SOME SUGGESTIONS TO MOTIVATE 10th FORM STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN GROUPWORK ACTIVITIES IN SPEAKING LESSONS AT QUANG XUONG 1 HIGH SCHOOL

TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I: INTRODUCTION 11 Reason for the study ……3 1.2 Aims of the study 1……………………………………………………… …… 1.3 Scope of the study .4 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 New features of the study …… PART II: DEVELOPMENT …… 2.1 Theo retical background 2.1.1 Definitions of speaking .5 2.1.2 Teaching and learning speaking skill 2.1.3 Definitions of students' participation 2.1.4 Teachers' teaching methods 2.1.5 Teachers' personalities and characteristics 2.1.6.Students' learning style 2.1.7 Students' learning motivation 2.1.8 Definitions of group work 2.1.9 Types of groupwork 2.1.10 Advantages of using group work activities in speaking lesson 8+9 2.2 The factual issues in participating in groupwwork at English speaking lessons at Quảng Xương High school 2.2.1.The students and teachers' attitudes towards learning and teaching speaking skill………………………………………………………………… 10 2.2.2 The students and teachers' problems in implementing groupwork activities 11 2.3 Some suggestions to motivate 10th form students to participate in groupwork activities in speaking lessons at Quảng Xương High school 2.3.1 The role of the teacher .12 2.3.2.The role of each student in group work activities 13 2.3.3 Types of speaking tasks carried out in group work activities in textbook English 10……………………………………………………………………………… ……14 2.3.4 Forming students in groups 15 2.3.5 Preparing for students to work in group 16 2.3.6 Ending group work activities 16 2.4.RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS……………………………………… 2.4.1 RESULTS 2.4.1.2.The students' attitudes towards the current groupwork activities 18 2.4.1.3 The students' preference of kinds of groupwork activities 19 2.4.1.4 The teachers and students' acknowledgements about groupwork activities 19 2.4.2 Recommendations 2.4.2.1 Students should be well- prepared for groupwork activities…….… … 20 2.4.2.2 Students should be always sustained in groupwork activities ………… 21 2.4.2.3 The groups' results should be appropriately evaluated ………………….21 PART 3:CONCLUSION 3.1.Summary …………………………………………………………………….22 3.2 Suggestions for the further study ………………………………………… 22 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT refers to Communicative Language Teaching EFL refers to English as a First Language ESL refers to English as a Second Language PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Reason for the study With the undeniable role of communication, English has proven to be the most effective tool to involve Vietnam in the process of globalization and vice versa English has helped open a new integrating chance those who knows to make use of it Having fully recognized the importance of this, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training has made English a compulsory subject at secondary schools all over the country and it has become one of the three main subjects at high schools As a result, the high school curriculum has laid a great deal of stress on teaching and learning this widely-used language especially in a communicative way The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training has recently put into practice a new series of English textbooks, which focus on the Communicative Language Teaching In order to apply this method effectively, the use of group work activities in teaching speaking skill is emphasized, as is stated in the teacher’s guide books In the new textbook, English 10, most of the activities in speaking lessons are encouraged to be organized in group work activities It has been reported by a number of the studies that in speaking lessons, group work activities make it possible for the teacher to devote more time to the students' oral production, which perhaps before had not been a priority in the foreign language classroom Thanks to group work activities, less confident students get the chance to put their knowledge of the new language into practice in a nonthreatening environment, away from the critical eye and ear of the teacher Instead of being dependent on the teacher, students get used to helping and learning from each other Meanwhile, the teacher is left free to discreetly monitor progress and give help, advice and encouragement where and when it is needed Small groups provide greater intensity of involvement, so that the quality of language practice is increased Despite the enormous benefits of using group work activities in developing the students' speaking ability, both the teachers and the students at Quang Xương high school are generally not much successful in teaching or learning through this type of activity Almost the teachers often complained that their students did not fully participate in group work activities Therefore, they had a lot of difficulties using group work activities in their class This led me to carry out an investigation into the matter in the hope to work out and explain how the 10th form students participate into group work activities in speaking lessons will be identified and better understood Furthermore, based on the study, practical teaching ideas to improve the students' participation into the group work activities in speaking lessons will be drawn out 1.2 Aims of the study The study aims to - investigate current participation by the 10th form student in group work activities in speaking lessons at Quảng Xương High school - identify the factors affecting the students' participation in groupwork speaking activities - discuss and recommend practical teaching ideas to involve the 10th form students in more effective groupwork activities in speaking lessons 1.3 Subjects of the study The subjects of the study are composed of 135 participants divided into groups: The first group consists of 135 grade 10 students randomly chosen at Quảng Xương High school The second group involves teachers They have been teaching at school for at least 10 years They are assigned to teach English 10 1.4 Method of the study To conduct the study, quantitative and qualitative methods will be used Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews will be used to collect information and evidence for the study All the comments, recommendations and conclusions provided in