Using pair work to improve the first year non english major students’ speaking skill at hanoi university of industry

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Trần Thị Thanh Huyền USING PAIR WORK TO IMPROVE THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL AT HANO

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Trần Thị Thanh Huyền

USING PAIR WORK TO IMPROVE THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF

INDUSTRY

MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Trần Thị Thanh Huyền

USING PAIR WORK TO IMPROVE THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF

DECLARATION BY AUTHOR

I declare that this thesis, entitled “Using Pair Work to Improve the First Year Non English Major Students’ Speaking Skill at Hanoi University of Industry” This study has been composed solely by myself and has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification Except where states otherwise by reference or acknowledgment, the work presented is entirely my

own

Author’s Signature

Trần Thị Thanh Huyền

Approved by SUPERVISOR

Assoc Prof Dr Phan Văn Quế Date:………

I would first like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor Associate Professor Doctor Phan Văn Quế for his useful comments, remarks and recommendation through the process of completing this master thesis

Furthermore, I would like to thank Dr Đặng Nguyên Giang for introducing me to the topic as well for the support on the way Also, I would like

to thank all of the lecturers at Graduate Academy of Social Sciences for their useful and interesting lessons that have helped to increase my interest in English language and teaching

In addition, my sincere gratitude goes to the teachers and students of Hanoi University of Industry, who have willingly spent their precious time during the process of interviewing

Finally, I would like to thank my beloved family and friends, who have supported me throughout entire study, both by keeping me harmonious and

helping me putting pieces together I will be grateful forever for your love

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION BY AUTHOR i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

ABSTRACT v

LIST OF TABLES vi

LIST OF FIGURES vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE THESIS viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the Study 2

1.3 Research Questions 2

1.4 Scope of the Study 3

1.5 Significance of the Study 3

1.6 Research Methods 3

1.7 Structure of the Study 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Communicative Language Teaching Approach 4

2.1.1 Definitions of CLT 4

2.1.2 Characteristics of CLT 5

2.2 Speaking Skill 7

2.2.1 Definitions of Speaking 7

2.2.2 The Importance of Speaking Skill 9

2.2.3 Types of Speaking Performance 10

2.2.4 Principles for Teaching Speaking Skill 11

2.3 Pair Work 13

2.3.1 Definition of Pair Work 13

2.3.2 Procedures of Pair Work 14

2.3.3 Some Common Activities for Pair Work 14

2.3.4 Advantages of Using Pair Work in Teaching Speaking Skill 16

2.3.5 Disadvantages of Using Pair Work in Teaching Speaking Skill 18

2.4 Previous Research related to Pair Work 19

2.5 Chapter Summary 22

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 24

3.1 Research Design 24

3.1.1 Definitions of Action Research 24

3.2 The Context of the Study 30

3.3 Participants 31

3.3.1 The Researcher 31

3.3.2 The Teachers 31

3.3.3 The Students 32

3.4 Procedures of the Study 32

3.4.1 Diagnosing 33

3.4.2 Planning 34

3.4.3 Acting and Observing 34

3.4.4 Reflecting 35

3.5 Data Collection Instruments 35

3.5.1 Survey Questionnaire for Teachers and Students 35

3.5.2 English Speaking Test 38

3.5.3 Class Observation Form 38

3.6 Data Collection 38

3.7 Data Analysis 39

3.8 Chapter Summary 39

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 40

4.1 Findings 40

4.1.1 Data Collection and Analysis from Survey Questionnaire 40

4.1.2 The Data from the Speaking Test 50

4.1.3 The data from the class observation 48

4.2 Discussion 52

4.3 Chapter Summary 54

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 55

5.1 Recapitulation 55

5.2 Concluding Remarks 55

5.3 Implications 56

5.3.1 For teachers 56

5.3.2 For students 59

5.4 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Studies 60

5.4.1 Limitations 60

5.4.2 Suggestions for Further Studies 60

REFERENCES

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to investigate the importance of using pair work in speaking lessons for the first year non- English major students at HaUI and to explore how pair work should be used in class to help them enhance their speaking skills effectively In order to achieve the aim, the research seeks to answer the two following research questions of (1) what the students’ attitude toward pair work activities are and (2) To what extent the implementation of pair work help improve speaking skill for the first-year non-major students at HaUI In order to seek answers to the research questions, action research method was used and the data was collected from classroom observation, speaking tests and questionnaires The findings of the study show that both participating students and teachers have positive perceptions of using pair work in speaking lessons Pair work motivates students to speak more in a less controlled and stressful lessons and increases students’ participation in speaking After analyzing and synthesizing the statistics, the researcher discussed and recommended some implications along with suggestions for further research Finally yet importantly, it is hoped that this study will be useful for teaching and learning speaking skill at HaUI in particular and for English teaching in general

