Applying literature circle technique to group work activities to enhance cooperative learning in english speaking lessons at grade 10 in luong the vinh upper secondary school, quang ninh province

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES VU THI THU HIEN APPLYING LITERATURE CIRCLE TECHNIQUE TO GROUP-WORK ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE COOPERATIVE LEARNING IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS AT GRADE 10 IN LUONG THE VINH UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL QUANG NINH PROVINCE (Áp dụng kĩ thuật Vòng tròn văn học vào hoạt động nhóm nhằm thúc đẩy việc học tập hợp tác học Nói tiếng Anh lớp 10 trường THPT Lương Thế Vinh, tỉnh Quảng Ninh) M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 THAI NGUYEN – 2019 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES VU THI THU HIEN APPLYING LITERATURE CIRCLE TECHNIQUE TO GROUP-WORK ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE COOPERATIVE LEARNING IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS AT GRADE 10 IN LUONG THE VINH UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL QUANG NINH PROVINCE (Áp dụng kĩ thuật Vịng trịn văn học vào hoạt động nhóm nhằm thúc đẩy việc học tập hợp tác học Nói tiếng Anh lớp 10 trường THPT Lương Thế Vinh, tỉnh Quảng Ninh) M.A THESIS (APPLICATION ORIENTATION) Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Dr Đặng Thị Thu Hương THAI NGUYEN – 2019 THE CANDIDATE'S STATEMENTS I hereby declare that the minor thesis entitled “Applying literature circle technique to group-work activities to enhance cooperative learning in English speaking lessons at grade 10 in Luong The Vinh Upper Secondary School, Quang Ninh province” is my own work To the best of my knowledge, it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at SFL or any other educational institutions The thesis has not been submitted to any other examining body and has not been published Any contribution made to the research by others is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis The candidate Vu Thi Thu Hien Approved by SUPERVISOR Dr Dang Thi Thu Huong i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To complete this study, I am indebted to many people for their thoughtful help I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Dang Thi Thu Huong, for supporting me from the proposal stage to the completion of my thesis She helped me begin my project and provided guidance and suggestions throughout all of my drafts She spent a great deal of time working with me to help me through the multistep research process by emails or in person She tirelessly edited my thesis proposals, drafts and final thesis I would also like to acknowledge a particular debt to Dr Nguyen Trong Du for his valuable advice and patient guidance though he is not my supervisor I would also like to thank the staff and students at my school, Luong The Vinh Upper Secondary School, Quang Ninh province, for their support They assisted my goals by being flexible, lending resources and engaging in informal discussions about my challenges over the course of the project Most importantly, I wish to acknowledge my family, who has patiently allowed me the time to work on my thesis They were invaluable to the success of this paper and I thank them for believing in my accomplishments Thai Nguyen, June 2019 Vu Thi Thu Hien ii ABSTRACT Cooperative learning is undeniably helpful to students, especially to those who are studying a foreign language Practice of speaking is considered as one of the most important factors for the acquisition of languages This study is conducted to examine the effectiveness of literature circle technique on cooperative activities inside the classroom in English speaking lessons for students grade 10, Luong The Vinh Upper Secondary School, Quang Ninh province Particularly, the researcher aims at collecting factual evidences about difficulties that teachers face while applying the cooperative learning technique (what difficulties teachers face in typical Vietnamese classrooms while applying the cooperative learning technique?) An action research has been carried out experimenting the application of modified literature circle technique in that context (does the adapted literature circle technique help enhance cooperative learning in Vietnamese classrooms?) The findings indicate a significantly positive effect of literature circle technique which helps enhance cooperative learning considerably in English lessons Practical exercises and lessons learnt from the study suggest the use of literature circle technique in other places in Vietnam iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF CHARTS ix PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of the study and research questions Scope of the study Significance of the study Method of the study Organization of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Cooperative Learning 1.1.1 Definition 1.1.2 Characteristics of a cooperative learning group 1.1.3 The roles of cooperative learning in language education 1.1.4 Challenges in applying cooperative learning group work 1.2 Literature circle technique 1.2.1 Definition 1.2.2 The use of literature circle techniques for cooperative learning group work in improving speaking skills 1.2.3 Limitation of using literature circle in real classrooms and the adapted model CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 10 2.1 Research context 10 iv 2.2 Research questions 11 2.3 Research approach 11 2.3.1 An overview of action research 11 2.3.2 Rationale for the use of an action research 12 2.4 Description of the research 12 2.4.1 Population 12 2.4.2 Data collection