The use of pair work and group work in teaching speaking to the first year non english major students at phu lam college

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

——— — —

THE USE OF PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK IN TEACHING SPEAKING TO THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS

AT PHU LAM COLLEGE

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts (TESOL)

Submitted by KIEU MY HANH

Supervised by

Dr NGUYEN HOANG TUAN

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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled “The Use of Pair Work and Group Work in Teaching Speaking to First Year non-English major Students at Phu Lam College” is my own work

I confirm that this thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Arts in Ho Chi Minh City Open University and has not been submitted elsewhere in any other form for the fulfillment of any other degree or qualification

Ho Chi Minh City, August, 2012

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The completion of this MA thesis could be considered the first rewarding achievement in my career of teaching and doing research On this occasion, I would like to express my deep gratitude to all people who have given me invaluable help and support during the time of writing

My deepest gratitude goes to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Hoang Tuan, who spent his valuable time reading and giving me his feedback on the drafts of sections and chapters in this thesis, and provided me with thoughtful and insightful comments He gave me relevant materials as well as valuable advice on my thesis He set a good example of a very responsible supervisor to me He has been always there to support me Without his help, this thesis would not have been completed

I am very thankful to the head of Phu Lam College and the dean of the department of English Language who permitted the research to be undertaken in the school I think, my study could not have taken place without their generosity and willingness I would like to sincerely thank the teacher and student participants at Phu Lam College who contributed the data to this study Many thanks for their enthusiastic cooperation

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ABSTRACT

This research investigated the use of pair work and group work to teach speaking skills to the students at Phu Lam College with the aim of finding out the impact of using these techniques on the students’ acquisition of speaking skills so that it can be applied more regularly at the school to help students improve their speaking ability

Both qualitative and quantitative research methodology was used in this study The qualitative research data consisted of five observations done during the second semester of 2011-2012 school year The quantitative data was gathered with the aid of a questionnaire and the results of two oral tests (pre-test and post-test) Forty-one questionnaires were sent to the students of Accounting class and forty-one responses were received The response rate was 100 % And the scores of seventeen pairs in each group were compared in pre-test and post-test

The results of the observations, the tests and the questionnaires revealed that the use of pair work and group work had great impact on the students’ acquisition of speaking skills The Experimental Group’s achieving higher scores in the criteria of competence evaluation in the post-test indicated that the students did progress in their learning speaking, so these techniques had impact on the students’ acquisition of speaking skills From observations and the questionnaire, the results pointed out the students’ attitude towards this use Most of the students (80.5%) liked learning speaking through groups and pairs and 90% of them had positive perceptions of the benefits of it The results also indicated some problems to be noticed

It is recommended that further research be expanded to include more vocational and technological colleges EFL programs in various areas in Vietnam to generate more evidence regarding the real impact of the use of

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TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF ABBREVIATION CHAPTER 1:INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Statement of the problem 1.3 Purpose of the study 1.4 Research questions

1.5 The significance of the study 1.6.Assumptions of the Study 1.7.Limitation of the Study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Theoretical Concepts

2.1.1 Definition of pair work and group work

2.1.2 The advantages and disadvantages of pair work and group work 2.1.2.1 The advantages of pair work and group work

2.1.2.2 Disadvantages of pair work and group work 2.1.3 Types of pair work and group work

2.1.3.1 Types of pair work 2.1.3.2 Types of group work

2.1.4 Organization steps for a pair work or group work activity 2.1.4.1 Before 2.1.4.2 During 2.1.4.3 After 2.2.Empirical Research 2.3.Research Gap CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Pedagogical context 3.1.1 Pedagogical setting 3.1.2 Participants

3.2 Design of the Study 3.3 Procedures of the Study 3.4 Instruments

3.5 Data Collection 3.6 Methods of analysis 3.7 Pilot of the Study

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS/ FINDINGS 4.1 Results of the Oral tests

4.2 Results of the Questionnaire 4.3 Results of the Observations

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5.2 Discussion of the Findings

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

6.1 Conclusion

6.2 Implications for Instruction

6.3 Recommendation for Further Research References

Appendixes

Appendix A: Questionnaire

Appendix B: Observation checklist Appendix C: Scoring rubric

Appendix D: Actual scoring sheet Appendix E: Lesson plan

Appendix F: The data of the pre-test scores of the control group Appendix G: The data of the pre-test scores of the experimental group Appendix H: The data of the post-test scores of the control group Appendix J: The data of the post-test scores of the experimental group Appendix K: Statistical data (test scores)

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LIST OF TABLES

Page Table 4.1: The pre-test scores of the Control group (Group A) and the Experimental

Group (Group B) 35

Table 4.2: The post-test scores of the Control group (Group A) and the

Experimental Group (Group B) 36

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LIST OF FINGURES

Graph 4.1: Students’ perception of the importance of the speaking skill Graph 4.2: Students’ attitude towards speaking classes