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Procedures of Pair Work (source: Harmer, 2001, pp 122-124) 14

Table 2 Procedures of the study 33

Table 3: Frame of Questionnaire for teachers 37

Table 4: Frame of Questionnaire for Students 37

Table 5: A comparison of scores on pre-test and post-test 50

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Integration of two organizational schemes for the step-by-step process of

action research 27

Figure 2: The Process of Action Research 28

Figure 3: Teachers’ attitudes towards the role of pair work activity in English teaching and learning 40

Figure 4: The implementing of pair work in speaking class 41

Figure 5: The pair forming 42

Figure 6: The benefits of using pair work 42

Figure 7: The difficulties of implementing pair work 43

Figure 8: The teachers’ opinions of the students’ improvement 44

Figure 9: Students’ attitudes towards the role of pair work in learning English 44

Figure 10: Students’ of viewpoint of using pair work 45

Figure 11: the activities used in speaking class 46

Figure 12: the frequency of using pair work and activities used in speaking lesson 47

Figure 13: The formation of pairs 47

Figure 14: The involvement of students in doing pair work 48

Figure 15: Students' reflections on the difficulties they have in pair work 49

Figure 16: Viewpoint about students’ improvement 49

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE THESIS

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

FLF: Foreign Language Faculty

HaUI: Hanoi University of Industry

CC: communicative competence

L2: The second language

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

Nowadays, English is the most commonly spoken language in the world One out of five people can speak or at least understand English Knowing English increases your chances of getting a good job in a multinational company within your home country or for finding job abroad It’s also the language of international communication, the media and the internet, so learning English is important for socializing and entertainment as well as work Therefore, English has been a compulsory subject at thousands

of schools around the world and Vietnam is not an exception

At Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI), English is also an obligatory subject for all students More and more students realize the importance of learning English Being good at English gives them chances for employment

or going abroad for further study Most students at HaUI think that speaking

is the most important among four language skills During the time of studying

at HaUI, they have to learn English for 6 semesters (each semester lasts for about 15 weeks) Besides, they have to get B1 level to be able to graduate from the university After graduation, they will have to do business and communicate with their partner in English To make these successfully, they must be good at four language skills, especially speaking skill

In recent years, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) method has been widely applied One of the techniques commonly used in CLT is pair and group work, the importance of which has been long emphasized as it can create a comfortable and low-pressure learning environment in the second language classroom It is commonly believed that the less anxious and more relaxed the learner is, the better his language acquisition proceeds Moreover, this technique enables students to maximize their own learning and offers

promising possibilities for promoting active learning and student-reliance in community college classrooms (Foote, 2009) In addition, many studies have reported that, regardless of the subject matter, students working in small groups tend to learn more of what is taught and retain it longer than when the same content is presented in other instructional formats

Working as a teacher at HaUI for more than three years, the researcher see that it is necessary to apply pair work to improve the speaking skill for the first year non-major students However, most teacher and students still have some difficulties in implementing pair work activity in speaking lessons It is

the reason why the author conducts a study named “Using pair work to improve the first year non-English major students’ speaking skill at Hanoi University of Industry”

1.2 Aims of the Study

This study aims to enhance the quality of teaching and learning speaking skill at HaUI In order to reach the aim, the study is expected to meet the following objectives:

- Investigating the current situation of applying pair work in teaching speaking skill for the first-year non-major students at HaUI

- Indicating benefits as well as problems of applying pair work in English speaking class

- Giving some recommendations to improve the speaking skill for the first-year non-major students at HaUI through pair work

1.3 Research Questions

In order to achieve the set goals, the study has to find out the answers for the following research questions:

- What are the students’ attitude toward pair work activities?

- To what extent does the implementation of pair work help improve speaking skill for the first-year non-major students at HaUI?

1.4 Scope of the Study

In spite of the fact that there are many different techniques to improve the students’ speaking skill but it is impossible to cover all of them in this paper Therefore, this study only focuses on applying pair work activity to improve speaking skill for the first-year non-major students at HaUI The data

of the research was collected via questionnaires, tests and class observations

1.5 Significance of the Study

This study is expected to be helpful for teachers and students at Hanoi University of Industry the findings of the study would provide an insightful understanding of the current situation of using pair work technique to teach speaking skill at HaUI Additionally, the teachers of English may find the recommended suggestions as a useful reference to make their speaking lessons more communicative and effective

1.6 Research Methods

To achieve the objectives, an action research will be qualitatively and quantitatively conducted The data will be collected via class observation, tests (pre-test and post-test) and survey questionnaires

1.7 Structure of the Study

In addition to the references and appendices, the thesis consists of five chapters:

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Communicative language teaching approach

Language teaching was originally considered a cognitive matter, mainly involving memorization It was later thought, instead, to be socio-cognitive, meaning that language can be learned through the process of social interaction Today, however, the dominant technique in teaching any language

is communicative language teaching (CLT)

