How group work is used in speaking lesson of the first year major students of english at viet nam university of commerce

How group work is used in speaking lesson of the first year major students of english at viet nam university of commerce

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1.1 Background and rationale

The use of English has been gradually increasing in Vietnam Also, it has a stable ground inthe Vietnamese education system English is introduced to the educational curriculum fromprimary education (optional) to tertiary education (compulsory) Like many other universities,teachers and students at VUC were affected by the traditional philosophy of teaching andlearning They were subject to many influences of Confucianism as well as by French andSoviet education that focused on academic study of grammar and in-depth knowledge ofliterary texts As a result, many students lack the ability to communicate in oral English aftergraduation from the university This fact gives rise to the need of a more effective method thatcreates opportunities for the learners, the subject and the centre of the teaching and learningprocess to bring full play their intelligence and creativeness

Over the past few years, the application of the Communicative Language Teaching methodhas been widely adopted This marked the beginning of a major change in the languageteaching and learning at VUC And students’ speaking skill as well as communicative abilityhas been improved remarkably.

VUC Faculty of English has been newly established for two years Almost all of the teachers weretrained about CLT approach at the University and they fully understood the important role ofspeaking ability among students Therefore, they made all their effort to apply many kinds ofactivities in speaking lesson to encourage students to engage in speaking activities in classroom.As a teacher of the Faculty of English at Vietnam University of Commerce, from her ownobservations and experience, the present researcher has noticed that there are many speakingactivities in the speaking lesson of 1st – year students, but group work – key features of learner– centered orientation – have received more emphasis The researcher as well as other teachersat the University was well aware of the importance of using group work to energize thespeaking lesson of the first-year students Nevertheless, both teachers and students have faceda lot of challenges in implementing and managing group work during speaking lessons For

instance, the organization of group work is noisy, teachers sometimes lose control of the classor students tend to switch to use their mother tongue when not under the teacher’s eyes and soon Moreover, the teachers’ procedure in organizing group work in speaking lesson was notvery effective.

The above mentioned situation has urged the researcher to conduct a study to investigateteachers’ group work organization procedure, teachers’ strategies to foster students’ Englishuse and teachers’ and students’ difficulties ` implementing group work, the researcher of this

study has decided to carry out a research into “How group work is used in speaking lesson ofthe 1st-year major students of English at Vietnam University of Commerce” This study is

intended to make a modest contribution to an increased understanding of using group work inthe speaking lesson at VUC.

1.2 Aims of the study

The purpose of this study is to explore the reality of the use of group work in the speakinglesson of 1st- year English major students of English at VUC where the researcher is serving.More specifically, this study attempts to clarify the procedures of organizing group workactivity in the speaking lesson of 1st-year major students and to identify strategies used byteachers to stimulate students’ use of English in group work and the factors bringing aboutdifficulties for the teachers and students in their application of group work Another aim is tofind out teachers’ solutions to the difficulties One additional aim is to compare teachers’practice with students’ expectation Basing on the findings, the research further seeks tosuggest practical recommendations for the possibility of group work in the speaking lesson of1st-year major students at VUC.

1.3 The research questions

In order to achieve the set goals, the research seeks to answer the following researchquestions:

1 What procedures do teachers follow in organizing group work during speaking lessonsfor the 1st year major students at University of Commerce?

2 What strategies do teachers use to stimulate and foster English language use by the 1st

year major students at University of Commerce in group work?

3 What hinders teachers at Faculty of English of the University of Commerce inimplementing group work?

4 What hinders the 1st-year major students at University of Commerce in participating ingroup work?

1.4 Scope of the study

Though group work is applied in any of the four macro-skills, the present researcher haschosen to focus on speaking skill for the fact that mastering speaking is so central to languagelearning that when we refer to speaking a language, we often mean knowing a language(Karimmkhanlui, 2006) Among four language skills, namely listening, speaking, reading andwriting, group work is used the most frequently in the speaking lesson Therefore, thisresearch tends to investigate the use of group work activity in the speaking lesson Also, due tothe time constraints, this study only involves a small number of VUC teachers and English-major students in their first academic year.