Graph 4.3: The students’ attitude towards pair and group activities Graph 4.4: The students’ frequency of working in pairs and groups Graph 4.5: The students’ activities in working in pairs and groups

Graph 4.6: Task types of pair and group work that the students liked best Graph 4.7: The students’ perception of time for speaking practice

Graph 4.8: The students’ perception of the chances to exchange ideas

Graph 4.9: The students’ perception of creating a relaxing learning environment Graph 4.10: The students’ perception of being more active in learning and solving

tasks better

Graph 4.11: The students’ perception of learning more about sharing the responsibility

Graph 4.12: The students’ perception of giving more help to each other Graph 4.13: The students’ perception of promoting learners’ autonomy

Graph 4.14: The students’ perception of feeling more confident when speaking English

Graph 4.15: The students’ perception of improving students’ fluency

Graph 4.16: The students’ perception of enhancing students’ effective use of English

Graph 4.17: The students’ frequency of meeting difficulties when working in pairs and groups

Graph 4.18: The students’ attitude towards speaking in their native language Graph 4.19: The students’ attitude towards the teacher’s control the class Graph 4.20: The students’ attitude towards the teacher’s management

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ABBREVIATIONS

EFL English as a Foreign Language

ESP English for Specific Purpose

TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

HCMC Ho Chi Minh City

Min Minute

SS Students

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction

Working in pairs and in groups has recently been introduced to teach speaking approach in almost school content areas, especially in colleges and universities all over the world in order to promote communication in a language class as some scholars conclude the use of small group and pair work in the ESL classroom has been shown to be an effective means for improving language competence (Long, 1996, 1985; Pica, et al., 1996; Pica & Doughty, 1985) Jones (2007) asserts that if students want to improve their speaking skills, there is no substitute for pair and group work (p 40) Ur (1981: 2) says the problem of getting students to express themselves freely in the foreign language has come to prominence Brumfit adds that pair work and group work are the most effective techniques of classroom organization which combine aspects of communication learning and natural interaction in a stress free environment (Brumfit, 1984: 78)

However, although most research findings point to the positive influence of learning through pairs and groups on academic achievements , many teachers of English in colleges and universities in Vietnam, especially at Phu Lam College still find difficult using these forms of pupil-pupil interaction in their classrooms The Vietnamese educational system is characterized as being knowledge-centered in which teachers are considered the sole providers of experience and the fount of knowledge (Phan, 2004) In addition, in Vietnam, “teachers are generally incapable of teaching English communicatively in their real-world classrooms Instead, they spend most of their lesson time explaining abstract grammar rules and guiding their students in choral readings” (Le 2002: 33) And “many teachers do not wish to change

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students, Vietnamese students are also passive, rote learners and dependent thinkers (Pennycook, 1994)

Common sense takes us to the belief that pair work and group work enhance learning and academic success, but there has been no research on this particular problem in this particular context Thus, the impact of using pair work and group work to teach speaking to students at this school has always remained questionable Therefore, the present study aimed at investigating the use of pair work and group work in the context of Phu Lam college in Ho Chi Minh city so that the teachers of English can recognize its usefulness, feasibility and understand the students’ attitude towards learning speaking through pairs and groups From that, they can make the best use of pair work and group work in speaking classes

1.2 Statement of the Problem

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language teaching in Vietnam is still challenged to match the demand for competent English-speaking people Therefore, this study is to investigate into the use of pair work and group work to teach speaking at a particular setting

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to investigate into the use of pair work and group work to teach speaking skill at Phu Lam College in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in the hope that it can provide the teachers with a_ better understanding of the school’s current situation as well as explore the benefits, the problems and the students’ attitude towards these kinds of teaching techniques From that, the teachers of English at the school can use the research findings as a kind of reference

1.4 Research Questions

This study attempts to answer the following question

What impact does the use of pair work and group work have on learners’ acquisition of speaking skills?

1.5 The significance of the Study

This study is significant because of the following reasons:

At Phu Lam College, the traditional methods of teaching English are still being applied even though many teachers of English have been trained new teaching methodologies, especially the use of pair work and group work to teach speaking skill The study may prove helpful in bringing a positive change in the speaking classroom

This study is a kind of reference for the teachers of English at PLC in teaching speaking skills, so it is hoped to receive more attention and enjoy more popularity among teachers of English at the College The teachers will

realize the benefits, the problems, and the attitude of the students towards the

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And the study may prove helpful to the students It will help in making their concepts clear and in learning in pairs and groups more actively and effectively

1.6 Assumptions of the Study

The study was based on the following assumptions:

- Working in pairs and in groups does not help to improve students’ speaking skills

