Using cooperative learning in teaching speaking competence for the 11th form students

A INTRODUCTION I RATIONALE OF THE STUDY Nowadays English has become more and more important part in Vietnam and it is an international language Therefore, it has been taught in Vietnam from primary schools to high schools as a compulsory subject With many years of experience in teaching English at Nguyen Quan Nho high school, I found out that speaking stages are very important in teaching speaking and it also has significant effects on the students’ speaking performance If students not prepare well enough they can not speak well They can not even speak anything However, my students have met difficulty in oral communication classes This is, as recognized, due to their little motivation in the English oral classes Many of my students usually find no interest in speaking English even they are asked to and some, in other cases, feel less confident when they use English to interact among class members because of their language ability Therefore, I have tried lots of possible teaching methods in oral class so as to probably change the current situation Among many teaching techniques for speaking skill I found out that cooperative learning strategy, as group-work learning, has lots of interesting activities from which my students can benefit in English oral classes, for they will get more confidence and chances as well to express their ideas and opinions among group members My students will feel more motivated when they have chances to engage in a variety of speaking activities such as round robin, three-step-interview (Spencer Kagan), team jigsaw (Sikes and Snapp 1978) or group investigation, etc By using teaching method of this kind, I hope that my students’ attitude towards English oral class will have a lot of positive changes They, to large extent, become more activated and ready to work hard to master their speaking skill in all oral communication classes Therefore, I decided to apply “Using cooperative learning in teaching speaking competence for the 11 th form students ” as the topic of my research II AIMS OF THE STUDY This paper aims at research carried out with 11 th graders at Nguyen Quan Nho High School The main objective of the research was to establish strategies to help students to improve their oral ability in English Instruments used to collect the data were: lesson plans, student questionnaire, class observation, teacher’s notes and diary and interviews Considering the data gathered, this research prompted a more cooperative environment among students in the oral process Finally it was a way to motivate other teachers in the school to work with these kinds of strategies Research questions This study is carried out to find the answer to the following questions: 1 Why my students become unmotivated in oral communication classroom? What benefits of cooperative learning can my students accomplish? What can we to improve their motivation in oral communication classroom? Definition of specific terms + Cooperative Learning: The instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other’s learning (Johnson & Johnson, 1993) + Motivation: Motivation is defined as the impetus to create and sustain intensions and goal seeking acts (Ames & Ames, 1989) III SCOPE OF THE STUDY With this study, I put focus on investigating and discovering obstacles or difficulties encountered by students in English speaking lessons at Nguyen Quan Nho high school From these findings, the internal and external causes are analyzed to give some suggestions for tackling them in order to motivate students and help improve students’ speaking competence The study was conducted on the students of grade 11 at Nguyen Quan Nho high school with the textbook “Tiếng Anh 11” IV METHODS OF THE STUDY - Using the text- book to apply to each lesson and section - Using references to improve - Pictures and other materials - Discussing with other teachers, - Observing and drawing out experiences B DEVELOPMENT I LITERATURE REVIEW According to Cohen(1994) and Weidner(2003: 33), Cooperative learning can be characterized as a social process in which knowledge is acquired through the successful interaction between the group members Also, Slavin(1995: 2) said cooperative learning refers to variety of teaching methods in which students work in small groups to help one another learn academic content In cooperative classrooms, students are expected to help each other, to discuss and argue with each other, to access each other’s current knowledge and fill in gaps in each other’s understanding Learners, on the one hand, can gain such great achievements, social benefits and economic benefits through cooperative learning, which is seen as key changes in societies Weidner(2003: 18-25) Obviously, more learners can probably become the winners by joining in cooperative learning and sharing the success of achievements among them, Slavin(1984) Cooperative learning produces greater student achievement than traditional learning methodologies (Slavin 1984) Low achieving students when grouped with higher achieving students tend to be more hard-working, for there is a competition among groups in cooperative