2.1.1 Definitions of CLT

Noam Chomsky developed theories that characterized the linguistic competence of the ideal learner (Savignon, p.264) His theories led to the notion of the term communicative competence, which was simultaneously developed in the United States and England in the early 1970s Second language acquisition (L2) educators in England began to experiment with the notion of individual empowerment, where teachers and students were given the latitude to determine their own learning paths As a result, exercises that focused on the social meanings contained within the grammar concepts were utilized (Sagvinon, p.264) A group of European experts led by British linguist Dr David Wilkins continued to develop the communicative definition

of language while integrating the concept in various forms in their classroom syllabuses Wilkins eventually defined the system of meaning that was present in all types of the communicative use of language He wrote the book Notional Syllabuses that described two types of meaning for language learners: notional categories and categories of communicative function These ideas had a significant impact on the development of CLT

Richard points out that CLT can be understood as a set of principles about the goal of language teaching, how learners learn a language, the kind

of classroom activities that best facilitate learning, and the role of teachers and learners in the classroom

According to Hymes (1972), he promotes the theory about language as communication with the target to develop “communicative competence for students, which is later considered to be the goal of language teaching, the strength of the communicative language teaching approach

Nunan (1991, p.194) claimed that: “CLT views language as a system for the expression of meaning Activities involve oral communication, carrying out meaning tasks and using language, which is meaningful to the learners Objectives reflect the needs of the learners; they include functional skills as well as linguistic objectives The learner’s role is as a negotiator and integrator The teacher’s role is as a facilitator of the communication process Materials promote communicative language use; they are task-based and authentic”

According to Bock (2000), CLT is tailored to get at meaning and learners negotiate meaning in class Meaning is considered as what is communicated The negotiation of meaning can be implicated through pair work, group work in problem-solving tasks He also states, “Authentic materials, functional tasks, and group and pair work are significant aspects of CLT”

In conclusion, above definitions of CLT claim that the goal of teaching language is to develop learners’ communicative competence that involves the ability to use the language appropriately to a social context These components can be seen as linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence

2.1.2 Characteristics of CLT

Brown (2007) gives his definition of CLT as “an approach to language teaching methodology that emphasizes authenticity, interaction, student-centered learning, task based activities, and communication for the real world, meaningful purposes” (Brown, p.378)

Brown (2007) also offers four interconnected characteristics of CLT:

- Classroom goals are focused on all of the components of CC (communicative competence) and not restricted to grammatical or linguistic competence

- Language techniques are designed to engage learners in the pragmatic, authentic, functional use of language for meaningful purposes Organizational language forms are not the central focus but rather aspects of language that enable the learner to accomplish those purposes

- Fluency and accuracy are seen as complimentary principles underlying communicative techniques At times fluency may have to take on more importance than accuracy in order to keep learners meaningfully engaged in language use

- In the communicative classroom, students ultimately have to use the language, productively and receptively, in unrehearsed contexts (p.241)

Savignon (2002) writes that “CLT refers to both processes and goals in classroom learning” and that “The central theoretical concept in communicative language teaching is communicative competence” (p.1) One

of the main goals of CLT is to develop a stronger communicative competence among L2 learners

Strategic competence (an important part of communicative competence) is defined by Canale and Swain (1980) as “The ability to use strategies to compensate for imperfect knowledge of rules or performance limitations” by Bachman (1984) as “the ability to assess a communicative

context and plan and execute production responses to accomplish intended purposes” (Brown, p.390)

Nunan (1991, p.279) also pointed out five common characteristics of CLT classrooms:

- An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language

- The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation

- The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on the learning process itself

- An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning

- An attempt to link classroom language learning to language activation outside the classroom

In general, the above characteristics of communicative approach are very necessary and important in helping the students to communicate, interact much better

According to Byrne (1984), speaking is oral communication It is a two ways process between speaker and listener and involve productive and receptive skill of understanding, while Huebner (1969) states that speaking is

the main skill in communication Based on this idea, it is understood that someone can communicate or express what she or he wants through speaking

in order to understand one another

Rivers (1978, p.162) says through speaking someone can express her or his ideas, emotions and reactions to other person or situation and influence other person

Furthermore, someone can communicate or express what he or she wants from other and response to other speaker It means that in order to express someone’s ideas, speaker must also attend the aspect of speaking, in order that the massage is understandable to the listener

