STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSON IN CLASS 10A4 AT CHAN MONG HIGH SCHOOL= Thái độ của học sinh đối với các hoạt động nhóm trong giờ học Nói tiếng Anh lớp 10A4 Trường THPT Chân Mộng

It is undeniable that nowadays languages play a significant role in the society. In the new phase of the country, since regional and international integration became one of the primary goals of education in Vietnam, foreign languages have become extremely important. Among hundreds of languages, English has attained the prestige of a global language. English is the third most widely spoken language in terms of native speakers, of which it has at least 330 million. In addition, English has gone far beyond the border of English speaking countries to reach the nations whose citizens speak other languages. It is essential to communicate across national borders and maintain correspondence with oversea business parties and professionals. There is no doubt to say that to keep pace with the process of globalization, we need to learn English. In context of globalization and integration, Vietnamese education has continued to grow stronger and stronger, from public policies to specific actions, from teachers to students, from schools to the society, at every level, especially higher education in general and foreign language education in particular. After joining in World Trade Organization (WTO), English is considered as the golden key helping us access to the world’s civilization. As we all know that English has been becoming the international language and communication tool, most fields use English. Learning and using English requires a creative process of learning and teaching. One of the most indispensable skills toward every English learner is speaking. Because it is considered as the tool of communication. Thanks to the speaking skill, the learner can express their feeling. Moreover, speaking skill help learners to improve and communicate in English more confidently. Thus, speaking skill gradually becomes the foundation of the second language learning process.

In addition, I am grateful to all the lecturers who have been teaching inForeign Language Department, Hung Vuong University, contributed to thesuccess of the course.

I also would like to thank all the teachers at Chan Mong high school, whowillingly guided and provided me with basic knowledge as well as specializedknowledge Therefore, I could carry out this research with great confidence.Besides, I want to use this opportunity to express my deepest thanks to all 45members of class 10A4 at Chan Mong High School for having cooperated inproviding valuable information in completing the questionnaires, answering thequestions and sharing their classrooms with me If it had not been for their help,

I would not have finished my graduation paper with great success

Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family, my love ones and

my friends for their support and encouragement during the completion of thispaper

Using group work activities has been approved as one of the mosteffective ways in teaching and learning English speaking by many researchers.However, these activities have not been implemented and effectively for class10A4 students at Chan Mong high school, and it is still an open question formany teachers there This study was carried out to investigate students’ attitudestowards group work activities in English speaking lesson In addition, the studyalso gives some recommendations to improve the group work activities inEnglish speaking class 10A4 at Chan Mong high school Thus, one set of surveyquestionnaires and class observation are used to find out the students’ attitudes,perspectives toward speaking skills and group work activities adapted duringspeaking lesson

The study is composed of three main parts: introduction, contents andconclusion Part 1 deals with the rationale, the aims, the research questions, thesignificance of the study, the scope as well as the design of the study Part 2consists of three chapters Chapter 1 reviews the theoretical background ofspeaking skill and group work activities in speaking lesson Chapter 2 presentsthe methodology which gives detail description about the setting, the subject, thecollection and data analysis Chapter 3 focuses on analyzing the results ofquestionnaires and classroom observation Chapter 4 presents some majorfindings drawn from the data analysis and some suggestions on using groupwork activities effectively Part 3 summarizes the major findings of the study

It is hoped that the thesis will make a small contribution to the improvement oflearning and teaching speaking skill

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that the minor thesis entitled “Students' attitudes towards group work activities in English Speaking Lesson in class 10A4 at Chan Mong high school” submitted in partial fullfillment of the requirements for the graduation

paper is the result of my own work, except otherwise acknowledge and thisminor thesis or any part of the same has not been submitted for higher degree toany other university or institution

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL: English Foreign Language

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

CA: Communicative Approach

ELT: English Language Teaching

TNU- CT: Thai Nguyen University- College TechnologyWTO: World Trade Organization

ELLs: English language learners

CEFR: Common European Framework of References ESL: English as a Second Language

L2: Level two

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

TABLES

PAGES

Table 2.1 Steps of organizing group work 30Table 3.1 Students’ attitude towards speaking 54Table 3.2 Students' perception about group work activities…… 58Table 3.3 Reasons why students do not like taking part in group work

activities……… 59 Table 3.4 Factors can cause the difficulties when working in groups…………61Table 3.5 Frequency of joining group work activities in speaking lesson 62Table 3.6 Students’ expectations for using group speaking more effectively 63Table 3.7 Observed speaking lessons and speaking tasks 64

CHARTS

Chart 3.1 The ways students like to work in speaking lesson 55Chart 3.2 Factors can cause the difficulties when working in

groups……… 62Chart 3.3 Students’ feeling when working in groups in English speaking lessons .61Chart 3.4 The activities that students want to work in a group in English

