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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG HỒNG THÚY ENHANCING GROUP COHESIVENESS AND MOTIVATION IN EFL CLASSROOM (Tăng cường tính liên kết động lực học tập học viên lớp học tiếng anh) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi – 2018 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG HỒNG THÚY ENHANCING GROUP COHESIVENESS AND MOTIVATION IN EFL CLASSROOM (Tăng cường tính liên kết động lực học tập học viên lớp học tiếng anh) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Tran Thanh Nhan, PhD Hanoi – 2018 DECLARATION This is to certify that to the best of my knowledge, the content of this thesis is my own work This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or other purposes I certify that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work and that all the assistance received in preparing this thesis and sources have been acknowledged Student Hoàng Hồng Thuý ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the all library media specialists for their participation who supported my work and helped me get results of better quality In addition, I would like to thank my fellow master students for their feedback, cooperation and of course friendship I am also grateful to the Ms Trần Thanh Nhàn PhD, for her guidance Without her, this thesis may not be possible Last but not the least, I would like to thank my family: my parents, my brother and my husband for supporting me spiritually throughout writing this thesis and my life in general i ABSTRACT English learning is considered a social process Therefore, it is vital to analyze how the process works This action research presents the results of a study exploring the relationships of classroom group cohesiveness and motivation among groups of students in Vietnam universities Six lessons of six different teachers were filmed and analyzed by the method of conversation analysis The results show that teacher‘s class management skill affect group cohesiveness Each activity was closely monitor and the techniques that the teachers use were accurately recorded The findings show that novice teachers may enhance and inhibit group cohesiveness, either purposefully or unintentionally More study is recommended to look at this matters at a different demographic and age groups ii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i ABSTRACT ii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Scope and aims of the study 3 Significance of the study Research questions Design of the thesis PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Group cohesiveness and motivation 1.2 Review of previous studies 12 1.2.1 Review of previous studies on group cohesiveness 12 1.2.2 Review of previous studies on classroom interaction using Conversation analysis 14 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 15 2.1 Restatement of the research questions 15 2.2 The setting of the study and participants 15 2.3 Research types 16 2.4 Implementation of the Action Research 16 2.5 Data collection instruments and procedures 17 2.6 Data analysis methods 18 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS 20 3.1 Encouraging the cooperation of the students 20 iii 3.2 Developing and encouraging the experience of a good group and organizing group cohesiveness opportunities inside the classroom 22 3.3 Developing a competition between groups 23 3.4 Evidence of group cohesiveness inhibition 28 PART C: CONCLUSION 41 Recommendation 41 Limitations and suggestion for further study 42 Implication 42 Conclusion 42 REFERENCES 43 iv PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Over the course of time, there have been traditional and long-standing views of both the nature of language and the nature of learning Firth and Wagner (1997 and revisited in 2007) challenged existing conceptualisations of learning Firth and Wagner argues that learning should be seen as a social process and that language should be viewed as a complex, dynamic system that is locally managed by interactants in response to emerging communicative needs Under this view, learning can be traced in the momentby-moment co-construction of meanings and by using conversation analysis (CA) The relatively new, emergent field known as CA-for-SLA quite clearly views learning as participation and maintains that we can measure and track learning through the interactions that take place (Markee 2008) One can hardly deny that learning, as a social process, is more effective if it is comfortable Excessive stress can damage memory capacity and thought processes Therefore, the teachers‘ duty, which is to accommodate learning, is to make students‘ learning experience more enjoyable and motivating One way to this is to create a learning environment in which all students are motivated to work and feel comfortable with other members of the group If learners are hostile to each other or resist any cooperation, the effectiveness is likely to plummet, making the learning experience rather tense and unsuccessful In contrast, a friendly and comfortable learning atmosphere stimulates students to enjoy exploring new knowledge If a group member feels attracted towards and accepted by the others, they will likely form a strong bond that help each individual override negative feelings during the course of learning This accepting climate is the base of group cohesiveness The necessity and importance of a language class as a social group has