1.5 Benefits of the research

The research is hoped to be valuable to both teachers and students of Faculty of English atVUC Firstly, this study has been able to contribute to teachers’ knowledge of CLT approachin general and group work activity in particular Secondly, from the findings of this study,teachers of English at VCU can be provided with important knowledge and information whichmay be very valuable for their future lesson planning Ultimately, the teachers’ transformationin group work implementation will be beneficial to the students

1.6 Organization of the study

There are five chapters to the thesis Chapter One presents some background to the researchquestions pursued in the study In chapter Two, the literature on Communicative languageteaching approach, the relation between CLT and teaching speaking and group work in

teaching speaking are reviewed Chapter Three describes the methodology used in the researchstudy The findings of the procedures in organizing group work, strategies to foster andstimulate English language use in group work, difficulties teachers experienced whenimplementing group work and difficulties students experienced when working in groupsuggested by the participants of the study are reported and discussed in chapter Four Then,Chapter Five voices some suggestions for improving effectiveness of group work in speakinglesson and proposes areas for further research in the future Finally, chapter Six discussesconclusions that can be drawn from the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This study investigates the process of group work implementation in speaking lesson It aimsat finding out how group work is organized in speaking lesson of 1st year students atUniversity of Commerce It also aims to find out the strategies that teachers use to motivateand foster students’ use of English in group work The study also aims to find out thedifficulties that teachers and students encounter while implementing group work This chapterreviews the literature on some concepts, characteristics as well as teacher’s roles incommunicative language teaching In addition, the relation between CLT and teachingspeaking skill is also addressed in this chapter And definitions, benefits of group work, andthe implementation of group work in speaking lesson are mentioned at the end of the chapter.

2.1 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)2.1.1 Some concepts of CLT

The arrival of Communicative Language Teaching was in the late 1960s and its origins werefound in the changes in the British language teaching tradition Communicative LanguageTeaching (CLT) marks the beginning of a major innovation within language teaching for itswidely accepted principles CLT is now regarded as an approach which aims to makecommunicative competence the goal of language teaching and to develop procedures for theteaching of four language skills that acknowledge the interdependence of language andcommunication (Hymes, 1972).

Hymes’s theory of communicative competence was a definition of what a speaker needs toknow in order to be communicatively competent in a speech community In Hymes’s view, aperson who acquires communicative competence acquires both knowledge and ability forlanguage use with respect to:

- whether (and to what degree) something is formally possible

- whether (and to what degree) something is feasible in virtue of the means ofimplementation available

- whether (and to what degree) something is appropriate (adequate, happy,successful) in relation to a context in which it is used and evaluated

- whether (and to what degree) something is in fact done, actually performed, andwhat its doing entails

According to Richards and Rodgers (1986:161), at the level of language theory, CLT has a richtheoretical base and some of the characteristics of the communicative view of language are:

- Language is a system for the expression of meaning

- The primarily function of language is to allow interaction and communication- The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses

- The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structuralfeatures, but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplifiedin discourse.

Nowadays, language is seen as a dynamic resource for the creation of meaning.Communicative language teaching makes use of real-life situations that necessitate interactionand communication Therefore, the importance of communicative language teaching is toprovide students with as many opportunities as possible to use their communicative purpose.Students learn not only single grammatical rules but know how to use these rules effectivelyand appropriately in communication.

2.1.2 Characteristics of CLT

It is no doubt that the characteristics of CLT, if precisely understood, may help teacherstranslate the theory of CLT into classroom reality and make their classroom “communicative”.Li (1998:679) reviews CLT characteristics based on the work of other researchers such asLarsen-Freeman (1986), Richards and Rodgers (1986), and Thomson (1996) as follows:

- A focus on communicative function

- A focus on meaningful tasks rather on language per se

- Efforts to make tasks and language relevant to a target group of learners through ananalysis of genuine, realistic situations

- The use of authentic, from-life materials- The use of group activities

- The attempt to create a secure, non-threatening atmosphere

Communication competence is the goal of CLT, therefore a focus on communicative functionmay be considered to be the most typical characteristics of CLT.

