SEVERAL ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SMALL GROUP WORK IN TEACHING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ TRƯỜNG THPT YÊN ĐỊNH SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM SEVERAL ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SMALL GROUP WORK IN TEACHING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS Người thực hiện: Lê Thị Hà Chức vụ: Giáo viên SKKN thuộc lĩnh vực (môn): Ngoại ngữ i TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS i CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Title of the innovation 1.2 Reason for choosing the topic 1.3 Aims of the innovation .1 1.4 Subjects of the innovation 1.5 Research methods .2 CHAPTER CONTENT 2.1 Rationale for the innovation 2.1.1 English speaking skills 2.1.1.1 The importance of teaching English speaking skills 2.1.1.2 Principles of teaching English speaking skills 2.1.2 Small group work 2.1.2.1 Definition, advantages and disadvantages of small group work 2.1.2.2 Teaching English speaking skills through small group work 2.2 Context of the innovation 2.2.1 General situation .5 ii 2.2.2 Current situation at Yen Dinh high school .5 2.3 The solutions which have been used to improve students’ speaking ability, focusing on small group activities 2.3.1 The psychological and methodological preparation 2.3.2 Using different activities to promote speaking lessons .7 2.3.3 Specific examples 2.3.3.1 Example 1: Using information gap and picture describing activities 2.3.3.2 Example 2: Using discussion activities 13 2.4 Effects of the innovation 16 2.4.1 Subjects and data collection methods .17 2.4.2 Results and discussion .17 2.4.2.1 Students’ participation and interaction in small group activities 17 2.4.2.2 Students’ attitudes towards the small group activities 18 CHAPTER CONCLUSION AND SUGESSTIONS 19 3.1 Conclusion 19 3.2 Suggestions for further studies .19 REFERENCES .I APPENDIX – Questionnaires I APPENDIX – Questionnaire .III iii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Title of the innovation Several activities to improve the effectiveness of small group work in teaching English speaking skills 1.2 Reason for choosing the topic The process of international integration, also known as globalization, along with the development of the internet poses an urgent need for learning English in schools, because it helps students access to a rich source of information From there, students can actively search for learning materials as well as approach useful learning methods Speaking is as important as the other three skills: reading, writing, and listening for foreign language learners These four skills give learners opportunities to create contexts in which they use the language for exchange of real information, evidence of their own ability (proof of learning) and, most important, confidence Speaking, however, makes it more difficult than others for both learners and teachers because it not only requires learners to be confident to express their thoughts in other language, but also requires teachers to find a suitable method for learners to practice directly with others (classmates or teacher), while other skills can be followed individually and then submitted to teachers for correction Working in small groups, one of the new teaching methods, in my opinion is suitable for speaking teaching because it increases the interaction between learners with learners, and learners with teachers It thereby creates opportunities for learners to practice more often The fact is that my colleagues and myself have tried to apply this method in speaking teaching, but it is not really effective (will be presented in detail in chapter 2) Realizing this situation, the innovation “Several activities to improve the effectiveness of small group work in teaching English speaking skills” is implemented 1.3 Aims of the innovation The innovation on enhancing the effectiveness of small group activities in teaching speaking skills has been carried out with the aim to investigate the benefits students can gain from the application of working in small groups in speaking lessons, together with finding out the more appropriate ways to conduct the activities The innovation, thus, aimed to answer the two following questions: - What benefit would students at Yen Dinh high school gain from small group activities? - What are the more appropriate activities to carry out the small group work in speaking class at Yen Dinh high school? 1.4 Subjects of the innovation This innovation focuses on difficulties of students in class 10A7 and 10A8 at Yen Dinh high school when encountering small group activities in learning speaking skills and some techniques to help them to overcome these difficulties 1.5 Research methods To achieve the purposes mentioned above, the method of reading and synthesizing books and other materials on learning speaking skill and on teaching strategies was used, combined with exchange of experience with colleagues In addition, two data collection tools including observation and questionnaires were implemented to gather information from students CHAPTER CONTENT 2.1 Rationale for the innovation 2.1.1 English speaking skills 2.1.1.1 The importance of teaching English speaking skills Although English is not ranked first in terms of number of native speakers but it is the most spoken language in the world with an estimation of 1.5 billion speakers across the world [1] English is widely used in the field of scientific research, education, business, the internet, travel and tourism, media and newspapers, software, medicine, engineering, information