M IN I S T R Y OF E D U C A T IO N A N D T R A IN IN G HANOI UNIVERSITY IMPROVING INTERACTION IN PRACTICE SESSIONS, NEW HEADWAY PRE - INTERMEDIATE: AN ACTION RESEARCH SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER IN TESOL S U P E R V I S O R : N G U Y E N N G U Y E T M IN H , M A TRUNG M M T H Ở N 8ĨIN TH Ư V l|N NN-VH NƯỚC HG0Ằ1 T4TV H25W Hanoi October, 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S I A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S .IV A B S T R A C T .V LI S T O F A B B R E V I A T I O N S VI LI S T O F T A B L E S , F I G U R E S A N D C H A R T S VII C H A P T E R 1: I N T R O D U C T I O N 1.1 B a c k g r o u n d l S c o p e t o t h e s t u d y l a n d s i gn i f i c a n c e o f t h e s t u d y 1.3 AIMS OF THE STUDY i O u t l i n e o f t h e t h e s i s .4 C H A P T E R 2: L I T E R A T U R E R E V I E W 2.1 INTERACTION IN COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING .6 2.1.1 Definition and types o f interaction .6 2.1.2 Roles o f interaction in L2 learning 2.1.3 Factors affecting student interaction 10 2 GROUPWORK IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING 16 2.2.1 Definition and types o f groupwork 16 2.2.2 Groupwork and student interaction 17 2.2.3 Principles to apply groupwork activities 20 2.2.4 Procedure fo r groupwork activities 23 C H A P T E R 3: T H E M E T H O D O L O G Y 29 3.1 action R e s e a r c h ( A R ) 29 3.2 R e s e a r c h P r o c e d u r e 30 3.2.1 Identifying problem (from week to week 2) 31 3.2.2 Collecting initial data (from week to week ) 31 3.2.3 Analyzing data and generating hypothesis (from week to week 7) 32 3.2.4 Planning action (from week to week 10) 32 3.2.5 Implementing the action plan (from week to week ) 32 3.2.6 Collecting data to monitor change (from week to week ) 32 3.2.7 Analyzing and evaluating data (week 11 to week 12) 32 3.3 D a t a c o l l e c t i o n t o o l s 33 i 3.3.1 Document analysis 33 3.3.2 Classroom observation .34 3.3.3 Questionnaire .36 P a r t i c i p a n t s .3 3.4.1 The researcher - the teacher 37 3.4.2 The observers .37 3.4.3 The students 38 3.5 S u m m a r y .38 C H A P T E R 4: T H E R E S U L T S 39 INITIAL D A T A 4.1.1 Level o f interaction 39 4.1.2 Causes o f problem s 40 4.2 THE ACTION PLAN 48 4.2.1 Organizing the practice activities 49 4.2.2 Procedure 50 4.2.3 Feedback .51 4.3 D a t a c o l l e c t e d in t h e a c t i o n s t a g e 52 4.3.1 Overall level o f student interaction 52 4.3.2 Students' self-reported level o f interaction 54 4 ACTION RESEARCH EVALUATION 55 4.4.1 The level o f student interaction before and after the intervention o f the Action Plan 5 4.4.2 Students’ s e lf reported level o f interaction before and after the intervention o f the Action Plan 56 4.4.3 Discussion 57 C H A P T E R 5: R E C O M M E N D A T I O N A N D C O N C L U S I O N 61 5.1 R e c o m m e n d a t i o n s 61 5.2 C O N C LU SIO N 63 5.3 L i mi t a t i o n s a n d s u g g e s t i o n s for f u r t h e r r e s e a r c h 64 R E F E R E N C E S 65 A P P E N D I X E 1: O B S E R V A T I O N S H E E T 70 A P P E N D I X E 2: O B S E R V A T I O N S H E E T 72 A P P E N D I X E 3: L E A R N E R ’ S Q U E S T I O N N A I R E ( E N G L I S H V E R S I O N ) 74 A P P E N D I X E 4: L E A R N E R ’S Q U E S T I O N N A I R E ( V I E T N A M E S E V E R S I O N ) 75 A P P E N D I X E 5: L E R N E R S ’ Q U E S T I O N N A I R E ( E N G L I S H V E R S I O N ) 76 ii A P P E N D I X 6: L E A R N E R S ’ Q U E S T I O N N A I R E ( V I E T N A M E S E V E R S I O N ) 78 A P P E N D I X 7: L E S S O N P L A N F O R O R A L P R A C T I C E S E S S I O N .80 A P P E N D I X 8: P R A C T I C E S E C T I O N U N I T 89 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Mrs Nguyen Nguyet Minh, M.A for the wholehearted guidance she gave me while I was doing this research I am truly grateful to her for her precious, valuable ideas, knowledge, valuable com m ents and instructions, assistance, consideration, encouragement and constant support Without these, the thesis could not have been completed My special thanks go to Mrs Nguyen Thai Ha, M.A - Vice Dean o f the Department o f Post Graduate Studies, Hanoi University for her valuable ideas, suggestions and comments on the research approaches would also acknowledge my great gratitude to all the lecturers and to the organizers for this Master course at Hanoi University My special thanks are also expressed to my friends, my colleagues and thirty students taking part in my research for their great help with data collection and analysis Last, I am deeply grateful to my husband and my children for their support, encouragement and love, which were extremely important for the completion o f this thesis t iv ABSTRACT In an attempt to improve the level o f student interaction in Practice sessions New H eadw ay P re-interm ediate, at the University o f Economic and Technical Industries (UNETI), the research examined (1) what w ere the causes o f low student interaction and (2) how the interaction changed once the action plan had been implemented The subject o f the study was 30 second-year students o f class QTI5A - Business Administration section, UNETI They were observed in practice sessions and invited to complete survey questionnaires The data collected at the initial stage revealed that the interactive activities, the teacher’s ways to organize the practice and give feedback were not appropriate The findings initiated the hypothesis that organizing the practice appropriately fo llo w in g the right procedure w ith adequate fe e d b a c k w ould increase the level o f verbal interaction betw een students in practice sessions An action plan with the strategies to improve the way to organize practice activities and to give feedback was implemented The post stage results found a positive answer to the hypothesis The evaluation o f the action research showed that the level o f learner interaction increased when