learning Likewise, one of the essential elements of cooperative learning is the development of social skills Besides academic benefits, learners can retrieve social benefits, which can be understood in a way that those who collaboratively work can know how to cooperate with others Much has been learnt from others’viewpoints other than from their own Social interaction improves communication skills that become a necessity to functioning in society Last but not least, cooperative learning requires fewer materials as learners can share among other group members Less equipment is necessary so learners can save money without sacrificing the quality of education Teachers, as a role of a coach, a facilitator, and sometimes a spectator in this approach, are also the beneficiaries from the cooperative learning By applying cooperative teaching method, teachers can probably save their time for their target lessons This is due to the fact that when the classrooms are well organized students will work more effectively rather than one that is clutter With traditional teaching methodologies, students sit in pre-arranged rows Class members may be of oversize Cooperative learning works best when group size is of smaller clusters of about or students Furthermore, teachers become more interactive with each cluster during the class time He/ she can easily manage group work or monitor group actions and behaviors, for all activities are well prepared in advance Finally, teachers can no longer be under increasing pressure to work with each individual, which possibly put them into stress in some way In summary, cooperative learning approach has far and away proved itself as an effective way to motivate learners in EFL classroom in comparison with other teaching techniques or approaches Thus, it is the teachers that should know when and how to use it in their classrooms in order that the lessons are better taught and the learners will benefit more from the teacher’s teaching II METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH SCHEDULE Independent and dependent variables The use of cooperative learning Operational definition: Teacher uses the cooperative learning approach to help motivate students to speak English in the class To motivate students in oral communication classrooms Operational definition: Students get motivated and more confident in English speaking classes Research design Research Questions Why our students become unmotivated in oral communication classroom? What benefits of cooperative learning can my students accomplish? What can we to improve their motivation in oral communication classroom? Research Instruments - interviews - Teacher’s lesson plans - class observations Subjects - Grade 11 - Age: 17 - Level: Preintermediate - teacher’s diaries - School name: Nguyen Quan Nho High school - Student questionnaires - Sample size: 90 students Tools for analysis - Frequency count - Percentage - Critical discourse analysis of classroom observation Data collection procedures The Data collection procedure is indicated in the following chart Pre-intermediate 11 graders Interviews Classroom observation The use of cooperative learning Classroom observation Analysis of classroom observation notes Students’ Questionnaires 3.1 Selection of the subjects: My research is carried out to see how effectively my students interact in English oral classes and how well they speak English when the cooperative learning approach is applied in the teaching of speaking My subjects are 11 th graders who are studying at Nguyen Quan Nho High School My teaching is conducted with 90 students from classes 11B3, 11B4, they are at the age of 16 or 17 Although my students are best selected from the Entrance Examination, they seem not to be good at speaking English It is due to the fact that the annual exams are designed to focus on only English grammar, reading and writing but listening and speaking skills As a result, they are in the state of being timid in oral classes For this reason, I decided to apply cooperative learning approach as a method to motivate my students to learn to speak English effectively in the classrooms 3.2 Interviews (See APPENDIX) Interviews are carried out to see how my students feel about the English oral classes and to find out what difficulties they are coping with I interviewed our colleagues and other 90 students to see their viewpoints from which I probably choose a suitable method for my teaching Factors that prevent students from taking part in speaking activities What factors prevents you from participating in speaking activities Numbers % (90 Ss) Factors a Speaking activities are difficult because I don’t have enough words to speak b Be shy and fear of mistakes and derision c Speaking activities are not interesting, the topics are boring d The teacher doesn’t encourage students to speak 50 55% 20 22% 15 17% 6% 3 Lesson plans: Lesson plans play an important role in the work of teaching Teachers will know what and how to teach their students Hence, it is essential that I need to collect lesson plans as a data source for my Action Research Basing on the textbook “Tieng Anh 11” (national English textbook issued by MOET of Vietnam), I