been realized (Brumfit, 1984; Hadfield, 1992;Senior, 1997; Dörnyei and Murphey, 2003) Group cohesiveness (also called group cohesion and social cohesion) arises when bonds link members of a social group to one another and to the group as a united entity Although cohesion is a multi-faceted process, it can be broken down into four main components: social relations, task relations, perceived unity, and emotions (Forsyth, 2010) Members of strongly cohesive groups are more inclined to participate readily and to stay with the group Group cohesiveness brings a number of advantages, including motivation, performance or member satisfaction This is why there are activities to boost group cohesiveness in almost every field, from team building sessions to boost employees‘ morale to fraternities and sororities in American universities According to Cummins and Davison (2007), group cohesiveness refers to the closeness and the ―we‖ feeling of a group, that is, the internal gelling force that keeps the group together Enhancing group cohesiveness, therefore, can be very beneficial to the teacher and their students, especially in Asian culture One typical trait of Chinese or Vietnamese students is the concept of ―keeping face‖, which can be subjected to the group‘s judgment and can be demotivated very quickly if they not feel accepted in the group In ELT, group cohesiveness certainly proves its significance in motivating students to learn, socialize and make learning a social activity that is enjoyable The process of exchange information and helping each other prove to be more effective if the students are willing to cooperate with their friends and their teacher Since cohesiveness affect participation greatly, it is vital to look at how teacher facilitate the development of group cohesiveness in class Even though there have been a lot of research carried out in this field, not much research is conducted in the context of Vietnamese education Therefore, the author wants to take a closer look at this matter in Vietnam with the hope to offer another perspective of cohesiveness and motivation in ELT Scope and aims of the study 2.1 Scope of the study The study focuses on the interaction between teachers and students in English language lesson The centre question of this research is how teacher and students interact with each other Furthermore, the author intend to determine whether the interaction observed is effective and if they inhibit or enhance group cohesiveness The study‘s scope narrows down into the context of two universities in Vietnam with Vietnamese trainers and Vietnamese students Six lessons were recorded and analyzed 2.2 Aims of the study The study aims to find out evidences of enhancing and inhibiting group cohessiveness in the conversations among teacher and students in the classroom Significance of the study As indicated by the title of the research “Enhancing group cohesiveness and motivation in EFL classrooms”, the author hopes to understand which technique may boost cohesiveness and which one suppresses it From then on, modification can be made to the teacher‘s classroom management skill Furthermore, this study also offers a more detailed observation into the matter by analyzing conversation and interaction in class with a more ad hoc method Since ad hoc method in conversation analyses are more flexible and attentive to details, readers are provided with a to reorganize these sentences and then to make a meaningful paragraph, alright? And while you reorganize the sentence to make a paragraph you will have to things First one, you will have to rearrange that and then you have to answer these questions The first one is: what is the topic of the paragraph, the second one is what is the conclusion of the paragraph and the last one is what are the purposes of the paragraph, alright? Ok, so I think that of you will be one group, so the of you turn around and face this girl of you can you turn around and join these girls And you, can you turn around and face these girls Ok, that's for you and one for you Alright of you turn around, your going to join these girls You, can you turn around? Hmm alright can you join this group You turn around you can join this group, ok You have minutes for this activity Five minutes Close the book please, close the book Close every book! Close every book! Can you close the book please Close the book ok Can you close the book? Ok If your finished, go to the board and use the chalk and to write on the board, write the answer If you're done let's use the chalk to write the answer on the board, ok? If you're done go to the board and write the answer down on the board Yeah ABCD yeah You not need that Right, if your done, go to the board and write the answer down now On the board alright (2X) You are group You are group you are group 1, Mmm hmm You are group remember group 2, alright Mmm hmm And you are group Is it hard for you, a little bit hard A Little bit hard? Teacher: Ok, group 2, don't look at the board, focus on your work.
