A study on the teacher’s roles in group work in communicative language teaching at phuc tho high school hanoi

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES - - NGUYỄN THỊ THU HUYỀN A STUDY ON THE TEACHER’S ROLES IN GROUP WORK IN COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING AT PHUC THO HIGH SCHOOL,HANOI (Nghiên cứu vai trò giáo viên hoạt động nhóm lớp học giao tiếp trường THPT Phúc Thọ, Hà Nội ) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hanoi - 2016 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES - - NGUYỄN THỊ THU HUYỀN A STUDY ON THE TEACHER’S ROLES IN GROUP WORK IN COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING AT PHUC THO HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI (Nghiên cứu vai trị giáo viên hoạt động nhóm lớp học giao tiếp trường THPT Phúc Thọ, Hà Nội ) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc.Prof Dr Nguyễn Xuân Thơm Hanoi - 2016 DECLARATION I, Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen, declare that this thesis is my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or institution Hanoi,2016 Nguyễn Thi Thu Huyề n ̣ i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express special thanks to my supervisor Assoc.Pro.Dr Nguyễn Xuân Thơm for revising my thesis, for his valuable advice, kind and helpful attitude and considerable assistance that he provided me throughout the study I am also greatly indebted to all the lecturers at the Faculty of PostGraduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, for their useful lectures which played an important role in the completion of my thesis Finally, I wish to thank all my friends and colleagues for their support during the process of writing this paper ii ABSTRACT One of the techniques of communicative language teaching is group work, which provides a chance for social interaction Group work is one of the possible solutions of the problem how to get all students to speak in language lessons The teachers sometimes have a tendency to interrupt students when they are speaking together during group work activity The students not feel comfortable with the interventions This research was carried out to investigate the roles of teacher and the behaviors of the tenth-grade students to these roles in group work activities in communicative language teaching at Phuc Tho high school, Hanoi The data for this research was collected through the observation of some communicative classes in grade 10 and in the forms of survey questionnaire for the tenth-grade students at Phuc Tho high schoool The findings of the research revealed that the teacher plays most roles in all stages of group work, the students like to work with their friends, arranging weak students and strong students into groups is very helpful, most of the students want to practise speaking English in class without the teacher‟s control, the teacher needs to be sensitive when interrupting group work communication and the teacher should always available and only interrupt students‟ work when they ask for support It is hoped that this thesis will help other teachers of English to make use of their roles appropriately in group work activities, to help students learn best in groups and to take all advantages of the group work under their arrangement iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT: Communicative Language Teaching LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Teacher‟s roles during the activity Interview and Report 24 Table 2: Students‟ behavior in the activity Interview and Report 24 Table 3: Teacher‟s roles during the activity Discussion 26 Table 4: Students‟ behavior in the activity Discussion .26 Table 5: Teacher‟s roles during the activity Verb Review game 28 Table 6: Students‟ behavior in the activity Verb Review Game 28 Table 7: Teacher‟s roles during the activity Picnic Planning 30 Table 8: Students‟ behavior in the activity Picnic Planning .31 Table 9: Teacher‟s roles during the activity Name the Place 33 Table 10: Students‟ behavior in the activity Name the Place 33 Table 11: Teacher‟s roles during the activity Movie Review 35 Table 12: Students‟ behavior in the activity Movie Review .35 Table 13: Teacher‟s roles during the stages of group work activities 1-6 36 Figure 1: The students‟ interest in work arrangement 37 Figure 2: The students‟ preference with the change of the partners 38 Figure 3: The students‟ preference with group formation 39 Figure 4: The students‟ choice of the partners 39 Figure 5: The students‟ preference with the teacher‟s control 40 Figure 6: The students‟ feelings when the teacher corrects all of the mistakes 41 Figure 7: The students‟ choice of the supporter 41 Figure 8: The students‟ preference with speaking English without the teacher‟s control 42 Figure 9: The student‟s interest in the teacher‟s participation 43 Figure 10: Learning by speaking with the partners who make a lot of mistakes 43 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale .1 Aims of the study Significance of the study Research questions .2 Method of the study .2 Scope of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT .5 CHAPTER I – LITERATURE REVIEW .5 I.1 Communicative language teaching (CLT) I.1.1 An overview of communicative language teaching (CLT) I.1.2 Communicative activities I.1.2.1 Definition of communicative activities: .6 I.1.2.2 Types of communicative activities .7 I.2 Group work I.2.1 Definition of group work I.2.2 Difference between group work and pair work I.2.3 The organization of group