Bygate (1987) He quoted that "Speaking is the vehicle par excellence

of social solidarity, of social ranking, of professional advancement and of business It is also the medium through which much language is learnt, and which for many is particularly conductive for learning Perhaps, then, the teaching of speaking merits more thought" Therefore, besides this big importance, it is necessary to deal first with what good speakers of a foreign language can do Hence, it was assumed that the ability to speak fluently is all the time associated with certain characteristics to be owned by the speaker This latter is presented in the teaching of grammar, an amount of vocabulary with some care about pronunciation so that the piece of the produced speech sounds as the native speakers' ones Nevertheless, now we all know that this skill is more complex than that; it involves the cooperation of different types

of knowledge with the good command of certain skills (Bygate, 1987)

Tarigan (1990, pp.3-4) defines that speaking is a language skill that is developed in child life, which is produced by listening skill, and at that period speaking skill is learned

Furthermore, in speaking, some aspects should be concerned They are fluency, accuracy (grammar and pronunciation) and comprehensibility

Fluency is the smoothness or flow with which sounds, syllable, words and phrases are joined together when speaking

Speaking is the productive skill It could not be separated from listening When we speak, we produce the text and it should be meaningful In the nature of communication, we can find the speaker, the listener, the message and the feedback Speaking could not be separated from pronunciation as it encourages learners to learn the English sounds

In short, the researcher realizes that speaking is what we say to what we see, feel and think When we feel something, we want someone can hear us Therefore, in this process we can call it is an interaction between two sides

2.2.2 The importance of speaking skill

Language is a tool for communication We communicate with others, to express our ideas, and to know others’ ideas as well Communication takes place, where there is speech Without speech, we cannot communicate with one another The importance of 3/10 speaking skills, hence is enormous for the learners of any language Without speech, a language is reduced to a mere script The use of language is an activity, which takes place within the confines of our community We use language in a variety of situations People

at their work places, i.e researchers working either in a medical laboratory or

in a language laboratory, are supposed to speak correctly and effectively order to communicate well with one another Any gap in commutation results

in-in misunderstandin-ings and problems

For a smooth running of any system, the speakers of a language need to

be especially and purposefully trained in the skill of speaking

In order to become a well-rounded communicator one needs to be proficient in each of the four language skills: listening , speaking, reading and writing, but the ability to speak skillfully, provides the speaker with several distinct advantages The capacity to express one’s thoughts, opinions and feelings, in the form of words put together in a meaningful way, provides the speaker with these advantages The joy of sharing one’s ideas with others is immense When we speak to others we come to have a better understanding of our own selves, as Robert Frost once said: “I am a writer of books in retrospect, I talk in order to understand, I teach in order to learn.” Undoubtedly, the clarity in speech reflects clear thinking An effective speaker can gain the attention of the audience and hold it until the completion

of his message Speaking skills are important for career success, but certainly not limited to one’s professional aspirations Speaking skills can also enhance one’s personal life

2.2.3 Types of speaking performance

Brown also points out some types of classroom speaking performance, they are:

Imitative

A very limited portion of classroom speaking time may reasonably be spent generating” Human tape-recorder” speech, where for example, learner practice an intonation contour or try to pinpoint a certain vowel sound Imitation of this kind is carried out not for the purpose of meaning full interaction, but for focusing on some particular element of language form

Intensive

Intensive speaking goes one-step beyond imitative to include any speaking performance that is designed to practice some phonological or grammatical aspect of the language Intensive speaking can be self-imitated or it can even

from part of some pair work activity, where learners are “going over” certain forms of language

Responsive

The students’ speech in the classroom is responsive short replies to teacher-or students-initiated questions or comment These replies are usually sufficient and do not extend into dialogues Such speech can be meaningful and authentic

Transactional

Transactional dialogue, which is carried out for the purpose of conveying or exchanging specific information is to extend form of responsive language Conversation, for example, may have more of a negotiate nature to them than does responsive speech e.g

Interpersonal

Interpersonal dialogue carried out more for maintaining social relationship than for the transmission of the facts and information e.g The conversations are little trickier for learner because they can involve some or all of the following factors: a casual register, colloquial language, emotionally charged language, slag, ellipsis, sarcasm, and a covert “agenda”

2.2.4 Principles for teaching speaking skill

According to H.D Brown, there are some principles for teaching speaking skill as mentioned below:

- Focus on both fluency & accuracy depending on your purposes

“Make sure your tasks have a language-based objective, and seize the opportunity to help students to perceive and use the building blocks of language.”

- Provide fundamentally motivating techniques “Appeal to students’ ultimate goals and interests, to their need for knowledge, for status, for achieving competence and autonomy, help them to see how the activity will benefit them

- Encourage the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts “It takes energy and creativity to devise authentic contexts and meaningful interaction, but with the help of a storehouse of teacher resource ” materials, it can be done

- Provide appropriate feedback and correction “It is important that you take advantage of your knowledge of English to inject the kinds of corrective feedback that are” appropriate for the moment

- Capitalize on the natural link between speaking and listening “The two skills can reinforce each other Skills in producing language are often initiated” through comprehension

- Give students opportunities to initiate oral communication “Part of oral communication competence is the ability to initiate conversations, to nominate topics, to ask questions, to control conversations, and to change the subject

- Encourage the development of speaking strategies “Speaking Strategies asking for clarification (what?) asking someone to repeat something (pardon me?) using fillers (uh, I mean) to get time to process using

conversation maintenance cues (ah-hah, right, yeap, OK, well) getting someone’s attention (hey, yo, so) paraphrasing for structures one can’t produce appealing for assistance from the interlocutor using formulaic expressions using mime and non-verbal expressions.”