and technology, entertainment, banking, and so on All our software development today, the communication facilities available to us through internet, our access to a variety of websites, are all being carried out in English Most of the research works are conducted and compiled in English Furthermore, most of the books related to higher education are published in English As a result, most of the foreign language learners try to learn English In this process, they have to acquire all the four basic skills of the language including listening, speaking, reading and writing Among them, listening and reading are considered to be passive or receptive skills as the learners not show their talent in exhibiting these skills They just listen to the language or read it without producing anything Whereas, the learners have to produce sentences on their own and they need a lot of practice and learn many things related to grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure and usage Therefore, speaking and writing are considered to be active or productive skills [2,3] Among these four key language skills, speaking is deemed to be the most important skill in learning English Describing the importance of this skill, Brown and Yuke wrote, “speaking is the skill that the students will be judged upon most in real life situations” [4], while Yunzhong stated, many language teachers consider speaking as the most effective means of gaining a fluent reading knowledge and correct speech as the foundation for good writing [5] Indeed, speaking is an important part of everyday interaction and most often the first impression of a person is based on his/her ability to speak fluently and comprehensibly The ability to speak skillfully provides the speakers with several distinct advantages such as [6]: - To participate actively in pair or group activities in the classrooms - To give a maiden and impressive speech on different occasions - To participate actively in debates and group discussions - To develop critical thinking among the learners - To pursue higher studies in foreign countries - To interact with people all around the globe - To promote the sale of products in the business - To make living abroad simpler and easier - To get better employment opportunities - To make use of the internet effectively - To perform well in job interviews - To acquire more knowledge - To travel to a foreign country - To good international business - To earn high respect in the society - To give presentations for all purposes - To communicate effectively with others - To increase the income of the individual - To boost up the speakers’ self-confidence - To know the different cultures of the world - To interact with people all around the globe - To keep over cognition and reasoning very sharp - To get better employment opportunities all over the world - To increase the ability of problem-solving and critical thinking - To improve the overall development of the speaker’s personality - To highly motivate and attract the customers in buying the products Since these important advantages, the English teachers should concentrate on teaching speaking skills and have to think of various techniques and approaches to help the learners in speaking development 2.1.1.2 Principles of teaching English speaking skills According to Anuradha et al., following are the principles of teaching speaking skills [7]: - Encourage students to speak right from the first day If not, as early as possible and not to wait till she teaches them a stock of words, phrases or sentences - Tolerate the students if some of them simply repeat what they say - If a student gives one-word answer to any question, bear it for the time being - Let the learners speak actively with whatever English knowledge they have - Propose structures/phrases/words and let the learners use it in different situation and drill as much as possible - Encourage back-chaining or tail-forwarding technique to make long sentences by combining more than ten sentences - Organize role-play and pair-work as much as possible and supervise the learners to correct the active ones and activate the passive ones - Be well prepared in advance in terms of lesson planning, activities and tasks - Let the learners commit errors and mistakes at the primary stage Interruption and correction hinder fluency and discourage the learner - Individual weaknesses should be taken into account and the teacher should be sympathetic in outlook for individual attention 2.1.2 Small group work 2.1.2.1 Definition, advantages and disadvantages of small group work Small group work is defined as two or more students, typically 3-6 members, working together without direct intervention by the teacher [8] This does not mean that students are left uninstructed It does, however, mean that the teacher must structure the learning environment so the students can interact productively under indirect guidance as they work collaboratively towards achieving particular learning outcomes [8] A lot of advantages of small group work have been mentioned It promotes maximum participation from all students because all of them are involved in both thinking and doing [9] Small group work promotes cooperative skills, such as listening and communication skills, analytical and interpersonal skills problem solving and sharing of tasks Small group work also develops the capacity to listen, question, persuade, respect the opinions of others, help, share and participate, all lifelong values [10] In addition, working together can be a great way for shy students, who often