- All the students answer the questions in the questionnaire honestly

1.7 Limitations of the Study

There are some limitations to my research First of all, the students who took part in my study are all juniors in the college so they are very bad at English Most of them come from rural areas where they have never learnt speaking let alone worked in pairs or groups Their prior knowledge and educational experiences may affect their opinions on pair work and group work Besides, the students’ personalities play a vital role in whether or not they enjoy working in pairs or groups Those who are too shy and timid or passive did not enjoy it at all Next, another limitation is the fact that the use of pair work and group work was applied only 5 weeks Five weeks was not much time to implement many kinds of pair work, group work activities and get true feedback

Last but not least, this research was limited to speaking skill only And it was conducted with 85 students over the number of students in their first year at Phu Lam College in HCMC Thus, the findings might not be generalized to

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews some remarkable studies to support the study, with mentioned parts as: theoretical concepts, empirical research and research gap 2.1 Theoretical Concepts

2.1.1 Definition of pair work and group work:

Pair work is a process in which “the teacher divides the whole class in pairs Every student works with his or her partner in pairs, and all the pairs work at the same time (It is sometimes called “simultaneous pair work”).This is not the same as “public” or “open” pair work, with pairs of students speaking in turn in front of the class” (Doff, 1988: 137) According to Andy Hoodith (2002), pair work is a classroom activity in which the whole class is divided into pairs (It is really a type of group work, using “group” of two) And pair work is a situation which enables two learners to work independently and interactively without teacher involvement (Doff, 1988; Phipps, 1999; Rimmer, 1999) Phipps (1999: 1) adds that “pair work is a convenient short term for any form of pupil-pupil interaction without the intervention of the teacher”

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2.1.2 The advantages and disadvantages of pair work and group work:

2.1.2.1 The advantages of pair work and group work:

The first advantage of pair work and group work is the effectiveness in crowded classes Students will have more language practice opportunities and time they will have for interacting with one another in pairs and groups is absolutely abundant In fact, EFL classes in colleges are usually quite big, on average sixty students in each class while lessons have limited time- usually only forty five minutes, so it is virtually impossible for all learners to have enough time to practice the target language in teacher-led classes Very seldom do even thirty or forty percent of students take active part in the lesson; meanwhile others get bored very quickly waiting for their classmates’ answers And instead of practicing English they start doing something different such as talking, doing their homework or even playing cards During pair and group work at least fifty people are speaking, not just one person as it is in a teacher-led activity Doff (1995: 141) finds that pair work and group work give students far more chance to speak And Gower, Philips and Walters (1995: 45), Baker and Westrup (2000:131) also point out that pair and group work is able to give students more valuable talking time Students will get more time to practice the language than when teacher deals with the class as a

whole Rozhodova asserts in the journal of NELTA (1996; p 53) that

appropriate use of pair and group work may improve the learning process by providing more opportunities and time for individual learners to formulate, express and validate their thought and opinions Also, Underwood (1992: 76) states that the amount of practice each student gets is greatly increased by the use of pair work And Ur (1996: 232) indicates learners in a class that is divided into five groups get five times as many opportunities to talk as in full-

class organization And Gage and Berliner (1998: 399) assert “Cooperative

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which is spent on doing the tasks tends to be higher and academic standards are more often attained.” To sum up, pair work and group work help learners have greater number of opportunities and time to speak English in class

The second advantage of pair work and group work is the intimate and relaxed atmosphere Indeed, pair and group work activities provide a more intimate and relaxed atmosphere where learners may work at their own pace and style (Rozhodova, 1996; p 56) Brown (2001) and Tsui (1995) say that making the students in front of the whole class makes them anxious while performing the actions in pairs and groups gives them the feeling of safety

First of all, because in those activities students tend to correct the mistakes

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be very afraid of a teacher’s question that they will not be able to answer accurately and quickly Working in small group, these shy students can learn from the understanding of the more confident students, and the students with a higher level of understanding can consolidate their thoughts through explaining ideas to others or whenever weak students have difficulty in expressing ideas, other members in the group can help them to overcome this Obviously, working in pairs and groups provides students with really relaxed and intimate learning environment

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techniques of learning It is also an ability to be responsible for the pace and rhythm of learning and the evaluation of the learning process (Ernesto Macaro, 1997; p 168) Recognizing the importance of autonomy in learners, creating and maintaining a learning environment in which learners can be autonomous in order to be autonomous learners has recently been taken into consideration by teachers of English language And group activities play a large part in developing learner autonomy because learners acquire a lot of learning strategies when collaborating with, and receiving support from their peers and not just the teacher (Jacobs & Farrell, 2001) In conclusion, pair work and group work play an important part of developing responsibility and autonomy in learners, which help their learning to be more effective as Dickenson (1995, p 165) holds that learners’ active and independent involvement in their own learning (autonomy) increases motivation to learn and consequently increases learning effectiveness