choose some of the speaking periods to design my target lesson plans in a way that the cooperative learning can probably be applied and easily observed Below are some cooperative learning techniques to be applied in my teaching of speaking UNIT 1: FRIENDSHIP Period: Lesson 2: Speaking Activity Teacher gives out the network and people below and asks Ss to think of the questions used to ask about the information in it to describe their physical charcteristics Objectives of activity: Students will be able to describe the physical characteristics of some people in the picture Face (square,oval, round…) Hair (long, shott, black…) Eyes (small, big, brown…) Describing people’s appearance Nose (straight, small, flat…) Lips (thin, full, heart shaped…) Build (slim, thin, plump…) Appearance (handsome, beautiful, ) Height (tall, short, medium…) - T calls on some students to give their answers Eg: Can you describe the boy in the picture? What does the boy look like? Does he have short hair? Is he tall or short? What colour are his eyes? Does he have a round face? Is he wearing a pair of glasses? Is he handsome? Activity Students work in groups Discuss and number the following personalities in order of importance in friendship Objectives of activity: Students will be able to understand some adjectives in the book to order of importance in friendship FRIENDSHIP caring sincere helpful hospitable generous understanding modest honest pleasant - Teacher divides the class into groups and asks students to complete the network Activity Students work in pairs, one student plays the role of a journalist is going to interview an other student to ask some questions about his/ her friend Using the network and the information in activity Objectives of activity: Students will be able to ask and answer some questions to describe the physical characteristics and personalities of their friends Example: A: What’s your best friend’s name? B: Her name is Lan A: When was she born? (How old is she?) B: She was born in 2001 (She is 17 years old) A: What does she look like? B: She is very beautiful She is tall She has big eyes and long black hair A: What is she like? B: She is helpful and honest A: What does she usually in her free time? B: She usually reads book in her free time? A: What are her hobbies? B: They are reading and swimming A: What subject does she like best? B: She likes Maths best A: How much time does she spend on Maths every day? B: About an hour a day UNIT 3: A PARTY Period: 15 Lesson 2: Speaking Activity 1: Warm up: Brainstorming: Types of parties Objectives of activity: Students will be able to talk about some kinds of parties and revise the vocabulary on the topic party Birthday Valentine’s day House warming New year Parties Wedding Graduation Farewell Thanks-giving Activity 2: Think of a party you have been to Choose from the list the things you want to talk about Objectives of activity: Students will be able to talk about a party - Whose party was it? - What was the occasion? - Did you take a gift for the host? - Who did you go with? - Where was the party? - Were there any decorations? - Were there a lot of people there? - Did you know most of the people there? What sort of the drink and food did you have? What was the music like? Did you dance? Did you meet anybody nice there? What time did it start? What time did it finish? Did you stay to the end? Activity 3: Work in pairs Tell your partner about the party Objectives of activity: Students will be able to ask and answer about the party they have been to Example: A: Whose party was it? B: It was my friend-Lan A: What was the occasion? B: It was Lan’s birthday party A: Who did you go with? B: I went with some my friends A: Where was the party? B: It was held at Lan’s house A: Were there any decorations? B: Yes, there was A: Were there a lot of people there? B: Yes, there were a lot of her friends at there A: Did you know most of the people there? B: Yes, I did Because most of them are my friends A: What sort of the drink and food did you have? B: I ate cake and drank orange juice A: Did you dance? B: No, I didn’t A: What time did it start? B: It started at 7.30 A: What time did it finish? B: It finished at 9p.m A: Did you stay to the end? B: Yes, I did Activity 4: Work in groups You are going to take part in a competition to organise the best party Decide on the following Objectives of activity: Students will be able to negotiate in order to come up with a plan sor their parties When (date and time) Where (home? Restaurant?) Entertainment (dance? music? game?) Dressing codes (formal? informal? costumes?) Who to to invite invite (family?relative? (family?relative? friends? friends? classmates?) classmates?) Planning a party Budget (How much to spend? How much to Decorations Decorations (colored light (colored light bulbs?flower?) bulbs? flower?) Food and drink (cook our or order? vegetarian food?) Teacher devides the class into small groups of three or four and gets them to task 3, which is planning a party in the best way they can for a party competution In groups, students will negotiate in order to come up with a plan sor their parties Unit 8: Period 45 Celebrations Lesson 2: Speaking Activity 