find it difficult to speak to teachers, to get more involved with classmates in an easygoing atmosphere Therefore, small group discussion provides more opportunities for individual students to voice their opinions This allows the teacher to gain an understanding of how each student is progressing Issues can also arise from small group work This type of group work can sometimes allow students to sit back and not contribute productively This could be a result of lack of prior knowledge, low levels of metacognitive awareness, feeling socially anxious and worried about being accepted by peer groups [8] Moving students’ positions to fit in groups and exchanging ideas among team members leading to classroom noise is another disadvantage of this method 2.1.2.2 Teaching English speaking skills through small group work It is important to emphasize that speaking is a skill, just like swimming, driving a car, or playing ping-pong Too often, in the traditional classroom, the learning of English has been relegated to linguistic knowledge only such as knowledge of vocabulary and grammar rules, with little or no attention paid to practicing language skills How can we tell the difference between knowledge and skill? Bygate pointed out “one fundamental difference is that both can be understood and memorized, but only a skill can be imitated and practiced” [11] For that reason, all students of English, whether they are intermediate, advance, or beginners need to have a lot of practice using their English freely in classroom to practice the language they have learned With all the advantages of small group work mentioned above, there is no doubt that this is a very valuable method for practicing of fluency in speaking Simply imagine that there are groups in a class, students can get times as some chance to speak as in a big class 2.2 Context of the innovation 2.2.1 General situation Despite knowing the importance of English speaking skills, teaching these skills at high school in Vietnam has been underestimated or taught but is not effective for the following subjective and objective reasons: - Objective reason: The development of speaking skills is not an easy task for anybody Even the learners learn the language for so many years, they find it difficult to speak in real time situations when it is demanded According to Bueno, Madrid, and Mclaren, “speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face” [12] There are many aspects that have to be taken into account in the learning speaking skills, such as: the learners must have a certain knowledge of grammatical structures and vocabulary; the learners must be active and dynamic in practice; during the learning process, the learners must be exposed to a natural environment of the target language that enable them to develop their awareness of conversational features and strategies - Subjective reasons: In my opinion, it is so hard to get our students to speak English fluently because of several reasons: + In previous years the methodology was teacher-centered with a focus only on reading or writing Grammar was considered of primary importance and was often taught through a separate grammar book Vocabulary teaching consisted mainly of memorization Writing lessons consisted of memorization and writing of model compositions, combined with grammar and vocabulary exercises Speaking skills were not dealt with seriously in any way English language teachers taught speaking just as a repetition of drills or memorization of dialogues + Most of the teaching activities are of the traditional modes, such as reading the dialogue, reciting texts, doing translation, and the materials chosen for the students are non-authentic Usually students feel deadly bored instead of appreciating them and accepting them + Many teachers only lay emphasis on accuracy with no thought of fluency, which makes students worry too much about their mistakes + Almost important examinations not consist of an oral test, which causes both the teachers and students to neglect oral English + Teachers are reluctant in using Communicative Approach because of their deficiency in speaking ability themselves + Students’ attitude towards their learning process is also a factor that causes less effective teaching 2.2.2 Current situation at Yen Dinh high school For nearly 18 years of teaching English at Yen Dinh high school, besides the general issues mentioned above, my colleagues and I also encountered the following difficulties in teaching speaking skills: - The big difference in qualifications between students in a class requires a lot of time and effort from teachers to come up with an effective lesson plan (there are about good students, 25 average students, and 15 below average at English subject in each class) - The large number of students in each class (approximately 40 learners) is unsuitable for the subject that requires lots of interaction like English There is no time for each student to practice carefully - In addition, most students live in rural areas where the importance of learning to speak English has not been appreciated Moreover, there are not many clubs or organizations for students to improve or nourish their language skills Despite many issues as analyzed, I also realized several advantages in teaching English speaking to students at Yen Dinh high school, including: - Most of students at Yen Dinh high school are hard-working students - Most of them have been learning English for at least seven years at primary and secondary schools, from Grade to Grade So, it can be said that their English background is at