Ss: (inaudible) 33 Teacher: I don't know, I don't know Be quick! Be quick! Finished? Be quick! Don't look at the board! Don't look at the board! [Students go up to the board and write the answers to the questions] Teacher: Finished? Be quick! Be quick! Teacher: and also in the book they also mention some of the main points of comparison and contrast paragraph They say that it should be related to the writer's purpose, So they have listed some of the purposes here like to help the readers make some decisions about the subjects How you understand this sentence? What does it mean? Student: you have to choose Teacher: yeah you have to choose, right? So normally when you you make a comparison you have option A and option B, right? And then you will have to tell them you will have to compare it and then finally you will have to choose which one A or B is the best, yeah You have to make up a decision, yeah And to help better understand the subject It means that you have to give information, yeah Related to the subject and the last one is to show your understanding of the subjects, it means that ? How you understand the subject, right? Yeah, so and this one you have to make a choice between A or B, right And then you have, while you make a choice, you have to list a criteria, right? So how can you choose the information to put on the criteria? How you pick up your idea? Ss: Teacher: you think? How can you that? Pretty hard right? Pretty hard right? Ok so now we're going to learn how to pick up an idea Ok, how to pick up ideas Alright, well I have a an example right here can you see it clearly? Ok so a student was required to write about the 34 topic, examine the similarities, and differences between iconic superheroes, batman and superman, to see who would win in a fight and this was his writing You see it? Let's have a minute to read through it and then give me some comments on this writing Teacher: yeah,so? You think this is a good comparison paragraph? Ss: no Teacher: no? Why no? For the first point, the first point They compare between Batman and Superman Batman is rich, because he inherited a fortune from his parents, In contrast superman is strong and handsome [Students laugh] Teacher: so what is the problem with this first point? Ss: It's not related Teacher: yeah, it's not related to each other, right? It's irrelevant, right? Very good It is not in the same criteria What about the second one? Teacher: Another difference is transportation of the superheros whereas batman uses batmobile as primary vehicle, superman simply flies to where he wants So this one, What is the problem? Ss: They're using the same criteria Teacher: yes, the same criteria ? What is wrong when we are comparing between batman and superman? They want to see who would win in a fight So the transport would help us realize who would win in a fight? Ss: no Teacher: no, so it serves no purpose Yeah, it is a contrast sentence but it serves no purpose There are things that we need to remember when we pick up ideas and in the first one it should be relevant, right? 35 The second one it should be Ss: related to the topic Teacher: related to the topic and it should serve a purpose, right? So ok so now think if you have to compare between batman and superman, what criteria would you choose? Ss: Abilities Teacher: abilities of what? Ss: strength Teacher: of strength first? And then? Ss: intelligence Teacher: Yeah, intelligence, yeah or we can say intellectual ability, right? Strength, Intellectual ability and what else? Ss: abnormal ability Teacher: abnormal ability So it is like strength and intellectual ability, right? Ss: yeah Teacher: yeah and also maybe technology can count Ss: no Teacher: yeah also maybe technology can count Ok so we have criteria alright And these criteria it should also be parallel, right? It should be parallel, it should not be like you talk too much about strength, you talk about physical no, intellectual ability, right? So it should be parallel So we will need main points when you pick up the idea, the first one is it should be ? Ss: Strength Teacher: no,no,no,no to pick up the ideas not about the heros, it should be ? first one? 36 Ss: relevant Teacher: relevant, right Yes, it should be relevant The second one? Ss: serve a purpose Teacher: serve a purpose, and the last one is? Ss: parallel Teacher: parallel yeah very good.ok Ok so move on we have some language guides here for you I think that you have already know these kinds of words, just have a look at it again.so we have some key words for commonly used to express comparison And key words for commonly used to express contrast, alright? Have a look at it Ok? Got that? Ok? Now can you open your book, turn to page um 85 yes We have the first practice number practice number It's to underline the words, phrases in the sentences that show similarities or differences Very easy one Ok we can it together, because it is very easy, now the first one? Ss: on the other hand Teacher: on the other hand, the second one? Ss: on both ends Teacher: both ends The second third one? Ss: Different from Teacher: Different from The fourth one? Ss: In contrast Teacher: similar in that very good Now let's exercise number a little bit harder Now in exercise number two exercise number is for you to practice to write a comparison and contrast sentence Use the language guide to write a comparison and contrast sentence It might be a little bit hard but you can use the words from the practice one 37 and also the words from the language guide to help you Teacher: nothing that just it We have four blank but there's only A little bit hard right? It's just a structure, just a structure Ok have you done this exercise? Not yet? Yes? Yes? Not yet? Um have a look at the phrases in practice one, it could help you Teacher: Alright now let's check the exercise together Too much teacher talking time and not enough student to student interaction