2.3 Pair work

2.3.1 Definition of pair work

Harmer (2001, p.207) defines pair work as “a way of increasing student participation and language use It can be used for enormous number of activities whether speaking, writing or reading” Pair work is one of the CLT activities In pair work, the student is paired with another student and they will cooperate to work and solve asks given a by teacher in the classroom

Pair work is an important component of the communicative approach, and is a form of collaborative learning Moon (2000, p.53) defines pair work

as a technique “to organize students in ways that will maximize opportunities for learning” Pair work means that students work with their pairs to complete tasks and reach its aims Furthermore, Lightbown and Spada (1999) state that

in an interactive environment, children are able to advance to a higher level of knowledge and performance than what they would be capable of independently Working in pairs could help to encourage meaningful communication between the learners and increase their attention Lightbown and Spada (1999, p.56) added, “Positive attitudes and motivation are related

to success in second language learning” Therefore, using pair work as an effective technique could lead to success in language learning because it helps

to increase students’ interest in term of the oral tasks As a result, pair work is

a valuable technique to carry out in the EFL classrooms

2.3.2 Procedures of pair work

Harmer (2001, p.122) explains the procedures used in teaching speaking He divides the procedures into three sub-units: before, during, and after activity Table 1 presents the procedures in more details

Table 1 Procedures of Pair Work (source: Harmer, 2001, pp 122-124)

- Students discuss their performance where necessary

The procedures of pair work technique support the teachers in using the technique effectively to achieve the desirable results from the students after the lesson

2.3.3 Some common activities for pair work

According to Brown (2001, p.182), common pair activities consist of Dialogues, Question and answer, Drills, Quick Brainstorming Pair work

enables teachers to engage students in interactive communication for a short period of time with minimum of logistical problems Typical group tasks are games, role-play, drama, interview, brainstorming, information gap, jigsaw, problem solving and decision making, and opinion exchange

Byrne (1991, pp.36-102) recommends some more activities for pair work In his opinion, pair work can be used for controlled conversation, questionnaires and quizzes, find a partner for discussion, interpretation activities, invention activities, and project activities Moreover, Doff (1988, p.211) adds exchanging personal information activity for pair work Perhaps the list of activities for pair work is still lengthened by many other researchers For the limitation of this study’s page number, the researcher would like to define and characterize some most popular ones

Game

A game could be any activity formalizing a technique into units that can be scored For example, students can review the vocabulary through “ slap the board” Teachers write down some words on the board, invite a pair

of students to play each time The teachers say out loud one word and the students have to race to slap to the word The student who is faster will be the winner

Information gap

In this activity, students are requested to work in pairs One student will have the information that other partner does not have and he/ she has to ask his/ her partner to get the information The aims of this activity are solving a problem, collecting information, etc

Role-play

Role-play involves giving a role to each member of a pair and setting

an objective that students must complete The students work in pairs, for

example, student A is a shop assistant; student B is a customer; the objective

is for A to communicate with B in shopping situation this activity can help teach students in the class about certain situations It allows the students to play the roles of certain characters in these situations so they are able to see things from a new perspective

Interview

Students work in pairs to carry out interviews on the given topics based

on the theme and content in the textbook In each pair, one student is the interviewer and the other is the interviewee Their tasks are to prepare questions for the interview and to answer them in a given period of time When time is up, some pairs will be called on to present their results in front

of the class

Problem solving

Students work in pairs and discuss to find out the solutions to simple problems such as giving directions on a map, or complex ones such as working out an itinerary from train, plane, bus schedules, etc

content-2.3.4 Advantages of using pair work in teaching speaking skill

Firstly, pair work will increase talking time for students According to Nunan (2003, p 54), it obviously “expands the amount of time that learners get to speak in the target language during lesson.” Many researchers on the same field have the same idea Long and Porter (1985) conducted a study and

figured out that in a 50-minute lesson with 30 students, if the students talked only to the teacher, they would take 30 seconds of talking time each lesson They estimate that this equals “just one hour per student per year” (p.208) The students do not have many chances to practice speaking in the class so they cannot improve their speaking skill much Moreover, working in pairs, students seemingly use up all the time to communicate with others instead of responding and listening to teachers