an acceptable level - With the support of the Thanh Hoa Department of Education and Training and the Board of Rectors of Yen Dinh high school, English teachers have been able to acquire new teaching methods Recognizing the usefulness of small group work, my colleagues and I have tried to apply this method in teaching English speaking skills However, the results were limited because only one good student in each group would dare to represent the group to speak to the whole class 2.3 The solutions which have been used to improve students’ speaking ability, focusing on small group activities 2.3.1 The psychological and methodological preparation - Knowing students’ anxiety to speak a foreign language Students’ levels are actually different form one to another in the same class Some students may be able to speak English fluently because they began to learn it earlier or their parents spent a lot of time practicing it together with them However, others may not be so lucky They often feel frustrated or even shame if they cannot speak English as good as their peers in the class This might cause anxiety to those students and it is also a challenge for me whether I am able to balance my teaching approaches according to deferent levels of learners It is said that parts of the speaking anxiety come from students’ confusion to classroom instructions At this point, I tried to support my students by giving effective explanation An effective explanation should be brief, clear, and simple Using illustration with the example or media is also a good idea because it helps students understand better but also it can attract students to give full attention to our explanation Keep in mind that our own mind about what needs to be explained is perfectly clear, but the experience shows that our explanations are often not as clear to our students as they are to themselves Therefore, to get feedback from the learners is important - Understanding the difficulty of students in expressing their thoughts, opinions, and ideas in a second language without immediate help of the teacher: Speaking lessons often tie in pronunciation and grammar which are necessary for effective oral communication So, it is very important that students are well prepared before the speaking task: + Students must know enough vocabulary to the activity + Students must have learned enough correct grammar or appropriate functional language to be able to the activity + Students must have enough knowledge of the topic to be able to the activity + Instructions for the activity must be very clear (as explained above) - Understanding that the aim of speaking is communication and that does not require perfect English: Students, especially shy students, may take a long time to speak and when they do, their English often contains errors To break the silence and encourage them, I emphasized both two important goals of a speaker including accurate (clear, grammatically and phonologically correct) and fluent (flowing, natural) Then I tried to encourage my students to communicate with whatever English they can use, not necessarily using too much new vocabulary or grammar It is also important not to interrupt the flow of communication I took notes their errors during the activity, then wrote these errors on the board and ask who can correct them after the communication - Knowing each learner’s personality and ability to group effectively: As mentioned above, the limitation of small group work is that only one good student representing the group speaks in front of the whole class To overcome this situation, I took into account the personality and ability of each learner, so that during the grouping process each group consisted of students at different levels, with different forte I tried to encourage all students to contribute to the group’s activities by asking each group to include both simple and complex sentences in their conversations I then asked all group members to practice, so weak students can also speak some simple sentences Moreover, the evaluation of the effectiveness of group activities was also based on many criteria In addition to the accuracy in terms of vocabulary and grammatical structure, participation of all team members and presentation fluency were greatly appreciated 2.3.2 Using different activities to promote speaking lessons By using several different activities listed below in teaching English speaking skills, I tried to create a classroom environment where students have real-life communication and to promote students collaborate in small group to complete a task - Discussion: this activity fosters critical thinking and quick decision making, and students learn how to express and justify themselves in polite ways while disagreeing with others For efficient group discussions, it is always better not to form large groups, because quiet students may avoid contributing in large groups - Role-play: students pretend they are in various contexts and have a variety of roles In role-play activity, the teacher gives information to the IV Procedures: Teacher’s activities Students’ activities Warm-up Aims: to introduce the topic of the lesson and to raise the students’ interest in the lesson - Shows two pictures, and ask students Look at the pictures and answer questions about each the questions Question 1: What are people in each picture doing? Question 2: What they do? Question 3: What they every day? Pre- speaking Aims: to input students some words or phrases which helps students the tasks more easily - Writes down some vocabulary on the board - Uses some techniques to