the study will be based on the data analysis 1.5 New features of the study: To help teachers detect the reason why their few students take part in working in group in big size class and provide them some very useful methods the teachers don’t conduct the steps in order or some of them even are not care about to motivate students to participate in groupwork activities in speaking skill lessons such as; select activities carefully,work out the instructions for an activity carefully,present the activity to the class, monitor the students' performance, provide feedback, keep a record, PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Theoretical background 2.1.1 Definitions of speaking There are various definitions of speaking and the popular acceptance comes from Jones, R (1989: 86) who defines speaking as “Speaking is a form of communication, so it is important that what you say conveyed in the most effective way.” Speaking is one of the basic skills that must be mastered by students since it is very important for them to communicate in the class or outside the class They must practice it especially in learning teaching in order to be fluent, without an ability to speak, it would be impossible to have a natural communication among people Brown and Yule (1989: 14) state in their book “Speaking is to express the needs request, information, service, etc.” The speakers say a word to the listener not only to express what in their mind but also to express what they need Most people might spend their everyday life communicating with others 2.1.2 Teaching and learning speaking skill People use oral language as their most means of communication- all peoples have developed a form of oral language Skill and fluency in speaking have dramatic effects upon life in general The recent emphasis on communication has focused particular attention on ways of promoting speaking skills This is a question of developing not only language competence but also language use Speaking activities aim, therefore, to develop the confidence, desire, and ability to use the target language accurately and appropriately and effectively for the purposes of communication as well Teaching speaking is to prepare students to be able to use language How this preparation is done and how successful it is depend on how we as teachers understand our aims For students, learning to speak a foreign language is considered to be one of the most difficult aspects of language learning To help students be able to use that foreign language to express themselves intelligibly, reasonably, accurately without too much hesitation, teachers must provide them with an environment within in which they can communicate freely, and in which they can work together independently with only the minimum amount of direction from the teachers 2.1.3 Definitions of students' participation Many linguists pointed out that students' participation plays a crucially important role which helps to determine the level of proficiency by different students in language learning According to Howard, Short, and Clark (1996) participation is the student’s active engagement in the classroom to promote effective learning Peacock (1997) defined students' participation in language learning in term of on task and off task This means that students are on task when they "engaged in the pedagogic work of the day" and students are off task when they have "a complete lack of attention to the task" Sylvelyn, Judith & Paulin (2009) stated that students' participation is when students who actively engage in classroom discussions, rather than be passive learners who simply take in knowledge 2.1.4.Teacher’s teaching methods Hammer (1991) claimed that teachers' teaching methods have direct effects on students' learning in both positive and negative ways especially in speaking lesson It is clear that good and proper method will attract students in their learning If students find their teacher' method deadly boring, they will certainly become de-motivated and not want to participate in the speaking activities On the contrary, if the students are interested in their teacher' method, there is no doubt that they will be ready to engage in the activities It is necessary that teachers need to apply appropriate methods for their students' level 2.1.5 Teachers' personalities and characteristics Teachers' personalities and characteristics are considered to be the key influence on students' liking of their success in different at school The teacher's prestige will make students feel secure in his or her lecture and thus they are wiling to participate in language learning more Barry and King (1994) pointed out the necessary characteristics of teachers like being nature, being warm, being pleasant, being approachable and being tolerant Besides, a good teacher owns certain qualities such as encouragement to active learning, friendliness, support, ability to create positive and friendly learning environment He or she gets students involved in his lesson and encourage them take part in the lesson enthusiastically It may be well worth noting that teachers' personalities and characteristics enhance students' participation in learning in speaking lessons 2.1.6 Students' learning style Students' learning style refers to their general approach towards using particular types of learning activities It is evidenced in the students' attitudes towards and preferences for particular activities, the particular choice of activities they use for learning, the way in which they approach the use of particular types of learning tasks There are different learning styles identified by educators and psychologists Richard (1994, cited in Knowles, 1992) classified students' styles into four types as follows: Concrete learning style, analytical learning style, communicative learning style, authority- oriented learning style 2.1.7 Students' learning motivation Motivation is viewed as a major factor affecting students' participation in language learning It affects directly students' failure and success in language learning Motivation is understood as interest and enthusiasm for the activities used in classes, persistence with learning task It is also indicated as by levels of attention and levels of concentration and enjoyment 2.18.Definitions of group work Group work has been incorporated into language teaching and