Besides, peer working is dramatically increased by using pair work

technique Good students have chances to give their assistance to others with

the difficult activities that they now work in pairs During the discussion, they can help each other to outline the ideas, correct each other’s mistakes, suggest

a necessary vocabulary, and share some useful knowledge

Moreover, pair work activities help create positive classroom atmosphere According to Brown (2001, p 178) when students work in a pair, students can actively participate in the lesson; even unconfident students become more confident to join in the activities in the class because they are under no pressure of being called on by the teacher to answer a question “on public display” (Brown, 2001, p 178) Instead, they can get involved in talking to their partners for practicing speaking skill, sharing their opinions to find out the best answers

Last but not least, pair work improves the students’ social skills Slavin (1991) says that participating in pair work, social skills of students are improved remarkably Working in pair, students have the opportunities to find their voice, actively listen to suggestions made by their partners, overcome the conflict, and make negotiation This results in the encouragement of students broader skills of cooperation and negotiation, which seem to be vital skill for success in their lives

2.3.5 Disadvantages of using pair work in teaching speaking skill

First, the class became very noisy with so many people speaking at the same time It cannot deny that pair work in a large class will be noisy (Doff,

1988, p 141) It is very difficult for the teachers to control the big class There are some suggested ways to keep the whole class under control Firstly, the teachers call out the names of the students who are making noise and walk around the class to check if the students are doing private things or not Moreover, the teachers can have the students’ attention by using signals such

as tapping the table, clapping hands, etc

During pair work, the teachers do not interfere with the students The teachers cannot correct errors and mistakes for each student, even if he notices some mistakes they have made, but lets them speak freely However, after the activity, the teachers should point out the most common ones It is possible for the learners to learn each other's mistakes or errors, but we should not forget that errors or mistakes are also an essential element of the learning process Besides, students try to correct each other rather than learn the mistakes One of the main points of having learners speak to each other is to help them enhance their confidence and reduce the shyness

Students often use their native language in an English speaking class It

is not deniable that the students prefer using their native language to English The teacher cannot listen at the same time, but it does not mean that he/she is unable to do anything about it The teacher should set up certain rules at the beginning of the school year and be very strict about them In pairs, students are tempted to use their native language to express their ideas if they get stuck

in seeking the proper words and grammars In fact, the use of mother tongue

is advantageous in such activities as “grammar explanation, checking comprehension, giving instructions, discussing classroom methodology and checking for sense” (Atkinson 1987, p 242) Nevertheless, in case of an oral fluency activity, “the use of a language other than English makes the activity essentially pointless” (Harmer 2001, p.132) Therefore, the teacher should encourage students to use as much English as possible to improve their speaking skill

2.4 Previous research related to pair work

Mariana (2015) carried out a research on pair work for developing speaking skill In the research, she analyzed how pair work worked in the primary classroom, what students thought of it and how beneficial it was for the students In order to collect data from a large number of students, a questionnaire survey was used for the purpose of this diploma thesis and was conducted in the school that was located in a place where medium-low and low social class families lived The majority of students were from African-Portuguese families and, generally speaking, had a big disinterest in learning and towards school, teachers and auxiliary teaching staff The survey revealed that one of the most useful technique to enhance the speaking skill of students

at primary school is pair work The results of the research also indicate that the students are excited with the activities using pair work outer incentives and social demands This research was designed to find the attitude of the students towards pair work activities However, the research was carried out with limited number of participants, which made the use of advanced statistical methods impossible thus the results of the study can only indicate the potential application of the findings to broad population In order to utilize the research for the purpose of all schools in Spain, it would be fundamental

to increase the investigated sample size and the diversity of the participating

schools Furthermore, the instrument that was employed for the purpose of this study was a questionnaire Certain disadvantage of this method are that the participants may not be cooperative enough to assess all the statements precisely and may complete the questionnaire without due consideration To avoid the superficiality of the responses, it would be necessary to either interview the students individually or to give a detail explanation of the researched topic in the preceding lesson However, both procedures would be extremely time consuming for the researcher and for the students as well Additionally, the questionnaire was conducted in English thus the students might have responded inaccurately due to the misunderstanding of the researched statement Therefore, in order to prevent from inaccurate and superficial responses, the questionnaire was piloted prior to its administration Furthermore, the researcher was always present when the students were completing the questionnaire, explained the importance of the survey in the teaching process and was available to answer any questions regarding the comprehension of the statements