work I.2.3.1 The formation .9 I.2.3.2 Group size 10 v I.2.3.3 Procedures for group work 11 I.2.4 Advantages and disadvantages of group work 12 I.2.4.1.Advantages of group work 12 I.2.4.2 Disadvantages of group work 14 I.3 The roles of a teacher 14 I.3.1 The roles of teacher during group work 14 I.3.2 Teacher positioning in the classroom .15 CHAPTER II - METHODOLOGY 17 II.1 The setting of the study 17 II.2 Methodology 17 II.2.1 The description of participants and methods 18 II.2.2 Description of the activities .19 II.2.2.1 Activity 1: Interview and Report .19 II.2.2.2 Activity 2: Discussion .20 II.2.2.3 Activity 3: Verb Review Game 21 II.2.2.4 Activity 4: Picnic Planning .21 II.2.2.5 Activity 5: Name the Place 22 II.2.2.6 Activity 6: Movie Review 22 II.2.3 Observations 22 II.2.3.1 Observation 1: Interview and Report 23 II.2.3.2 Observation 2: Discussion 25 II.2.3.3 Observation 3: Verb Review Game 27 II.2.3.4 Observation 4: Picnic Planning 29 II.2.3.5 Observation 5: Name the Place 31 II.2.3.6 Observation 6: Movie Review 34 CHAPTER III – FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 36 III.1 Findings from observations 36 III.2 The analyses of the questionnaires for students 37 PART C: CONCLUSION 45 vi I Summary 45 II Concluding remarks 45 III Limitations of the study 46 IV Suggestions for further studies 47 REFERENCES 48 APPENDIXS…………………………………………………………………… .I vii PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale As far as we know, in recent years there have been number of exciting developments in language teaching These developments are sometimes referred to as communicative language teaching (CLT) According to Nolasco and Arthur (1988) a greater emphasis on activities in which students have chance to determine what they want to say independently on the teacher is among the most important features of CLT The problem of getting students to express themselves freely in the foreign language has come to prominence One of the techniques of communicative language teaching is group work, which provides a chance for social interaction Group work is a class management strategy and the role of the teacher has to play while teaching is of a facilitator Teacher‟s role in group work is very difficult and at the same time it is very important role, too Groups of some students can be formed to solve a problem or pose a question The teacher can organize these groups at any time in a class of any size to check on the students‟ understanding of the material, to give students an opportunity to apply what they are learning, or to provide a change of pace I have chosen the topic of group work for my thesis since it is one of the possible solutions of the problem how to get all students to speak in language lessons I often use this way of interaction in my teaching, but I sometimes have a tendency to interrupt students when they are speaking together during group work activity I have noticed that they not feel comfortable with my interventions That is why I decide to observe students‟ behavior to find out how this is changing with various teacher‟s roles My main aim is to find out what teachers actually in various stages of group work and what are students‟ perception and reactions to teacher‟s roles I will observe my own classroom to examine how many roles the teacher has during one stage of an activity Aims of the study The purpose of this research is to find out the roles of teacher in group work activities in class and students‟ behaviors to the teacher‟s roles in order to obtain Figure 3: The students’ preference with group formation The result in Figure corresponds with the findings from the observations The data shows that 59 % answered they preferred to work with their partners according their choice Many students, accounting for 38%, did not mind random grouping after a pre-activity However, it can be seen that in spite of the fact that they loved pre-activities, they had not felt comfortable with their partners Some students were less eager to work when the teacher had chosen their partner From my point of view, it is better to let students work with their partners they want because the main aim of group work is cooperation Question – Do you like to work with a partner on the same, higher, lower or on all levels of language skills? Figure 4: The students’ choice of the partners 39 The data collected is correspondent with my prediction 30% of the students prefer to work with the partners on the same level 52% of them like working with the partners on the higher level 12% of students not mind on which level their partner is Only 6% of the students prefer partners of lower level of language skills It was shown in the observations that the students could fulfill the tasks more successfully with the partners on the same or higher level The teacher does not also get students at the low level work in a group because this can result in ineffective group work From my point of view, it may be more helpful to organize mixed groups since the weaker students can be assisted by the stronger ones and in this situation they not need the teacher‟s presence as a prompter Another point I found is that changing groups is necessary in order that the students at the high level would dominate or not be de-motivated when working with only the weaker students Question - When you are speaking with your partners in English during the task, you prefer the teacher to control you all the times or to help you only when you ask her/him? Figure 5: The students’ preference with