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because fluency can be improved only during constant speaking practice in the atmosphere of independence and in the state of relaxation Next, working in pairs or groups students can learn from one another a lot It is impossible to expect that all students in the class have the same level of English or skills In fact, there are always weak and strong students in a class and they are of different abilities and some students have the need to learn from their friends And working in pairs or groups the weaker students can learn knowledge or skills from their better peers and good students can have a chance to perfect their knowledge Hence, students can learn more from each other And last but not least, pair and group work helps to enhance students’ understanding Watkins (2004) confirms that this active engagement with peers in learning should be more likely to lead to deep learning, in which the students really understand the meaning of theories and Williams and Kesseler(1999:8) added “When I explained an idea to my partner, I concentrated on what I was saying, and carefully made things clear and logical because I did not confuse my partner and wanted him to understand what I was talking about It helped me better understand the problem I was addressing It also helped me discover some mistakes I have made but do not notice before I talked with my partner” Obviously, students can understand more what they have learned Weak students then can have a clearer understanding of what they are still confused while strong ones can express their ideas deeper when they work cooperatively as Devlin (2002) asserts “Pair and group work activities provide opportunities for the students to clarify and refine their understanding of concept through discussion and rehearsal with peers.”

To sum up, pair work and group work are really vital because of their benefits They do not only give students, especially quieter ones more chances

to speak English to their partners in very crowded classes, reduce to some

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knowledge and experience, promote learners’ responsibility, consolidation and autonomy as well as improving their learning outcomes Obviously, two heads learn better than one

2.1.2.2 Disadvantages of pair work and group work:

However, “there are always two sides to every coin” Besides the aforesaid advantages, unfortunately, pair work and group work also bring a lot of disadvantages One of the problems is that students often speak in their native language Students feel more secure with their own language; they tend to turn to mother tongue whenever they engage in a conversation or a discussion This is a common problem when students work in groups It is really difficult to eliminate if the class is big and consists of sixty students Gower, Philips and Walters (1995: 63) stated sometimes, especially with large classes, it is difficult to stop students chatting in their own language when they should be practicing English

Next, some students object to speaking to other students whose English is not good These students consider that language practice with other students who have wrong pronunciation and who are always making grammatical errors is valueless, and that it may even be damaging So they just keep silent and keep their ideas in their minds without opening their mouths They only want to speak and listen to a ‘model’ with correct grammar and good pronunciation- the teacher, in other words

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things mentioned above As a result, they do not feel confident enough to practice with other members in the group

Another problem is that teachers are difficult to control the very large- sized class using pair or group work As Kumar (1992) considers, large class size might make interaction and involvement difficult In fact, there are about sixty students in a university class Therefore, it is rather difficult and unable to give help or advice equally to every pair or group “The teacher has less control over what students are doing in pair work and group work than in a normal class.”(Doff, 1995: 142)

One more problem of pair work and group work is related to noise and indiscipline Lots of pairs and groups work at the same time, the class becomes noisy and out of hand Doff (1995) also agrees with this idea “Obviously, pair work and group work in a large class will be noisy.”(Doff, 1995: 141) But, if the activity is organized well and learners are all actively speaking, it is for sure that the teacher will let them make noise because it is “productive” noise It signifies that learners are involved, engaged and excited about language learning when they communicate with their friends Thus, the noise which seems to be an unavoidable problem in any classrooms can sometimes be very beneficial

All in all, the merits that pair work and group work can offer are obvious Therefore, pair work and group work can be considered as one of the ways of creating an active environment where students can interact because “when the quantity of interaction is increased, achievement is promoted, attitude towards learning is improved, and willingness to hard work is increased” (Springer et al, 1999) And they are the most effective techniques of classroom organization which combine aspects of communication learning and natural interaction in a stress free environment (Brumfit, 1984: 78)

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2.1.3 Types of pair work and group work 2.1.3.1 Types of pair work

Random pairs

Random pairs are generally formed by asking two students who are sitting next to each other to work together This is the most flexible pairing arrangement because it is based on convenient seating

Random pairs can work together to review each other’s work, complete exercises, practice dialogues, or engage in a conversation

Voluntary pairs

This is the most basic form to make comfortable atmosphere when working in pairs In forming voluntary pairs, students are given the opportunity to choose any partner in the class for a specific project Projects can include painting, drama, puzzles, games, or conducting interviews together

Assigned partners

Assigned partners are usually based on proficiency levels Assigned partners with similar abilities can correct each other’s exercises, work on writing assignments, alternate while reading to each other, or challenge each other with self-access materials, such as information gaps, puzzles, and games

Assigned pairs can also be students at different levels At times, it is beneficial to pair the best students with those who need help The more advanced students can help the lower level ones

2.1.3.2 Types of group work

Random groups

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to turn around and join with the row behind, and so on Also pairs may be randomly joined to form groups

Voluntary groups

Students may self-select these groups based on common interests or friendships Voluntary groups may be formed for a variety of activities such as Three-Step interview, Literature Study groups or special projects

These groups are not usually formed for activities that require certain proficiency levels The English proficiency level of the students is not a criterion for completing the assignment; students may be allowed to self- select their task mates depending on their manipulative skills

