A study on using jigsaw technique to enhance the students’ interaction in group work an action research at the 10th english majored class in son tay gifted high school, ha noi

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIOAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ NGA A STUDY ON USING JIGSAW TECHNIQUE TO ENHANCE THE STUDENTS’ INTERACTION IN GROUP WORK – AN ACTION RESEARCH AT THE 10TH ENGLISH-MAJORED CLASS IN SONTAY GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG KỸ THUẬT RĂNG CƯA (JIGSAW) ĐỂ TĂNG CƯỜNG SỰ TƯƠNG TÁC CỦA HỌC SINH TRONG HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM – MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG TẠI LỚP 10 CHUYÊN ANH TRƯỜNG THPT SƠN TÂY, HÀ NỘI M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD:ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 HA NOI, 2015 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIOAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ NGA A STUDY ON USING JIGSAW TECHNIQUE TO ENHANCE THE STUDENTS’ INTERACTION IN GROUP WORK – AN ACTION RESEARCH AT THE 10TH ENGLISH-MAJORED CLASS IN SONTAY GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG KỸ THUẬT RĂNG CƯA (JIGSAW) ĐỂ TĂNG CƯỜNG SỰ TƯƠNG TÁC CỦA HỌC SINH TRONG HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM – MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG TẠI LỚP 10 CHUYÊN ANH TRƯỜNG THPT SƠN TÂY, HÀ NỘI M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD:ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: DR PHẠM THỊ THANH THÙY HA NOI, 2015 DECLARATION I hereby declare that the minor thesis entitled “A Study on using Jigsaw Technique to Enhance the Students‟ Interaction in Groupwork – An Action Research at the 10th English-Majored Class in SonTay Gifted High school, Hanoi” is my own work and effort and that has not been submitted anywhere for any award Where other sources of information have been used, they have been acknowledged I cede copyright of the thesis in favor of Post-Graduate Department- Vietnam National University Pham Thi Nga i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr.Phạm Thị Thanh Thùy, for her valuable comments, critical feedback, wholehearted guidance and enormous encouragement Without her support this thesis cannot be completed My special thanks go to all the lecturers and staff of the Faculty of PostGraduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their valuable teaching and assistance during my study at the college I would like to express my sincere thanks to all my colleagues and students at Son Tay gifted high chool, for their assistance during the process of data collection Particularly, I find myself in debt to all members of my family for their love, care and tolerance when I was in the process of writing this thesis Pham Thi Nga ii ABSTRACT The study reported in this paper investigates the using of Jigsaw technique to enhance the students‟ interaction in speaking lessons at the 10th English majored class, SonTay gifted high school, HaNoi The researcher aims to find out the causes of students‟ weak interaction in speaking activities, the importance of using Jigsaw technique to stimulate students to speak English, and the suggestions for teachers to apply Jigsaw technique at SonTay high school To find the answers to these questions, an action research was carried out through several steps, using a combination of data collection instruments (survey questionnaire, classroom observation) The results showed that the students‟ participation in speaking lessons increased significantly when the intervention was implemented Hopefully, this study will make a small contribution to the implementation of Jigsaw technique in improving speaking skills for students at Son Tay high school, Hanoi iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF CHARTS v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims of the study Scope of the study Method of the study Research hypothesis Design of the study PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.Theorical background of speaking 1.1 Concepts of speaking and interaction 1.2 Teaching speaking skills under CLT Approach 1.3 Problems with speaking activities Group work 2.1 Definition of group work 2.2 Group size and Groupwork activities 2.3 The advantages of groupwork Jigsaw technique…………………………………………………………… 3.1 The History of Jigsaw technique 10 3.2 Definition of Jigsaw technique 11 iv 3.3 Steps in Jigsaw technique 13 3.4 Benefits of Jigsaw technique 14 3.5 Reasons to choose Jigsaw technique 16 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY…………………………………………………… 17 2.1 An action research 17 2.2 The informants 18 2.3 The action research procedure………………………………………………18 2.4 Description of Data Collection Instruments 21 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS 23 3.1 Data collected from preliminary investigation stage – Questionnaire 23 3.1.1 Students‟ attitude towards speaking skill 23 3.1.2 Factors causing students‟ low participation in speaking activities 25 3.2 Intervention 27 3.2.1 The aims of the intervention 27 3.2.2 The intervention of Jigsaw tasks 27 3.3 Data collected from the intervention stage 33 3.3.1 Data collected from Observation sheets 33 3.3.2 Data collected from Questionnaire 34 PART THREE: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 37 Summary of the study 37 Suggestions for the teachers 38 Limitations and suggestions for further research 39 REFERENCES 40 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire I APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire III APPENDIX 3: Observation sheet – Overall class participation IV APPENDIX 4: Data on overall class participartion V v LIST OF TABLES AND CHART Table 1: Students‟ attitude towards speaking skills……………………… 22 Chart 1: Students‟ reasons for learning English…………………………… 24 Chart 2: Factors