instrument 13 2.4.3 The action procedures 13 2.4.4 Data collection procedures 15 2.4.5 Data analysis procedure 16 2.5 Summary 17 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 19 3.1 Research question 19 3.1.1 Pre-questionnaire for teachers 19 3.1.2 Pre-questionnaire for students 24 3.2 Research question 30 3.2.1 Observation 30 3.2.2 Post-questionnaire for students 33 3.2.3 KII with teachers 36 PART C: CONCLUSION 39 Conclusion 39 Implications 40 Limitations of the study 40 Suggestions for further research 41 REFERENCES 42 APPENDIX I: Pre-questionnaire for teachers I APPENDIX II: Pre-questionnaire for students V APPENDIX III: Post-questionnaire for students .VII APPENDIX IV: Questions for KII with teachers IX v APPENDIX V: Instructions for teachers’ using literature circle technique X APPENDIX VI: Sample lesson plan XIII APPENDIX VII: Observations form XIIII vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT : Communicative Language Teaching EFL : English as a Foreign Language KII : Key Informant Interview : first language/mother tongue L1 L2 SFL : second language : School of Foreign Languages : Students’ Talking Time STT TTT : Teachers’ Talking Time vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: The characteristics of a traditional group 20 Table 2: The benefits of cooperative learning group activities to the students 22 Table 3: Observation table of checklist 31 viii Question How much you interact with other members and feel engaged? A Very much B Neutral C Not very much Question Do you like joining Literature Circle groups in the next lessons? A Very much B Neutral C Not very much Thank you VI APPENDIX III: POST-QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS This questionnaire is designed for my study on "Applying Literature Circle technique to group-work activities to enhance cooperative learning in English speaking lessons at grade 10 in Luong The Vinh Upper Secondary School, Quang Ninh province." Your assistance in fulfilling the following questions is greatly appreciated We can assure that your responses will be completely anonymous and will not be used for any other purposes In completing the following questions, you circle for your choices You have only one choice for each question Question How much you like working in groups? A Very much B Neutral C Not very much Question How much you talk in groups? A Less than 20% B Between 20% and 40% C Between 41% and 60% D More than 60% Question What you prefer in a lesson? A Stay in the same group B Move around and join more than one group Question Do you think you are important in the group because you have a unique role? A Yes B No Question How much you interact with other members and feel engaged? A Very much B Neutral C Not very much VII Question Do you like joining Literature Circle groups in the next lessons? A Very much B Neutral C Not very much Thank you VIII APPENDIX IV: QUESTIONS FOR KII WITH TEACHERS Question 1: Do you think that literature circle technique has helped remove the difficulties you often meet with when having students group work activities? Were there more equal opportunities to speak among group members? Question 2: Do you think the students were more interested in and enjoyed their jobs in the circle? Question 3: Do you think the students speak more in the circles comparing to traditional groups? Question 4: Do you think your students are more proactive and responsible for their contributions to the group? Were your students more engaged? Question 5: Do you think your students have learnt more in these experimented lessons than the normal ones? Did they learn more from friends or the teacher? Question 6: Do you think you were more relaxed in those lessons? Did you feel less teacher centered in those lessons? Question 7: Do you think it takes time to prepare the lessons? IX APPENDIX V: INSTRUCTIONS FOR TEACHERS’ USING LITERATURE CIRCLE TECHNIQUE The literature circle roles for cooperative learning in speaking lessons - Vocabulary Finder: Find out the words or new words related to the given topics in Vocabulary section; try to find out as many words as possible needed for the next parts of the discussions At the first time of running literature circle, the teacher does a sample for the students Online and paper dictionaries are allowed in this section - Question Maker: Make questions about the discussed topic in Question section; could base on the words in the first section of the discussion to make questions, or go onto the internet to consult Mobile phones, laptops, tablets and other electronic devices are allowed - Structure Builder: Recall his/her knowledge of grammar learnt before in Structure section; build the structures to answer some hard questions from the Question Maker - Reporter: report the group discussions (which are normally the group interviews) for the whole class in Report section When one group’s reporter finishes his/her speech, the other groups give comments and asks some more questions about his/her report In all four main sections of a full ‘circle’, the main role in each is the leader of the group, and the others are supposed to give the student who plays the main role suggestions or comments After each section, the participants have to write down the discussed information in the given Literature Circle Role Sheet for Cooperative Learning in Speaking Lessons Prior to coming to the Report section, there is an additional part of group interview in which the participants of every group use the questions (in Question section) to ask other members in group; the interviewees should use the suggested structures (in Structure section) and the words (in Vocabulary section) to