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

NG MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINI HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY — — ——— IN TEACHING THE USE OF PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK MAJOR STUDENTS SPEAKING TO THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH 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 Ho Chi Minh City, August, 2012 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 a Kieu My Hanh ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS rewarding The completion of this MA thesis could be considered the first occasion, I achievement in my career of teaching and doing research On this given me would like to express my deep gratitude to all people who have invaluable help and support during the time of writing Tuan, My deepest gratitude goes to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Hoang drafts who spent his valuable time reading and giving me his feedback on the tful and of sections and chapters in this thesis, and provided me with though insightful comments He gave me relevant materials as well as valuable isor advice on my thesis He set a good example of a very responsible superv 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 My deepest gratitude goes to my beloved husband, who is a big source of mental support to me I would like to say sincere thanks to my sisters for their loving and understanding Thank you so much for being the ones who are to me H ABSTRACT to teach This research investigated the use of pair work and group work of finding out speaking skills to the students at Phu Lam College with the aim of speaking the impact of using these techniques on the students’ acquisition students skills so that it can be applied more regularly at the school to help improve their speaking ability Both qualitative and quantitative research methodology was used in this ns done study The qualitative research data consisted of five observatio data during the second semester of 2011-2012 school year The quantitative tests was gathered with the aid of a questionnaire and the results of two oral of (pre-test and post-test) Forty-one questionnaires were sent to the students 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 in the evaluation 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 attitude and towards the questionnaire, this use Most the results pointed of the students out the (80.5%) liked students’ 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 pair and group work on learners’ acquisition of speaking skills It is also il so that the recommended that further research be conducted in longer time be more results of students’ improvement in their language proficiency could practical and measured IV TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ) s2) C2 C2 + >> Cà Cà 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 CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION 5.1 Summary of the Findings 1X C: 1.5 The significance of the study vil VII @Œ@ 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 il ill œ STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF ABBREVIATION 64 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) Appendix L: Oral test VI 67 67 68 i TÔ LIST OF TABLES Page Table 4.1: The pre-test scores of the Control group (Group A) and the Experimental Group (Group B) post-test scores of the Control group (Group A) and the The 4.2: Table Experimental Group (Group B) Table 4.3 Summary of the student subjects’ characteristics vil 35 36 37 LIST OF FINGURES Page 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 Graph Graph Graph Graph Graph Graph Graph Graph Graph Graph Graph Graph Graph Graph Graph 4.6: Task types of pair and group work that the students liked best 4.7: The students’ perception of time for speaking practice 4.8: The students’ perception of the chances to exchange ideas 4.9: The students’ perception of creating a relaxing learning environment 4.10: The students’ perception of being more active in learning and solving tasks better 4.11: The students’ perception of learning more about sharing the responsibility 4.12: The students’ perception of giving more help to each other 4.13: The students’ perception of promoting learners’ autonomy 4.14: The students’ perception of feeling more confident when speaking English 4.15: The students’ perception of improving students’ fluency 4.16: The students’ perception of enhancing students’ effective use of English 4.17: The students’ frequency of meeting difficulties when working in pairs and groups 4.18: The students’ attitude towards speaking in their native language 4.19: The students’ attitude towards the teacher’s control the class 4.20: The students’ attitude towards the teacher’s management 4.21: Their perception of the effectiveness of pair work and group work vill 39 40 4] 42 43 47 48 49 50 51 52 33 54 xã 56 57 59 61 62 64 ABBREVIATIONS EFL ESP TESOL HCMC Min SS English as a Foreign Language English for Specific Purpose Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Ho Chi Minh City Minute Students 1X ...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. .. 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 The idea of pair work and group work in language teaching in Vietnam... 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 hope the that it can provide the teachers with a_ better understanding of