2.2 Teaching speaking skill in CLT2.2.1 Teaching speaking skill.

Speaking skill plays a significant role in teaching and learning a foreign language It not onlyhelps students know how to read, to write and to listen but also know how to communicatewith English speaking people It is undeniable that the speaking ability is a good source ofmotivation for most students Many students equate being able to speak a language to knowingthe language Therefore, they view learning the language as learning how to speak thelanguage According to Nunan (1991), success is measured in terms of the ability to carry outa conversation in the target language

Additionally, in the speaking class, if the right activities are taught in the right way, speakingcan be a lot of fun, raising general learner motivation and making the English languageclassroom a nice and dynamic place to be.

2.2.2 Types of classroom speaking performance

Brown (1994:271-274) proposes six categories applied to the kinds of oral production thatstudents are expected to carry out in the classroom:

- Imitative: takes a very limited portion of classroom speaking time when learners are

practicing an intonation contour or trying to pinpoint a certain vowel sound, etc.

- Intensive: includes any speaking performance that is designed to practice some phonological

or grammatical aspect of language

- Responsive: is short replies to teachers or student initiated questions or comments These

replies are usually sufficient and do not extend into dialogues.

- Transactional (dialogue): is carried out for the purpose of conveying or exchanging specific

information Conversations, for instance, may have more of a negotiative nature to them thanmerely responsive speech Such conversations could readily be part of group work activity.

- Interpersonal (dialogue): carries out more for the purpose of maintaining social

relationships than for the transmission of facts and information These conversations are alittle trickier for learners because they can involve some or all the following factors: a casualregister, colloquial language, emotionally changed language, and slang, etc.

- Extensive (monologue): students at intermediate or advanced levels are called on to give

extended monologues in the form of oral reports, summaries, or perhaps short speeches Herethe register is more formal and deliberative.

These above six categories of Brown are highly valuable in offering a guide in working out thetypes of classroom speaking performance The teachers should consider these points whenteaching speaking skill.

to focus on completing tasks that are mediated through language or involve negotiation ofinformation and information sharing

From the theory on speaking activities above, teachers should know how to adopt appropriatespeaking activities which can help learners develop speaking skill Group work is one of themain ways that the teacher can help students practice what they have learnt, find ways toachieve communicative objectives

2.3 Group work in speaking lesson2.3.1 Definition of group work

There are some definitions discussing about group work:

Doff (1988:137) defines group work as a process that “the teacher divides the class into smallgroups to work together (usually four or five students in each group), all the groups work atthe same time.”

According to Richards (1983:189), group work is an essential activity because the kind ofinteractions produced in group activities has been shown to be quantitatively as well asqualitatively different form that which goes on in the teacher-dominated lessons.

It is obvious that group work is a co-operative activity, during which students share aims andresponsibilities, they have chances for greater independence as they take some of their ownlearning decisions without the teacher controlling every move And they can work without thepressure of the whole class listening to what they are doing In addition, students have manychances to interact with each other.

2.3.2 Benefits of group work

It is clear that putting students into small groups in the classroom will open up for thempossibilities of interaction which are not usually available in a whole-class approach Groupwork offers many chances for co-operation, through which students share responsibilities, givetheir own learning decisions and learn from each other They learn to negotiate, learn to listen

different opinions They feel more equal to participate in group work and free to experimentand use the language (Brown,2001).

According to Brown (2001), there are four typical benefits of group work:

2.3.2.1 Group work generates interactive language

The teacher talk is really dominant for a long time in so-called traditional language classes.The teacher lecture, explain grammar points, conducts drills and spend a little time for whole-class discussions in which each student might have a few seconds of class period to talk Withtraditional methods, the teacher tends to be the only person who initiates language in anartificial setting and the whole-class becomes a “group interlocutor” Thanks to group work,student’s opportunities for language practice as well as interaction are increased In otherwords, students have more chances to speak English in the classroom.

