Organizing pairwork and groupwork in the context of high school classrooms at pham van nghi upper secondary school, nam dinh province: A case study

Organizing pairwork and groupwork in the context of high school classrooms at pham van nghi upper secondary school, nam dinh province: A case study

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITYCOLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGEDEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

-o0o

 -MAI THỊ HẰNG PHƯƠNG

ORGANIZING PAIRWORK AND GROUPWORK IN THE CONTEXT OF HIGHSCHOOL CLASSROOMS AT PHAM VAN NGHI UPPER SECONDARY

SCHOOL, NAM DINH PROVINCE: A CASE STUDY.

(TỔ CHỨC HOẠT ĐỘNG TỔ VÀ HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM TRONG LỚP HỌC THPTTẠI TRƯỜNG PTTH PHẠM VĂN NGHỊ TỈNH NAM ĐỊNH: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU

CÁ BIỆT)

MINOR M.A THESIS

Field: English Methodology Code: 601410

Hanoi, July 2008

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITYCOLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGEDEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

-o0o

 -MAI THỊ HẰNG PHƯƠNG

ORGANIZING PAIRWORK AND GROUPWORK IN THE CONTEXT OF HIGHSCHOOL CLASSROOMS AT PHAM VAN NGHI UPPER SECONDARY

SCHOOL, NAM DINH PROVINCE: A CASE STUDY.

(TỔ CHỨC HOẠT ĐỘNG TỔ VÀ HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM TRONG LỚP HỌC THPTTẠI TRƯỜNG PTTH PHẠM VĂN NGHỊ TỈNH NAM ĐỊNH: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU

i

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled

ORGANIZING PAIRWORK AND GROUPWORK IN THE CONTEXT OF HIGHSCHOOL CLASSROOMS AT PHAM VAN NGHI UPPER SECONDARY

SCHOOL, NAM DINH PROVINCE: A CASE STUDY

Is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at College ofForeign Languages, Hanoi National University, and that this thesis has not been submittedfor any degree at any other upper secondary schools

Date : 10/10/2008

ii

In completion of my thesis, I have received generous advice and help from manylecturers whose lectures are very practical and useful Firstly, I would like to express my

sincere thanks to my supervisor, M.A TRẦN THỊ THANH from Vietnam National

University, Hanoi College of Foreign Language, for her close guidance, criticism, and hergenerous help in the process of completing my thesis.

My special thanks also go to all lecturers and the staff of the Department of PostGraduate Studies at Hanoi College of Foreign Language for their useful materials,guidance and enthusiasm during my course of study.

I really wish to thank all my colleagues and my students at my school - PHAM

VAN NGHI upper secondary school- for their kind cooperation in giving valuable

Finally, I owe my deep thanks to my dear family, specially my husband, my littledaughter and my friends who always stand for me with their consideration andencouragement.

Mai Thị Hằng Phương

Learning language well depends on many factors such as personal characteristics,the structure of the native and target languages, opportunities for communicating withother people and with native speakers For students at schools, these factors can onlywork well with the help of the teachers using different techniques, and approaches inlanguage teaching.

In communicative language teaching, students have more chances practicing in thetarget language through different classroom activities, among them pair work and groupwork appear to be the most appropriate application.

In my school, PHAM VAN NGHI upper secondary school in Y YEN district,

NAM DINH province, pairwork and group work are used widely in foreign language

classes However, it seems that the using of these activities in the school is not veryeffective This research focuses on pointing out how to organize pair work and groupworkmore effectively after investigating how these activities are used in our school bycollecting data through class observation, and analyzing the questionanaire data Someevaluation will be drawn and some suggestions for the future use of these activities will bemade.

2 Aims of the study 1

3 Scope of the study 1

4 Research questions of the study 2

5 Methods of study 2

6 Design of study 2

Part B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1 : LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Communicative approach to language teachers 4