Rudy Eko Susanto’s study (2013) was conducted to find an evidence of the influence of pair work activities on speaking competence In the study, questionnaire has been used for survey; which is a quantitative approach In order to get the essential information for the research, questionnaire method has been used The researchers collected two types of data The first was quantitative data and the second was qualitative data The quantitative data referred to the students’ speaking score, which has been submitted after the lesson finished The qualitative data dealt with the process of teaching speaking in the classroom In order to analyze qualitative data, the researcher used the observation sheets The research has done through structured questionnaire which will fill up by the respondents Questionnaire was close-

ended Those questions were inserted to get the descriptive and elaborate opinion from the teachers After the analysis of the data, researcher found some positive outcomes of pair work The study showed that pair work is playing an important role for students’ language learning and their performance It is very necessary to create positive and supportive atmosphere for them To determine whether the pair work was effective in teaching speaking skill or not, a test was given in three cycles In cycle 1, it was found that the percentage of the students’ speaking competence was 44% In cycle 3, the result was much better, the percentage increased to 91% for the students’ speaking competence Therefore, it is obvious to see that pair work can remarkably improve the students’ speaking skill for the 7th grade students of SMP Kristen Gergaji Semarang

Jatmiko (2017) conducted a study on the implementation of pair work

to improve students’ English speaking to the second semester at pharmacist program of health sciences faculty of Kadiri University The aims of this research are to identify whether pair work can improve students’ English speaking and to describe the process of applying pair work in teaching speaking reflecting To collect the data some instruments namely: questionnaire, classroom observation, tests through speaking are used The observation was done during the teaching learning process in progress The questionnaire were given to the students before and after the implementation

of pair work The tests were in the form of pre-test and post-test The result of the research shows that pair works could improve students’ speaking ability in term of raising students’ achievement in the case of fluency, vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar and content Pair works can improve class situation,

in term of students’ interaction when having and responding teacher’s questions Being active in pair work activities, being more attentive to the

speaking class, and the absence of students who were late and went out during speaking class, and the unobservable dominancy of the teacher It can be concluded that students’ speaking could be improved by the implementation

of pair work

Lý Thị Hoàng Mến (2013) conducted an investigation on the use of pair work and group work activities to develop speaking skills for the first year English major students at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen University

The researcher used survey questionnaires for the teachers and students

to collect the data The findings of the research showed that pair work and group work were frequently applied in English speaking class with two main activities that students have to master are discussion and role-play The use of pair work and group work activities are also beneficial for both teachers and learners However, there are some problems such as students low proficiency and their passive way of learning styles, which prevent them from taking part

in pair work and group work activities Teachers lack time and have to deal with large and multi-level classes in unqualified conditions hindering them a lot on implementing pair work and group work activities to teach English speaking By analyzing and comparing the results of students’ and teachers’ responses to the questionnaires about pair work and group work activities, the researcher tries to find out the influence of pair work and group work on improving the students’ speaking competence and suggest some effective ways to implement them in speaking lessons

pair work and some related knowledge such as the importance of using pair work in speaking lesson, the advantages and disadvantages of pair work technique, some common activities for pair work The literature review of previous studies on pair work as well serves as the base for the researcher to conduct the study In the following chapter, the methodology employed in the study will be presented.

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research design

3.1.1 Definitions of Action Research

Action research is a form of research which is becoming increasingly significant in language education This research has been defined in many different ways According to Richards & Lockhart (1994), action research is a teacher-initiated classroom research type, which seeks to increase the teacher’s understanding of classroom teaching and learning and to bring about improvements in classroom activities It encourages teachers to compare methods and ideas with a critical eye, and to adopt these ideas into their teaching environment (Nunan, 1998) It is carried out by practitioners (for our purposes, classroom teachers) rather than outside researchers It is collaborative and it is aimed at changing things (Kemmis and Mc Taggart, 1988) “A distinctive feature of action research is that those affected by planned changes have the primary responsibility for the deciding on courses of critically informed action which seem likely to lead to improvement, and for evaluating the results of strategies tried out in practice Action research is a group activity” (Kemmis and Mc Taggart, 1988) A piece of descriptive research carried out by

a teacher in his or her own classroom, without the involvement of the others, which is aimed at increasing our understanding rather than changing the phenomenon under investigation, would not be considered by these commentators to be “action research” For Kemmis and Mc Taggart, the essential impetus for carrying out action research is to change the system

Cohen and Manion (1985) offer a similar set of characteristics They argue that action research is the first and foremost situational, being concerned with the identification and solution of problems in a specific context They also identify collaboration as an important feature of this type of research, and state

that the aim of action research is to improve the current state of affairs within the educational context in which the research is being carried out

While collaboration is highly desirable, I do not believe that it should be seen as a defining characteristic of action research Many teachers who are interested in exploring processes of teaching and learning in their own context are either unable, for practical reasons, or unwilling, for personal reasons to do collaborative research The work that such people carry out should not necessarily be excluded as action research I would also dispute the claim that action research must necessarily be concerned with change A descriptive case study of a particular classroom, group of learners, or even a single learner counts as action research if it is initiated by a question, is supported by data and interpretation, and is carried out by a practitioner investigating aspects of his or her own context and situation That said, I know of few such studies which have not resulted in change of some sort