2.3.2.2 Group work offers a positive affective climate

The second important benefit offered by group work is to make learners feel secure whenspeaking on public It is a nightmare for many students, especially the shy ones when beingcalled to speak in front of the class and the teacher Their mind becomes completely emptyand even they cannot say a word Nevertheless, a small group of peers provides a relativelyintimate setting and a more supportive environment in which they will find it much easier toshare their points of view in a natural way.

2.3.2.3 Group work promotes learners’ responsibility and autonomy

The whole-class activities often give students a lot of time to relax even in a small class offifteen to twenty students But when they participate in group work which places responsibilityfor action and progress upon each of the members of the group equally, it is difficult for themto “hide” in a small group In addition, group work allows students to make their owndecisions in the group without being told what to do by the teacher.

2.3.2.4 Group work is a step toward individualizing instruction

Each student in a classroom has different language needs and ability Therefore, the teachershave some difficulties in managing the class with students at different levels of language Butsmall groups can help students with varying abilities to accomplish individual goals Inaddition to variability in specific language abilities, another kind of individual differenceamong students are their age, sex, attitude, motivation, aptitude, personality, interests andlanguage learning experience which can also be solved by group work When organizing theclass, the teacher can recognize and capitalize upon these differences by careful selection ofsmall groups and by administering different tasks to different groups.

2.3.3 The implementation of group work in the classroom

According to Brown (2001), if group work is not carefully planned, well executed, monitoredthoroughly and followed up on in some ways, it can go wrong The following are practicalsteps suggested by him to take to carry out successful group work in the classroom.

2.3.3.1 The selection of appropriate group techniques

The first step in promoting successful group work is to select an appropriate task Typicalgroup tasks are defined and briefly characterized by Brown (2001) as follows:

2.3.3.1.1 Game.

A game could be any activities that formalize a technique into units that can be score in someway Guessing games are common language classroom activities For example, twentyquestions are easy adapted to a small group One member secretly decides that he or she issome famous person; the rest of the group has to find out who, within twenty yes/ noquestions, with each member of the group taking turns asking questions The person who is“it” rotates around the group and points are scored.

2.3.3.1.2 Role-play and simulations

Role-play minimally involves giving a role to one or more members of a group and assigning

an objective or purpose that participants must accomplish A group role-play might involve adiscussion of a political issue, with each person assigned to represent a particular politicalpoint of view.

Simulations usually involve a more complex structure and often larger groups (of two or

twenty) where the entire group is working through an imaginary situation as a social unit, theobject of which is to solve some specific problem

2.3.3.1.3 Drama

Drama is a more formalized form of role-play and simulation, with a pre-planned story lineand script Sometimes small groups may prepare their own short dramatization of some event,writing the script and rehearsing the scene as a group But they are time consuming and rarelycan form part of a typical school curriculum.

2.3.3.1.4 Projects

Mainly for young learners who can greatly benefit from hands-on approaches to language,certain projects can be rewarding indeed For example, the teacher choose a topic onenvironment, various small groups could each be doing different things: Group A creates anenvironmental bulletin board for the rest of the school; group B develops fact sheets; group Cmake a three dimensional display; group D puts out a newsletter for the rest of the school;group E develop a skit, and so on.

2.3.3.1.5 Interview

A popular activity for pair work, but also suitable for group work, interviews are useful at alllevel of proficiency.

2.3.3.1.6 Brainstorming

Brainstorming is often put to excellent use in preparing students to discuss a complex issue Itis a technique whose purpose is to initiate some sort of thinking process Brainstorminginvolves students in a rapid-fire, free-association listing of concepts or ideas or facts orfeelings relevant to some topic or context.