the teacher’s control According to the above figure, most of the students (72%) claimed that they want the teacher‟s help only if they ask for it while 28% of them said that they not want to be interrupted at all It can be seen from the observed group work activities that the teacher needs to be sensitive interrupting group work communication to 40 give the effective support The result also confirms the fact that the non-sensitive intervention from the teacher can spoil the whole activity Question – How you feel when the teacher corrects all of your mistakes? Figure 6: The students’ feelings when the teacher corrects all of the mistakes The data shows that 66 % of students felt stupid all of their mistakes corrected by the teacher 21% of students not mind it and only 13% of them like correction of all mistakes The observation reveals that the students often looked discouraged when the teacher corrected most of what they made It cannot be denied that mistakes are part of learning and it is very helpful to let students know that Moreover, an effective way to improve students‟ language learning is to help students know how to correct mistakes themselves Question – Who you ask for help with a problem during group work? Figure 7: The students’ choice of the supporter 41 As can be seen from the above figure, over half of students (58%) answered that they got their classmates support initially It is easily understandable because they sit next to them 24% of students prefer to ask for help the teacher Cooperation is a criterion in group work and students in a group have to a task together The teacher often plays the role of a monitor and prompter to give suggestions or answers for students‟ questions Being present for all students all the time is not possible for only a teacher in class An amazing number of students (18%) remain silent and wait that someone else will solve it instead of them The fact can be explained that most of them are the weak students with low level of language and they are too shy and nervous to speak out in English Question – Do you like the opportunity to speak English in class without the teacher’s control? Figure 8: The students’ preference with speaking English without the teacher’s control The chart shows that 80% of students like the opportunity to speak English in class without the teacher‟s control, 14% students sometimes like it and 6% student does not like it This answer confirms the answer to question above Students should make use of the chance to practise English with other classmates The teacher is not a perfect speaking partner because she can know or guess what the students are going to speak Moreover, practising speaking with classmates, students can use their own language to apply in real situation in a comfortable way They can learn 42 from the other partners‟ mistakes and it is not from the teacher who never makes or makes very few mistakes Question – Do you like when the teacher takes part in the group work activities? Figure 9: The student’s interest in the teacher’s participation It is surprising that 32% of the students are not sure if they like the teacher‟s participation in group work activities Personally, I think there can be two reasons resulting in this The first reason is that some students feel shy to consider the teacher as a partner and don‟t dare to perform themselves with the presence of the teacher The second reason is perhaps that the teacher does not play the role as partners, but acts as a teacher or a controller Question 10 – Do you think that you learn by speaking English with your friends who make a lot of mistakes? Figure 10: Learning by speaking with the partners who make a lot of mistakes 43 Nearly half of the students (48 %) think they can learn by speaking English with those making lots of mistakes The number shows that many students are aware of the fact that they can get a lot of benefits from their partners‟ mistakes 41 % of the students are not sure about what they can learn, which can be explained that the students may consider the tasks with their friends as entertainment and not learning 11% of students not think they learn by speaking in class with someone else than the teacher They think that they only learn when doing the task in front of the teacher With the observation of some group work activities, it can be understandable because there existed several students who stopped working and only continue the task with the presence of the teacher 44 PART C: CONCLUSION This final part aims to summarize the study , give out some concluding remarks and recommend further research Summary The main aim of the study is to find out what teacher‟s roles are in various stages of group work in communicative language teaching at Phuc tho high school It also describes students‟ reactions to those teacher‟s roles The study starts with some concepts of communicative language teaching and group work, and the roles of a teacher during group work to underline the necessity of increasing students‟ talking time in the lesson It then presents some important features of the educational context at Phuc Tho high school including teaching facilities, teaching staff, students and their background In order to find out the roles of teacher and the students‟ behaviors during group work activities in communicative language teaching, two instruments were employed to collect data, namely observation and questionnaire The findings from the observation of six group work acivities, together with the statistics