Assigned group

There may be two main kinds of assigned groups: homogeneous and heterogeneous

In each homogeneous group, students are on comparable ability levels Different homogeneous groups may be assigned different tasks based on the students’ abilities It is beneficial that a homogeneous group of advanced students may do some independent work while the teacher works directly with the lower level students

Heterogeneous groups are often organized to assist students learning Weaker and stronger students would be included in each group When a more advanced student is placed in each group, that student can act as a leader or a peer tutor to the other The less advanced students will then have a good role model

2.1.4 Organization steps for a pair work and group work activity: According to Harmer’s (2001) theoretical inputs related to organizing pair work and group work, they include three parts: before, during and after

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For the beginning phase of an activity, Harmer (2001: 59) proposes there is an “engage-instruct-initiate sequence” Engagement, according to Harmer, means “making it clear that something “new” is going happen”

The instructions that are given by the teacher at the beginning of each pair work or group work activity are really important It will be time-wasting, lack of effective practice, possible loss of control if the students do not understand what they have to do Mother tongue can be used in case students do not understand the instructions at all Ur (1991) and Byrne (1991) agree that explaining instructions in mother tongue is acceptable especially with classes whose knowledge of the target language is not on a sufficient level yet However, mother tongue should not be used often as Parrot (1993,: 109) reminds that instructions should be given in both languages, but at the same time is afraid that students may “switch off knowing that they will be repeated in their own language Also, the instructions should be described concisely and clearly Talking about the length of instructions, Scrivener (1994: 98) suggests that optimal choice is based on sequencing instructions in a sensible order, using short sentences and avoiding or separating instructions clearly from ‘the other chit-chat, telling off, joking, ect.’ Ur (1991: 18) adds the

concentration span of students is limited; and, therefore, the instructions

should be clear and concise Besides, it is advisable to give the instructions before giving out materials of dividing the class into pairs or groups

As regards initiation, Harmer (2001: 59) advises it is most appropriate to tell students how much time they have got and exactly when the students should start the activity

2.1.4.2 During:

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roles of controller, organiser, assessor, prompter, participant, resourse, tutor

and investigator (Harmer 1995: 200-205) Byrne (1991: 13) claims that the teacher ‘will have to play different roles at different times’ He divides the roles of the teacher according to the type of interaction activity distinguishing between fluency and accuracy activities During fluency activities the teacher frequently adopts the roles of stimulator, manager and consultant, reminding that the main reason for taking part in such activities is to get students to interact, set up the activities and to be available for help and advice if students need and ask for it During accuracy activities the teacher carries out the roles of conductor, organizer and monitor Teacher’s main task will therefore be to make sure that the students know what to practice, and that they practise effectively, together with organizing the activities and checking while students are performing Therefore, teacher should go from group to group, pair to pair, monitor, and contribute Teacher’s contribution may take the form of:

- Providing general approval and support; - Helping students who are having difficulties; - Keeping the students using the target language

- Tactfully regulating participation in a discussion where the teacher find some students are over dominant and others silent

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badly, the teacher should be prepared to offer advice and encouragement — just sufficient to get them working again(p.10) As regards correcting mistakes, learning a language is a long process during which a learner will inevitably make mistakes Therefore, error correction should be careful Harmer (2001: 275-276) says that the teacher may inhibit students and take the communicativeness out of the activity by over-correction; therefore, the correction should be helpful and gentle getting students out of difficult misunderstanding and hesitations Ur (1981: 246-247) there are some situations where we might prefer not to correct a learner’s mistake: in fluency

work, for example, when the learner is in mid-speech, and to correct would

disturb and discourage more than help Edge (1989: 39) advises when the

teacher hears mistakes, she makes a note of them If she hears a mistake

repeatedly, she can wait until pairs have finished the exercise and then ask someone to do the question in which she heard the mistake Edge adds the teacher has to decide if the class has learned well enough what was taught, notice what mistakes are made, decide if it is worth doing more work on these mistakes, decide how to do any necessary correction Moreover, Scrivener (1994) admits: “The more ‘present’ I allow myself to be, the more likely students will be to ask me for help And the more I help, the more I make the task less challenging for the students, the more they will lean on me The more involved I get, the more I end up doing the communication rather than them Active ‘not helping’ may sound rather cruel, but I think there are times when the teacher can be most helpful by forcing students to face problems themslves” (Scrivener 1994: 68 )

2.1.4.3 After:

Ur (1991), Harmer (2001), Gower at all (1995) mention two focus

areas when describing the ending phase of an activity: stopping the activity, and providing feedback after the activity

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Some pairs or groups may finish earlier than others before the actual process of bringing the activity to the end To stop the activity, it is not desirable to let the activities drag on nor give an opportunity for some students to get bored (Byrne 1991,79) He adds it is better to stop the last groups before they finish (p 22) He bevieves, though this might not be the best thing to do, that this intervention will leave students with a staste for more, and thus ‘heightened enthusiasm, or at least willingness’ (p.22) According to Harmer (2001: 124), tired students may be told to relax for a bit while the others finish Therefore, it is up to the teacher to be flexible and rely on common sense considering the end of an activity, Ur (1991: 22) concludes