speaking lessons 62

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Statement of the problem 1

1.2 Aims of the study 3

1.3 Research questions 4

1.4 The significance of the study 4

1.5 The scope of the study 4

1.6 Outline of the thesis 5

PART 2: CONTENT 7

CHAPTER 1: THEORITICAL BACKGROUND 7

1.1 Speaking 7

1.1.1 Definition of speaking 7

1.1.2 Roles of speaking 8

1.1.3 Principles to teach speaking English 9

1.1.4 Approaches of teaching speaking English 12

1.1.5 Problems with speaking activities 16

1.2 Group work 18

1.2.1 Definitions of group work 18

1.2.2 Types of group work 19

1.2.3 Advantages of using group work 21

1.2.4 Disadvantages of using group work 23

1.2.5 Principles for organizing group work 24

1.2.6 Steps of organizing group work 27

2.3 Activities for group work in English speaking lesson 30

1.3.1 Games 30

1.3.2 Role- play 31

1.3.3 Projects 31

1.3.4 Interview 32

1.3.5 Brainstorming 32

1.3.6 Problem solving and decision making 32

1.3.7 Discussion 32

1.4 Attitude 33

1.4.1 Definition of attitude 33

1.4.2 The importance of attitude 33

1.4.3 Attitude towards language learning 35

1.4.4 Components of language attitude 36

1.4.5 Factors affecting attitude towards language learning 38

1.5 Previous studies 40

1.5.1 In the world 40

1.5.2 In Vietnam 43

1.5.3.Existing problems 44

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 45

2.1 Setting of study 45

2.1.1 Chan Mong high school 45

2.1.2 Description of English textbook and speaking lessons 45

2.1.3 Participants of the study 46

2.2 Data collection instruments 48

2.2.1 Survey questionnaires 48

2.2.2 Class observation 50

2.3 Data collection procedure 52

2.3.1 Data collection from questionnaires 52

2.3.2 Data collection from classroom observation 52

2.3.3 Data analysis 53

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS 54

3.1 Data analysis from students’ survey questionnaires 54

3.1.1 The cognitive aspect of students’ attitude towards group work activities 54

3.1.2 The emotional aspect of attitude towards group work activities 60

3.1.3 The behavior aspect of students’ attitudes toward group work activities in English speaking lessons 63

3.2 Data analysis from classroom observation 64

CHAPTER 4: MAJOR FINDINGS AND SOME PROPOSED

SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES AT CHAN

MONG HIGH SCHOOL 68

4.1 Major findings of the research 68

4.1.1 The cognitive aspect of students’ attitude towards group work activities in English speaking lessons 68

4.1.2 The emotional aspect of students’ attitude toward group work activities in English speaking lessons 69

4.1.3 The behavior aspect of students’ attitude toward group work activities in English speaking lessons 69

4.2 Some prosed suggestions to improve group work activities in English speaking lessons for class 10A4 at Chan Mong high school 70

4.2.1.Suggestions for teachers 71

4.2.2.Suggestions for students 76

PART 3: CONCLUSION 78

1 Summary 78

2 Implications 79

2.1 For school administrators 79

2.2 For teachers 79

2.3 For students 80

3 Limitations of the study 80

4 Suggestions for further researches 81

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem

It is undeniable that nowadays languages play a significant role in thesociety In the new phase of the country, since regional and internationalintegration became one of the primary goals of education in Vietnam, foreignlanguages have become extremely important Among hundreds of languages,English has attained the prestige of a global language English is the third mostwidely spoken language in terms of native speakers, of which it has at least 330million In addition, English has gone far beyond the border of English speakingcountries to reach the nations whose citizens speak other languages It isessential to communicate across national borders and maintain correspondencewith oversea business parties and professionals There is no doubt to say that tokeep pace with the process of globalization, we need to learn English

In context of globalization and integration, Vietnamese education hascontinued to grow stronger and stronger, from public policies to specific actions,from teachers to students, from schools to the society, at every level, especiallyhigher education in general and foreign language education in particular Afterjoining in World Trade Organization (WTO), English is considered as thegolden key helping us access to the world’s civilization As we all know thatEnglish has been becoming the international language and communication tool,most fields use English

Learning and using English requires a creative process of learning andteaching One of the most indispensable skills toward every English learner isspeaking Because it is considered as the tool of communication Thanks to thespeaking skill, the learner can express their feeling Moreover, speaking skill helplearners to improve and communicate in English more confidently Thus,speaking skill gradually becomes the foundation of the second language learningprocess

Attitudes which play an important role in learning foreign languagesdetermine the success of the learners Hiriyappa (2008, p.32) argues that

"Attitudes that affect behavior." Indeed, when learners have a positive attitudetoward learning English, they will be willing to communicate in English withpassion and interest in the subject It creates confidence and learning Englishskills will be easy and effective Conversely, if the learner does not have apositive attitude toward learning English, the learning will be difficult and thequality of education will not be high

There was a fact that teaching and learning foreign languages in generaland English in particular were fulfilled in a traditional teaching way in Vietnam.Speaking was less paid attention in a number of classrooms than other skills,such as listening, reading and writing Recently, English speaking classes areintroduced more frequently than previous to improve students’ English speakingskill However, it is undeniable that there are too many students in a class and italso lacks the interaction among learners in speaking lesson Despite Englishclasses, students learn the language regularly with variety of methods, theirlearning efficiency is not met the requirements of teachers and educators

Classroom activity is also a major part of language course to developlearners' ability by expressing themselves through speech In speaking lesson,teachers need to use variety of activities to help their students apply thelanguage that they have learned, and group work is one of the most effectiveactivities Group discussion “increases the sheer amount of learners talk going

on a limited period of time and also lowers the inhibitions of learners who areunwilling to speak in front of the full class" (Ur, 2000, p 121) Although groupwork activities are commonly used in English speaking lesson, but it has alsobeen a matter of great concern because not all teachers use it correctly andsuccessfully Therefore, applying group discussion activities to teach speakingfor the students at high school is a difficult problem with some teachers

Based on the observation, the researcher realizes that most students atChan Mong High School are not familiar with learning all English skills Andthere is no exception for the case of class 10A4 at Chan Mong high school Theyare not eager to involve in the activities given by teachers in the lessonespecially speaking ones Teachers have tried to find ways to motivate students,the result is not as high as expected Although group work is a familiar method

at higher level at most schools in this area, it is considerably difficult for themajority of students who are unable or unwilling to do this activity in Englishspeaking lesson Consequently, it has inevitably posed huge challenges for bothteachers and students at this site

Thus, the study entitled “Students' attitudes towards group work activities

in English speaking lesson in class 10A4 at Chan Mong high school” was

conducted as an attempt to examine the class 10A4 students’ attitudes andpinpoint teachers’ monitoring strategies to motivate students to participate ingroup work

1.2 Aims of the study

The research is aimed at:

 Investigating the attitude of students towards group work activities in Englishspeaking lessons in class 10A4 at Chan Mong high school

 Proposing some suggestions to improve group work activities in Englishspeaking lessons for class 10A4 students

1.4 The significance of the study

Although the study was conducted on a small scale with a particulargroup of class 10A4 students at Chan Mong high school, the researcher hopesthat findings will be of great significance This study is a contribution tounderstanding of the students’ attitude towards group work activities, theapplicability of group work to the teaching English in general and the teachingspeaking in particular in the context of Vietnamese high schools Besides, thefindings of the study will make a small contribution to the improvement in usinggroup work activities in English speaking lesson of teachers and students ofChan Mong high school

Specifically, the study will help the teachers who teach foreign languages,especially oral skills use group work activities more effectively in teachingspeaking skill Moreover, the research also helps to make students moreinterested in their speaking lesson on teaching

1.5 The scope of the study

Because of time constraints, instead of studying the students’ attitudetowards group work activities and the current situation of using group workactivities in a larger context, this study only focuses on students’ attitudes andproposing some suggestions to improve group work activities for 45 students of

Moreover, in this paper, by the lack of time and effort, I would solelydiscuss the students’ attitude toward group work activities and the use of groupwork activities in English speaking lessons, not whole speaking process in thesmall context of class 10A4 students at Chan Mong high school.