1.1.1 What is meant by Communication? 4

1.1.2 Communicative Language Teaching 5

1.1.2.1 Nature of Communicative Language Teaching 5

1.1.2.2 The Techniques of Communicative Language Teaching 5

1.2 Definition of pair work and group work 6

1.3 Advantages and disadvantages of pair and group work 7

1.3.1 The advantages of pairwork and groupwork 7

1.3.2 Disadvantages 8

1.4 How to organize pair work and group work : 9

1.4.1 Preparation for group work: 9

1.4.2 Steps of organizing pair work and group work : 11

1.5 Difficulties in organizing pair work and group work and suggested solutions 12

1.5.1 Difficulties : 12

1.5.2 Solution : 13

CHAPTER 2 : PRACTICAL RESEARCH 14

2.1 Background of the study 14

2.1.1 Description of the English syllabus in PVN school 14

2.1.2 Description of the students at PVN school 14

2.1.3 Description of the teachers at the PVN 15

2.1.4 Description of physical setting 15

2.2 Design and methodology 16

2.3.3 Examples of pair work and group work 26

CHAPTER 3 : FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS 30

3.1 FINDINGS 30

3.1.1 How teachers at PVN school organize pairwork and groupwork 30

3.1.2 Difficulties from teachers 32

3.1.3 Difficulties from students 32

1 Summary of the study 38

2 Limitations of the study 39

3 Suggestions for further study 39

REFERENCES 40

Part A: INTRODUCTION1 Rationale

English, nowadays, is widely taught from primary school to university, even atEnglish centers through out the country People learn English for their work or for theirhigher study However, the results of the English courses are not very good Vietnameseteachers of English have not known how to apply the teaching method in effective ways.They are lack of knowledge, teaching aid, time, and money to teach four language skills:listening skill, speaking skill, reading skill and writing skill Like many teachers in theschools of Vietnam, teachers of English at PVN upper secondary school are faced with acommon problem: students’ poor participation in activities in the classroom In fact, thereare a variety of reasons for this poor participation, and therefore finding appropriatetechniques and methods for teaching English effectively to students at PVN uppersecondary school requires a long serious research This led me the choice of the study“organizing pair work and groupwork in the context of high school classrooms at PVNupper secondary school” with the hope of investigating into ways to organize pairwork andgroupwork more effectively in English classes My study only focuses on how to organizepairwork and groupwork more effectively for students at PVN upper secondary school inNAM DINH.

2 Aims of study

The study is aimed at:

 Understanding the theoretical background of classroom activities: pairwork andgroupwork to improve students’ language skills.

 Investigating the use of pair and group work in PVN upper secondary school- aschool located in Y Yen district, Nam Dinh province

 Helping teachers at PVN upper secondary school to find out effective technique toorganize pairwork and groupwork with the hope of helping them in teaching English.

3 Scope of the study

To improve four skills for students at PVN upper secondary school, the teachers canmake use of various techniques and a number of things should be done However, the

researcher only intends to draw a brief overview of pairwork and groupwork in classes atPVN upper secondary school and to find out the ways to organize pairwork and groupworkmore effectively

4 Research questions of the study

This study was aimed to answer the following research questions:

1 How do the teachers in PVN high school use pair and group work? And how often?2 Is that a suitable way of teaching in PVN school? Why?

3.How to organize pairwork and groupwork in English class more effectively forimproving four skills to students at PVN upper secondary school?

5 Methods of study

To realize the aims of the study, a case study was used.The theoretical backgroundof the study comes from many published books written by different authors on languageteaching and language acquisition The data collected for the study came from two sources:the students and the English teachers at PVN upper secondary school (8 English teachersand 120 students) by making survey questionnaires and observation.

In this research, quantitative method is used, too All comments, remarks,recommendations assumption and conclusion provided in the study based on the analysisof the statistics from the survey questionnaires conducted with students and teachers ofPVN upper secondary school The study is also based on a qualitative method with theauthor’s own experience and observation during 6 years of teaching English.

6 Design of study

This study consists of 3 parts:

Part A: Introduction which presents the rationale, the aims, scope, the method and

design of the study The research questions are also mentioned in this part.

Part B: Development which consists of 3 chapters:

Chapter 1: Literature Review - reviews the theory about CLT, and pairwork and

Chapter 2: Practical Research –provides an analysis on the current situation of using

pairwork and groupwork in teaching and learning English at PVN upper secondary school.

Data collection and analysis are also presented in this chapter

Chapter 3: Findings and Suggestions - focuses on how the teachers at PVN upper

secondary school organized pairwork and groupwork and difficulties facing them and their

students in carrying out these activities and some suggestions for the teachers to organizepair work and groupwork more effectively.

Part C: Conclusion summarizes all the key issues as well as the limitations of the

study and some suggestions for further study

Part B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter briefly covers the theories related to the study : Communicativeapproach to language teaching, and pairwork and groupwork in language teaching andlearning.

1.1 Communicative approach to language teaching

1.1.1 What is meant by Communication?

In Thompson’s book (2003: 9) “Communication and Language”, he considers that“Communication is such a well-integrated part of our day- to- day existence that we tend totake it for granted rarely pausing to consider what it involves or just how important it is tous” Before he expressed to his own ideas about communication, he mentioned some ofFiske’s ideas:

“Communication is one of those human activities that everyone recognizes but few candefinite satisfactorily”

However he completely agreed with Fiske’s ideas that “the most relevant definitionof communication for present purposes is social interaction through messages”(Thompson, N.2003:10) There are two related aspects that we should consider whentalking about definition of communication is “social” and “interaction”.