learning in most parts of the world since the emergence of the CLT up work, in a language class, is a co- operative during which students share aims and responsibilities to complete a task assigned by the teacher in groups or in pairs" According to Sprott (cited in Metcalfe 1959:9), " a group as a number of people who interact with another one, who are psychological aware of one another and who perceive themselves to be a group" Doff (1988: 137) defines group work is a process that “the teacher divides the class into small groups to work together (usually four or five students in each group), as in pair work, all the groups work at the same time.” In spite of the different definitions, it can be said that in group work, all the members have chances to cooperate with others They learn to negotiate to listen to different opinions They participate more equally and in most cases they feel free to experiment and use the language In group work, the focus is not only on the product but also on the process and the skills which are activated in order to achieve it 2.1 9.Types of group work Davis (1993) divides group work into types: - informal learning groups - formal learning groups - study teams Informal learning groups are temporary clusterings of the students with a single class session Informal learning groups can be initiated, for example, by asking students to turn to partners and spend several minutes discussing a question the teacher has raised The teacher can also form groups of three or five to solve a problem Informal learning groups can be organized at anytime in a class of any size to check on students' understanding of the material, to give students an opportunity to apply what they are learning, or to provide a change of pace Informal learning groups have a short lifetime ranging from a few minutes to the class period With informal learning groups, the tasks are generally created quickly, for example, the teacher may say "discuss the questions with your partners" and have little explanation Formal learning groups are teams established to complete a specific task, such as perform a lab experiment, write a report, or carry out a project These groups may complete their task in a single class session or over several weeks Typically, students work together until the task is finished and their work is graded Formal learning groups can last several days or several weeks They require more planning They also have greater explanation 2.1.10.Advantages of using group work activities in speaking lesson Many different kinds of speaking activities such as brainstorming, discussion, interview, dialogue ect can be performed in groups It can not be denied benefits of group work in these types of activities Beebe and Masterson (1982) describe cooperative learning in group work as: "The glue that binds the organizations The oil that smoothes the organization's function The thread that ties the system together The force that pervades the organization The binding agent that cements all relationships" Building on Long and Porter’s (1985) account of the advantages of group/pair work for language pedagogy, Jacobs (1998) provides a comprehensive list of ten potential advantages (see the table ), comparing the typical characteristics of groupwork with those of teacher-centred instruction Ten potential advantages of group Comment activities in language instruction (based on Jacobs 1998) The quantity of learner speech can In teacher-fronted classrooms, the teacher increase typically speaks 80% of the time; in groupwork more students talk for more of the time The variety of speech acts can In teacher-fronted classrooms, students increase are cast in a responsive role, but in groupwork they can perform a wide range of roles, including those involved in the negotiation of meaning There can be more individualization In teacher fronted-lessons teachers shape of instruction their instruction to the needs of the average student but in groupwork the needs of individual students can be attended to Anxiety can be reduced Students feel less nervous speaking in an L2 in front of their peers than in front of the whole class Motivation can increase Students will be less competitive when working in groups and are more likely to encourage each other Enjoyment can increase Students are ‘social animals’ and thus enjoy interacting with others in groups; in teacher-fronted classrooms studentstudent interaction is often proscribed Independence can increase Group activities help students to become independent learners Social integration can increase Group activities enable students to get to know each other Students can learn how to work In typical teacher-fronted classrooms together with others students are discouraged from helping each other; group work helps students to learn collaborative skills 10 Learning can increase Learning is enhanced by groupwork because students are willing to take risks and can scaffold each other’s efforts According to Harmer (1991) group work provides more opportunities for students' initiation, practice in negotiation of meaning, extended conversational exchanges, face- to- face give and take and adoption of roles Ur (1996, p.232) also shares the same idea: "In group work, learners perform a learning task through small group interaction It is a form of learner activation that is of particular value in the practice of oral fluency; learners in class divided into five groups get times as many opportunities to talk as in full class organization" In short, group work can be beneficial for every student in a class Groups make well- informed and better quality decisions more often than individuals because of the varied experiences individual bring to a group Group members also learn about themselves when they work with others because they receive feedback Group interaction can enhance both comprehension and satisfaction especially in developing speaking skill Group work enables students to use the language It also motivates them more involved and concentrates on the task assigned In a non- threatening performance environment of collaborative classroom motivation is often improved as students feel less inhibited and more able to explore possibilities for self- expression Furthermore, groupwork has advantages not only for the learners but also for the teachers First of all they save time