1.6 Outline of the thesis

The research consists of three parts:

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

This part presents the overview of the study including the statement of theproblem, aims of the study, research questions, significance of the study, thescope of the research as well as outline of the thesis

PART 2: CONTENT

This part will be divided into four chapters:

Chapter 1: Literature review

This chapter aims to present some related previous researches thatwas conducted in Vietnam and other countries, give the theoreticalbackground of related concepts: definition of speaking, roles of speaking,principles to teach speaking English, approaches of teaching speakingEnglish, problem with speaking activities, definitions of group work,types of group work, advantages of using group work, disadvantages ofusing group work, steps of organizing group work, definition of attitudes,the importance of attitudes, attitudes towards language learning,components of language attitudes

Chapter 2: Methodology

This chapter focuses on the subjects of the study, discusses theinstruments and presents the data collection, analysis and researchprocedures

Chapter 3: Data analysis

This chapter will focus on investigating the reality of the students’attitudes towards group work activities in learning speaking lesson and

proposing some suggestions to improve group work activities for class10A4 students.

Chapter 4: Major findings and some prosed suggestions to improve group work activities at Chan Mong high school

In this chapter, the researcher focuses on giving some majorfindings of the study and proposing some suggestions to improve groupwork activities in English speaking lesson for students in class 10A4.PART 3: CONCLUSION

This part summarizes the important points of the study Also, in thispart, implications for classroom practice, the limitations of the study andsuggestions for further studies are clearly presented

In the nutshell, this part has presented the background, andsignificance of the study These contribute to the purposes and theresearch questions of this study in teaching and studying English speaking

at Chan Mong high school The present study also provides the scope ofthe study And outline of this study is given in the last of this part

PART 2: CONTENT CHAPTER 1: THEORITICAL BACKGROUND

The purpose of this chapter is to provide information pertaining to this research,which was obtained from reviewing the related literature and studies

1.1 Speaking

1.1.1 Definition of speaking

Speaking is one of basic skills that language learners should master whenthey study foreign languages There are many definitions of speaking that havebeen proposed by some experts in language learning and teaching According toKayi (2006), speaking is a “crucial part of second language learning andteaching” while Chaney and Burk (1998: 13) considered speaking as “theprocess of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in variety of context”

Having a different access to speaking skill, Hedge (2000, p.15) stated thatspeaking is a skill “by which people are judged while first impressions are beingformed” Speaking can be considered as an important factor to reflect people’spersonalities and thoughts Besides, reviewing previous research related todefining speaking, it was noticed that two main approaches are adopted to definespeaking, the bottom-up and the top down approach

Alternatively, Valette (2003) advocated adopting a definition of speakingbased on interactional skills which involve making decision aboutcommunication This is considered as a top- down view of speaking Adoptingthis view, Howarth (2001) defined speaking as a two–way process involving atrue communication of ideas, information or feelings This top-down viewconsiders the spoken texts the product of cooperation between two or moreinteractant in physical context Thus, proponents of this view suggest that, ratherthan teaching learners to make well-formed sentences and then putting these touse in discourse we should encourage learners to take part in spoken discoursefrom the beginning and then they will acquire the smaller units

Attempting to elaborate more on the interactive nature of speaking,Luoma (2004) gave another definition about speaking as an interactive process

of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processinginformation Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which itoccurs, including the participants themselves, the physical environment, and thepurposes for speaking It is often spontaneous, opened and evolving However,speech is not always unpredictable Language functions (or patterns) that tend torecur in certain discourse situations can be identified

From some definitions above it can be concluded that speaking skill isalways related to communication Speaking skill itself can be stated as the skill

to use the language accurately to express meanings in order to transfer or to getknowledge and information from other people in the whole life situation.Moreover, in order to express effectively, the speaker should know exactly whathe/she wants to speak and communicate, he/she has to evaluate the effects ofhis/her communication to his/her listener, he/she has to understand anyprinciples that base on his speaking either in general or individual

in life In short, speaking skills are closely related to all other language skills

Nowadays, English is an international language, so the ability of usingEnglish in communication is very necessary In addition, speaking is the fastestway to exchange information, therefore, more and more people are trying tolearn English speaking skill on the purpose of communicating in the modernlife This tendency may put speaking in the highest position among all fourlanguage skills.

Another reason why speaking should be paid more attention in theclassroom is that teachers can motivate students’ learning English throughspeaking To students who are capable of studying English, they are not afraid

of speaking and more important, they know how to express their ideas, theirthought in English Hence, speaking is a necessary way for them to develop theirspeaking ability In contrast, for those who do not speak English well, they areafraid of communicating with other people They are not confident to work ingroups with the others However, if teachers use useful speaking activities intheir English speaking class in a suitable way, students will be attracted andmotivated If students’ speaking is improved, other skills be improved, too

1.1.3 Principles to teach speaking English

In the communicative model of language teaching, the teacher helps thestudents in real life communication They help their students develop the ability

to produce grammatically correct, logically connected sentences that areappropriate to specific contexts

According to Nunan (2003), there are some principles for teaching speaking.Some of which are described below:

Giving students practice with both fluency and accuracy

At the beginning and intermediate level of studies, learners must be givenopportunities to improve their fluency as well as accuracy Accuracy meansusing the target language correctly and fluency is using language quickly andconfidently The teacher should not emphasize on any one aspect of speaking.Rather, students should get practice on both accuracy and fluency

Using group work or pair work

To improve students’ speaking skill, they should be given enoughopportunities to speak in class Thus, it is important for language teachers do nottake all the time Also, according to Nunan (2003, p.54) “Pair work and groupwork can be used to increase the amount of time that learners get to speak in thetarget language during lesson.”