According to Dwyer (2000:8), communication is very important in daily life: “For those working in our changing social and economic environment, effectivecommunication is as important as it has always been Now, however, we must grasp thefact that we are dealing with more layers of communication than ever before Theexchange of information and ideas becomes more complex daily, as managementstructures flatten, work teams emerge and interact with other teams and as globalizationrequires us to link up with individuals and organizations at regional, national and

international levels Increasingly sophisticated technology enables us to achieve a scopeand range of communication unimaginable even 20 years ago”.

1.1.2 Communicative Language Teaching

1.1.2.1 Nature of Communicative Language Teaching

Communicative Language Teaching means little more than an integration ofgrammatical and functional teaching Littlewood (1981:1) states, “One of the mostcharacteristic features of communicative language teaching is that it pays systematicattention to functional as well as structural aspects of language”.

Communicative Language Teaching means using procedures where the learnersmainly work in pairs or groups employing available language resources in problem-solving tasks CLT stresses the importance of providing the learners with opportunities touse English for communicative purposes and attempts to integrate such activities in to awider program of language teaching

1.1.2.2 The Techniques of Communicative Language Teaching

The techniques of Communicative Language Teaching are described by features.Nunan (1991a:279) gives five features to characterize CLT:

+ An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language.+ The introduction of authentic texts in to the learning situation

+ The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on thelearning process itself.

+ An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important contributingelements to classroom learning.

+ An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside theclassroom.

According to Jack C Richards and Theodore S Rodgers (1986:170), becausecommunicative principles can be applied to the teaching of any skill, at any level, andbecause of the wide variety of classroom activities and exercise types discussed in theliterature on Communicative Language Teaching, description of typical classroomprocedures used in a lesson based on CLT principle is not feasible Savignon (1983)discusses techniques and class management procedures associated with a number of CLTclassroom procedure (e.g., group activities, language games, role plays), but neither theseactivities nor the ways in which they are used are exclusive to CLT classrooms

Johnson and Johnson (1998) offer five core characteristics that underlie currentapplications of communicative methodology:

+ Appropriateness: Language use reflects the situations of its use and must be appropriateto that situation depending on the setting, the roles of the participants and the purpose ofthe communication, for example Thus learners may need to be able to use formal as wellas casual styles of speaking.

+ Message focus: Learners need to be able to create and understand messages, that is, realmeanings Hence the focus on information sharing and information transfer in CLTactivities.

+ Psycholinguistic processing: CLT activities seek to engage learners in the use ofcognitive and other processes that are important factors in second language acquisition.+ Risk taking: Learners are encouraged to make guesses and learn from their errors Bygoing beyond what they have been taught, they are encouraged to employ a variety ofcommunication strategies.

+ Free practice: CLT encourages the use of “holistic practice” involving the simultaneoususe of a variety of sub-skills, rather than practising individual skills one piece at a time

To sum up, Communicative Language Teaching is best considered an approachrather than a method It refers to a diverse set of principles that reflect a communicativeview of language and language learning and that can be used to support a wide variety ofclassroom procedures.

1.2 Definition of pair and group work

There are many definitions of pairwork and group work :

Students may be organized to do work in pairs or small groups in the classroom.The advantage of small group work is that it promotes maximum participation from allstudents In a small group situation, ideally all students are involved in both "thinking anddoing."Small group work also promotes cooperative skills, such as listening andcommunication skills, problem solving and sharing of tasks.

Research has shown that group work enhances the learning of all group members,regardless of how skilled or unskilled individual members are.

The small group approach is most commonly used with children through the agesof 12, although it has shown to be beneficial for older children as well.

(Felisa Tibbitts)

According to Adrian Doff (1988 :137), the whole class is divided in to pairs by theteacher Every students works with his or her partner in pairs and all the pairs work at thesame time (It is sometimes called simultaneous pair work) This is not the same as ‘public’or ‘open’, pairwork, with pairs of students speaking in turn in front of the class In fact, Apairwork consists of two students working together at the same time.

Groupwork is a group of students working together A class can be divided in tosmall groups to work together (usually four or five students in each group), as in pairwork,all the groups work at the same time.