teach these words time-table = schedule (n) Civic education (n) Information technology (n) Physical education (n) Class meeting (n) Suggested answers: The man in the 1st picture is ploughing his plot of land and the women in the 2nd picture are doing the transplanting They are farmers Their work is very hard They ……… (the answer depends on the student) - Write down all the words - Listen to the teacher and pronounce these words - Make sentences withthese words E.g.: - I have a busy timetable from Monday to Tuesday - I have two Civic education lessons a week - I like Physical education most - I have/ take a bath before dinner have a shower (v-phrase) stadium (n) - Reminds students the way to tell the time While- speaking Task Quan is a tenth-grade student He goes to school every morning Using the information from his timetable (given by the teacher) to ask and answer questions with your partner, then fill in the missing information on the schedule Example: A: What time does Quan have an English lesson on Monday? B: (He has an English lesson) at 8:55 a.m or A: Which lesson does Quan have at 8:55 a.m on Monday? B: (At 8:55 a.m on Monday he has) an English lesson (In this task, students ask and answer in pairs The teacher gives each of them a timetable with some information gap so that one student will have information that his/her partner does not have He/she needs to ask his/her partner to collect information to complete the timetable.) Task Talk about Quan’s activities, using the pictures given by the teacher Activity Students ask and answer about Quan’s activities in pairs Example: A: What does Quan at p.m.? B: He gets up at p.m - Practice telling the time 7.00: seven o’clock 7.15: seven fifteen/ a quarter past seven 7.20: seven twenty/ twenty past seven 7.30: seven thirty / half past seven 45: seven forty-five/ a quarter to eight 7.50: seven fifty/ ten to eight - Read the requirement of the task - Read the information in the timetable (given by the teacher) carefully - In pairs, ask and answer questions to find out the missing information to complete the table Suggested answers: S1: What lesson does Quan study at …………? S2: He has …… (at……) Or: S1: What time does Quan have Chemistry lessons? S2: (He has a Chemistry lessons) at ………on …… - Look at the pictures (delivered by the teacher) - In pairs, ask and answer questions about each picture Suggested answers: S1: What time does Quan have dinner? S2: He has dinner at …… 10 S1: What does he after dinner? Activity Students play a chain game in S2: After dinner, he……… groups of four Example: Student 1: Quan gets up at p.m Student 2: Quan gets up at p.m At 2:15 p.m., he does his homework - In group of four, look at the Student 3: Quan gets up at p.m At pictures and play a chain 2:15 p.m., he does his homework He game watches TV at 4:30 p.m - Do as the example Student 4: Quan gets up at p.m At Suggested answer: 2:15 p.m., he does his homework He A: Quan goes home from the watches TV at 4:30 p.m Then he rides his stadium at 6:30 bike to the stadium at p.m B: Quan goes home from the stadium at 6:30 At 6:45, he takes (In this task, each group is given pictures a shower showing the different times and activities of C: Quan goes home from the Quan during the day Weak students speak stadium at 6:30 At 6:45, he takes simple sentences, and good students speak a shower And then he has dinner long and complex ones) with his family at 7:00 Post- speaking: D: ………………… Task 3: Tell your classmate about your daily routine - Aims: students practice speaking freely, they can express their own ideas - Asks students to think about themselves, and then work in small groups to tell their friends about their daily routines - Reminds students that they are using the - Think about their daily activities present simple with the first person and talk to their friends - Moves round to check the activities and to - Try to use English to talk make sure that students are working “I usually get up at 5.30 and effectively then morning exercises Then I - Asks one or two students to report in front have small breakfast with my of the whole class family at 6.15 I go to school by - Checks and gives remarks bike at 6.30 I oeften go to school from Monday to Friday in the morning and in the aftennoon I go to school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday We have four or five lessons at school……………….” Homework: Write a short paragraph (about 100-150 - Do as required at home words) about your daily activities 11 Handout: (Task 1) Monday 7:15 8:05 8:55 9:55 Wednesda y Civic Physical Physics Education Education IT Literature Literature English Biology Literature Maths 10:40 Tuesday Chemistry Physics Thursday Friday Saturday Maths Maths Literature Geography History Physical Education IT English English Maths Physics Maths Chemistry Class Meeting Pictures (Task 2) 12 2.3.3.2 Example 2: Using finding the differences and discussion activities English 10: Unit TECHNOLOGY AND YOU SPEAKING I Objectives: Educational aims: - Students work in pairs to ask and answer questions about the uses of modern devices - Students work in pairs look at the pictures (given by the teacher) to talk about the life before and after the appearance of information technology - By the end of the lesson, students can talk about the use of information technology Knowledge: - General knowledge: The use of information technology - Language: Words concerning modern inventions, computers, the internet, the use of information technology - Skills: Speaking, discussing, finding differences between a pair of pictures, making conversations, asking