In relation to feedback after the activity, Gower at al (1995, 63) suggests that it is important to provide ‘positive feedback’, i.e positive points to comment on, such as successful communication, accurarate use of grammar points, use of vocabulary, appropriate expressions, good pronunciation, or expressive intonation, good use of fluency strategies in conversation, etc in order to bring about self-awereness and improvement in students Gower at al (p 103) proposes that the teacher should indicate how each person

communicated, comment on how fluent each was, how well they argued as a

group, and so on Also, it is not important to concentrate on who made the mistakes but rather focus on the mistakes that have been frequent among the students Both Harmer (2001) and Gower at al (1995) agree that it is not necessary to say which students made the mistakes or error, but more importantly, focus on common ones, or ones in general interest, and provide

students with individual notes and instructions on how to correct them, or

where to find them

In conclusion, three steps of organizing speaking activities with the use of pair work and group work to develop speaking skills are focused in this part of theoretical section: before, during and after

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In recent years, a number of studies focusing on the use of PW&GW to teach speaking have emerged Hamzah and Sting (2009) investigated to identify the students’ perspectives with regards to their involvement in oral group activities Thirty-three students and three language teachers took part in the study The findings showed students’ positive attitude towards group work activities in class The study indicated only the general results of improvement in students’ speaking when they are assessed individually and concluded that group work activities could be a practical technique if they were carefully planned to teach speaking skills among the students

In order to make use of small groups to maximize learners’ oral proficiency, Boussiada Soraya (2010) did a research to explore the effects of cooperative group work on improving learners’ oral proficiency and communicative skills Forty students and ten teachers were asked to give their opinions and to explain their choices in this descriptive research The results revealed that there is a positive relationship between cooperative group work and oral proficiency

In Vietnam, however, few studies on the use of pair work and group work to teach speaking have been carried out With the purpose of increasing students’ participation and interest in communicative English classes, Pham (2008) investigated the benefits of using pair work and group work techniques in communicative English classes at Ha Noi university of Industry Survey questionnaires for teachers and students were employed The results revealed that students found working in pairs and in groups interesting, which made them participate more in the lessons and the interaction between students was closer However, this study did not investigate how the teachers applied pair work and group work or what difficulties that both teachers and students might have while working in pairs or groups

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She concluded that when the cultivation of communicative skills in the target language is the goal of education, interaction must be nurtured in the classroom (Nguyen, 2011, p.79) And she recommended that more chances for pair work and group work should be created in classrooms (p.91) because of their benefits given by other scholars but she did not prove these things

were true in that context Therefore, the researcher decided to do this

experiment in order to consider whether the use of pair work and group work has impact on students’ acquisition of speaking skills at Phu Lam College or not

2.3 Research Gap

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter gives a detailed description of the experimental research project with the hope to test the hypothesis that is pair work and group work really has impact on the students’ acquisition of speaking skills The seven sections including pedagogical context (pedagogical setting and participants invited to take part in the study), the design of the study, procedure, instruments such as pre-test, post-test, questionnaire and classroom observations, data collection, methods of analysis and pilot of the study were clearly presented

3.1 Pedagogical context 3.1.1 Pedagogical setting

Phu Lam College is important in the public school system of professional education in HCMC The College provides training and education in many specializations Its tasks are fostering improve professional culture for employees, teaching engineering for pupils, applied research and technical advances in training, production and life., organizing production activities and professional services for training The College brings to students a good experience and opportunity for real-life training And its main aim is to create jobs for its graduates With an annual enrollment of thousands students, the College student population is approximately 3.000

Established in 1998, The Junior College step by step keeps on improving the teaching and learning quality in order to meet the requirements of education And after 10 years of development, on 9" April, 2008, Ministry of Education and Training signed Decision No 1974/QD- BGDT, establishing Technical-Economics College on the basis of upgrading Phu Lam Technical-

vocational Junior College

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electronic technology, mechatronics, fashion design, International economics, and refrigeration There are 40 theory classrooms, 400m2 area of practical workshops, library and laboratories The College has 120 lectures, who are enthusiastic, eager to learn and have a lot of working experiences

In order to train and meet the demands of the society for highly-qualified human resources the College has cooperation with fifty national companies, firms and factories as well as with international prestigious universities such as Singapore-Polytechnic Singapore), Industry California University (USA), TAFE (Australia) and Yalong (China)

English Language faculty was established in November, 2008 The main missions of the English Language Faculty are teaching general English for non- major students and professional English for students and conducting research studies The Faculty has 15 teachers of English with different education backgrounds and 2604 first-year students in the academic year of 2011- 2012 And there are 4 multimedia-labs equipped with modern audio- video systems and fans to assure the best conditions for students