Instead of asking individual students to practice a structure or answer the questions, he/she can divide the class into pairs and make them the exercise at the same time As a result students are able to practice the language more during the lessons When the time is saved, the teacher can take his/her students through much bigger material and many more activities This will be for sure appreciated by the students who will not have time to get bored because of the variety of activities and their own participation in the lesson As a result, the lesson will seem to be more interesting, the teacher will be liked by the students, and he/she will enjoy his/her work because it will bring him/her satisfaction, pleasure, and fulfillment Group work may be a good way to help the teacher to check students' progress in learning The teacher can it without students' knowledge about the fact that they are observed and checked Walking round the class and listening to the students, the teacher can not only make notes of the most common mistakes to discuss them later, but also discover whether they are able to communicate with each other in the foreign language or not Such discovery helps the teacher to decide which parts of material need to be repeated or explained later Another important advantage for the teacher is that group work gives him/her time to consult the lesson plan and organize materials for the next stage of the lesson Although the teacher can be prepared for the lesson very well, sometimes it may happen that he/she simply forgets what he/she must next Group activities are the best for looking up the lesson plan It is also good for organizing materials for the next activity, for example hanging pictures or pieces of a text on walls, writing something on the blackboard, etc 2 The factual issues in participating in groupwwork at English speaking lessons at Quảng Xương High school 2.2.1 The students' and teachers' attitudes towards learning and teaching speaking skill before applying the new method Questions Question Options A B C D 30.5 50 10 9.5 C little important D not important How much you like learning speaking 32.5 15 31.5 21 What you think of learning speaking skill? A very important B rather important Question 10 skill? A very much B rather C little D not at all As we look at table,a majority of the students held positive attitude learning speaking skill The results showed that most of them answered that learning speaking was important or rather important (30.5%, 50% respectively) whereas only 9.5% of the students said learning speaking was not important A small number of them (10%) thought it was little important The population of the students who liked learning speaking skill very much or little was nearly the same ((32.5%,31.5% respectively) The number of students responded that they did not like learning speaking skill at all was not small (21%) When being interviewed about their opinions on teaching speaking skill to students, all the four teachers (100%) agreed that it was very important One of them likes teaching speaking skill most while the rest (3 teachers) said that they did not like it as much as the other skills The results revealed that most of the students found learning speaking skill necessary However, not many of them are really interested in learning it and not all teachers liked teaching speaking most 2.2.2.The students and teachers' problems in implementing groupwork activities Question 10: Please tick the problems you have faced when Student's participating in groupwork activities in speaking lessons You lack vocabulary and ideas to discuss in groups You are dominated by other group members You feel bored with working with the same partners You feel uncomfortable and shy talking in groups You are not corrected by the teacher You are not sure what to in group You and your classmates tend to use Vietnamese more The seating arrangement is not suitable Your classmates make noise when working in groups The amount of time for each groupwork activities is not sufficient Lazy students not contribute in groupwork activities Teacher’s little control of the whole class Responsibilities among members in a group are unevenly distributed opinions 90 45 25 22.5 55 47 82 56 87 42 68 46 42 2.3 Some suggestions to motivate 10th form students to participate in groupwork activities in speaking lessons at Quảng Xương High school 2.3.1 The role of the teacher: When interviewed to give suggestions to help students participate in groupwork activities more effectively All of the four teachers said that they should give their students clear instructions, 11 necessary vocabulary and structures before letting them work in groups and groups of three or four students that have different strong points so that they can help and learn from each other The teachers also reported that they had to encourage their students and have proper punishment for lazy students One important thing was that they should go around and help their students when necessary Furthermore, they suggested some solutions in order to improve the students' speaking skill such as: setting up English club would create a good environment for students to practice English; there should be oral tests so that students would pay more attention to learn speaking, and the administrators should invest more facilities, for example, radios, special learning room for practicing English, projectors, extra board Select activities carefully: Teachers should ensure that the activities can be done reasonably well with language and students It means that teachers should decide what they are going to pre- teach and let students ask for what they realise they need Work out the instructions for an activity carefully: Presenting the activity to the class will be a major factor in its success Teachers must keep instructions simple, and use mother tongue if necessary Present the activity to the class: Teachers can use mother tongue if necessary; however, try to use English as much as possible because both their explanation and evaluation activities are very real use of language in a classroom situation Teachers should give plenty of examples and students a "trial run" Monitor the students' performance: While students are working in groups, teachers must move around the class and to listen to them in order to find out how the students are getting