In this way, the students will get chance to interact and practice the languagewith other students The single most important reason for teaching speaking is todevelop oral fluency, that is, the ability to express oneself intelligibly,reasonably, accurately and without undue hesitation Learners of English willwant to use speech principally for two reasons The first reason is that they want

to give and receive information, that is, for transactional or message-orientedpurposes The other is that they want to maintain good social relationships, that

is, for interactional purposes focused on sharing personal experiences andopinions Language educators and teachers have made great efforts to find outthe main principles of teaching speaking so far

Furthermore, in order to make sure the teaching takes place in an intendedway, it is critical to create a high level of motivation (Ur, 2000) That is the keyconsideration in determining the preparedness of learners to communicate.Motivation is the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal oflearning plus favorable attitudes toward learning the language So effort alonedoes not signify motivation but it is the desire and the satisfaction in the activitythat count (Nunan, 1991: 233)

Attempting to elaborate more on the interactive nature of speaking, Kayi(2006) gave another principles of teaching English speaking that teachers should

do to make students feel satisfied and have the desire to get involved in Englishspeaking lesson:

The first, teachers use the instinct or experience, depending on the teacher’squalification, to choose interesting topics in order to draw students’ attentionand make inspiration Productive skills cannot be developed beyond meaningfulcontexts In addition, unreal contexts cannot help students get involved in suchreal life activities as job and academic settings

The second, teachers can create interest in the topic by talking about thetopic Teachers can ask if anyone knows about the topic and can therefore tellthe others about it before the activities start In this way, students have chances

to express their ideas meaningfully and teachers can exploit their previousknowledge to get them into the lesson Also, teachers can ask students to makeguesses about the content and to discuss what happens which inspire students’curiosity and their want to find out the truth Additionally, teachers can askseveral guiding questions before the activity and provide necessary informationwithout telling what students have already known to create stronger motivation

The third, motivation is raised in a lesson also by the fact that teachershelp to create a relaxed, nonanxious atmosphere which helps even weak andreluctant students This can be done through some activities such as playingguessing games, doing the rehearsal in small groups before speaking in front ofmany people, or practicing speaking under the guidance of the teachers throughdrills, repetition, mechanical exercises first (Kayi, 2006: 253) In the case thatstudents feel fear of mistakes, teachers can encourage them to take risk andfocus on content rather than form

The fourth, teachers should give appropriate level of difficulty, neither toodifficult nor too easy for students may feel bored

The final, teachers have better meaningful activities relevantly to the reallife to let students talk about themselves In addition, when students aremotivated enough to get involved in the lesson, teachers should give them themaximum opportunities to practice the target language in meaningful contextsand situations which helps to facilitate acquisition for all learners rather thangrammatical explanation or linguistics analysis It is because learners must learn

to develop the ability to use language to get things done in real life, outside theclassroom

The suggested principles above are helpful for teachers to use suitablestrategies and design effective speaking activities

1.1.4 Approaches of teaching speaking English

We can see that approaches to teaching speaking skills have reflected theexisting theories and the approaches like grammar-translation method, cognitiveapproaches and comprehension approach to language and language learning thathave not always considered speaking a primary goal

With reference to theories of second language acquisition and learning,Thornbury (2005, p.36) highlights three theories of language learning that arerelevant to the teaching of speaking: behaviourist, cognitivist and socioculturaltheory

Behaviourist theory is based on the belief that the language is learned by

‘forming good habits through reinforcement (Thornbury, 2005, p 38).’ Theelements of learning, labelled presentation, practice and controlled productionwere used to develop speaking skills

Cognitivists (Thornbury, 2005, p.39) view language learners’ minds as ablack boxes with information processing capacity and a complex skill likespeaking is believed to be developed through stages ranging from controlled toautomatic Learning focuses first on awareness-raising of particular stages of aprocedure, then it moves on to integrating newly acquired knowledge to the

existing one via practice and ends by autonomy, the stage in which newlanguage is readily available for use.

Sociocultural theory (Thornbury, 2005, p.47) emphasises the socioculturalcontext in learning and believes learning is mediated through social interactionwith other learners

Nowadays the development of speaking skills as a productive skill islargely emphasized and communicative language competences are considered to

be key competences in the development of an engaged individuals who areactively involved in a social life and development of ones’ community andsociety (CEFR, 2001a) The latest advances in discourse analysis, conversationaland corpus analysis, as Richards (2008) points out, have revealed a great deal aboutspoken discourse and the complexity of a spoken interaction (2008, p 19) ‘Thetheory of communicative competence prompted proposals for the development ofcommunicative syllabuses, and more recently for task-based and text-basedsyllabuses and methodologies’ (Thornbury, 2005) that as he claims should informapproaches to teaching and learning speaking These range from direct to indirectones

1.1.4.1 A direct approach

This distinction relies on the dichotomy of learning vs acquiring thelanguage with a number of proponents and opponents of both theories oflanguage learning Thornbury (2005, p.76) maintain that a direct approachfocuses on the development of isolated speaking skills, micro-skills It isconcerned with a structural accuracy and emphasises the use of language forms

It also provides space for language analysis, raising learners’ awareness aboutgrammar, discourse structures, and routines (Goh & Burns, 2012)

1.1.4.2 An indirect approach

According to (Goh & Burns, 2012, p.34), on the other hand, an indirectapproach focuses on the development of fluency of speech It encourageslearners to use language by engaging them in communicative activities (Goh

&Burns, 2012, p 134) It is believed that learners will acquire speaking skills bycommunicating with each other (see also Thornbury, 2005, p 75) and they will

be able to transfer those skills to real-life situations (Goh & Burns, 2012, p.35)

Thornbury (2006, p 95) advocate for an indirect approach that allows alot of opportunities for exposure to and participation in authentic conversationand explicit instruction Although it called indirect approach it encompassestypical activities for direct approaches, i.e the ones’ focused on language form.All in all, good practice in teaching speaking advocates for an approach thatcombines features of direct and indirect approaches In practice, this is reflected

in course books with one or the other approach prevailing (Goh & Burns, 2012,p.37)