3.1.2 Participants 3.1.2.1 Teachers

In the English Language Faculty of Phu Lam College, apart from the researcher, there are 15 teachers of English Only three of them are male Most of them are still young in their twenties; three teachers are over fifty Four of them had a Master’s degree, ten were doing their master in TESOL and two had Bachelor degree Some teachers are in charge of teaching English for Specific Purpose (ESP) and the others teaching General English

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got Master’s degree, had accessed to communicative method so he paid much attention to student talk in his class He never dominated the floor by lecturing for over 30 minutes According to the measurement done during the

classroom observation, the researcher confessed that he talked for 15 to 18

minutes in the class Also, he was willing as well as excited to take part in researches in the school, thus he was willing to help me with teaching speaking and using pair work and group work as we discussed in advance, with letting me observe his classes The researcher and other teachers all agreed that he was the most suitable teacher to carry out teaching speaking through pair work and group work

3.1.2.2 Students

This study was implemented in over 3 months from 6" February 2012 to 25 April 2012 (the second semester of the academic year 2011-2012) at Phu Lam Technical-Economics College in HCMC, Viet Nam

In this research, 83 English non-major junior College students of Accounting and Mechatronics classes were chosen to be the participants, one class as the Experimental Group and the other as the Control Group 41 first — year students of class Accounting, with 13 boys and 28 girls were in the Experimental Group; 42 students (30 boys and 12 girls) of class Mechatronics were in the Control Group There were totally 15 first-year classes with 804 English non-major junior college students in the academic year of 2011-2012

According to a survey administered to understand the students’ background, the results showed that most of the students in two groups had studied English for seven years before entering junior college Two students in the Experimental Group and two students in the Control Group had learned English for four years And one student in each group had never encountered English before being a student at this junior college

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researcher and one other foreign male teacher who helped to evaluate the students’ speaking levels According to the results of the statistical analysis, it was seen that the proficiency levels of the two classes were almost the same.(Please see table 4.1)

3.2 Design of the Study

Methodology addresses the issue of how we go about finding out whatever it is that we believe we know or can come to know (Guba& Lincoln, 1994; Schwandt, 1994) This research is an experimental study conducted to determine what impact of using pair work and group work had on the learners’ acquisition of speaking skills Therefore, both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to gather data, and the qualitative data was employed as a supplement to the information found out by the quantitative data The qualitative research data consisted of five observations done during the second semester of 2011-2012 school year The quantitative data was gathered with the aid of a questionnaire and the results of two oral tests (pre- test and post-test) According to this design with a pre-test, post-test and a control group, the research has an independent and a dependent variable The independent variable is the use of pair work and group work to teach speaking skill and the dependent variable is the acquisition of speaking ability of junior college students

The design of many PW&GW activities in the experimental group was applied within the students’ regular English curriculum Know how, book 1 was the main teaching material to be used for both groups The design of the study in this section included the teaching procedures in the control group and those in the experimental group

3.2.1 Control Group (Group A)

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groups No extra activity was designed for students to choose their partners or the members in their groups

3.2.2 Experimental Group (Group B)

In the experimental group, many kinds of pair work and group work activities were used in order to attract students to learn the target language actively such as role-play, discussion, information-gap, story-completion, games, surveys, brainstorming, and opinion-sharing activities Most of the activities were designed to be carried out in pairs and small groups These activities help students to practice using all of the language they know in situations that are like real settings In these activities, students must work together to resolve a problem, or complete a task, share ideas about an event, or find solutions in their groups To succeed with these activities, the teacher prepared carefully: The teacher introduced the activity first by describing the situation and making sure that all of the students understand it and students were given input so that they could have something to say The students were asked to brainstorm as a class to predict what vocabulary, grammar and expressions they might use Small groups instead of whole class were formed and groups were kept small so that less-confident students would feel more able to participate; Also, the students were given a defined period of time to work and a goal was set such as a plan or a group opinion, a schedule

Besides, the teacher was there as a resource, not a monitor, willing to help

them with answering their questions, not correcting their pronunciation or grammar if they did not especially asked about it The students were also

allowed to make mistakes without fear of embarrassment, which helped them, more confident, motivated to learn more

3.3 Procedures of the Study

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In order to choose the Group B randomly, the letters A and B were written on two similar pieces of paper and they were folded up And then the two monitors of these classes were called on and each of them was asked to pick up one piece of paper As a result, Accounting class was randomly chosen as the experimental group (41 students) and Mechatronics class with 42 students was the control group Then, the researcher had the British

teacher, Tim, who volunteered to teach at Phu Lam College during the second

semester of the academic year in 2012, join to give scores to students of two groups on the pre-test in the second week (on the 13" and 15" of February) Tim has been a teacher of English for seven years in Britain, so he has a great deal of experience in scoring Pre-test was used to determine that the two groups were equivalent at the time of starting the experiment And the researcher discussed with the male teacher (invited to teach these two classes) on designing and adopting pair work and group work to teach speaking During the observations, the participants’ activities were filmed