the action plan was implemented LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS UNETI University ofT echn ical and Economic Industries AR Action Research CLT Com m unicative language teaching EFL English as a foreign language LI The first language L2 The second language LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND CHARTS Table I : General goals o f GE course at UNETI Table 2: The level o f student interaction at pre-action stage Table 3: Practice tasks in New Headway Pre-Intermediate Table 4: T eacher's performance in Practice sessions Table 5: Students' opinions on Practice activities, activity organization mode, teacher’s instruction and feedback Table 6: Overall student-student verbal interaction after the intervention o f the action plan Table 7: Students' self-reported level o f interaction after the intervention o f the action plan Figure I : Action research cycle Chart I: I'he level o f student-student interaction before and after the intervention o f the action plan Chart 2: Learners’ self-level o f interaction before and after the intervention o f the action plan vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This first chapter presents the background to the study, the scope and the aims o f the study as well as the organization o f the thesis 1.1 B a c k g r o u n d to the stu d y The University o f Economic and Technical Industries (UNETI) is a public educational institution and currently has an enrollment o f more than 15,000 students The University was founded 50 years ago Originally it was a vocational high school It was granted permission to function as a college in 1995 and in September 2007 it was upgraded to a University The main function o f the UNETI is to train engineers specialized in informatics, tailoring, footwear, mechanics, foodstuff, electronics and automobile technology as well as business administration and accounting at university and college level Besides, it also trains workers for light industrial branches At UNETI, all o f the students have finished senior high schools and joined the course after passing the compulsory entrance examination in mathematics, physics and chemistry to the university Their age range is between about 18 and 22 years old They may have studied General English (GE) for either three or seven years before starting the university depending on the English programs adopted at their schools At the university, English is a compulsory subject The total time allotted for English is 270 periods, o f which 225 hours is for General English (GE) and 45 hours is for English for specific purpose (ESP) The requirements o f the GE course for students at UNETI are illustrated in Table below Table 1: General requirements o f GE course at UN ET I Semester C r e di t s P e r i od s I 90 Requirements Develop all four macro skills and G ram m ar at elementary level II 90 Develop skills and G ram m ar with emphasis on speaking and listening to obtain pre-intermediate level III 45 Develop skills and grammar with focus on speaking and reading to obtain high pre-intermediate level and ready for the English for Special Purposes course I APPENDIXE 5: LERNERS’ QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH VERSION) L earners’ opinions about groupw ork activities, practice tasks, teacher’s instruction and feedback The aim o f the questionnaire is to evaluate the last three practice sessions This is not a test, and you not have to write your name So, please answ er the questions as honestly as possible Your opinions will make great contribution to my research and to our practice sessions improvement Thank you very much for your contribution / There is enough group-w ork in m y English class f o r Practice section Strong Agree strong disagree What y o u like about groupw ork activities organized recently in the Practice session s? What don y o u like about groupw ork activities org a n ized recently in the Practice sessions? What p ro b lem y o u have w ith groupw ork activities in y o u r class? How y o u think groupw ork activities in y o u r class sh o u ld be organized? The oral p ractice exercises in the Practice Section are Very difficult difficult o.k easy very easy The grou pw ork activities organized in the P ractice sessions to com plete the practice exercises in y o u r class are Very boring boring ok interesting 5.Very interesting 76 S Teacher \s instructions in Practice sessions in y o u r class are Very confusing Confusing o.k Clear Very clear Teacher \s fe e d b a c k a fter each group activity in y o u r class is Useful and encouraging Useful but not encouraging Encouraging but not useful Useless 77 None APPENDIX 6: LEARNERS’ QUESTIONNAIRE (VIETNAMESE VERSION) Mục đích phiếu điều tra để đánh giá ba luyện tập gần Đây kiêm tra, em khơng phải viết tên Vì trà lời câu hỏi cách trung thực Ý kiến em có ý nghĩa lớn cho nghiên cứu tôi, cho việc nâng cao hiệu quà luyện tập Chân thành cảm ơn giúp đỡ cùa em Đ ên g iờ luyện tập giáo viên í hường tỏ chức luyện tập theo cặp/nhỏm Hoàn toàn đồng ý hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Em thích nhữ ng đièm g ì hoạt động cặp/nhỏm tỏ c g iờ luyện tập tiếng A nh lớp em thời gian vừa qua? 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J v -j p / [ v Wluit didyoudobefore ? | f Unit • Famous couples 90 Wheredidwin meet ^ ? | i ...M IN I S T R Y OF E D U C A T IO N A N D T R A IN IN G HANOI UNIVERSITY IMPROVING INTERACTION IN PRACTICE SESSIONS, NEW HEADWAY PRE - INTERMEDIATE: AN ACTION RESEARCH SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL... discuss two main issues: interaction in language learning, and groupwork in teaching and learning a foreign language In the first section, different authors' definition o f interaction, interaction. .. the researcher has reviewed the theoretical background o f interaction in L2 learning including interaction definition and its roles in L2 learning Kinds o f interaction and factors affecting