and answering questions - Attitude: active and serious in learning Students will recognize the importance of modern invention and have a right attitude toward the use of these inventions - Competency development: + General competency: problem-solution, co-operation, communication, use of language + Specific competence: writing a short paragraph, speaking, making comparisons, discussion II Methods: - Teaching method: integrated, mainly communicative - Testing method: answer the teacher’s questions, describing pictures, write a short paragraph III Teaching aids: some pictures, board, chalks, textbook, and handouts IV Procedures: Teacher’s activities Students’ activities Warm-up Aims: to introduce the topic of the lesson and to raise the students’ - Look at the pictures and interest in the lesson answer the questions given by - Shows some pictures (a radio, a the teacher television set, a fax machine, an Suggested answers: electric cooker) P1: It is a radio - Asks the students to look at each P2: It is a TV picture and tell what each P3: It is a fax machine picture refers to P4: It is an electric cooker Pre-speaking: Pre-teach vocabulary Aims: to input students some words, 13 phrases and structures that may challenge the students during the lesson - Deliver a handout - Use some techniques to give the meaning of all the words - Pronounces all these words - Asks student to read after While-speaking Task Look at the five pictures again, in pairs, ask and answer the questions about the use of these modern devices Example: A: Can/Could you tell me what a radio is used for? B: It is used to…… /for …… Or: People use it to ……… (In this task students are provided a situation to practice the structure: “It is used to + Verb/ for + V-ing” or “People use it to + Verb”) Task Work in pairs, complete the sentences using the cues - Makes sure students understand all the words - Asks students in pairs take turns to talk about the uses of computers (In this task, students are input some words related to the uses of the information technology in daily life and they have a chance to practice these words in communication) Task Finding the differences - Divides the class into groups, give each group a pair of pictures - Asks students look at the pictures and tell the difference between them Example: - shows a pair of picture about the way people bought many years ago and the way people use some apps on the smart phone to buy books online - Listen to the teacher’s suggestions and try to guess the meaning of each word - Listen to the teacher - Practice reading all the words - Make sentences with these words Suggested answers: S1: Can you tell me what a TV used for? S2: It is used for watching/ to watch news, performances and football matches People also use it to learn foreign languages/……… - Read all the words in the box (which have been taught before) carefully - Read all the information and the task - Give the answers store transmit process send hold make transmit receive design - get the pictures - look at each pair of pictures and talk about the difference between before and now 14 - Finding the differences beween these pictures Many years ago, when you wanted to buy a book, you had to go to a bookstore to choose the book you liked but now with the help of the internet, you can stay at home and buy any book you want and you will have it delivered to your home - asks the students to the same with each pair of pictures they have been give by the teacher (It depends on the level of the students Encourage the good students speak as much as possible about each pair of picture) Post-speaking: Aims: students practice speaking freely, they can express their own ideas Task 4: In groups, discussion about the uses of information technology - Tells the students use all the information they have learnt in this lesson to make a speech about the benefits of the internet - Calls some students to speak in front of the class - Gives the comments and good marks Homework: Write a short paragraph (about 100-150 words) about the uses of the internet which you have discussed in class Suggested answers: P1: Before, people often did the shopping in the market or supermarket But now, people can use some apps on the smart phone or computer to order anything they want And the foods will be delivered to their own homes P2: Before the appearance of the internet, when people want to contact with others in a long distance, they had to write letters, went to the post office and waited for some days before their letters were delivered to the receivers Sometimes, the letters were lost Sometimes, when the receiver got the letter, all the information in the letter was back world But now, we can use e-mail which is very fast in less than a minute and convenient without any fee……… - Discuss the uses information technology - Present before the class of E.g.: Modern inventions in general and computers or information technology in particular play an important part in our daily life It makes our lives easier and more interesting It allows us to………… It helps us to ……… with the appearance of computers, we can now………… With the help of computers, we can …………… - Write at home 15 Pictures (Task 3) 16 2.4 Effects of the innovation The solutions presented above have been applied in teaching English speaking skills to students in two classes 10A7 and 10A8 To evaluate the results, qualitative methods including observation and questionnaire were conducted to obtain information on students’ participation and interaction, as well as students’ attitudes towards the small group activities