was the main inhibiting factor in this extract Before, the students could make any progress in developing cohesively into their groups, they were bombarded with questions, rushed to finish due to time constraints and allowed very little opportunities for social interaction As can be viewed from the video portion of this extract, this lead to many of the groups performing at merely an average capacity rather than at maximum efficiency The knowledge that educators can gain from this analysis is that the group cohesion requires a controlled but uninterrupted environment where students can communicate freely without too many distractions or time constraints Teacher talking time should be kept at a minimum to ensure a proper cohesive environment Slap the board – Teacher P – video Teacher instruct students to work in groups to find the meanings of the vocabulary words in the lesson and memorize them Put the vocabulary items on the board in any order call out word mark student score on the board 38 Students work together in groups to memorize words Form groups and choose a representative to come up the front of the class and face their back to the board turn around and slap the correct word on the board reset position or rotate representative In the video analyzed from video 5, the teacher instructs the students to work in groups to find the meanings of the vocabulary words in the lesson and memorize them while she prepares a game activity by placing pictures of the vocabulary words on the board Afterwards, the teacher explains the rules of the game to the students The game involves choosing a representative from each group to come up the front of the class and face their backs to the board When the teacher calls out a word, each representative must quickly turn around and grab the said vocabulary word After the first set of participants move up the board and turn around the activity is conducted In the lesson observed, cohesion was inhibited due to over competition amongst groups The attitudes amongst losing groups and groups with a severe disadvantages did little to support the respective teams and dampened communication As a result, losing teams communicated less the longer they remained in the lower percentile, while communication increased with winning groups One group observed even kept sending up only their most capable representative due to desperation This sabotage could have been avoided had the playing field been balanced with the teacher able to make adjustments for less capable groups These adjustments would have allowed for a greater overall support 3.5 Discussion The major findings of this research showed that when conducting these activities, cohesion was both encouraged and at times unintentionally inhibited When researching into how group cohesion can encourage the cooperation of the students, we found that students were encouraged to participate in the activities when given a task with clear expectations; such as developing a reflex to correct each other when one of them makes a language mistake In our search to discover more about group cohesion, we it was 39 revealed that students who were granted enough time to develop as a cohesive group, were keen on developing and encouraging the experience of a good group and organizing group cohesiveness opportunities inside the classroom The students focused on the lesson more and were increasingly receptive to learning than moments where they did not have time to develop When studying into developing a competition between groups, Cohesion was found to be strengthened when groups were winning; but weakened when groups are losing We found that simulating a controlled group environment were students are not pressured by points but instead shared a homogenous goal proved to be optimal on this occasion Finally, in this study, evidence of group cohesiveness inhibition was found Group cohesion was inhibited mainly due to excesses in teacher talking time; which resulted in insufficient group development time Hesitation among group members also proved to inhibit group cohesion as it weakened social bonds and caused the group to lose face In addition, over competition discouraged group cohesion as it created in imbalance in the classroom It raised the winning group‘s cohesiveness but devastated the losing groups‘ However, this study was limited to Vietnamese University students who were roughly the same age group, 18-19 years old The student demographic was mostly female with few male students Future research should include students at varied age groups and ethnically diverse demographic 40 PART C: CONCLUSION Recommendation In this paper, we have seen the ways may group-management techniques both enhance and inhibit group cohesiveness This study was limited to predominantly female Vietnamese University students with a few male students between the ages of 18 to19 years old The major findings of this research showed that when conducting these activities, cohesion was both encouraged and at times unintentionally inhibited When researching into how group cohesion can encourage the cooperation of the students, we found that students were encouraged to participate in the activities when given a task with clear expectations Students who were granted enough time to develop as a cohesive group, were keen on developing and encouraging the experience of a good group and organizing group cohesiveness opportunities inside the classroom When studying into