on Teachers can also join groups and work as a member Teachers should not correct mistakes as a rule, but make a note of them and use them as the basis of feedback Provide feedback: There is a set of ways of providing feedback For example, teachers may ask students to give their ideas first before giving their opinion A major kind of feedback is often concerned with language If during monitoring of the activities, teachers have detected mistakes, they may choose to point these out to the class afterwards Alternatively, they may use errors they have noted as the basis for remedial or further teaching Keep a record: It is important to keep a record of the activities teachers have done with the class, together with any comments on the students' performance Teachers should also note down any ideas for further activities which occur to them or modifications of existing ones Donn Byrne (1986:77) 2.3.2.The role of each student in group work activities 12 According to Ruben (1998) students have to implement two kinds of roles in order to accomplish group goal They are task roles and group building and maintenance roles Task roles: When working in groups, students work together to gather information, make recommendations, solve a problem or complete a specific task Task roles as a contributor, a analyzer, a coordinator, a recorder and a encourager are performed by students As a contributor, each student takes part in organizing the group's work, making all group members understand the task, taking the group's questions, or proposing new ideas or changing way of regarding the group problem goal As an analyzer, he helps solve the problems, move the group rapidly to the core of the problem and examine the reasoning behind each contribution to the discussion As a coordinator, he shows or clarifies the relationships among various ideas and suggestions and tries to pull them together As a recorder, he writes down the group's responses, data or collection on a group response sheet or writes down the product of discussion As an encourager, he offers support or encouragement to group members and keeps others' feeling comfortable when working together Group building and maintenance roles: These roles require all the members to assume responsibility for promoting, building and maintaining positive attitudes and a positive group spirit Maintenance roles are concerned with the feelings of individual members and the emotional behavior of the group Each member of the group acts as an active listener, a compromiser and a follower As an active listener, the student recognizes the contributions of the others and responds with specific verbal or non - verbal reinforcement For example, he can nod his head, smile or say " good" or "great idea" As a compromiser, he, together with other members, makes decisions when a discussion of two prominent positions emerges He also makes attempts to reconcile disagreement or relieves tension in conflict situations through jesting As a follower, he accepts the ideas of the others in a passive role Leader roles: Each group should have its own leader If the student is appointed the leader of the group by the teacher or his friends or he may volunteer, he will serves as a link between the group and the teacher and among group members It means that his function is not to dominate the group but to coordinate the group members' activities 2.3.3.Types of speaking tasks carried out in group work activities in textbook English 10 Many ESL teachers agree on that students learn to speak in the second language by "interacting" Communicative language teaching and collaborative learning serve best for this aim CLT is based on real-life situations that require communication By using this method in ESL classes, students will have the opportunity of communicating with each other in the target language ESL teachers should create a classroom environment where students have real- 13 life communication, authentic activities, and meaningful tasks that promote oral language This can occur when students collaborate in groups to achieve a goal or to complete a task In the new English textbook 10, speaking lesson is one of the important skills Theme- based and task-based approaches are favored and adopted so as to create authentic language settings for learners and engage them in purposeful communication activities Obviously, teaching speaking is mainly based on having students complete the tasks via pairs or groups The following types of speaking tasks carried out in group work activities in textbook English 10: Information Gap In this activity, students are supposed to be working in pairs or in groups One or two students have the information that other partners not have and they will share information Information gap activity serves purposes such as solving a problem, collecting information Each partner plays an important role because the task cannot be completed if the partners not provide the information the others need This activity is effective because everybody has opportunity to talk extensively in the target language Brainstorming On a given topic, students can produce ideas in a limited time Group brainstorming is effective when students generate ideas quickly and freely The good characteristic of brainstorming is that students should not be criticized for their ideas so they will be open to share new ideas Discussion This activity is often used in the new textbook In this activity, the students may aim to arrive, may aim at a conclusion, share ideas about an events, find solutions in their discussion groups Before the discussion, teachers have to set the purpose of the discussion activity In this way discussion points are relevant to this purpose, so that students not spend their time chatting with each other about irrelevant things For efficient group discussions, it is always better not to form large groups, because quiet students may avoid contributing in large groups The group members can be either assigned by the teacher or the students may determine it by themselves, but groups should be rearranged in every discussion activity so that students can work with various people and learn to be open to different ideas It is important that whatever the aim of group discussion is, students should be encouraged to ask questions, paraphrase ideas, express support and check for