Obtained results are analyzed and summarized in this part 2.4.1 Subjects and data collection methods The observation method was used in the two classes 10A7 and 10A8 in each lesson during 10 weeks, and the questionnaire was also carried out in these two classes - Observation: this is a data collection tool that provides information from teachers’ perspective According to Hilmi & Lu, through observation, observes can have deep understanding of how their subject matter is conducted, what teaching techniques are implemented and how the actual process of a lesson takes place in the classroom [13] The observation in this research focused on two aspects of the lessons including students’ participation and interaction in small group work, their attitude towards the small group work activities and the quality of the small group work activity implementation - Questionnaire: this data collection method was selected with aim to gather information about students’ views on the use of small group work activities As the questionnaire was collected with anonymous information meaning that students were asked not to write their name on the paper, they were therefore believed to feel free to express their opinion Sample of the Questionnaire can be found in Appendix 1and 2.4.2 Results and discussion 2.4.2.1 Students’ participation and interaction in small group activities It was found out from the observation that students’ overall involvement in group work was good; however, the extent to which students participated and interacted in the lesson varied from week to week It was observed that during the first three weeks, some students participated passively or kept quiet during the lessons Students also used too much Vietnamese during their discussion 17 From the 4th week, the number of passive students reduced Students showed more involvement and enthusiasm in group activities It is worth noting that during the 5th and 8th week, when students were allowed to choose their own partners to work with, they were more enthusiastic and active in group working However, in the two last weeks, when group members were assigned by the teacher, the interaction was not as good as before This was probably because when students worked with the partners that they knew well or they liked, they would interact more with each other than when working with those they did not know well Regarding to the interaction, students also demonstrated limited interaction during some first weeks The interaction between group members was improved in groups where the group leaders worked effectively in controlling and inviting their partners to speak Furthermore, the appearance of the teacher and the encouragement to the quiet students could also enhance the interaction Observation also showed that the lack of participation and interaction was often found in students of low English level 2.4.2.2 Students’ attitudes towards the small group activities It was found out from the class observation that students had the tendency to show their interest in speaking activities towards the end of the innovation The extent of interest, however, varied according to different factors such as the topic of the speaking or the method of grouping When the speaking topics were more familiar to students, for example education or daily activities, they had more ideas, vocabulary so that they showed higher level of interest Similar to the participation and the interaction, the level of enthusiasm of students increased when they were allowed to choose their own partners Results from the questionnaires also reflected students’ attitudes towards the use of small group activities in speaking lessons By using Questionnaire (Appendix 1), in which students were asked whether they like the group activities or not, at the beginning of the research, 17 out of 43 students of 10A7 class said yes (40%), while 26 others said no (60%) In the case of 10A8 class, only 15 students said yes (35%) while 28 others said no (65%) After 10 weeks of the research using several new group activities, the number of students who like these activities increased significantly: 37 out of 43 students of 10A7 said yes (86%), while others said no (14%) These number of 10A8 class are 35 (81%) and (19%) respectively Students who said yes explained that they found those activities interesting and funny They also felt more confident when working with their classmates, the scared feelings of making mistakes in speaking was disappeared They also said that they enjoyed the small group work because they have more chance to raise their voice in comparison to the traditional teaching methods For the students who said that they did not like the group activities, they explained that they found grouping took too much time Moreover, some students in the groups did not act seriously, but mainly chatted or spoke Vietnamese all the time However, they also admitted that if the group leader and the teacher had good control of how the group members worked, they would enjoy more in those activities 18 By using another questionnaire (Questionnaire - Appendix 2) in which students were asked to score from to corresponding to their interest level in small group activities, the obtained results are presented in the table below: Interest level of students of 10A7 and 10A8 classes in small group activities after 10 weeks of the research Score - Interest level - Not interested - A little interested – Interested - Very interested Total 10A7 class Number of Percentage students (%) 13.9 7.0 16.3 27 62.8 43 100 10A8 class Number of Percentage students (%) 