1.3 Advantages and disadvantages of pair and group work

According to Hubert Skrzynski, pair work and group work have both advantagesand disadvantages These are mentioned below :

1.3.1 The advantages of pairwork and groupwork

1.3.1.1 To increase the amount of student practice : When students work in pairs or

groups they have more chance to practise Working in pair and group, students often feelmore willing to talk among themselves in a small group than with a teacher in a large group,so that it dramatically increases the amount of talking for individual students.

1.3.1.2 To increase the learner’s confidence : The students feel much more comfortable

to speak foreign language with one or two other students rather than with the whole classand the teacher Especially shy students, or ones who are not good at speaking languageyet feel more relaxed and self- confident trying to put their language abilities to a testduring the activity and seeing how they use them.This encourages students to cooperatewith one another

1.3.1.3 To develop students’ fluency : while working in pair or group abilities, the

students can use the language freely and express their opinions and thoughts without anyrestrictions It is difficult not to get the impression that fluency can be improved only duringconstant speaking practice in the atmosphere of independence and in the state of relaxation.

1.3.1.4 To increase students’ motivation : While working in pairs and groups the activities

are available As you know a huge variety of activities influences the course of a lesson andits success The more different the activities the teacher uses in the lessons, the bigger theirmotivation is In fact, students’ motivation increases because they are active and feelimportant during these activities In keeping with this, the teacher is going to experience

success in his/ her work because motivated students are usually good languages learners andthey always make progress.

1.3.2 Disadvantages

1.3.2.1 To speak native language : One of the disadvantages is that students often speak

in their native language If the class is really big with too many students, it is very difficultfor the teacher to listen to all pairs or groups at the same time However, the teacher canstill do something to change situation The teacher should establish certain rules at thebeginning of the school year and be very strict about them After sometime the good habitof speaking only English may be established.

1.3.2.2 To make mistakes : Another problem is incorrectness While students work in

pairs and groups, the teacher usually do not disturb them, even if he/she notices somemistakes they have made, but we should not forget that errors or mistakes are anindissoluble element of the process of learning.Besides, students try to correct each otherrather than learn the mistakes One of the main points of having learners speak to eachother is to help them increase their confidence and reduce the anxiety that is often found ina purely teacher- centered classroom Pair work and group work activities are usuallygeared to fluency enhancement rather than accuracy practice.

1.3.2.3 To eliminate shy and weak students from the practice : Some shy or weak

students can be eliminated from the practice, because of individuals who always tend todominate It is not a problem when they work in pairs, but as far as the groups areconcerned, the teacher should assign roles to avoid one or two learners taking over theactivity and others becoming passive observers

1.3.2.4 To make noise and indiscipline : Working in pairs and groups in a large class

makes noise and indiscipline, the teachers have more troublesome than the learners have.Participants in a pair work or group work activity are normally unaware of the noise and ofwhat other pairs or groups are doing The only possible problem here could be if theclassroom had particularly thin walls

It seems that there are as many disadvantages as advantages of these classroomarrangements and one can not unanimously state which one is better, since each teacherhas his/her own likes and dislikes It is his/her individual choice which one should be usedduring the process of teaching a language

1.4 How to organize pair and group work :

1.4.1 Preparation for group work:

In order to prepare for group work, according to Felisa Tibbits, the teacher will need todo the following:

- Select the activity

- Prepare any physical materials for group work ahead of time- Anticipate the size and the selection of groups

-Anticipate how students will be organized within the groups (tasks and roles)- Consider the timing of the group work

- Consider how the small group work will be shared with the entire class and linkedwith the overall curriculum.

Steps in the classroom:

1.4.1.1 Select the activity

An activity that is best suited for group work may meet the following criteria:

- The activity has multiple tasks that can be shared among group members or a singletask, such as generating ideas, that benefit from the articipation of all individualswithin a group.

- The activity involves problem solving and discussion

- Examples of activities that may be suited for group work are investigations ofmaterials (newspapers, scientific specimens) and development of ideas orarguments

1.4.1.2 Preparation of materials.

The teacher will need to personally collect, or organize students to collect, physicalspecimens for investigation For example, if the teacher anticipates doing a lesson on therole of the media, she or he might ask the students to bring in to class examples ofnewspapers and magazines There should be materials sufficient for each group.

1.4.1.3 Size and selection of group

Group size normally ranges between 3-5 students Group size can some times go largeralthough groups larger than 8 do not ensure that everyone will participate.

Since groups often report their work back to the whole class, teachers also take in toaccount the total number of groups within the class.

Group membership can be determined in different ways A random selection might bedone by “counting off” with students (go around the room systematically having studentscount 1, 2, 3, etc., with each numbers representing a group) or selecting groups on the basisof birth date.