1: Discussion Objectives of activity: Students will be able to talk about the celebration of Tet in Viet nam - Work in pairs and discuss about these questions What have you known about Tet holiday? Or What is Tet? Or What time of the year is it? What spesial dishes or foods are prepared on Tet? Tell about Tet’s decoration What activities people usually during Tet? *Suggested answers: A: What have you known about Tet holiday? B: It’s time when Vienamese people celebrate the beginning of spring It’s also the start of the lunar New Year A: What spesial dishes or foods are prepared on Tet? B: Many traditional foods are prepared such as Banh Chung, Mut…so on A: Can you tell about Tet’s decoration? B: Homes are often decorated with plants and flowers Peach blossom is traditional at Tet in the North while apricot blossom is in the South.Every family 10 has a five-fruit tray on the ancestral altar and a dish of fruits, a tray of candied fruits and a Banh Chung on the table A: What activities people usually during Tet? B: People visit their relatives and friends, they exchange New Year’s wishes Children receive their” lucky money inside red envelopes Many people go to the pagoda to pray a lucky year for themselves and their family Activity 2: Matching Work in pais Look at some pictures about some popular holidays and celebrations in Vietnam and in the world Asks students match the holiday with their main purpose and activities Objectives of activity: Students will be able to know about some popular holidays and celebrations in Vietnam and in the world A: Which holiday is in each picture ? B: The first picture is Mid-Autumn Festival (15th , Aug Lunar) The second picture is Thanksgiving (Thur3rd,Nov) The third picture is Valentine’s Day (14th Feb) Holiday/Celebration Its main purpose Its activities 11 a People express their love to each other A They give chocolates, flowers or gifts to the people they love Valentine’s Day (14th Feb) b People celebrate the largest full moon in the year B Children wear masks, parade in the street, have parties with special cakes and lot of fruits , etc Mid-Autumn Festival (15th day of the 8th lunar c People celebrate the harvest C Family members get together They prepare a large meal with roast turkey Thanksgiving (third Thursday November) in month) Activity 3: Work in pairs Ask and answer about the holidays above, using the dialogue in Task as the model Objectives of activity: Students will be able to ask and answer about some popular holidays and celebrations in Vietnam and in the world Sample: A: Do you know thet next month is Valentine’s Day B: What is Valentine’s Day? A: It’s the time when people express their love to each other B: When is it exactly? A: Well, it is on February 14th B: What people usually on Valentine’s Day? A: They give chocolates, flowers or gifts to the people they love B: Oh, that sounds really interesting Unit 9: The post office Period 56 Lesson 2: Activity 1: Network Speaking - Brainstorming Objectives of activity: Students will be able to know and talk about some services of the post office Ask Ss to work in pairs to complete the network about some services of the post office Following Network Flower telegram service facsimile service 12 Telephone & fax service Post office Phone cards&internet cards EMS Mail &Pacel service Postal savings Find out some services of the post office Activity 2: Role-play Objectives of activity: Students will be able to read and find out the service which the customer using Task 1: T asks Ss to act out the dialogue and then answer the questions: What service is the customer taking in the dialogue ? - Call students to read the dialogue and answer the question Conversation: A Excuse me? B Yes, what can I for you, sir? A Could you help me to send this document to my office by fax? B Certainly What’s the fax number, please? A It’s 0373503034 B Ok.I’m sending it now A Thank you Oh How much is that? B It’s five thousand dongs You can see the rates on the table A Yeah I see Here you are Thank you - Students work in pairs then answer the question Answer the question Base on the sentense: to send this document to my office by fax Suggested answer: facsimile service Activity Situation , discusion and free role-play Objectives of activity: Students will be able to make a conversation from the suggestions Task 2: Work in pairs T sets the scene: Make a conversation from the suggestions The conversation takes place at the post office between a clerk(A) and a custom(B), who wants to have a telephone line installed at home - Ask Ss to work in pairs to make a converstion - After they finish T calls on some pair to practice before class 13 - Listen and correct their mistakes Example: A: Good morning Can I help you? B: Yes, I would like to have a telephone line installed at home? A: Ok, where you live? B: I live in Tran Phu Street When can you install it? A: We can install it one week afer you register B: Can you come on Friday? A: Yes, that’s fine Have you got a telephone yet? B: Yes, I have a telephone already How much is the installation fee and monthly fee? A: The installation fee is free and the monthly fee is 20 thousand Dong Could you please fill this form? Activity 