An action research is suitable for the present study because it helps to find out problems, give some solutions for the problems and then to bring about improvements in her classroom activities Particularly, it helps the teachers to know what is actually happening in their classrooms, what learners are thinking, why learners are reacting in those ways, what aspects of the classroom we should focus on to develop our teaching most effectively, how

we should change in these aspects, and what the effects of such a change are Through teaching experience and observation, the teacher-researcher discovered that her students faced up with many problems in speaking lessons Therefore, an effective strategy needed putting into action with the hope of bringing better change for students’ speaking skill

3.1.2 Procedures of Action research

The general process of conducting an action research was briefly known as a four-stage procedure These four stages are: planning (diagnosing and planning), acting, observing, reflecting However, in the first stage, it can be divided into two stages, they are diagnosing and developing a research plan (Figure 1 & 2)

Besides, when conducting an action research, the researchers have to follow some certain steps There are nine specific steps that contain the process

of action research The nine steps in the process are as follows: identifying and limiting the topic, gathering information, reviewing the related literature, developing a research plan, implementing the plan and collecting data, analyzing the data, developing an action plan, sharing and communicating the results, reflecting on the process (Figure 1)

Figure 1: Integration of two organizational schemes for the step-by-step process of action research ( by Kemmis and Mctaggart 1988 )

Figure 2: The Process of Action Research

Upon comparing the general four-stage procedure with the nine specific steps, you probably will not find it too difficult to see how the two fit together (see Figure 1) Stage 1 (the planning stage) is composed of Steps 1, 2, 3, and 4 since these are planning activities done prior to the implementation of the project Stage 2 (the acting stage) is composed of Steps 5 and 6, where the action researcher implements the plan and then collects and analyzes the data Step 7 is, in essence, its own stage, namely Stage 3 (the developing stage) This

is the step where the revisions, changes, or improvements arise and future actions (known as an “action plan”) are developed Finally, Stage 4 (the

reflecting stage) is composed of Steps 8 and 9; the action researcher summarizes the results of the study, creates a strategy for sharing the results, and reflects on the entire process It is important to mention that you will see variations of Figure 1 near the beginning of each of Chapters 3 through 5, with the specific steps or steps being addressed in that particular chapter highlighted

in the figure

It is critical at this point to reiterate the fact that action research, contrary

to the way it is depicted in Figure 1, is not a linear process (the purpose of Figure 1 is merely to show the relationship between the two schemes for summarizing the action research process) Action research has historically been viewed as cyclical in nature (Mertler & Charles, 2008) Whereas action research has a clear beginning, it does not have a clearly defined endpoint Ordinarily, teacher-researchers design and implement a project, collect and analyze data in order to monitor and evaluate the project’s effectiveness, and then make revisions and improvements to the project for future implementation In all likelihood, the project would then be implemented again; perhaps with next semester’s or next year’s students, when the effectiveness of the revisions would be monitored and evaluated, with new improvements developed for the next phase of implementation One may be able to see that a given project may never have a clear end, the teacher may continue to go through subsequent cycles of implementation, evaluation, and revision, spiraling from one semester or year to the next (Mertler & Charles, 2008) Parsons and Brown (2002) describe the process as one of “observing-doing-observing-adjusting” and then doing it again (p 8) The process of action research, with its cyclical and spiraling nature, is portrayed in Figure 2 As we begin to examine the nine specific steps in greater detail, Johnson (2008) reminds us that these steps are meant to serve as guidelines in conducting

action research projects They must be adapted to a particular research problem

or topic Furthermore, the steps themselves should not necessarily be seen as cast in stone If and where appropriate, teacher-researchers may find themselves skipping steps, rearranging their order, or repeating some steps more than once (Johnson, 2008) Action research can take on many forms, thus employing a wide range of methodologies The key to worthwhile teacher-conducted action research rests in the questions addressed by the project and the extent to which the results are meaningful and important to that teacher (Parsons & Brown, 2002) and not necessarily in the means by which those results were realized

3.2 The context of the study

This study is carried out at Hanoi University of Industry where English has been taught and learnt as a compulsory subject The course book used for the first year students is New Headway Elementary, Liz and John Soars, published by Oxford University Press The course book consists of 14 units with different topics relating to our daily life such as family, holidays, clothes, emotion, life experiences , lifestyle, job etc Each unit is divided into 5 sections: vocabulary, reading and writing, grammar, listening and speaking and pronunciation In addition, the book provides students with other supplementary such as grammar reference, functional language, tape script, workbook and key

Students at Hanoi University of Industry passed the entrance exam in different groups Consequently, their English levels are not the same Teachers are continually faced with the students who lack vocabulary and are not good at grammar as well Moreover, in each English class at HaUI, there are about 45 students with different English background studying in the same class with the same textbook Furthermore, the large number of students in a