In a non random selection, groups will be selected based on the teachers’ priorknowledge Usually, groups are selected to maximine diversity within the group, sincediversity enhances learning Such groups often have a balance of girls and boys, andstudents with differing ability levels Teachers can also use their best judgement aboutpersonality mixes that would enhance the work of the group.

Sometimes groups are organized only for one activity Other times, teachers use thesame small groups for a series of activities, so that students get used to working with oneanother.

If the tables and chairs can not be moved for group work, then students can formgroups by turning around in seats to face the children behind.

1.4.1.4 Organize students within the group

A laissez- faire approach to group work would be that the teacher gives a generalassignment to the group- like organize a research project on ‘qualities of good leaders’-and the students are left to organize themselves.

A highly structured approach would be that the teacher assigns a specific role to eachgroup member Depending upon the task, the roles might include ‘materials handler’,‘scribe’, ‘reporter to the large group’ and so on A semi- structured approach might be thatthe teacher recommend certain roles, but leaves it to the group to assign roles.

A more structured approach, with rotation of tasks within a group, is often used withyounger children A less structured approach can be used with students with experience ingroup work or for simple tasks that do not require that students take on different roles.

1.4.1.5 Time the group work

The teacher should anticipate student questions about timing, the task results, sharingwith the whole group, and so on After giving clear instructions to the students, the teachershould be available to answer questions, but not interfere with the groups’ activities.

It is common in many classrooms that a small group activity constitutes 20 minutes ofa 40 minute- period, with 10 minutes allowed for sharing small group work with the wholeclass

1.4.1.6 Share small group work with the whole class.

Usually the results of the small group work are shared with the class This sharing canbe oral (reporting out), visual (written or graphic representation), or both.

It is highly interesting to contrast the results of group work.

1.4.2 Steps of organizing pair and group work:

Harmer, J devides it in to 3 steps : before activities, during activities and afteractivities.

1.4 2 1 Before : The teacher makes students feel enthusiastic about what they are going

to do They need to understand what they are going to do, and they need to be given anidea of when they will have finished the task they are going to get involved in.

Sometimes our instructions will involve a demonstration- when, for example, studentsare going to use a new information- gap activity or when we want them to use card Onother occasions, where an activity is familiar, we may simplely give them an instruction topractise language they are to study in pairs, or to use their dictionaries to find specific bitsof information.

The important thing about instructions is that the students should understand and agreeon what the task is To check that they do we may ask them to repeat the instructions, or, inmonolingual classes, to translate them in to their first language.

1.4.2.2 During : While students are working in pairs or groups the teachers have a number

of options They could, for instance, stand at the front or the side of the class (or at theback or anywhere else in the room) and keep an eye on what is happening, noting whoappears to be stuck or disengaged, or about to finish In this position we can ‘tune in’ to aparticular pair or group from some distance away The teachers can then decide whether togo over and help that pair or group.

An alternative procedure is to go round the class watching and listening to specificpairs and groups The teachers can stay (with their agreement) for a period of time and thenintervene if we think it is appropriate or necessary, always bearing in mind what we havesaid about the difference between accuracy and fluency work

When students are working in pairs or groups the teachers have an ideal opportunity towork with individual students whom they feel would benefit from our attention They alsohave a great chance to act as observer, picking up information about students’ progress.

1.4.2.3 After : When pairs and groups stop working together the teacher need to organise

feedback The teachers want to let them discuss what occurred during the group sessionand, where necessary, add their own assessments and make corrections.

Where pairwork or groupwork has formed part of a practice session, our feedback maytake the form of having a few pairs or groups quickly demonstrate the language they havebeen using The teachers can then correct it, if and when necessary, and this procedure willgive both those students and the rest of the class good information for future learning andaction.

Finally, it is vital to remember that constructive feedback on the content of studentwork can greatly enhance students’ future motivation The feedback the teachers give onlanguage mistakes is only one part of that process.

1.5 Difficulties in organizing pair and group work and suggested solutions

When teachers organize pairwork and groupwork, they encounter some difficulties.

1.5.1.2 Instruction : It is neccesary for students to know what the teacher wants them todo This sounds obvious and easy, but in some case, some students hadn’t known exactlywhat they had to do Some teachers try to give instructions in students’ target language,and, so funny it sometimes appears that understanding the instructions in target language ismuch more difficult than doing the exercise.

1.5.1.3 Activity Types : Pair and group work are fine in theory, but what type of activity todo with them is a problem Some group members may sit doing nothing if teacher asks agroup of four or five to work with a small dialogue And problem solving activities seem tobe difficult for pairs when one of them or none of them has no idea about the problem.