developing a competition between groups, Cohesion was found to be strengthened when groups were winning; but weakened when groups are losing We found that simulating a controlled group environment were students are not pressured by points but instead shared a homogenous goal proved to be optimal on this occasion Group cohesion was inhibited mainly due to excesses in teacher talking time, hesitation among group members also proved to inhibit group cohesion, over competition discouraged group cohesion as it created in imbalance in the classroom Future research should include students at varied age groups and ethnically diverse demographic 41 Limitations and suggestion for further study Within the limited scope of this study, there is unavoidable limitations Firstly, the study was conducted on college students It is advisable that more study is conducted on different age groups Secondly , the majority of the students were female Therefore, a more varied demographic is certain to bring more accurate result Finally, more research is needed on a larger population since this study can only cover six lessons in two universities Implication From this study, two implication for teaching managment have been derived Firstly, it is advisable that the teacher reduce their teacher talking time As can be seen in the research, too much teacher talking time confuses students and make it more difficult for student to focus on the activity Secondly, teachers should avoid excessive competiveness Teachers should use more activities that are less competive and more goal-oriented or production-oriented Conclusion In this paper, we have seen the ways may group-management techniques both enhance and inhibit group cohesiveness This study was limited to predominantly female Vietnamese University students with a few male students between the ages of 18 to19 years old The major findings of this research showed that when conducting these activities, cohesion was both encouraged and at times unintentionally inhibited Therefore, teachers should reduce their teacher talking time and avoid excessive competitiveness Finally, more research on the subject is needed but with a larger population and a more varied demographic 42 REFERENCES Anwar, K (2016) Working with Group-Tasks and Group Cohesiveness [Abstract] International Education Studies, 9(8) doi:ISSN 1913-9020 E-ISSN 1913-9039 Beal, D J.; Cohen, R.; Burke, M J & McLendon, C L (2003) "Cohesion and performance in groups: A meta-analytic clarification of construct relation" Journal of Applied Psychology 88 (6): 989–1004 PMID 14640811 doi:10.1037/0021-9010.88.6.989 Brouwer, C (2003) Word searches in NNS-NS interaction: Opportunities for language learning? The Modern Language Journal, 87(4), 534-545 Brumfit, C 1984 Communicative Methodology in Language Teaching: The Roles of Fluency and Accuracy Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Cekaite, A (2007) A child‘s development of interactional competence in a Swedish L2 classroom The Modern Language Journal 91(1), 45-62 Crandall, J 1999 Cooperative Language Learning and Affective Factors In Arnold, J (ed.) Affect in Language Learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Cummins, J., & Davison, C (2007) International handbook of English language teaching New York, NY: Springer Cummins, J., & Davison, C (2007) International handbook of English language teaching New York, NY: Springer Dörnyei, Z & Malderez, A 1999 The Role of Group Dynamics in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching In Arnold, J (ed.) Affect in Language Learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 43 10 Dörnyei, Z & Murphey, T 2003 Group Dynamics in the Language Classroom Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 11 Dörnyei, Z 2001 Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 12 Dyaram, Lata & T.J Kamalanabhan (2005) "Unearthed: The Other Side of Group Cohesiveness" (PDF) J Soc Sci Kamia-Raj 10 (3): 185–190 13 Forsyth, D.R (2010) "Components of cohesion" Group Dynamics, 5th Edition Wadsworth: Cengage Learning p 118–122 14 Hellermann, J (2003) The interactive work of prosody in the IRF exchange: Teacher 15 Induction of Trainee Teachers Chapter in Garton, S & Richards, K (Eds.) 16 Professional Encounters in TESOL (pp 42-57) Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 17 repetition in feedback moves Language in Society 32, 79-104 18 Seedhouse, P (2008) Learning to Talk the Talk: Conversation Analysis as a Tool for 19 Wazzan, M M (2015) Group dynamics in the EFL classroom: The role of the cohesive group of Syrian tertiary learners [Abstract] Procedia Social and Behaviorial Sciences, 199, 184-188 20 Young, R F (2008) Language and interaction: a resource book Oxon: Routledge 44 APPENDIX Images from videos video Video I video video II video video III ... CLASSROOM (Tăng cường tính liên kết động lực học tập học viên lớp học tiếng anh) M. A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code: 814023 1.01 Supervisor: Tran Thanh Nhan, PhD Hanoi... learning as participation and maintains that we can measure and track learning through the interactions that take place (Markee 2008) One can hardly deny that learning, as a social process, is more effective... dynamics and members as part of the entire group - Assess the impact of group dynamics of members from various ethnic backgrounds and social and economic - Assess the impact of group dynamics
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