from the students‟ questionnaires revealed the roles of the teacher as organizer, instructor, prompter, participant, monitor, resource and assessor during different stages of group work and the reactions from students to these roles Based on the findings of the study, some concluding remarks in terms of the teaccher‟s roles in group work, the students‟s reactions and some pedagogical implications were given out Concluding remarks The concentration of the paper was on the different roles of the teacher in various stages of group work Through the observation from six group work activities, I have found out that the teacher plays almost roles (instructor, organizer, resource, participant, prompter, observer, and assessor) in all stages of group work Among these roles, controller is one exception because the teacher cannot control all the students in class 45 I have also found out from the questionnaire and the observations that the students like to work with their friends From my point of view, this is sometimes better; students can feel comfortable to work with partners according to their choice However, changing partners is necessary since the students can learn from different people Arranging weak students and strong students into groups is very helpful The teacher should often change students in groups so that the stronger students can give help to the weaker one The analyses from the data got in the questionnaire present that students become familiar with group work activities and the activities are popular among classes Most of the students want to practise speaking English in class without the teacher‟s control The students also like the presence and participation of the teacher during the group work activities However, the observations and the questionnaire also show that there exist a number of the students who are afraid of making mistakes and need the help from the teacher when they or perform the task I would like to give some advice for the teacher First, the teacher needs to be sensitive when interrupting group work communication Non sensitive teacher‟s intervention can spoil the whole activity Next, during the group work activities the teacher should always available and only interrupt students‟ work when they ask for support Certainly, for some special situation in which the intervention of the teacher is essential However, one thing the teacher should remember is that the more the teacher help during group work, the more students become dependent As it was said in the beginning of this thesis with development of communicative language teaching students should be given a chance to express what they want to say independently on the teacher This can be achieved in well prepared group work Limitations of the study This study has some limitations It only investigated the current situation of using group work in communicative English classes at Phuc Tho high school Therefore, it reflects only the local students‟ perception and behaviors towards the teacher‟s roles The respondents of the study were limited to the tenth grade students at Phuc 46 Tho high school, so their opinions about group work could not be considered as representative of all students learning English as a foreign language at Phuc Tho high school Suggestions for further studies This study finds out what the teacher‟s roles are in various stages of group work in communicative language teaching It also describes students‟ reactions to the teacher‟s roles As no single research design is all-inclusive and complete, the study cannot cover everything in its field of study Many of untouched issues will be interesting topics for further research such as: -A study on strategies for managing group work activities in communicative language classes for the students of high school -A study on strategies to get all students engaged in group work activities at high school 47 REFERENCES Alandeom, O., & Sadler, T (2008) Interactive patterns and conceptual convergence during student collaborations in science Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 26, 634–658 Baines, E., Blatchford, P and Kutnick, P (2003) Changes in grouping practices in primary and secondary school International Journal of Educational Research, 39, 9–34 Bertrand, J (2006) Working in Pairs and Groups Bristish Council Bennett, N., & Dunne, E (1992) Managing classroom groups Hemel Hempstead: Simon & Schuster Education Bennett, J., Lubben, F., & Campbell, B (2004) A systematic review of the use of small-group discussions in science teaching with students aged 11–18, and their effects on students’ understanding in science or attitude to science: Review summary York: University of York Brookfield, S.D., &Preskill, S (1999) Discussion as a Way of Teaching: Tools and Techniques for Democratic Classrooms San Francisco: JosseyBass Publishers Doff,A.