clarification Interviews Students can conduct interviews on selected topics with various people Conducting interviews with people gives students a chance to practice their speaking ability not only in class but also outside and helps them become socialized After interviews, each student can present his or her 14 results of the interviews to the class To help students carry out interviews effectively, teachers should provide a rubric to students so that they know what type of questions they can ask or what path to follow Role- play: One of the ways of getting students to speak is role-playing Students pretend they are in various social contexts and have a variety of social roles In role play activity, teacher can give information to the students such as who they are and what they think or feel Communication games: These activities are often designed in class According to Byrne and Rixon (1979), even though games are often associated with fun, teacher should not lose sight of their pedagogical values, particularly in second language teaching Games are effective because they provide motivation, lower students' stress, and give them the opportunity for real communication Naturally when playing games, students are trying to win or to beat other teams for themselves or on the behalf of their team They are so competitive while playing because they want to have a turn to play, to score points and to win In the class, students will definitely participate in the speaking activities Problem solving: Problem- solving activities as well as others are utilized in the class to facilitate communicative skills The students are often in groups, then they talk together to find out a solution for a problem or task given The problem solving activities stimulate the students to talk and to listen to the others 2.3.4.Forming students in groups According to Byrne in Longman Handbook for Language Teachers, the group size should be worked out in the relation to the total number of students in class Usually, a group of to is appropriate in speaking lessons Teachers can form groups themselves, normally on the basis of the mixed class ability (i.e good and weak students together), since as a rule learners help one another Sometimes, teachers want the students to work together on tasks which have been selected to suit their abilities If t means that teachers form students of more or less equal ability, so that they will be free to give their attention to those who most need help Byrne also suggests that each group should have an identifying label (i.e name or number) and set position in the classroom to work in so that when students are asked to work in groups, they can so with the minimum fuss and delay Usually group work will involve some re- arrangement of the classroom furniture When concerning the allocation of members into groups, Hurd (2000) states that most selection methods fall into four categories They are: • Random appointment 15 • Self- selection • Selective appointment • Task appointment 2.3.5 Preparing for students to work in group When working in groups, many students often experience the feeling of having nothing to say on the subject, which will certainly be an obstacle for communication process and make them feel inhibited or less confident to speak in group work Therefore, preparing students well for the group work must involve the pre-teaching of the relevant language Teachers also explain to students why they are doing activities of this kind One thing important is that teachers should assist their students to generate some ideas through mini discussion or through brainstorming 2.3.6.Monitoring group work activities When discussing monitoring group work, Jaques (1984) says that it is essential that teachers should monitor the groups but not to hover Sharing the same idea, Cohen (1986) emphasizes on the supportive supervision of the teachers for the students in group work activities This type includes the following of the teachers' roles: - giving feedback - redirecting group with questions - encouraging group to solve its own problem - extending activity - encouraging thinking - managing conflict From my point of view, teachers need to actively monitor group work Teachers should make sure that students work together and not exclude anyone Teachers are always cooperative and willing to give help if their students ask In brief, in order to make groups work effectively, teachers should serve as a monitor, a modeler, a coach and a facilitator at the same time 2.3.7.Ending group work activities To sustain students' motivation to involve in the groupwork activities, it is necessary that teachers should know how to end groupwork effectively Therefore, after students have finished their task, teachers should ensure that groups' performance is accessed and that the groups know their members are doing who needs more assistance in completing the task and lazy students need to know they cannot let others all the work while they sit silently Giving groups an opportunity to evaluate other groups' performance is also important This creates competition among groups and each member of the groups tries their best to work effectively to become the winner 16 2.4 RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 2.4.1 RESULTS The students and teachers' opinions on the frequency of group work activities in speaking lessons the teachers at school after applying the new methods Questions Question Options A How often your English teachers 79 B C D 21 0 implement groupwork activities in speaking lessons? A Often B Sometimes C Rarely D Never Table 2.4.1a Identifying the students' opinions on about the frequency of applying group work activities in speaking lessons (by percent) Activities employed Discussion Role- play Problem-solving Interview Information- gap Brainstorming Games Students' opinions Often Sometimes Rarel Never 88 80 26 20 85 82 y 41 30 0 30 0 0 12 29 20 65 50 15 18 The table 2.4.2 demonstrates that a majority of the students (79%) responded that their teachers often implemented groupwork activities in speaking lessons 21% of them said that their teachers sometimes did this Obviously, all the teachers used groupwork activities This was the same the results of the interviews with the teachers All the teachers claimed that they applied groupwork activities in speaking lessons and their frequency