4: Imagination Objectives of activity: Students will be able to make conversations for the situations then read the conversations Task 3: Work in pairs Imagine that one of you is a clert at the post office and the other is a customer, make a dialogue for each of the situations - Ask Ss to work in pairs to the task Situation 1: You want to subscribe to the Lao Dong Daily for a year and have the newspaper delivered to your home every morning before 6.30 Your address is 67 Ngoc Street, Hanoi Example: A: Good afternoon Can I help you? B: Yes, I would like to suscribe to Lao Dong daily newspaper A: Yes sir How long would you like to get the newspaper? B: For a year, please A: Where would you like to get the newspaper? B: At home, please My address is 67 Ngoc Ha Street, Ha Noi A: Ok What time you want to get the newspaper? B: Oh, can I get the newspaper before 6.30 every morning ? A: Ok, 6.30 every morning B: Yeah, thank you A: All right Could you fill in this form please Situation 2: Your best friend’s birthday is on 16th May You want to use the Flower Telegram Service provided by the post office to send her a greetings card and a bunch of red roses on her birthday Example : A: Good morning What can I for you? 14 B: Yes I would like to send a greetings cardand some flowers to my friend on her birthday A: Right When is your friend’s birthday? B: It’s May 16th A: What kind of flowers would you like to send? B: Roses A bunch of red roses please A: Would you like to have the card and the flowers delivered on May 16 th or a day before? B: On May 16th It’s best to deliver in the early morning A: OK I make a note for that Could you please fill in this form? And don’t forget to write the recipient’s address clearly 3.4 Classroom observation I got my colleagues to observe my speaking lessons and give me observation notes as well as their feedback (comments) to see how my teaching of speaking activities motivates my students so that I can get objective ideas for my lessons and their reflection on the students’ motivation Also, I asked my colleagues for observing their teaching speaking lessons 3.5 Teacher’s diaries Diaries are used to write down special notes and comments after each speaking lesson to see what has been done effectively and what has not By doing this, I can know how well my teaching approach benefits my students so that I can apply suitable strategies for my teaching methods 3.6 Student questionnaire (See APPENDIX) Through students’ questionnaire, I want to confirm the effectiveness of my teaching approach Students’ feedback is of great value from which I can choose the most suitable methods to apply in my teaching and to help my students learn better in all speaking classes Data analysis: Both quantitative and qualitative data are collected to support my research For the qualitative method, I will critical discourse analysis of teacher’s classroom observation notes, lesson plans and diaries Also, the quantitative method is used to deal with students’ questionnaires which are analyzed and reported in a table as frequencies and percentages Research schedule Below is the timetable showing the exact time and stages when this study is put into practice: No Activities Date to carry out 15 Keeping the traditional teaching method September, 2017 - week for oral classes without using cooperative learning approach Prepare major focuses to interview October, 2017 - week 1-2 colleagues and students Interviewing Observing my colleagues’ classes and November , 2017 – week asking colleagues to observe my classes 1-2 Using cooperative learning approach in November, 2017- week 3, teaching speaking December,2017 - week 1, 2, 3, Continuing the class observation to see January, 2018- week 3, the students’ motivation in speaking March, 2018 – week 1, 2, classes with cooperative learning 3, strategy April, 2018 – week 1, October, 2017 – week -4 Data analysis Designing and running a questionnaire to April, 2018- Week see students’ attitudes towards cooperative learning strategy in oral classes Writing a report on how cooperative May, 2018-Week learning can motivate students in oral communication classrooms 10 April, 2018 – week III RESULTS The number of students desire speaking lessons Classes At the beginning of the schoolyear 2017-2018 At the end of the schoolyear 2017-2018 11B3 16/45 33/45 16 (35,5%) 11B4 (73%) 14/45 30/45 (31%) (66,6%) The data from the table shows that by experimental teaching to practice speaking skills for the students who have obtained many results It is the motivation to all students in attendance must be dynamic The observation also reveals that the way I applied in speaking lesson attracted a large number of students The number of the students understanding the meaning and the words is a problem that will be easier They are not shy when participating in speaking activities and interested in the games, pictures that teacher gave them The students are able to speak English in a real competitive and friendly atmosphere They are encouraged to speak English They were excited in some speaking activities such as role play, interview… From these activities they can speak and understand English better IV RECOMMENDATIONS I hope