2.3.3.1.7 Information gap

This technique is one of the easiest and most interesting forms of communicative activity inthe speaking lesson Information-gap activities include a tremendous variety of techniques inwhich the objectives is to convey or to request information The two main characteristics ofinformation-gap techniques are their primary attention to information and not to languageforms and the necessity of communicative interaction in order to reach the objective Theinformation that students must seek can range from very simple to complex.

2.3.3.1.8 Problem solving and decision making

Problem-solving is also popular in speaking lesson of major students Problem- solving grouptechniques focus on the group’s solution of a specified problem The problem might berelatively simple (such as giving directions on a map), moderately complex (such as workingout an itinerary from train, plane, and bus schedules), or quite complex (such as solving amystery in a “crime story” or dealing with a political or moral dilemma)

Decision-making techniques are simply one kind of problem-solving where the ultimate goalis for students to make a decision.

2.3.3.1.9 Opinion exchange

Opinion exchange is a difficult technique for students to deal with at the beginning levels ofproficiency, but by the intermediate level, certain techniques can effectively include theexchange of various opinions Sometimes, opinions are appropriate; sometimes they are not.

In opinion exchanges, the teacher must assure all students in the class that, while there may bedisagreement on issues, all opinions are to be valued, not scorned, and respected, not ridiculed.

2.3.3.2 Group work planning

There are some reasons for the breakdown of group work, but the most salient one is aninadequate introduction and lead-in to the task According to Brown (2001), after we haveselected an appropriate type of activity, our group work planning should include the followingseven rules for implementing a group technique:

2.3.3.2.1 Introducing the technique

According to Brown (2001), the introduction of the technique may simply be a briefexplanation but it can decide the success of group work’s results The introduction shouldalways include a statement of the ultimate purpose so that students can apply all otherdirections to that objective

2.3.3.2.2 Justifying the use of small groups for the technique.

As we said before, many students are reluctant to participate in group work, they do notunderstand why group work is used for this task Therefore, in cases of necessity, the teachershould tell them explicitly why the small group is important for accomplishing the task At thesame time, the teacher should remind them that they will get an opportunity to practice certainlanguage forms or functions, and that if they are not willing to speak up in front of the wholeclass, now it is their chance to do so in the security of a small group.

2.3.3.2.3 Modeling the technique

It may not necessary to model simple techniques or the techniques that students have donebefore But for a new and complex task, it is very useful to make sure students know what theyare supposed to do.

2.3.3.2.4 Giving explicit detailed instructions

When students have understood the purpose of the task and how their discussion mightproceed, teacher should give them specific instructions on what they are to do They include: arestatement of the purpose, rules they are to follow, a time frame (time needed to complete thetask), assignment of roles to students (if necessary).

2.3.3.2.5 Dividing the class into groups

There are many ways to divide the class into groups If we want to ensure participation andcontrol, we can pre-assign groups in order to account for one or two of the following:proficiency levels; age or gender differences; personality types; cognitive preferences;interests; prior learning experience; target language goals.

2.3.3.2.6 Checking for clarification

Before students start moving into their groups, the teacher should check whether students allunderstand their assignment by asking some of them to restate the purpose of this activity.

2.3.3.3 The teacher’s role in group work

After completing the first two steps, the teacher plays the role of facilitator and resource Theteacher should be willing to be a helper or a guide who always lets students know she will beavailable for help and can make some suggestions to keep them on task When the time forgroup discussion is going to be over, it is very important to circulate even the teacher hasnothing to say to a group, the teacher can listen to students and get a sense of the groups’progress and of individuals’ language production (Brown, 2001)

According to Brown (2001), the teacher should not do the following:- Don’t sit at your desk and grade papers

- Don’t leave the room and take a break

- Don’t spend an undue amount of time with one group at the expense of others- Don’t correct students’ errors unless asked to do so

- Don’t assume a dominating or disruptive role while monitoring groups

2.3.3.4 Debriefing

Debriefing is the way that the teacher and students sit together to give comments on the taskthey have done It is an excellent time to encourage some whole-class feedback whichprovides motivation for further group work and is useful for the teacher’s next group workassignment.