Direct and indirect approaches to learning correspond with a part versuswhole dichotomy with the first one concentrating on the components oflanguage and the latter one focusing on a context of use (Thornbury, 2006, p.79) There are proponents of both approaches (Thornbury, 2006, p 82).According to Goh and Burns (2012, p.135), there are limitations in bothapproaches As the direct approach does not take into account that the accurateuse of language form is developed through face-to-face communication Theindirect approach, on the other hand, neglects the development of accuracy Thelatest development in learning and teaching speaking has shaped currentthinking emphasising a combination of features in both approaches

1.1.4.3 General approach

Recently Thornbury (2005, p 11) advocated a general approach toteaching speaking skills He proposes (Thornbury, 2005, p 40) three stages oflearning speaking: awareness-raising, during which students familiarisethemselves with new knowledge Appropriation, during which students integratethe new knowledge into the existing one and autonomy, allowing students to usethis newly constructed knowledge in real-life situations without any assistance.During the appropriation stage, that he labels (Thornbury, 2005, p 63-88)practiced control, learners are provided a supportive framework in which theycan practice control over their speaking skills Activities at this stage aretypically used within direct and indirect approaches.

1.1.4.4 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

With the same respect, many EFL teachers believe that students learn tospeak in a second or a foreign language by interacting For instance, Byrne (2003:68) acknowledges that to learn to speak are comprehensible language input andextensive opportunities for interaction and authentic communication.Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) serve best for this aim since it is based

on real-life situations that require communication It is therefore using thisapproach in ESL or EFL classes, students will have the opportunity ofcommunicating each other in the target language

Speaking is not the result of repeating or memorizing a lot of words inisolation or just combining a continuum of formal linguistic rules (Valetee 2003:51) They however pointed out that speaking nowadays is recognized as aninteractive, social and contextualized process that serves a number of functions.The teaching of speaking is therefore considered as a very complex communicativeprocess that requires a variety of linguistic, contextual, cultural, and interactionalaspects among speakers Consequently, communicative framework in the teaching

of speaking is believed can contribute to develop the students’ communicativecompetence

1.1.4.5 Grammar-Translation Method

teaching of the second language grammar, its principle techniques is translationfrom and into the target language In practice, reading and writing are the majorfocus; little or no systematic attention is paid to speaking or listening

The Grammar-Translation Method has been facing various attacks fromreformers Some criticizes that this method often creates frustration for students

by a tedious experience of memorizing endless list of unusable An Analysis ofLanguage Teaching Approaches and Methods- Effectiveness and Weaknessgrammar rules and vocabulary, and the limitations of practice techniques neveremancipate the learner from the dominance of the first language; others says thatthis method pay little attention to the student’s communicative competence(Luoma, 2004)

In spite of the severe attacks, the Grammar-Translation Method is stilledwidely practiced Because there is no inherent contradiction between grammarinstruction and communicative approach, and a sort of explicit grammarinstruction can complement communicative language teaching to raise learners’conscious awareness of the form and structure of the target language Moreover,the first language, as a reference system, can dismiss the misunderstanding inthe process of the second language learning Then, thinking about formalfeatures of the second language and translation as a practice technique put thelearner into an active problem-solving situation Finally, Grammar-TranslationMethod appears relatively easy to apply and it makes few demands on teachers,which is perhaps the exact reason of its popularity

1.1.5 Problems with speaking activities

In the process of teaching learning activity, there are also some challengesfor the teacher As stated before, there are many things that affect students’ lowspeaking mastery There are many difficulties that students felt According to

Thornbury (2005), the difficulties that the learner-speaker faces break down intotwo main areas:

1) Knowledge factors: the learner does not yet know aspects of the languagethat enable production

2) Skills factors: the learner’s knowledge is not sufficiently automated toensure fluency

As a result, there may also be:

3) Affective factors, such as lack of confidence or self-consciousness whichmight inhibit fluency

Alternatively, Ur (2000) advocated adopting problem with speakingactivities based on his observation In his view, speaking is a productive skill.Therefore, the students often face some problems The problems frequentlystated are lacking of confidence, having nothing to say He discussed somecommon problems above The first problem is lacking of confidence Unlike theother skills such as reading, listening, and writing, speaking requires somedegree of real-time exposure to an audience Some often feel stressed whenhaving to speak in a foreign language in front of the whole class, being worriedabout making mistakes, being fearful of criticism or losing face, or being simplyshy The second problem is that students sometimes think they have nothing tosay on a particular topic In reality, they may be bored or feel that the topic isunrelated to anything they know Students often lack confidence in speaking andfeel they have no knowledge of the target topic and enough vocabulary to talk

Besides, there are some other reasons prevent students from speaking well

in English Harmer (2007) stated that the class mix, the topic, the organization ofthe task, and also the reluctant students may become problems in teachingspeaking Besides, according to Brown (2001) one of the major obstaclesstudents have to overcome in learning to speak is the anxiety generated over therisks of blurting things out that are wrong or in comprehensible Furthermore,unlike reading or writing, speaking happens in real time where the person you

are talking to is waiting for you to speak right then You also cannot revise whatyou wish to say as you can if you are writing.

1.2 Group work

1.2.1 Definitions of group work

There is a general consensus among educators bout the definition of groupwork As Richards (2008) stated “group work is an essential activity because thekind of interactions produced in group activities has been shown to bequantitatively as well as qualitatively different form that which goes on in theteacher-dominated lessons”

Vo (2004) also followed Richards’s approach as she states group work as

“any classroom activity in which students’ perform collaborative tasks with one

or more partners.” On the whole, it is widely agreed that group work is a process

in which two or more learners work together to do a task which involvescooperation and self- generated language

On the other hand, group speaking was defined as a term referring to theway the teacher divides the students into groups to accomplish a speaking tasktogether (Nunan (1991) Hence, group discussion is one of the most popularspeaking English class activities to improve students’ communicative skills It is

a group of students working together, the number of students in each groupusually from four to six They meet face to face and through free oralinteraction, originate, share and discuss ideas to arrive at a decision or solution

to a problem or speaking tasks

It is obvious that group work is a co-operative activity, during whichstudents share aims and responsibilities, they have chances for greaterindependence as they take some of their own learning decisions without theteacher controlling And they can work without the pressure of the whole classlistening to what they are doing In addition, students have many chances tointeract with each other