18.6 4.7 20.9 24 55.8 43 100 It is easy to realize that the attitudes of students towards the small group activities in speaking lessons were very positive with more than 50% students showed their satisfaction with small group activities CHAPTER CONCLUSION AND SUGESSTIONS 3.1 Conclusion Findings from the research have fully answered the two research questions, which aimed to investigate the effects that small group work activities have on the speaking skills of students at Yen Dinh high school and to identify the more appropriate activities to implement the small group work in speaking lessons It was pointed out that the use of small group work in speaking lessons had positive effects on both students’ speaking performance and their language competence Benefits could be listed as the higher rate of participation and interaction of students throughout the speaking lessons, the raise of interest and motivation of students in learning speaking skills With the benefits that students at Yen Dinh high school received from the use of small group work, it is believed that this teaching technique can be adapted to use widely in other school to help develop the speaking skill of all students Due to the limited time and knowledge, mistakes in this innovation are inevitable Therefore, all comments, remarks and suggestions are welcome and highly appreciated 3.2 Suggestions for further studies Because of the limited time, knowledge, materials and little experience, the study still remains some problems which need to be solved in future studies: - By using observation and questionnaires, only two aspects including students’ participation and interaction as well as students’ attitudes were analyzed Another important aspect, the quality of small group activities, need to be studied 19 - The subjects as well as activities used in this innovation were limited Therefore, other future studies should be carried out on a large scale to ensure their effectiveness XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ Thanh Hóa, ngày 30 tháng năm 2020 Tôi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, khơng chép nội dung người khác (Ký ghi rõ họ tên) LÊ THỊ HÀ 20 REFERENCES WorldAtlas What is the Most Spoken Language in the World? https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/most-popular-languages-in-the-world.html Sadiku, L M (2015) “The importance of four skills reading, speaking, writing, listening in a lesson hour” European Journal of Language and Literature, 1(1), 29-31 Englishmate Developing the four essential skills - listening, speaking, reading & writing https://www.englishmate.com/blog/developing-the-fouressential-skills-listening-speaking-reading-writing/ Brown, G and Yule, G (1983) Teaching the spoken language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Essays, UK (2018) The speaking skill https://www.ukessays.com/essays/education/the-speaking-skill.php Rao, P S (2019) “The importance of speaking skills in English classrooms” Alford Council of International English & Literature Journal, 2(2), 6-18 Anuradha, R V., Raman, G., Hemamalini, H C (2014) Methods of Teaching English Hyderabad: Neelkamal Publications Killen, R (2013) Effective teaching strategies: lessons from research and practice Melbourne: Cengage Learning Lipman, M (2003) Thinking in education Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 10 Deakin University (2016) Working in groups https://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/year-11-and-12-studyskills/working-in-groups 11 Bygate, M (1987) Speaking Oxford University Press 12 Bueno, A., Madrid, D., McLaren, N (2006) TEFL in Secondary Education Granada: Editorial Universidad de Granada 13 Hilmi, H., Lu, E T (2010) Teaching speaking skill through group work activities: A case study in SMK Jayamore FakultiPendidikan University Teknologi Malaysia I DANH MỤC CÁC ĐỀ TÀI SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM ĐÃ ĐƯỢC HỘI ĐỒNG ĐÁNH GIÁ XẾP LOẠI CẤP PHÒNG GD&ĐT, CẤP SỞ GD&ĐT VÀ CÁC CẤP CAO HƠN XẾP LOẠI TỪ C TRỞ LÊN Họ tên tác giả: Lê Thị Hà Chức vụ đơn vị công tác: Giáo viên, Trường THPT Yên Định TT Tên đề tài SKKN Cấp đánh Kết giá xếp loại đánh giá (Phòng, Sở, xếp loại (A, Tỉnh ) B, C) Sở GD&ĐT Loại B Teaching vocabulary Dạy học theo chủ đề tích hợp: Vận dụng kiến thức liên môn để giảng dạy phần Reading (đọc hiểu), 10: Sở GD&ĐT Endangered species (các loài động vật có nguy bị tuyệt chủng), Tiếng Anh 12 Giải KK Năm học đánh giá xếp loại 2004-2005 2014-2015 II APPENDIX – Questionnaires 1 Do you like group activities in English speaking lessons? Yes □ No □ Could you please give some explanations why you like/do not like it? (both answers in English and Vietnamese are acceptable) …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… APPENDIX – Questionnaire If you rate your interest in group activities in English speaking lessons on a scale of to 3, your level of interest is: - Not interested - A little interested - Interested - Very interested □ □ □ □ III ... Realizing this situation, the innovation ? ?Several activities to improve the effectiveness of small group work in teaching English speaking skills? ?? is implemented 1.3 Aims of the innovation The innovation... approaches to help the learners in speaking development 2.1.1.2 Principles of teaching English speaking skills According to Anuradha et al., following are the principles of teaching speaking skills. .. show their interest in speaking activities towards the end of the innovation The extent of interest, however, varied according to different factors such as the topic of the speaking or the method