causing students‟ low participation in speaking activities…… 25 Chart 3: Overall class observation………………………………………… 32 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT: Communicative Language Teaching ESL: English as a Secondary Language EFL: English as a Foreign Language L2: Second Language vii PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study It is undeniable that English has been an essential means of communication and more and more Vietnamese students are aware of the importance of English to their study and their future The ability to communicate in English clearly and efficiently contributes to the success of the learners at school and success later in every phase of life Speaking plays an important role because without it, communication cannot take place directly between people However, speaking is generally considered the most difficult to learn among the four skills in English language learning In order to teach students English speaking so that they become more interested in and maintain their interest in speaking learning English teachers should provide a rich environment where meaningful communication can take place Communication occurs when there is a lack of information between or among a group of people They have to exchange to share the information they have with other people One efficient technique to motivate students in speaking is Jigsaw Technique which makes students more active in learning process and at the same time makes their learning more meaningful and interesting The benefits of this technique to my students have aroused my interest and encouraged me to carry out this research “A study on using Jigsaw Technique to enhance the Students’ Interaction in Group work- An action research at the 10th English majored-class in Son Tay gifted high school, Hanoi” Aims of the study The study is aimed at using Jigsaw Technique to motivate students in speaking lessons for the 10th English majored-students at Son Tay Gifted High school, Hanoi Hopefully, this study will make a small contribution to the in the speaking lessons All the students agreed that the tasks are useful for them When learners are confident, they will have motivations to take part in activities positively This figure indicates that they are active and confident when they learn English speaking classes Question 4: Are you willing to participate in other tasks of this type? If yes, how often? Degree Number of respondents Percentage (%) (No./36) always 25 69.4 % sometimes 11 30.6% Never 0% It is so surprising that all the investigated students are willing to participate in these types of task enthusiastically This exceeded the researcher‟s expectation when introducing Jigsaw tasks into the speaking lessons The number of students who supposed the tasks are suitable is remarkable Many of them want to have the Jigsaw activities frequently so that they can practice their speaking skills 36 PART THREE: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION Summary of the study No one can negate the importance of English to our daily life in the process of integration into the world Therefore, English has been widely taught in Vietnam so that learners can use English as an effective means of communication for various goals In the hope of motivating the students at Son Tay high school to speak English by using Jigsaw Technique, the researcher carried out this study The first chapter (Literature Review) briefly covers the theories related to the study: Teaching speaking, Groupwork and Jigsaw Technique The second chapter (The Study) sets two purposes: to find the causes of students‟ low participation in English speaking activities, and to use Jigsaw technique as a solution to stimulate students to speak English at Son Tay high school The action research was carried out in twelve weeks During the two first weeks, the researcher wanted to find out the causes of students‟ low participation in speaking lessons Then the preliminary investigation stage was carried out to confirm the problem and explore the causes in the next two weeks using questionnaire Through questionnaire 1, the teacher found out that their low participation for having nothing to say, their fear of making mistakes and the monotonous speaking activities as well as the lack of English speaking environment in class are the main factors causing the students‟ low participation in English speaking activities The last chapter is Data Analysis and Discussions Based on the results of Questionnaire 1, it was hypothesized that the teacher can motivate the students by using Jigsaw tasks Lesson plans and materials are prepared to implement Jigsaw tasks in speaking lessons The data were collected again through observation sheet and questionnaire The evaluation showed that the intervention was successful in generating students' participation And in the scope of this research, the use of Jigsaw activities to create a need for students to speak English in class makes the 37 students to become more purposeful in learning speaking, more interested, more concentrate on the lessons, thus leading to positive attitude as well as high participation in speaking lessons Moreover, the Jigsaw activities can create joyful learning atmosphere, which provides the students with more opportunities to obtain knowledge, co-operare with others and help the students like speaking lessons more Suggestions for the teachers The teachers should learn and be creative to find the suitable ways to teach speaking effectively In order to help students motivate in speaking lessons, the teachers should be aware of the advantages of using Jigsaw technique in teaching speaking They can use various Jigsaw activities in speaking lessons and organize to implement them effectively When using Jigsaw technique in teaching speaking, the teachers had better prepare carefully The tasks