1.2.2 Types of group work

1.2.2.1 Collaborative group work

Group work, or collaborative group work, is a teaching and learningstrategy that can be utilized for all types of students and can take various forms

in the classroom Using group work as a pedagogical tool can be useful innumerous ways It can be used to organize activities or tasks in the class where

an assignment is given by the teacher and students are expected to work as agroup to solve the group task (Doff, 2011) Through group work, students candevelop social skills, build a sense of community, support and depend on eachother for their learning experiences Furthermore, also called Learner-learnerinteraction (Brown, 2001), during group work, the learners or the students arethe main participants in the learning process while the teacher plays the role asthe monitor allowing students to take ownership of their learning Therefore, theteacher provides students with the opportunity to take ownership of their ownlearning

In collaborative group work, every group member is involved in working

on a given task to produce an outcome that they all agree upon This allows alltypes of learners, including English language learners, the opportunity to be in

an environment where they can work together to discuss their ideas, share andlisten to their peers’ thinking process Nunan (2003) stated that opportunities areprovided through group work for students to talk freely with their peers, whichultimately allows all students to practice and improve their oral language skills

1.2.2.2 Pair work

Another form of group work, only involving two participants, is pairwork This type of group work fosters two students to communicate with eachother as they teach and learn from each other To enhance language skills, ELLsneed opportunities to practice with English proficient students Through pairwork, students are able to share in more talking time to freely communicate inthe classroom (Davis, 1999) In pairs, he argues that students can practice their

oral language skills more efficiently than in a whole-class setting or with theteacher Creating a more intimate and relaxed environment, two studentsworking together in a group has more benefits than allowing the whole class toparticipate in a discussion For example, a group strategy called ‘think, pair,share’ involves two students turning to talk to the person beside them beforeparticipating in a whole class discussion This helps students articulate theirthinking with a peer partner before having to contribute in the large group, andworks well in encouraging those reluctant learners to rehearse before speaking Furthermore, when two students are grouped together with one being morecompetent than the other, also called peer tutoring, Doff (2001) stated that it ismore likely for the novice peer to freely express his or her thoughts and askquestions to his or her peer than to his or her teacher Research also supports thattutors benefit from this process by developing social and leadership skills,feeling a sense of accomplishment, and enhancing their own understanding ofconcepts after explaining them to someone else Conversely, she states that bypairing two ELLs, with one student more advanced in English than the other,both students benefit equally through observations of one another and self-expression This shows that ELLs can benefit from participating in group workand have opportunities to enhance their oral language skills.

1.2.2.3 Cooperative learning

One of the specific adaptive approaches of group work is cooperativelearning In their research study, Davis (1999, p.53) found that small cooperativeand collaborative learning is more effective for students to share their cognitiveperspective and problem solving skills than students working individually.However, cooperative group work is different from collaborative group workbecause it must include, and students need to demonstrate five specificprinciples for cooperative group work to be successful According to him, instructuring cooperative learning, it must include these five key elements:

positive interdependence, accountability, social and cognitive development, andinteraction Cooperative learning is an effective way to encourage students to

“want to learn more, like school better, like each other better, have higher esteem, and learn more effective social skills” (Richards, 2008)

In cooperative learning groups, each student has a specific role and studentsare able to produce work based on everyone’s input By assigning roles in groupwork, ELLs in the class will be able to contribute as well as gain from othermembers in their group Mixing cooperative learning groups with ELLs andnon-ELLs, ELLs will be able to listen to their peers speak English and alsoobserve their social behaviors Furthermore, some of the benefits of cooperativelearning include: academic gains across different subjects, increase inparticipation in classrooms, and more social interactions with peers (Porter,2000) Therefore, cooperative learning is an essential strategy for supportingELLs in the mainstream classroom For the strategy to be effective, it must bepurposeful and meaningful for the students In cooperative learning, ELLs willbenefit by working with peers with more proficient English skills who willprovide oral feedback and be language models for the ELLs in the classroom(Brown, 2001)

1.2.3 Advantages of using group work

One of the greater benefits of implementing group work in the classroom

is that students have the opportunity to communicate and interact with eachother By participating in group work, all students are able to collaborate andhave opportunities to exchange feelings, ideas, and thoughts (Doft, 2001).Therefore, within group work, student interactions are encouraged and fosteredbetween students, which allows all students to develop and practice their socialskills Student engagement and interaction is especially important for ELLsbecause as Doft (2001) further state, one of the ways in which ELLs acquire theEnglish language is through their environment and the interaction occurringbetween the students

Furthermore, he also noted that group work also creates a more relaxedatmosphere in the classroom, which increases the quantity and quality oflanguage use in students When ELLs work in groups, they feel that they are nothurried to create and produce sentences or answers as they would in a whole-class discussion Furthermore, “ELLs are more likely to participate orally inclass when they feel supported by their teachers and peers” (Vo, 2004, p.19).Therefore, for ELLs, group work will help create a safe and acceptingenvironment, which will encourage ELLs to participate and feel less anxiousabout not being able to speak or understand the language well.

In the same respect, Skrzynski (2001) presented some good reasons forgetting students to work in groups In his view, using group work activities helpstudents to increase confidence In fact, the students feel much morecomfortable to speak foreign language with one or two other students rather thanwith the whole class and the teacher Especially shy students, or ones who arenot good at speaking language yet feel more relaxed and self- confident trying toput their language abilities to a test during the activity and seeing how they usethem This encourages students to cooperate with one another In addition, itincreases students’ involvement

Having a different access to the benefits of using group work, Porter(2000) indicated that it helps students to increase their talking time Heestimated that in a 50 minute lesson with 30 students, if the students talked only

to the teacher, they would get 30 seconds of talking time per lesson Porter alsocalculated that this equals “just one hour per student per year” Therefore usinggroup work quite simply substantially increases the opportunities the studentsget to speak English

1.2.4 Disadvantages of using group work

Group work has some disadvantages for teachers and learners Brown(2001) also stated three problems when students work in groups as follows:

The first thing that students make mistakes While students work ingroups, the teacher usually do not disturb them, even if he/she notices somemistakes they have made, but we should not forget that errors or mistakes thatare an indissoluble elements of the process of learning Besides, students try tocorrect each other rather than learn the mistakes One of the main points is tohelp them increase their confidence and reduce the anxiety that is often found in

a purely teacher- centered classroom Pair work and group work activities areusually geared to fluency enhancement rather than accuracy practice

Another problem that it is unavoidable that students in groups will makenoise and indiscipline easily, so the teachers have more troublesome than thelearners have Participants in group work activities are normally unaware of thenoise and of what other pairs or groups are doing

In addition, it is due to the fact that while all students are speaking insmall groups, some students often have difficulties in expressing their ideas,they are unable or unwilling to do activities in English or their groups get stuck.Others are not under the observation of the teacher As a result, they will lapseinto their native language easily

Davis (1999) also noted for students and teachers, who have not had a lot

of experience with group work, that it can be a bit frightening at first However,

by introducing it in small doses both teachers and students will soon see thebenefits of these activities The most important aspect to remember is that theactivities must be set up carefully and the learners must have very clearinstructions on how to accomplish the activity After the activity starts, theteacher’s role is to monitor the students, offering assistance when necessary.Besides, he indicated that working in groups requires all members to payattention on the task Nevertheless, when the teacher is explaining for somegroups of devoting a little more time to slower students, the teacher cannot knowexactly what other groups are doing These case prevent the teacher much from

controlling the whole class Monitoring the class to work in groups successfully

is not easy for the teacher

The above statements, it seems that there are as many disadvantages asadvantages of these classroom arrangements and one cannot unanimously statewhich one is better, since each teacher has his/her own likes and dislikes It ishis/her individual choice which one should be used during the process ofteaching a language

1.2.5 Principles for organizing group work

Group work is a very powerful learning approach, which can be hugelybeneficial to students when used effectively It can be used separately from, or

in conjunction with, assessment of group working e.g individual contribution to

a group (where each individual is assessed), or group work e.g a grouppresentation (where the presentation as a product of the group work is assessed)

The following principles apply to all group activities whether they areassessed or not They need to be considered in relation to the whole coursedesign, including the required discipline-specific content and the appropriatelearning, teaching and assessment strategy for the course Particular attentionshould be paid to the assessment variety across each level together with thevertical integration of the assessment programme across levels (e.g studentsattempting assessed group work at level 6 should have experienced some form

of formative and/or summative group work task earlier on in the course)(Richards, 2008)

1.2 5.1 Preparation

Whatever the group task, it is vital that the purpose of working as a groupand the expected outcomes of this are made clear to the students involved Thepoints below should be considered in this light The rationale and linkedlearning outcomes should be clearly articulated to the students before starting,particular care should be given to any assessed group tasks Working in groups

involves a number of interpersonal skills which must be embedded in thecurriculum and identified prior to, as well as facilitated during the assessedgroup work These skills might include: emotional intelligence, conflictresolution, negotiation and giving and receiving feedback.

Students should have the opportunity to practice their interpersonal skillsprior to undertaking a group assessment (e.g by taking part in non-assessedgroup activities, engaging in peer feedback)

1.2.5.2 Design

Group work should be designed with reference to the learning outcomesand should enable students to demonstrate these successfully This may bethrough realizing the benefits of working together or through the producedoutputs of the group Firstly, the design of group work should equip studentswith knowledge and understanding of how individual roles contribute to groups

at a level appropriate for the specified group work Secondly, the group tasksmust be both inclusive and accessible by design, taking into account studentneeds and learning contracts where appropriate Thirdly, the opportunity for selfand/or peer assessment/feedback should be built into the curriculum deliveryand/or assessment strategy as necessary Fourthly, individual and/or groupreflection on the group process should be included where appropriate Lastly,design should include an audit process for monitoring and support (e.g.monitoring of written records/ audio recordings of group meetings on a groupwiki)

1.2.5.3 Support and monitoring

For group work to be a successful learning experience it needs to besupported and this, in turn, requires that there be a system in place to monitorthe progress of groups Monitoring ideally should be integrated into the way agroup operates and be student-led Ground rules should be pre-determined andclearly communicated Support must be ongoing throughout the period of the

group work with the opportunity for tutor feedback and intervention wherenecessary Moreover, progress must be monitored at set intervals and remedialaction taken by the tutor in case of difficulties based on information from theaudit process (e.g chasing/dealing with an absent group member in a timelyfashion).

2.2.5.4 Assessment

Assessed Group work must be carefully planned and the assessmentstrategy clearly presented to students Assessment should take into account theprocess as well as the product of the group work Furthermore, in the assessment

of a group work activity no assessment task should consist solely of a flat groupmark i.e a common mark awarded to all participants based on the product of agroup activity Any common mark should be combined with another assessmentactivity, such as an individual reflective piece, which allows an individual’scontribution to be recognized and leads to an individual task mark for eachparticipant The marks and weighting allocated to the group product and theindividual contribution should be clearly specified in the assessment criteria.Besides, marking criteria, including tutor and self/peer assessment criteria whereappropriate, should be clearly articulated and provided to the group prior to thestart of the group tasks These criteria might indicate what parts of theassessment are marked as a group, and where individual effort is recognized aswell as their respective weighting

1.2.5.5 Review

Standard institutional quality processes provide a useful mechanism forreviewing the effectiveness of assessed group work activities at both module andcourse level, on a yearly basis Assessed group work activities should beconsidered as part of the normal module review process which includesconsideration of student performance data, student and staff feedback Inaddition, a consideration of assessed group work activities, as part of an overall

assessment strategy for a given course, should be included in annual coursereviews.

1.2.6 Steps of organizing group work

Nunan (1991) divides it in to 3 steps: before activities, during activitiesand after activities

1.2.6.1 Before

The teacher makes students feel enthusiastic about what they are going to

do They need to understand what they are going to do, and they need to begiven an idea of when they will have finished the task they are going to getinvolved in

Sometimes the teachers’ instructions will involve a demonstration- when, forexample, students are going to use a new information- gap activity or when theywant them to use card On other occasions, where an activity is familiar, theteachers may simply give them an instruction to practice language they are tostudy in pairs, or to use their dictionaries to find specific bits of information.The important thing about instructions is that the students shouldunderstand and agree on what the task is To check that they do the teachermay ask them to repeat the instructions, or, in monolingual classes, totranslate them in to their first language

An alternative procedure is to go round the class watching and listening tospecific pairs and groups The teachers can stay (with their agreement) for a

period of time and then intervene if they think it is appropriate or necessary,always bearing in mind what the teachers have said about the difference betweenaccuracy and fluency work.