answer the questions The Reporter was the one who takes note the group mates’ answers in order to report for the class X Steps to run literature circle for cooperative learning in speaking lessons - Getting started with literature circle technique: Divide the class into small groups of four In the first experimental lessons, after the teacher brings in the roles of a ‘circle’, students will have time to consider and choose the role they wish to undertake; after that, the roles of students in every group were rotated until one students had four times to undertake all four roles It is essential for the teacher to create the open and welcome learning environment throughout the lessons The step of getting started with literature circle model is extremely important because if the teacher does not this step, the following steps may be led in wrong ways - Organizing literature circles for cooperative learning in speaking lessons: Introduce the literature circle technique: The teacher explains about the four roles (Vocabulary Finder, Question Maker, Structure Builder, and Reporter) and their functions Give a sample of each role’s duties by modeling or explaining orally Then give out the Literature Circle Role Sheets to the students and explain the way to use them Choose roles within a group: Students consider the task of each role and pick the one they wish to take The Vocabulary Builder’s responsibilities is to find the words related to the topic that (s)he thinks are necessary for the next section of the ‘circle’ The duties of Question Maker are to make questions about the given topic in order to build up the format of the group interview The Structure Builder has to find the common useful expressions to answer the questions and build some answer structures to deal with the difficult questions Finally, the Reporter are supposed to go to the board to report the group’s interviews (the group’s products) Work with literature circle technique: Students work with their roles to fulfill the responsibilities Ideally, in each section of a ‘circle’, the main role person should ask the group mate questions relating to his/her role, and the other participants contribute to the discussion by answering the questions, then the main role person give suggestions about his/her part, and all the members take note after every section After finishing Vocabulary, Questions, and Structures sections, there is a short interview in the group, using the prompts of the previous sections to respond to the interview The reporter has to take note carefully his/her group mates’ answers to report in front of the class During the group discussions, the teacher acts as a facilitator to observe and offered assistance when necessary XI Evaluate the group’s work: Teacher bases on her observation to give the groups grades, and the students use the given accessing form to make peer-assessment for their group mates - Do a final reflection: As students finished one ‘circle’ about a topic, the teacher does a final reflection to find out more about students’ experience and attitudes of working with literature circles All the questions in the final reflection should be focused on the ways that help literature circle work better, and the suggestions of needed behaviors and characteristics when working within groups Do a final reflection is the final step of a complete literature circle Notes: In the next circles, the teacher continued to follow the above steps to organize literature circle activities for the students But at these times, students are not allowed to choose the roles they wanted but to rotate the roles with their group mates The circles continue until all the participants of a group has taken all four roles XII APPENDIX VI: SAMPLE LESSON PLAN TOPIC: MUSIC I Aims: - To help students improve their speaking skills - To help students improve their group-work skills through Literature Circle Technique II Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: Knowledge: - Know more about the types of music, adjectives to describe music, and some useful expressions for speaking, so that students can be able to talk about their favorite music Skills: - Improve their speaking skills by discussing in group run upon Literature Circle Technique, and making interviews about Music topic Attitude: - Get interested in cooperative learning which implements Literature Circle Technique III Teaching aids: - Textbooks, notebooks, pens, a board, chalk, some sheets of paper, a laptop, a projector, and speakers V Procedures: Stages (Timing) I Warm-up (5 ms) Procedure - T shows pictures of the famous singers and bands on the screen (one by one) and asks Ss to find out who they are and which kind of music they own and how they feel when listening to each kind of music - Each Ss who gives the correct kind of music will receive gift from the teacher Folk music R&B Rock Pop Jazz Classical music - T asks Ss to guess what they are going to speak about in this lesson XIII Interaction T - Ss II Pre - speaking T introduces the contents of the lesson: “Unit 12: MUSIC - Speaking” (4 ms) T - Ss - T lets Ss get started with the literature circle model in the lesson by bringing in some roles in a group that they are supposed to take T: Today, we will work in groups of in all activities to talk about music Each group will be have responsibilities: Vocabulary finder, Question maker, Structure builder, and Reporter The duties of each role:  Vocabulary finder: find the vocabulary of types of music, and adjectives to describe their favorite music  Questions maker: Make as many questions as possible to ask about Music-topic  Structure builder: find out useful expressions to show