(1988) Teach English – A train course for teachers Cambridge University Press in association with The Bristish Council Galton, M., & Williamson, J (1992) Group work in the primary classroom London: Routledge Gillies, R M., & Boyle, M (2010) Teachers‟ reflection on cooperative learning: Issues of implementing Teaching and Teacher Education, 26, 933–940 10 Griffiths, B (2005) Teacher Positioning in the Classroom Teaching English Brishtish Council 11 Hammer, J (1991) The Practice of English Language Teaching New York: Longman Publishing 12 Harmer J (1999), Practice of ELT, Longman 48 13 Honey J 91991), The Formation of Small Groups in the Language Classroom, Guidelines – A periodical for Classroom Language teachers, Vol 113 No June 1991, Semeo Regional Language Centre 14 Hymes, D (1972) On Communicative Competence Harmondsworth: penguin 15 Jaques, D (2000) Learning in Groups: A Handbook for Improving Group Work, 3rd ed London: Kogan Page 16 Little, W (1981) Communicative Language Teaching: An Introduction, Cambridge: CUP 17 Lumpe, A.T., & Haney, J.J (1998) Science teachers‟ beliefs and intentions regarding the use of cooperative learning School Science and Mathematics,3, 123–135 18 Nolasco, R (1988), Lois, A Large Classes Mackmillan Publishers 19 Nolasco, R and Athur, L (1993) Large Classes London: Macmillan 20 Nunan D (1989), Desining Tasks for the Communicative Classroom, Cambridge University Press 21 Nunan, D (1991) Language Teaching Methodology, London: Prentice Halls 22 Nunan, D., & Lamb, C (1996) The self-directed teacher: Managing the learning process Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 23 Race, P (2000) 500 Tips on Group Learning London: Kogan Page 24 Richards J C and Rodgers T S (1986), Approaches to Methods in Language Teaching, Cambridge University Press 25 Richard, C and Rodges, T S 2001 Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Cambridge: CUP 26 Springer, L., Stanne, M E., & Donovan, S S (1999) Effects of small-group learning on undergraduates in science, mathematics, engineering and technology: A meta-analysis.Review of Educational Research, 69, 21–51 27 Wright, T (1987) Roles of Teachers and Learners Oxford University Press 28 http://edukator.org.pl/2005a/work/work.html 49 APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS This questionnaire is designed for my research into “A study on the teacher’s roles in group work in communicative class at Phuc Tho high school, Hanoi” Please tick appropriate box (es) as accurately as you can Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated Thanks very much! Name:…………………………………………… Class: …………… Giới tính : male female Age :………………… Which type of work arrangement you prefer in English lesson? individually in groups in pairs as the whole class What activity you feel interested in? work with new partners for each group work activity work with the same partners all the times How you like to be organised with your partners in group work? I prefer when the teacher chooses the partners for me I want to choose the partners myself I want to be organised in groups by some pre-activity Do you want to work with the partners who are: on the same level as me on the higher level than me on the lower level than me I like to work with the students of different levels I When you are speaking with your partners in English during the task you prefer the teacher: to control me all the times to help me only when I ask her/him How you feel when the teacher corrects all of your mistakes? I like it and I feel comfortable with it I don‟t mind it I hate it and I feel stupid If you have a problem during the group work, you prefer to: ask the teacher for help ask my friends for help keep silent I not want to solve the problem and I hope that someone will answer instead of me Do you like the opportunity to speak English in class without the teacher‟s control? Yes No Sometimes Do you like when the teacher takes part in the activities? Yes No Sometimes 10 Do you think that you learn by speaking English with your friends making a lot of mistakes? Yes I am not sure II Definitely not APPENDIX Câu hỏi khảo sát dành cho học sinh Những câu hỏi thiết kế dành cho nghiên cứu “Nghiên cứu vai trị giáo viên hoạt động nhóm lớp học giao tiếp trường THPT Phúc Thọ” Các bạn vui lịng tích (V) vào vng lựa chọn Tơi đánh giá cao đóng góp bạn nghiên cứu Tơi xin chân thành cảm ơn Họ tên :…………………………… Lớp: …………… Giới tính : Nam Nữ Tuổi :………………… Bạn thích học tập tiết Tiếng Anh nào? cách cá nhân theo nhóm theo cặp lớp Hoạt động bạn thích hơn? làm việc với thành viên hoạt động nhóm làm việc số thành viên tất hoạt động nhóm Bạn muốn cách phân chia thành viên tiến hành hoạt động nhóm? Tơi muốn giáo viên chia nhóm cho tơi Tôi muốn tự thân chọn thành viên nhóm Tơi muốn việc chia nhóm tiến hành vài hoạt động ngẫu nhiên Bạn muốn làm việc thành viên nào? có trình độ với học giỏi học tơi có nhiều trình độ khác III Khi bạn nói tiếng Anh thành viên khác hoạt động nhóm bạn muốn giáo viên: điều khiển chỉnh sửa cho lúc trợ giúp tôi yêu cầu Bạn cảm thấy giáo viên sửa tất lỗi sai bạn? Tơi thích điều cảm thấy thoải mái Tơi thấy bình thường, khơng phiền Tơi ghét điều này, tơi cảm thấy cỏi Nếu bạn gặp khó khăn hoạt động nhóm, bạn sẽ: nhờ giáo viên giúp đỡ nhờ bạn bè giúp đỡ giữ im lặng Tôi không muốn giải vấn đề chờ trả lời thay Bạn có muốn có hội nói tiếng Anh lớp mà khơng có giám sát giáo viên? Có Khơng Thỉnh thoảng Bạn có muốn giáo viên tham gia vào hoạt động nhóm? VD: class survey Có Khơng Thỉnh thoảng 10 Bạn có nghĩ bạn học hỏi việc nói Tiếng Anh với học sinh mắc nhiều lỗi sai? Có Tơi khơng IV Hồn tồn khơng ... motivation, allow natural learning and create a context supporting learning as well "In communicative activities the teacher creates a situation and sets an activity in notion, but it is the learners... Since the introduction of communicative language teaching in the late 1970s, there have been a variety of definitions and ideas about CLT Among the available definitions, the one given by Nunan... learn English for passing the national examination at the end of the high school period The school in the suburb of Hanoi has some common features as others in Vietnam: the class size is generally