depended on the tasks in the textbook or the level and the preference of the students As can be seen from the table 3.2b, many students reported that discussion, problem-solving, brainstorming, games were groupwork activites which were often employed by their teachers When being asked about the groupwork activities they often used in speaking lessons, all the teachers said that discussion was the most widely used, then games, problem- solving and brainstorming 2.4.1.2.The students' attitudes towards the current groupwork activities 17 A Questions Question B C D 23.5 46.5 22.5 Options How you feel about the groupwork 7.5 activities your teacher is implementing in speaking lessons? A I like all of them B I like most of them C I like few of them D I like none of them Table 2.4.1.2 The students' attitudes towards the current groupwork activities (by percent) As can be seen from the table, the number of the students responded that they liked all the groupwork activities was small (only 7.5%) 23.5% of the students said that they liked most of the groupwork activities Not surprisingly, nearly a half of them claimed that they liked few of the groupwork activities Even worse, 22.5% of them claimed that they had no interest in all the groupwork activities in speaking lessons According to the interview results for the teachers, three of the four teachers claimed that most of their students did not like the groupwork activities they were applying in speaking lessons Obviously, it could be said that a majority of the students did not have much interest in the groupwork activities being implemented in their speaking lessons 2.4.1.3The students' preference of kinds of groupwork activities Question 9: Please put the following activities Students' opinions (by percent) you like in group working in speaking lessons in order (From the most preferable to the least.) (Put a tick √ in the appropriate box) Activities Role play Discussions Problem-solving Interviews 30 10.5 Information-gap Brainstorming 28.5 Games 21 Table 2.4.1.3.The students' preference of kinds of groupwork activities in order From the table 3.6, it can be said that the students preferred discussion activity to the others (30%) Brainstorming activity ranked second (28.5%) Games were also one of the students' favorite 18 activities (21%) Problem- solving, interview and information- gap accounted for 10.5%, 4.5% and 3% respectively Role-play activity might be difficult for the students, so it was least chosen 2.4.1.4.The teachers and students' acknowledgements about groupwork activities The data analysis reveals that teaching and learning speaking skill are no longer neglected and tend to get increased attention at Quảng Xương High school Both teachers and students there have found it necessary to improve the students' communicative competence Therefore they agreed that an important factor enhancing the students' communicative competence is that they have chances to get involved in groupwork activities A large number of students and all of the teachers claimed that groupwork activities brought about a lot of benefits to students in speaking lessons First, when working in groups, they can share ideas with their friends They can learn a lot from them because their friends may know something that they may not and help them when they get stuck in expression Second, members in groups when working together provide assistance with each other, so the task assigned can be solved and completed faster and more effectively Third, every student's talking time can be increased since they practice English more in groups Fourth, when working in group, they will be able to learn how to share responsibilities and improve cooperation spirit Lastly, groupwork activities also help students to feel more confident when talking in English, especially for shy students However, the data analysis indicates that in grade 10 at Quảng Xương High school, the implementation of groupwork activities in speaking lessons has not proved to be much effective It means that students' participation in groupwork activities is not high 2.4.2.Recommendations 2.4.2.1 Students should be well- prepared for groupwork activities It is clear that working in groups is rather different from working individually One of the biggest students' difficulties is that students are not carefully prepared to perform effectively in groupwork Therefore, they need to be equipped with not only teamwork spirit but also necessary knowledge of the task before they participate in groupwork activities The teachers are able to help them The first thing the teacher should consider is to introduce the task the groups of the students with enthusiasm and confidence This is very important because by doing this the students will be more likely to engage in the task After introducing the task, the students should be given clear instructions and objectives for the groupwork activities The students need to know exactly what they are supposed to be doing, who they are working with and why, as well how much time they have for the activity One of the most important things is that the students must be prepared an input of relevant vocabulary and useful structures relating to the task Almost students are often afraid of the feeling of having nothing to say on the task, which will certainly hinder them participate in groupwork 19 activities It is necessary that the teachers assist the students to generate ideas through the exchanged ideas or brainstorming Another useful way to help the students prepare for groupwork activities is that before they actually start talking in groups, they need to be silent for a few moments while they plan what they might say or make some notes to remember their ideas This delay can often lead to more interesting ideas about the task Furthermore, for grade 10 students, many of them not have much extensive collaborative experience since they have just come from lower secondary school They know few people in their class They not know much how to operate in a group They need a lot of support and encouragement The teachers should spend time explaining benefits of groupwork and emphasize the importance of working together in developing their communicative competence The teachers also should show less confident or shy students how to begin the activity and remind them that the activity is