one’s opinion, feelings, preference and reasons Besides, build the structure to answer some hard questions from question maker  Reporter: report the group’s discussion Note: Although every group member has the separate role, the others can support and give feedbacks for each other to achieve the best result - T lets Ss to choose the role they prefer to undertake III While speaking (26 ms) Vocabulary (about minutes) - T gets the vocabulary builder of each group to lead the group in this part: The vocabulary builder will try to find out the different types of music and adjectives to describe The other group members can give him/her some suggestions After that, they will write down all the words on the given handout Expected answers: Types of music Adjectives to describe music Pop relaxing XIV Group work R&B Jazz Classical music Rock’n’roll R&B Folk music Electronic music Vinahouse Bolero Red music Wartime music Enjoyable Powerful Imaginative mournful solemn Entertaining Moving interesting Good fun Boring Exciting wonderful Questions (about minutes) - T gets the Question maker of each group to lead the group in this part: The question maker will try to make as many questions to ask about the topic Music as possible (at least 10 questions) The other group members can give him/her some suggestions After that, they will write down all the questions on the given handout Expected answers: What kind of music you like? Why you like it? What kind of music is it? When you often listen to music? How you feel when you listen to it? Who is your favorite singer/band? Why you prefer it to other kind of music? How often you listen to music? Do you think music are bad or good for people? Why? 10 Have you ever fallen asleep while listening to music? Why/Why not? Structures (about minutes) - T gets the Structure Builder of each group to lead the group in this part: The Structure Builder will try to : find out useful expressions to show one’s opinion, feelings, preferences and reasons Besides, build the structure to answer some hard questions XV Group work from question maker The other group members can give him/her some suggestions After that, they will write down all the questions on the given handout Expected answers: Express your opinion o I suppose/ I think o In my opinion, o I guess that Express your agreement o I agree with you o I think so Express your disagreement o I don’t quite agree with you o I don’t think so because Express your feelings o I was /I felt when watching this film o That film made me o I find them really Express your preferences o My favorite kind of music is o I prefer A to B o I like/love o I’m really into Interviews (about minutes) - T lets the groups to make interviews about topic music: using the questions from Question maker, the useful expressions from the Structure builder, and the vocabulary for Vocabulary finder to the interviews Take notes at the same time - T calls some groups to stand up and perform their interviews - T checks Ss’ pronunciation and give feedbacks IV Post speaking (8 ms) Reports (about minutes) - T asks the Reporter to report the groups’ interviews for the whole class The other members are supposed to listen and give comments for him/her - T calls some reporters go to the board and report their interviews, and gives marks for the groups XVI Group work Group work Group work IV Consolidation and Homework (2 ms) Consolidation: - T asks students to answer the following question: “What have you learnt today?” Homework : - Learn the vocabulary and the useful expressions by heart - Make a short talk about your favorite music - Prepare for the next lesson XVII T - Ss APPENDIX VII: OBSERVATION FORM = totally invisible = little invisibility = clearly visible XVIII Observed Behaviors Lessons Teacher created an open and welcome learning environment at the beginning of the lesson In the first lessons, students could choose the role they wish to undertake and the roles were rotated until one students had four times to undertake all four roles Teacher instructed clearly (or modeled) and students knew well about their roles in circle Students asked their circle mates questions related to their role, and received answers, explanation or feedback from the mates Teacher gave the whole groups a grade, and the circle members made peer-assessment Teacher acted as a facilitator but not take the monopolization of the class The group discussions are led by the students themselves High achievers dominated the group discussions XIX 1 3 Students naturally made effort to discuss in English Individual spoke English freely and confidently for about more than 40% of the group working time Students develop good relationship with each other within groups and showed interest in the co-working Individual student with a specific role could move around and consult or discuss with other individuals with the same role in the other groups Teacher did a final reflection after students’ group working XX ... APPLYING LITERATURE CIRCLE TECHNIQUE TO GROUP- WORK ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE COOPERATIVE LEARNING IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS AT GRADE 10 IN LUONG THE VINH UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL QUANG NINH PROVINCE. .. STATEMENTS I hereby declare that the minor thesis entitled ? ?Applying literature circle technique to group- work activities to enhance cooperative learning in English speaking lessons at grade 10. .. effectiveness of literature circle technique on cooperative activities inside the classroom in English speaking lessons for students grade 10, Luong The Vinh Upper Secondary School, Quang Ninh province Particularly,