When students are working in groups the teachers have an ideal opportunity

to work with individual students whom they feel would benefit from theteachers’ attention They also have a great chance to act as observer, picking upinformation about students’ progress

1.2.6.3 After

When groups stop working together the teacher need to organize feedback.The teachers want to let them discuss what occurred during the group sessionand, where necessary, add their own assessments and make corrections

Where group work has formed part of a practice session, the teachers’feedback may take the form of having a few groups quickly demonstrate thelanguage they have been using The teachers can then correct it, if and whennecessary, and this procedure will give both those students and the rest of theclass good information for future learning and action

Adopting this view, Ngoh (2003) also stated the stages in implementinggroup work that are listed below:

Before entering the

classroom

Planning stage The teacher maps out the

specific objectives sheintends to achieve, andthe tasks to realize theobjectives set

In the classroom Practice stage The teacher equips the

students with thenecessary structures orvocabulary to achieve the

The teacher arranges thestudents into groups,making sure there iscontrol and order.

The students are engaged

in oral interaction ingroups in order toachieve the taskassigned

The group leaders present the product so that the other students can hear or read

The teacher assigns arelated task to reinforcelearning, and self-evaluates what has beendone

Table 2.1 Steps of organizing group work

Finally, it is vital to remember that constructive feedback on the content ofstudent work can greatly enhance students’ future motivation The feedback theteachers give on language mistakes is only one part of that process

2.3 Activities for group work in English speaking lesson

A variety of activities can be applied in communicative English classes ingeneral and English speaking lesson in particular through the use of pair workand group work

1.3.1 Games

A game could be any activities that formalize a technique into units thatcan be scored in some ways In his view, games help the learners to achievecommunicative objectives of curriculum and engage them in communication.Guessing games are common language classroom activities For example,twenty questions are easy adapted to small group One member secretly decidesthat he or she is some famous person, the rest of the group has to find out who,within twenty yes/ no questions, with each member of group taking turns askingquestions The person who is “it” rotates around the group and points are scored

Besides, playing card is also one of the games that teachers often use inEnglish speaking lesson To organize this game, teachers should prepare thirtysix cards in different colors: six red cards, six black cards, six white cards, sixblue cards, six pink cards and others in yellow Each type of color card isnumbered from one to six Firstly, teacher gives a topic and emphasize on siximportant issues of the topic Then she/he divides students into six groupsdepending on the same number in their cards Each group will discuss about oneissue of the topic After 2 minutes, students have to move quickly to work indifferent groups basing on the same color in their cards Each member in thegroup will talk to the other members the issue which they have just discussed.The perfect speaking of the topic will be performed by all members in the group

1.3.2 Role- play

Brown (2001) pointed that role- play minimally involves giving a role toone or more members of a group and assigning an objective or purpose thatparticipants must accomplish A group role- play might involve a discussion of apolitical issue, with each person assigned to represent a particular political point

of view In addition, he also stated the produce of organizing role- playactivities First of all, teacher asks a student to go to the board to play thedetective He/ she must turn his/ her back to the board After that, teacher writes

a word, sentence or show a picture to the board and asks other students in class toplay the witnesses to suggest for detective The witness have to use body language,the other sentences or the synonyms/ antonyms, etc of the picture/ word/ sentence

to explain for the detective Lastly, the detective has to guess what thepicture/word/sentence is

1.3.3 Projects

Mainly for young learners who can greatly benefit from hands- onapproaches to language, certain projects can be rewarding indeed For example,the teacher chooses a topic on environment, various small groups could each bedoing different things: Group A creates an environmental bulletin board for therest of school, group B develops fact sheets, group C make a three dimensionaldisplay, group D puts out a newsletter for the rest, group E develop skit, and soon

1.3.4 Interview

A popular activity for pair work, but also suitable for group work,interviews are useful at all level of proficiency (Howarth, 2001) This activityrequires teachers and students to prepare questions carefully Teacher asks astudent go to the front of the class At the same time, this student picks a famousperson whom he/ she wants to talk about Then the other students in the classwill interview him/ her as that famous person

1.3.5 Brainstorming

Brainstorming is often put to excellent use in preparing students to discuss

a complex issue It is a technique whose purpose is to initiate some sorts ofthinking process Brainstorming involves students in a rapid- fire, free-association listing of concepts or ideas or facts or feeling relevant to some topics

or contexts

1.3.6 Problem solving and decision making

Problem- solving is also popular in speaking lesson of major students.Problem- solving group techniques focus on the group’s solution of a specifiedproblem The problem might be relatively simple (such as giving directions on amap), moderately complex (such as working out an itinerary from train, plane,and bus schedules), or quite complex (such as solving a mystery in a “crimestory” or dealing with a political or moral dilemma)

Decision- making techniques are simply one of kind of problem- solvingwhere the ultimate goal is for students to make a decision

1.3.7 Discussion

According to Ur (2000), discussion is a difficult activity for students todeal with at the beginning levels of proficiency, but by the immediate level,certain activities can effectively include the exchange of various opinions.Sometimes, opinions are appropriate, sometimes they are not In opinionexchanges, the teacher must assure all students in the class that, while there may

be disagreement on issues, all opinions are to be valued, not scorned andrespected, not ridiculed Students work in two big groups: one group talks aboutthe problems and the others talks about the solutions At the same time, they willdiscuss and exchange their opinion in groups in a few time Then two groupswill take turn to talk about the problems and give the solutions for each problem.The group which gives the points immediately will become the winner

1.4 Attitude

1.4.1 Definition of attitude

Attitude is considered as the manner which is original and consistent withthinking, feeling and reacting to everyone, group, social issues, and attitude issurely changed from person to person (Gardner, 1972) A part of one’sperception is also formed from attitude, he also stated that attitude is reactionthat evaluated to some referent, implied the basis of personal beliefs or opinionsabout the referent Additionally, Brown (2001: 3) gave a simple definition about