In conclusion, group work is one of the techniques that is now popularly applied to languageteaching and learning, especially, to speaking skill learning for its many advantages Yet, theteacher also need to aware of some drawbacks that may arise in the process Obviously, thesuccess of group work activity depends much on how well tasks are designed and how wellthe teacher prepares students for the tasks Therefore, it is essentially prepare what studentsneed During the application of group work in speaking lesson, the teacher should work as anorganizer, controller, as well as participant to help students learn better.

2.4 Previous research into group work2.4.1 A product approach

The use of group work in speaking lesson is not a totally new area to researchers Theeffectiveness of group work in language teaching and learning was investigated by some post-graduate students at Hanoi National University and other researchers.

A number of studies have found that group work helps develop students’ speaking ability andincrease the effectiveness of a speaking lesson Huong (2006) found that when applying groupwork activities in speaking lesson, majority of the students are interested in discussion.Through group work, students have opportunities to help each other as well as exchangeexperience to find a good way to improve on their own communication problems Bac (2005)reports that the use of group work had good effect on students’ participation, for instance,student-initiated interactions increased and contributions by students who were shy increased.Donough (2004) also reports clear positive effects that small group activities had on

improvement of production of the target forms Long, Adams, McLean, and Castanos (1976;cited in Long and Porter, 1985) found out that students not only talked more, but also used awider range of speech acts in the small group work context.

The studies mentioned above have firmly asserted the important roles of group work activitiesin improving learners’ speaking skill Although they explored different aspects of group work,all suggested that the use of group work in language teaching and learning brought about agreat deal of benefits Firstly, group work helped to increase students’ participation incommunicative activities in large classes, (Bac, 2005) Secondly, group work maximized theopportunities for students to communicate and exchange the information with each other,(Huong, 2006) Thirdly, according to Duong (2006), group work helped students to realizethat they could work independently of the teachers and they could learn from other studentsand helped each other In addition, group work created a good atmosphere in the speakingclass and it also helped to build rapport among class members Fourthly, learner-learnerinteraction through group work activities was useful for practicing oral communication skills,(McDonough, 2004).

The findings of these studies contribute significantly to the literature because they suggestedthe conditions in which group work can be most beneficial to learners However, most of thesestudies have not made clear what process teachers and learners went through whenimplementing group work Understanding of the group work organizing processes wouldenable teachers to better facilitate learners in group work activities.

2.4.2 A process approach

There have now been a few researches on the process of implementing group work inspeaking lessons (Duong, 2006; Huong, 2006; Rob Watkins, 2005) Duong (2005)investigated the current situations of teaching and learning English through pair and groupwork of the first-year students at Hanoi Open University – Faculty of Tourism She found outfrequent use of group work by teachers In term of pair and group work management, theteachers here often use three main stages: setting up (organizing the pairs and group/ giving

instructions), monitoring (listening to the pairs/ groups during the activity and guiding / givingsupport/ making notes) and winding down (bring the activity to a close and providingfeedback).

Huong (2006) also took process of implementing pairs and group work in English speakinglesson into account The results did show that the success of communicative pairs and groupwork activities is often determined by the work the teacher does before the students begins theactivities itself Rob Watkins (2005) suggested that the effectiveness of group work dependson the types of motivation the teacher use in the class and the way they design group workactivity.

These studies have touched upon a domain which has been much concerned lately: theimplementation process of group work However, these studies have focused on the process ofgroup work implementation in speaking lesson of non-major English students A research intothis area for English majors is necessary in order to find out a better description and provide adeep understanding of group work implementation process in different teaching and learningcontexts.

2.4.3 Summary

In summary, all of the studies mentioned above only considered the use of group work inlanguage teaching of English non-major students Additionally, the current body of researchmainly focuses on the product of group work implementation Therefore, the researcher wantsto investigate the use of group work in teaching speaking of English major students with afocus on the process of group work organization in hope of finding information which isnecessary for teachers and students to improve their practice.