need to be very carefully structured, especially at lower levels so that the students can the activities smoothly It is very difficult for students to come up with ideas at the same time as having to cope with the language They need something to speak about, such as a picture or a purpose language Therefore, the handouts need to be available with photocopies The teachers have to make sure that each student in group gets a different part of the exercise and stop students looking at the other‟s information The teachers have to find the suitable ways of adapting the activities for use in a large class In order to stimulate students to speak English while using Jigsaw activities, the teacher should take care of some other factors as follows: * Creating a friendly classroom atmosphere: Along with the teacher‟s behaviors and enthusiasm, classroom atmosphere is an important factor contributing much to the students‟ motivation in learning speaking To make the classroom less stressful, teachers should establish a good relationship with students; especially take much care of anxious and less able students to encourage them to communicate Furthermore, the teacher should create supportive and non-threatening environment 38 so that students feel more relaxed, free and flexible about expressing their opinions among their own group *Promoting cooperative learning: Cooperative learning improves communication, lower students' anxiety, raises their self- esteem, and improves classroom climate Learning English through cooperative group work allows students to learn from one another, and the teacher in a supportive environment They become more proficient in language as a result of group work because they have more comprehensible input peer interactions, have better listening skill as a result of responding to what has been said, have longer conversational turns than in whole-class teaching situation, and focus on meaning rather than on accuracy (Kessler, 1992) *Giving clear explanation: Some recent research shows that many students poorly on assignments or in participation because they not understand what to or why they should it Teachers should spend more time explaining why they teach what they are doing, and why the topic or approach or activity is important and interesting and worthwhile In the process, some of the teacher‟s enthusiasm will be transmitted to the students, who will be more likely to become interested Similarly, teachers should spend more time explaining exactly what is expected on activities Students who are uncertain about what to will seldom perform well Limitations and suggestions for further research The study has been collected from a small number of students (with 36 participants only) at the 10th English-majored class, Son Tay gifted high school so the findings can hold true just for the teaching and learning at Son Tay high school Therefore, other research can be conducted with a bigger sample with the same background to minimize this shortcoming 39 The observation sheet and questionnaires which were used to investigate the learners' motivation were rather subjective Other data collection tools such as: video recorder, interview should be exploited in further research Also, within the scope of the study, it cannot cover all the uses of Jigsaw activities in four language skills and language elements Therefore, further study can focus on the use of Jigsaw activities to motivate students in reading, listening and writing classes 40 REFERENCES Aronson, E (2005) The jigsaw classroom Retrieved September 19th, 2005 from http://www.jigsaw.org Burns, A (1999) Collaborative Action Research for English language teachers The UK CUP Burns, A & Joyce, H (1997) Focus on speaking Sydney: National Center for English Language Teaching and Approach Brown, H D (1994b) Teaching by Principles - An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy USA: Prentice Hall Regents Brookfield, S D., Preskill, S (1999) Strategies for reporting small group discussions to the class College Teaching, 47, 140-143 Canale, M (1983) „From communicative competence to communicative language pedagogy‟ In Richards, J.C & Schmidt, R.W (eds) Language and communication London: Longman Dori, Y J., Yeroslaviski, O., Lazarowitz, R (1995) The effect of teaching the cell topic using the jigsaw method on students' achievement and learning activity Paper presented at the Meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, San Francisco, CA Harmer J (1994) The Practice of Language Teaching London: Longman Hendricks, C (2006) Final planning before implementation of the study In A Burvikovs (Ed), Improving Schools Through Action Research (pp 101 -118) Pearson Education, Inc Johnson, D., Johnson, R., Holubec, E (1998) Cooperation in the Classroom Boston: Allyn and Bacon Kemmis, S & Mc Taggart, R (1988) The Action Research Planner 3rd ed Geelong, Victoria: Deakin University Press 41 Kayi, H (2006) Teaching Speaking: Activities to Promote Speaking in a Second Language Internet TESL Journal, Vol XII, No 11, Nov 2006 Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/Articles/Kayi-Teaching Speaking.html Killen, R (2006) Effective teaching strategies- Lessons from research and practice Thomson Social science press Larry K Michaelsen, Designing Effective Group Activities: Lessons for Classroom Teaching and Faculty Development Central Missouri State University, Dockery 400G, (660) 543-4124 Lee, C., Ng, M., Jacobs, G M (1997) Cooperative learning in the thinking classroom: research and theoretical perspectives Paper presented at the International Conference on Thinking, Singapore Manning, M L., Lucking, R (1991) The what, why, and how of cooperative learning Clearing House, 64, 152-157 Nunan, David (1992) Research methods in language learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Nunan, David (1989) Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press Robinson, A (1991) Cooperative learning and the academically talented student, research based decision making Paper presented at the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, Washington, DC Singh, B.R (1991) Teaching methods for reducing prejudice and enhancing academic achievement for all children Educational Studies, 17, 237-255 Stearns, C J (1999) A middle venture into cooperative learning: success and dilemmas Theory into Practice, 38(2), 100-105 42 To Thu Huong, Nguyen Thuy Minh and Nguyen Thi Thuy Minh (2008), ELT Methodology 1-Coursebook, CFL Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Wallace, M J (2001) Action Research for Language Teachers United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press 43 APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire is designed for my research into speaking activities in the classroom Your answer is used for research purposes only Thank you for your cooperation! How important is English speaking skill to you? A Very B Rather C Little D Not at all E Don‟t mind How often you feel unwilling to speak English in class? A Always B Usually C Sometimes D I speak whenever I am told to E I always seek for chances to speak in class Why you learn English speaking? (You can tick more than one answer.) A English speaking is necessary for my future job B I want to be able to communicate in English C I am interested in English speaking skill D English speaking is compulsory at our school E Others: I What factors make you unwilling to speak English in class? (You can tick more than one answer.) A Being not interested in English speaking B Being afraid of making mistakes and being laughed at by my classmates C Having nothing to say D Learning goal is not to communicate in English E My teacher‟s lack of enthusiasm in English speaking classes F Lack of vocabulary and expressions G Lack of English speaking environment in class H Monotonous speaking activities I Others:…………………………………………………………………………… II APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE This survey is designed for my research into the use of Jigsaw tasks to improve speaking skill for the 10th English majored-students at Sontay gifted high school All the data collected in this questionnaire are ONLY for the purpose of the survey The researcher assures that all the information collected will be confidential, with the hope that you will answer these questions accurately and honestly Please read the questions and give your opinion about the activities you have just joined by putting a tick () in the boxes you want to choose Thank you for your co-operation! Are the Jigsaw tasks easy to implement?  Easy  Not very easy  Difficult Are the Jigsaw tasks suitable in comparison with your level?  Suitable  Rather suitable  Unsuitable Do the Jigsaw tasks make you feel motivated to speak English?  Yes, greatly  Yes, a little No, not at all Are you willing to participate in other tasks of this type? If yes, how often?  Yes, always  Yes, sometimes III  Never APPENDIX 3: OBSERVATION SHEET - OVERALL CLASS PARTICIPATION (Adapted from Peacock, 1997) Observer: Date: Teacher: Class: No of students present: Time: 45 minutes Material: English 10 ( Advanced ) Unit: Observation focus: Levels of students' participation in the tasks is average mark for any one item Instructions: a This sheet is for observing the class as a whole, not individual student b Complete this sheet when the lesson is drawing to a close c Circle ONE number of each statement below d Add final comments after the lesson at the bottom of the sheet if you wish Mark how involved in the activities the students are Not very involved very involved very much The students are enjoying the activities Not really 3 The students are paying persistent attention to the activities Not really very much Mark the levels of students‟ concentration on the activities Low high Mark the students‟ activity level (effort/ intensity of application) Low high The speaking activities are challenging for the students Not really The speaking activities are appropriate for the students IV very much Not really very much The students find the speaking activities interesting Not really V very much APPENDIX 4: THE DATA ON OVERALL CLASS PARTICIPATION Data interpretation keys: Level of students‟ participation in the speaking activities was observed in terms of items is average mark for any item For example: in Lesson 4, mark is given to students‟ involvement in the speaking activities This means that the students were not very involved in the speaking activities Table 1: The data on the overall class motivation collected during the lessons Lessons Observed items Students‟ involvement in the speaking activities 2.Students‟ enjoyment of the activities the activities Students‟ concentration on the Mark Students‟ persistent attention to speaking activities L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 L9 L10 2 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 2 3 4 4 2 3 3 4 4 4 4 3 3 4 Students‟ activity level Degree of challenge of the activities Degree of appropriateness of the activities VI Students‟ degree of interest in the activities Total mark (40 is highest) VII 3 4 20 21 27 28 30 32 33 35 ... THANH THÙY HA NOI, 2015 DECLARATION I hereby declare that the minor thesis entitled ? ?A Study on using Jigsaw Technique to Enhance the Students‟ Interaction in Groupwork – An Action Research at. .. action research at the 10th English majored- class in Son Tay gifted high school, Hanoi” Aims of the study The study is aimed at using Jigsaw Technique to motivate students in speaking lessons for the. .. The study reported in this paper investigates the using of Jigsaw technique to enhance the students‟ interaction in speaking lessons at the 10th English majored class, SonTay gifted high school,