result of pre-research activity is provided in the table 3.2

Table 3.2 Situation of pre-research

Students’

ability in

speaking

- Difficult to express ideas using appropriate expressions

- Speaking not fluently

- Mispronouncing words

- Low achievement in speaking

- Difficult to use appropriate vocabulary and grammatical forms

- Difficult to arrange words

3.1.1 The results of interviews

The interviews indicated that the barriers students faced during the process of learning speaking was insufficient knowledge of grammar, lack of vocabulary, choice of words, the fear of making mistakes, lack of self-confidence, shyness and inadequate speaking practice Some students said that they did not have enough vocabulary and found it difficult to arrange words in correct orders In addition, word choice was also a task of challenge for them Therefore, they thought too long

to choose appropriate words, which interrupted their speech To some students, they were not sure about the words they spoke To other students, they were good at grammar and had a number of vocabularies but they couldn’t speak out This might

be attributed to inadequate speaking practice The interviews also showed that students prefer joining groups to working individually because they hoped that group-work would create a favorable condition for them to share vocabulary and exchange different ideas

As a result, the researcher implemented group-work activities in order to provide students with opportunities to interact with each other It is hoped that passive vocabularies students had would become active ones and grammar items would be