Drawing a plan of the room and visualizing the arrangements will help to achieve this For difficulties in giving instructions, Andy Hoodith considers that students shouldgive instructions in the students’ mother tongue It’s better to be strict, then ease up, than toallow students too much leeway to use their mother tongue in the first few lessons and thentry to stop them overusing it One method is to explain briefly in English, then if necessarysupply written instructions in their mother tongue If students are still not clear, about whatto do, then the written instructions probably weren’t very good ! The teacher can thenallow a couple of minutes for them to clarity the instructions for each other in mothertongue, and one example can be made to make students completely understand theinstructions.

Andy Hoodith advised to choose more simple types of activities for pair work Thesetypes must be less controversial than the ones for group work, but dialogues and speakingactivities are more suitable to pair work than group work.

CHAPTER 2 : PRACTICAL RESEARCH2.1 Background of the study

2.1.1 Description of the English syllabus in PVN school.

At PVN upper secondary school, English is taught nearly 40 years ago.There arethree levels of English : English 10, 11, and English 12 In the past, the textbook used hereis the three - year -course textbook, the twelve- year- course books have been used here fortwo years English is now a compulsory subject in PVN school Students here have Englishlessons during the first term and second term of the school year.

The textbook chosen is English 10, 11,12 by Hoang Van Van, Hoang Thi XuanHoa, Do Tuan Minh, Nguyen Thu Phuong, Nguyen Quoc Tuan, Nha Xuat Ban Giao Duceach consists of 16 lessons which have been covered through out the school year with mid-term and term tests in between Each lesson is devided into 5 periods with the aim ofgiving the students basic knowledge of English and practice four skills : speaking,listening, reading and writing skill This is a new textbook with many pictures and suitablefor applying Communicative Language Teaching By using this textbook, we can developour students’ communicative competence and our students can learn the real things fromdaily life Students are required to work in pairs, in group to practise English in commonsituations Additionally, students also have chances to listen to both native and non-nativespeakers from the tapes used with the textbook The textbook also developestudents’reading skill and writing skill At the end of each term, students have an exam forfour skills

The objectives of the English course are clear At the end of the course (after 105periods), students are required to obtain :

- General knowledge of English grammar and an active vocabulary

-The ability to communicate with foreigners in English in common situations like :showing ways, making requests…

-The ability to read English pre- intermediate book, English newspapers or magazines

2.1.2 Description of the students at PVN school

Like students of other school, in order to be 10th form students of PVN school, theyhave to pass a national examination All the students of PVN school come from thecountryside New students here have the same level of English language proficiency Theyhave learnt English for 4 years at secondary school However, they have a basic

knowledge of English grammar but their language skills are not quite good Comparing tostudents in the past now the students are more aware of the important of learning English,they are more intelligent, more active and more motivative in learning English Studentshave to spend 3 years at PVN school in order to get general certificate of education.Besides many other subjects, they have 3 periods of English per week, they have 15munites tests every two weeks and 45 munites tests every four weeks In class, they aregiven chances to practise mainly four skills : speaking, listening, reading and writing skill.

2.1.3 Description of the teachers at the PVN

If students are the most important factor in the learning process, teachers are the mostimportant factor in the teaching process In PVN school, there are 8 teachers of Englishlanguage aged from 25 to 59 but none of them have ever been to any English speakingcountries Of the eight teachers, only 5 have been trained at VNU - CFL, two have beentrained from Hanoi University of Foreign Studies and one has been trained from Hanoiteachers’ training University In the past, most of these teachers mainly used the Grammar-Translation Method - a way of teaching and learning a foreign language on the basis ofdetailed analysis of grammar rules and application of these rules to the translation ofsentences and texts into the mother tongue and in to English Now, the textbook isdesigned for Communicative Language Teaching in which the use of procedures thatdevelop the four language skills through working in pairs or groups is problem- solvingtasks Only half of the teachers who have graduated from VNU- CFL are familiar withCLT But their teaching experience with the students is still limited.

2.1.4 Description of physical setting

The term « physical setting » refers to the place where the lessons take place, thenumber of students in an English class, the equipments and different types of materialsavailable for teachers and students in teaching and learning English

In PVN school, English teaching and learning activities are mostly carried out inside theclassrooms which are designed for lecture lessons with the only classroom equipment – ablackboard, tables and desks The only type of teaching aid that the English group has issome cassette recorders and projectors In term of class size, the number of students in anEnglish class is quite large, from 40 to 60 This large number causes a great deal ofdifficulties for the teaching and learning.