that the teaching strategy of using cooperative learning in oral communication classrooms will much benefit my students as they have more chances to engage in speaking activities Students who are timid, shy and feel less motivated when joining in speaking classes of this kind will feel more confident More importantly, competition among the groups was an important factor to motivate students to work as a group, because it is important for them to be the best and to be recognized Students will be aware of their responsibility in the speaking process They should understand that one way to improve speaking is practicing with others, interacting with others, and learning from others C CONCLUSIONS AND PROPOSALS In this proposal, I have identified the problem and reviewed literature related to my research field Also, I have conducted data collection procedures from different sources to support my study we have planned out the timetable to carry out my work in sequence Having analyzed and worked through this research project, we have concluded that cooperative learning strategies helped students to improve oral production and interaction, but it was a gradual process I confirmed that speaking is a productive skill and it involves 17 many components Although this research work has successfully been conducted and has helped to deal with the problems mentioned well, there are some limitations The first limitation is the scale of the study This research work is only carried out in my school In fact, it could be conducted in a large scale with the same knowledge and researching procedure The next one is concerned with the scale of survey questionnaires and observation with the enrollment of nearly a half of the 11th from students and only teachers of English at our school Moreover, in terms of data collection instruments, only two set of survey questionnaires and observations are used Without interview, I will not have chance to listen directly to both the teachers and student’s ideas, so some problems related to group work as perceived by them have been exploited In conclusion, I hope that my research work will contribute a small part to the teaching and learning English at school in general, especially the approach I hope it will help the teachers of English at school to teach and promote student’s speaking ability Thanh hóa, ngày 25 tháng 05 năm 2018 Xác nhận hiệu trưởng trường THPT Nguyễn Quán Nho Đỗ Thận Tuấn Tôi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, khơng chép nội dung người khác Người viết SKKN Trần Thị Thương 18 REFERENCES I REFERENCE - Artz, A F., & Newman, C M (1990) Cooperative Learning Mathematics Teacher, 83, 448-449 - Gardner, R, Moorcroft, M and Evers, F 1987 Second language-attrition: the role of motivation and use Journal of Language and Social Psychology - Johnson, D W (1991) Circles of learning Cooperation in the classroom M.N Interaction Book Company - Johnson, D W (1988) Cooperation in the classroom Edina: Interaction Book Company - Johnson, D., & Johnson, R “Cooperative Learning.” (Online) from http://www.clcrc.com/pages/cl.html - Kagan,S.(1986) Cooperative learning and socio-cultural factors in schooling California: California State University - Nunan, D (1989) Understanding language classrooms New Jersey: Prentice Hall - Slavin, R E (1990) Cooperative learning: Theory, research and practice New Jersey: Prentice Hall - The text book of English 11 II APPENDIX Factors that prevent students from taking part in speaking activities What factors prevents you from participating in speaking activities Numbers % (90 Ss) Factors a Speaking activities are difficult because I don’t have enough words to speak b Be shy and fear of mistakes and derision c Speaking activities are not interesting, the topics are boring d The teacher doesn’t encourage to speak 50 55% 20 22% 15 17% 6% Phiếu đánh giá kỹ Nói 19 Nhóm đánh giá: Nhóm đánh giá: Giải pháp phù hợp: Tính xác (ngữ pháp, phát âm, cách dùng từ): Tính lưu lốt (vd: có bị nói lắp, ngập ngừng): Điểm mạnh (vd: sử dụng ngôn ngữ cử chỉ) Điểm yếu: Nhận xét chung: Điểm đánh giá: Assessor group: Performance group: Relevant to situation? Accuracy (grammar, pronunciation, word choice): Fluency (hesitation, pauses, repetition): Strong points: Weak points: Comments: Total score: Interview Ask your partners questions to get information to complete the table below: Names Partner Partner Partner Partner Things to ask Your hobby Why you like it When did you like it 20 Các SKKN đạt giải cấp nghành STT Tên đề tài Biện pháp để dạy hiệu tiết: Language focus Tiếng anh Xếp loại C Cấp Tỉnh Năm 2010 21 ... classes 1-2 Using cooperative learning approach in November, 2017- week 3, teaching speaking December,2017 - week 1, 2, 3, Continuing the class observation to see January, 2018- week 3, the students ... hope that the teaching strategy of using cooperative learning in oral communication classrooms will much benefit my students as they have more chances to engage in speaking activities Students. .. through cooperative learning, which is seen as key changes in societies Weidner(2003: 18-25) Obviously, more learners can probably become the winners by joining in cooperative learning and sharing the