not a test; it is a chance to practice English Added to those mentioned above, putting students in a right group is extremely important Otherwise, it affects adversely to the students' participation in groupwork activities It is difficult for students in a too large group to get close enough to one another to converse comfortable Usually the maximum comfortable size for a group is five and the ideal group size is three In a group, there should be the students who have different strong points so that that can help and learn from each other Dominant students may be team leaders but make sure to switch them so that other members not get bored and feel frustrated or left out 2.4.2.2 Students should be always sustained in groupwork activities Teachers often find that their students begin working together with enthusiasm but then they quickly run out of steam This may be because they have exhausted the task and not have any relevant opinions or experiences to share or they lack vocabulary to talk about the topic in greater depth The teachers should go around and provide them with quickly assistance or let them take a few moments to gather their thoughts and consider what they are going to say Establishing a time limit is an important factor here This reminds them to know how much time is available for them to talk In addition, to sustain the students' motivation in groupwork activities, it is essential to encourage and support them in their work A nod, a smile or gestures can be helpful in keeping a relaxed learning environment in speaking lessons Moreover, all the students have equal responsibility and amount of time to speak All of them have equal chance to participate This can be done by having each member of the group evaluate each other The teachers have proper punishments for lazy students who not contribute to the groupwork or reward for active students Therefore, the teachers have to act as a manager A good manager gets involved, interacts 20 with the groups of students and is capable of providing assistance It means that while groupwork is in progress, the teachers should play an active and facilitative role 2.4.2.3 The groups' results should be appropriately evaluated The follow- up activity of goupwork is necessary since without it, the students will feel that they are not working properly Therefore when the students have finished their task in groups, the teachers should let to report their results to the class The teachers often claim the fact that they not have enough time to correct all the groupwork's result It is not necessary that every student report but it is important that every student has the opportunity to practice and report The teachers can also use peer evaluations at the end of the groupwork activities The teachers give each student in a group a "score card" and ask him or her to give grade to each of his or her group member The teachers must be sure that all students have to fill out the cards PART 3:CONCLUSION Summary Groupwork activities play an important role in improving the students' communicative competence Many educators claim that they really offer numerous benefits to both teachers and students The study in this thesis has dealt with the participation of grade 10 students in speaking lessons at Quảng Xương High school, Thanh Hoa province The students' and teachers' acknowledgement about groupwork activities, the reality of the students' participation as well as factors affecting their participation in groupwork activities have been identified The main causes of students' low participation in groupwork activities at school are not only from the students themselves but also from the teachers and their ways to attract their students to take part in groupwork activities Students have been taught in the traditional methods for a long time Therefore they need more time to gradually become familiar with groupwork activities in an environment of mutuality and motivation in developing speaking skill It is useful to let students interact with each other and have chances to practice speaking face to face in groupwork activities Based on the findings of the study, the researcher has made an attempt to recommend several practical teaching ideas to involve the 10th form students in more effective group work activities in speaking lessons Suggestions for the further study This study cannot cover everything in the field of the students' participation in groupwork activities in speaking lessons Many issues cannot be revealed In order to increase the students' participation 21 in groupwork activities in speaking lessons, further studies can focus on the strategies to help the teachers involve their students in groupwork more effectively Obviously, mistakes in this thesis are unavoidable, all comments and remarks on this study will be highly appreciated XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ Quảng Xương, ngày 25/5/2019 Tôi cam đoan nội dung SKKN tự viết, không chép nội dung người khác Người thực Nguyễn Thúy Hằng REFERENCES Barry, K & King, L (1994) Beginning Teaching Social Science Press Beebe, S A & Masterson, T J (1982) Communication in Small Group Principles and Practices Scott, Foresman Best, J.W., and Kahn, J.V (1986) Research in Education (5th edition) New Jersey: Prentice Hall Brown, G (1993) Groupwork Gower, England Brown, G & Yule, G (1989) Teaching the Spoken Language Cambridge University Press Bygate, M (1987) Speaking Oxford: Longman Byrne, D (1896) 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J.A., Judith, S D & Paulin, N.T (2009) Student’s Attitude Towards Participation During Class Time The assessment handbook Vol 2, 2009 Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching Cambridge University Press 23 24 ... participation by the 10 th form student in group work activities in speaking lessons at Quảng Xương High school - identify the factors affecting the students' participation in groupwork speaking activities. .. members in a group are unevenly distributed opinions 90 45 25 22.5 55 47 82 56 87 42 68 46 42 2.3 Some suggestions to motivate 10 th form students to participate in groupwork activities in speaking lessons. .. issues in participating in groupwwork at English speaking lessons at Quảng Xương High school 2.2 .1 The students' and teachers' attitudes towards learning and teaching speaking skill before applying