The materials for reference and self- study are not available for teachers and students atPVN school In the school library, there are only some English books but they are notreally helpful for teachers and students The problem is not very bad for the teachers sincethey can go out to find their own references but it is very difficult for the students to do sothemselves.

2.2 Design and methodology

2.2.1 The participants

In total, 120 students at PVN upper secondary school and eight English teachersparticipated in this study The students are choosen randomly from 10th form, 11th formand 12 form and consist of 78 female and 42 male students at the age from 16 to 18 Theymay be from the classes observed or may not, but the researcher intends to take 20 fromeach class of the teachers in the English group They come from different districts.All ofthem come from the countryside They started to learn English from six form, it meansthey have learnt English for at least 4 years.There are two old teachers aged 45 to 59 andsix young teachers, aged 25 to 35 A survey is conducted among teachers and students atPVN upper secondary school to find out the information about the current situation ofclassroom activities : pairwork and groupwork The survey questionnaire includesinformation about pairwork and groupwork at school (see Appendix 1 and 2) The resultsof the survey is illustrated in Table 1 and 3 The researcher should give questionnaires tothe teachers and students before observing the classes.The researcher observed 15 classesand then analyze the data collected from the questionnaires and classroom observationsheets to find information to answer the research questions After analyzing the data, someconclusion must be drawn and some suggestions for further research must be made, too

2.2.2 Research instruments

In order to get the needed information the researcher use two following researchmethods : questionnaires and observation.There are two types of questionnaires : one forteachers and the other for students Each of them has ten questions.The questionnaires aremainly used for exploiting teacher’s and students’ knowledge , their experience, and theirattitude toward pair and group work Observation is done in classes of different aims andpurposes : teaching speaking, teaching reading, teaching listening, teaching grammar andteaching writing, the researcher has to design the Classroom Observation Sheet beforeobserving classes.The classes observed must be from grade 10 to 12 and with all eight

teachers of English in PVN upper secondary school.The classes observed must not beprepared especially for being obseved

2.2.3 Data analysis

Data analysis is not simply a single description of the collected data In fact, it isthe process by which the researcher interprets the data collected from the surveyquestionnaires The scheme and coding catergories in this research emerged from anexamination of data rather than being pre- determined and imposed on the data

2.3 Presentation of statistical results

2.3.1 Questionnaires

2.3.1.1 The result of language teaching survey questionnaires

Table 1 : The results of the language teaching survey

Percent (%)

1 How long do youusually spend onpair work andgroup work?

e Other Options : from 5 to 15minutes per period

2 In your opinion,What are the mainbenefits of the pairwork and groupwork ?

3 Which activities doyou often use pairwork and groupwork ?

f Good students with good ones.Weak students with the weak ones

g Good students with the weak ones 0 0

5 In your opinion,pair work andgroupwork aremost useful forteaching

prepare materialsfor pair work andgroup work in yourclasses ?

a Use the information given in thetextbook

a It is a vital activity in languageteaching

b It is one of the important anduseful activities in language teaching

9 Is it easy to usepair work andgroup work inlanguage

c The language proficiency of theteacher

g The language proficiency of thestudents

The questionaires results help the author know the attitude, the knowledge and theunderstanding of pairwork and groupwork of the teachers in PVN high school For thequestion about the time amount for pair work and group work in a class, none of themchose 5 minutes, most of the teachers (87,5%) consider 10 minutes or more is suitable timefor working in pairs or groups One person chose from 5 to 15 minutes.

Question 2 is about the benefit of pair work and group work in language classes 50%of them saw the benefits of these activities in making class more interesting and 50%consider pairwork and groupwork helping in motivating students and learning process Theteachers seemed not to find the benefits of pair work and group work in teaching process.

In question 3, all teachers use pairwork and group work for teaching speaking in everylesson Some of them use pair work and group work for another skills depending on thefeatures of each lesson.

Question 4 mentions about the way to organize pair work and group work Mostteachers (75%) choose students sitting next to each others (students sitting at the sametables, at the tables next to each others) The teachers seem not to notice grouping studentsdepending on abilities, hobies They only focus on seats.

With the same view as in option 3, the teachers in this school thought that pair workand group work is the most useful for teaching grammar and speaking (100%), and thenreading, writing, listening…

In the next question, 75% of the teachers saya that in order to make pair work andgroup work successful, the teachers’ preparation is the most important factor 62,5% of theteachers consider making the work suitable to the students important and the next, lessimportant is the teacher’s awareness of the work, clear instruction with examples andcontrolling the work They paid little attention to create the competitive sense.