After that, the researcher observed and took notes the teacher’s and

students’ activities At home, the researcher watched the films again and checked one more time And five observations were done within the second semester of the academic year 2012

Next, the post-test was carried out in the eighth week of the semester (9" and 11" April) with the participation of Tim, who would give scores to the students of two groups Post-test was used to measure the academic achievement of the students after the treatment period

Then, questionnaire was composed and then was sent to the supervisor to checked if the questions were suitable, and clear or not After being checked, they were sent to six teachers and six students to test if there were any confusing words that might make them difficult to understand

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3.4 Instruments

The following were used as instruments for the study:

a Two English oral tests both for two groups which were conducted in the beginning of the experimental time (pre-test) and at the end of the experimental time (post-test)

b Five observation checklists

c The questionnaire of learning style preference 3.4.1 Oral tests:

Two oral tests which involved paired dialogues were designed to test the students’ oral communicative competence The students were allowed to select their own partners so that they would feel more comfortable, and relaxed during the test According to Ur (1996:33), a test is “an activity whose main purpose is to convey how well the testee know or can do something The test gives a score which is assumed to define the level of knowledge of the testee” And the reason why the oral tests including paired dialogues were regarded as measurement of communicative competence was that, according to Weir (1995), “we want candidates to perform relevant language tasks and adapt their speech to the circumstances, making decisions under time pressure, implementing them fluently, and making any necessary adjustments as unexpected problems arise (p.31)”

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And these tests were judged by the other foreign teacher who was familiar and good at using grading rubrics, which helped to minimize and reduce subjectivity and disagreement This meant that he took a role of assessor who did not say anything during the test but listened carefully And the researcher took a role of the interlocutor who asked questions and told the candidates what to do The grading was based on five criteria, which are the scores of appropriateness (20%), vocabulary (20%), grammar (20%), intelligibility (20%), and fluency (20%) Every criterion was presented in detail in Appendix C The actual scoring sheet (Appendix D) was developed along with the scoring rubric for the purpose of grading

3.4.2 Questionnaire for students:

A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents Questionnaire, as one of the most common forms of data collection tools, can easily be assessed in terms of reliability In this respect, reliability refers to the ability of questionnaire to produce the same results in different implementations, leading to a consistency and dependability of the results (Leftwich, 2007) Moreover, the strengths of questionnaires generally include accuracy, generalizability, and convenience (Marshall & Rossman, 1999) In this research, there were 19 questions in the questionnaire The questionnaire included two main parts It was written in both English and Vietnamese but only Vietnamese questionnaire was distributed to the Experimental Group in order to avoid participants’ misunderstanding and to collect precise information

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The second part of the questionnaire involved ten questions that had to with the participants’ ideas about learning speaking in groups and pairs The questionnaire helped the researcher collect information about the fact that if the experimental group could receive any progress or have any problem and their attitude towards learning speaking through pair work and group work activities Questionnaire contained multiple choice, checklist and open-ended questions with most items asking about specific information and learners answered each question in the checklist using a five point scale ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree” All the items of the questionnaire were constructed and categorized from a careful review of related literature and the research context

Questions in part II in the questionnaire aimed to find out:

- Students’ perception and attitude towards the importance of speaking in English teaching (Question | and 2)

- The students’ attitude towards pair and group activities (question 3) - The students’ frequency of working in pairs and groups (question 4) - The students’ activities in working in pairs and groups (question 5) - Task types of pair and group work that the students worked (question 6)

- The students’ perception of the benefits of working in pairs and groups (question 7)

- Difficulties they met when working in pairs and groups (question 8) - The students’ attitude towards the problems happening when working in pairs and groups (Question 9)

- Their perception of the effectiveness of pair work and group work (question 10)

3.4.3 Classroom Observation:

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study was used to confirm the ideas given by the students in their questionnaires The observation was focused on the teacher and students’ activities, the students’ attitude towards learning speaking through pairs and groups and the time of their participation in speaking It allows researchers to see the language teaching in the “real word” As Bell (1999) asserts, observation has the advantage of providing insight into real events (in this case, into classroom events) as well as observation provides direct information rather than self-report accounts (Dornyei, 2007, p 178) According to Gold (1958) observations are mainly divided into four categories: (1) “complete participant”- the researcher’s role is not revealed; (2) “observer as participant”- the role of the researcher is overt; (3) “participant as observer”- the participant role is more important than the observation one; and (4) “complete observer”- the researcher does not participate in the social setting (cited in De Laine, 2000: 104-5) Therefore, in order to ensure the reliability of participants’ behavior and evaluation, the researcher took the role of a complete observer who observed all the research subjects in five periods of teaching speaking (45 minutes per period) and there were five observation checklists to be explored in all