2.4.4 Research questions

The present study is inspired by CLT theory and past research paradigm on group work use inspeaking lesson It aims to examine the procedures in organizing group work and shed thelight on the areas that previous researches has not considered adequately It also aims to find

out any strategies that teachers use to encourage students to increase the English language usewhen carrying out a speaking task in groups And difficulties that both teachers and studentsface in implementing group work were also addressed in this study Specifically, the studyaims to answer the following research questions:

1 What procedures do teachers follow in organizing group work during speaking lessonsfor the 1st year students at University of Commerce?

2 What strategies do teachers use to stimulate and foster English language use by the 1styear students at University of Commerce in group work?

3 What hinders teachers at Faculty of English of the University of Commerce inimplementing group work?

4 What hinders the 1st year students at University of Commerce in conducting groupwork?

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter gives a thorough description of how the research was carried out The first part isthe description of the research context The second part looks at the sample and samplingprocedure The next part concerns the research methods used in the study Research materialsare addressed in the forth part The data collection procedure is followed and the data analysisis in the last part The details are going to be presented as follows.

3.1 Research context

The study was conducted at Vietnam University of Commerce The Faculty of English atUniversity of Commerce was newly established two years ago with more than 450 Englishmajor students In the past, it was called the English Division which trained only English non-major students for other faculties of the University There are now two main streams at VUC:English non-major classes and English major classes All students of the former are requiredto complete six semesters of English as part of their general education requirements In thefirst three semesters, students finish the General English program, which accounts for 7credits The remaining semesters are reserved for the ESP program with a total number of 6credits They follow a curriculum which focuses mainly on developing reading and writingskills The students of English major classes use a curriculum which lays great emphasis onfour skills including listening, speaking, reading and writing and other subjects related toEnglish theoretical linguistics The total time allocation and the training curriculum for thesetwo streams are obviously different.

The current teaching material for speaking skill in 6 classes of the first-year English majorstudents is “Speaking I” collected by the two teachers who deliver speaking lessons and it iscovered within one semester with 3 credits There are about 50 students in each class of which75% comes from the countryside However, their English speaking ability is quite good andhomogeneous.

3.2 Sample and sampling procedure

At the moment, the number of teachers who teach English speaking skill for the first-yearstudents is 6 The number of the first-year English major students is estimated at more than300 They come from various parts of the country Their levels of English proficiency differ,ranging from pre-intermediate, intermediate to advanced level Motivation in these classes isgenerally high, most of the students have a strong sense of deriving or clear purposes forstudying English since it is their main and specialized subject which helps much in their futurejob Nevertheless, the results of a recent study carried out by the present researcher show theEnglish major students have a lot of difficulties in learning the four language skills, of whichspeaking seems to be the most difficult Hence, it is very important that the staff at the Facultyof English of VUC find out effective ways and strategies to help these students overcome allof their difficulties in speaking classes

Five female teachers and one male teacher of the Linguistic Practice Division of the Facultyof English at VUC were selected to take part in the study They were selected as a convenientsample The teacher participants’ age ranged from 23 to 38 years old Two teachers have morethan five years experience in teaching and the other four have teaching experience rangingfrom 1 to 5 years Three teachers are post-graduates, one is pursuing the post-graduate degreeand two are graduates All of the teachers have experience with group work activity when theywere students The group of subjects for the student questionnaire included 89 female and 11male freshmen from 6 classes The student participants’ ages ranged from 17 to 21 years old.Most of them had been learning English for at least 3 years They all had some experience ingroup work To increase the reliability and validity of the research study and a randomsampling procedure was applied

All the six teachers were invited to take part in follow-up interviews to find out more in-depthinformation about the stages or procedures they used in implementing group work, thestrategies they used to promote students’ use of English language in group work and thedifficulties they coped with Moreover, 10 freshmen (5 males and 5 females) were then chosen