To prepare for pair work and group work, most of the teachers (87,5%) use theinformation given in the textbook Half of the teachers (50%) use the same topics as in thetextbook but not the same copies Some of them take an extract or information fromanother commercial books, design by themselves, or collaborate with their colleagues orget their opinions.

With the same point of view of question 2, in question 8, most of the teachersconsidered pair work and group work as one of the most important and useful activities inlanguage classes Some of them think it as a vital activity in language teaching.

After answering all questions about the time, the benefits, the usefulness… of pairwork and group work, all teachers see that pair work and group work are neither easy nordifficult to be applied in language classes The cooperation of the students, the hardship ofthe students and the language proficiency of the students are main factors affecting thesuccess of pair work and group work The other factors have little influence on it

2.3.1.2 The result of language learning survey questionnaires

120 sheets of language learning survey questionnaires were delivered for students inall three grades 10, 11, 12 Forty students were chosen from each grade, twenty of themfrom level A and another twenty from level B The students were from eight classes taughtby different teachers Students were choosen freely in order to have different abilities ofEnglish study with different attitudes to English learning They are of course both sexes.

Table 2 : Characteristics of the students participating in the language learning survey

GradeNumberSexEnglish study result of the previous term

Table 3 : The result of the language learning survey

is an appropriate timefor pair work andgroup work ?

2 What are the mainbenefits of the pairwork and groupwork ?

1 To make students moremotivative

2 To make the class moreinteresting

3 Which activities doyou often work inpairs and groups ?

3 Students sitting next to each other 10 8,34 Students sitting far from each

6 Good students with good students,weak students with weak students

6 According to you, inorder to use pairwork and group worksuccessfully in asecondary school, theteacher has to

7 How do you oftenprepare for pair workand group work inyour classes ?

1 Use the information given in thetextbook

1 It is a vital activity in languageteaching

2 It is one of the most important anduseful

9 How appropriate doyou think are pair

work and group workat your school ?

10 Which factors, doyou think can mosteffect the success of apair work and groupwork ?

3 The language proficiency of theteacher

7 The language proficiency of thestudents

Question 2 is the same as teacher’s question Both teachers and students found pairwork and group work useful for making the class more interesting, helping the learningprocess and motivating students (96,7% students and 100% teachers) Only 4% of studentsthought it is useful for teaching process.

In the next question, all four language skills were chosen, but the percentages for eachare not the same.All students (100%) chose speaking skill for working in pair and group,next is reading (83,3%) and then writing (75%), listening (60,8%) It shows that whenpractising four language skills in every class pairwork and groupwork are used very often

In question 4, the students answer that they are often grouped with the others at thesame table (75%) They rarely worked with partners from different tables (4,2%), indifferent rows (2,5%), good students with the weak one (8,3%).

The answers of question 5 show that grammar is the most useful for working in pairsand groups (50%), the next is speaking (33,3%), and then other ones.

For question 7, the answers of the students did not agree with the answers of theteachers They liked using the same topics as in the textbook but not the exact copies(50%) 29,2% of students use the information in the textbook Some students design thework by themselves and use information from another reference book.

Like the teachers here, the students also found pair work and group work useful inlanguage classes Most of them (93,4%) considered pair work and group work importantand useful activities in language classes However, there were few students (6,7%) did notsee the usefulness of pair work and group work in their learning process.

85,8% of the students said pairwork and groupwork are suitable and appropriate intheir school Only 14,2% thought they are not appropriate in school because they did notsee the usefulness of these activities.

Surprisingly, most of the students (72,5%) here thought that their hardship, theircooperation and their language proficiency are the decisive factors of success of pair workand group work in language classes.The other factors affected little about the success ofpair work and group work.

2.3.2 Classroom observation

The researcher observed 15 classes taught by all eight teachers The classes were of allthree grades 10, 11 and 12 and at both levels A and B This part describes the detailprocedure of the classes observation and then some evaluations are given by the researcher.They are described at the order they were observed as follow :

Basing on the classroom observation sheets (see Appendix 3 and 4), pairwork andgroup work activities take place in language classes in PVN upper- secondary school quiteoften They were used in all the classes observed (100%) This means that the teachers hereusually organized pair and group work in their language classes but not all the teachersused them effectively Moreover, the different teachers spent the various time on pairworkand groupwork activities, the total for these activities were about 50% of the total timeamount, and in average, pair and group work activities took 20 minutes each period Themaximum time amount for pairwork and groupwork activities in a class was 30 minutesand the minimum time amount was 10 minutes And the average time amount for pair andgroup work in a class with in this school was 20 minutes This number is also shown in thelanguage teaching survey questionnaires, in which they chose 10 minutes and more for theappropriate time amount.