VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
********************* NÔNG THỊ THANH HUYỀN PROMOTING STUDENTS’ INTEREST IN ENGLISH SPEAKING
LESSONS BY USING GROUP WORK FOR 11
TH
GRADE STUDENTS
AT DUONG TU MINH HIGH SCHOOL

Tăng cường hứng thú của học sinh trong giờ nói Tiếng Anh bằng sử dụng hoạt
động nhóm đối với học sinh lớp 11 tại trường THPT Dương Tự Minh M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60140111
Hanoi, 2014
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

DECLARATION

I certify that this thesis is entirely my own work. I have provided fully
documented references to the work of others. The material in this research
has not been submitted for assessment in any other formal course of study.

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis was carried out to investigate the benefits of using group
work in English speaking lessons and seek the answers to the hypothesis that
“Group work does promote students‟ interest in English speaking lessons to
students at 11
th
grade at Duong Tu Minh High School.” The researcher carried
out some group work activities on students to investigate whether group work
techniques promote students‟ interest. Observation method was used to find
the answer to the hypothesis. The findings of the research revealed that group
work was an effective teaching method that should be used in communicative
language teaching. The reason was that it strongly enhanced students‟ interest
in class activities. The students found working in groups interesting, which
made them participate more in the lesson. However, there were some
problems the teachers should take into consideration when conducting these
activities such as group size, the way of grouping, students‟ level of
proficiency, and so on. It is hoped that this thesis will help other teachers of
English be aware of the effectiveness of group work and apply it in their
teaching.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENS

DECLARATION i

2.2. Setting of the study. 19
2.3. Participants of the study. 19
2.4. Data collection instruments. 19
2.5. Data collection procedure. 21
Chapter 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 25
3.1. Students’ participation. 25
3.2. “Learners talk a lot” 27
3.3. Students’ attitude in speaking lessons. 33
Part C: CONCLUSION
1. Major finding 36
2. Limitations of the study. 36
3. Recommendation for further study. 32
4.Implications 37
REFERENCES: …38
APPENDIXES I 1

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
English has become one of the most popular languages in the world
today. It is used widely in every field of society such as politics, business,
international conference, education and everyday communication. As a result,
teaching and learning English play an important role in the development of
the society. However, it cannot be denied that teaching and learning English
appear not to be really effective. Students have difficulty using English in
their work as well as in their daily life, which results in limitations in their
work.
To improve students‟ speaking skills, promoting their interests is really

The aim of the study is to investigate whether the use of group work in
English speaking lessons promotes students‟ interest and the difficulties that
teachers and students face with when conducting this technique.
3. Scope of the study
The study focuses on group work to promote students‟ interest in
English speaking lessons, especially group work that was appropriate to 11th
grade students in mountainous areas. Group work in this study was tested
with the participation of these students.
4. Hypothesis
This study was set up to test the following hypothesis: “Group work
helps promote students‟ interest in English speaking lessons.”
5. Methods of the study
Group work activities were designed and conducted on the students of
grade 11. Data was collected through group work implemented by the
students. Data was also collected by photos and notes taking.

3

6. Organization of the study
This study consists of three parts:
Part A, Introduction, presents rationale, aims, scope, hypothesis,
methods and design of the study.

Part B, Development, consists of three chapters.
Chapter 1 discusses the theoretical background relevant to issues of
the study. The first section presents teaching speaking skills in general, the
second section discusses the learners‟ interest in learning languages and the
last section is the discussion of group work activity.
Chapter 2 discusses the methodology of the study. In this chapter, the
hypothesis, data collection instrument and data collection procedure are

According to communicative language teaching, teaching speaking
skills involves the use of language through different communicative activities.
When using communicative activities in speaking, it is very important to
make sure that students feel comfortable and confident to participate in
learning activities. This makes students find it easy to discuss and share ideas
with their partners. Students should be given more chances to speak in class
so that they can attain mutual understanding and practice language.
Communicative activities offer opportunities to improve speaking skills
as well as cognitive ability. It is clear that successful communication is an
integrated accomplishment. When participating in communicative activities,
students will become more active; have opportunities to interact with other. In
brief, communication activities can boost proficiency and greatly improve
communicative competence.
5

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”. Chaney states that “ speaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non- verbal symbols, in a
variety of context” (Chaney, 1998, p.13)
As for Ur(1996) , people who know a language are referred to as
“speakers” of that language as if speaking includes all others kinds of
knowing. Florez claims that speaking is “an interactive process of
constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing
information. It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving.” (Florez,
1999). To help students to become “speakers” of a new language, it is
important for language teachers to pay attention to teaching speaking skills
rather than leading students to memorization. The teacher should give their
students opportunities to practice language so that they can promote their

contribute to achieve the task objective. The activities that teachers design
should make learners have a high motivation. Brown (1994) states that it is
when students‟ learning styles are matched with appropriate approaches in
teaching that their motivation, performances, and achievements will increase
and be enhanced. Nunan (1989) points out that accommodating learners‟
needs and preferences is vital in designing a learner-centered curriculum.
Understanding of students‟ preferred way of learning helps the teacher not
only to alter his or her teaching style but also to diversify classroom tasks or
activities to accommodate different learning style.
7

The last characteristic is “Language is of an acceptable level”. Ur means
that learners express themselves with suitable language, easily
comprehensible to each other. To help learners get success in speaking, the
teacher should choose the suitable topics for learners so that learners can
express their own ideas with their vocabulary, experience and knowledge.
Besides, the teacher should provide relevant information, vocabulary and
structures related to the topic before organizing the activity so that all learners
are willing to participate in speaking.
1.3. Learners’ interest in learning languages
1.3.1. Concept of interest

Ellis (1994) (cited in Keller, 1984) states that interest is one of the main
elements of motivation and a positive response to stimulate based on existing
cognitive structures in such a way that learners‟ curiosity is aroused and
sustained. In other words, interest shows learners‟ desire to learn the target
language. It can be seen that students who are given opportunities for
communication will be eager to talk to share information with others.
Ellis (cited in Dickinson, 1987) also points out that “interest is
engendered if learners become self-centered”. This means they are able to

interest in doing the tasks. In short, intrinsic motivation "Involves the arousal
and maintenance of curiosity and can ebb and flow as a result of such factors
as learners' particular interests and the extent to which they fell personality
involved in learning activities."
While Extrinsic motivation derives from the influence of some kinds of
outside indicators, including the influence of the teacher, the learner's desire
to please significant people or their wish to succeed in an external exam, or
9

peer group influence, which are different from the wish to learn for its own
sake or interest in learning tasks.
Teaching techniques of teachers is considered one of the main factors
that affect students‟ interest. According to the new methods of teaching, the
teachers no longer played the role of the knowledge provider and the students
were the passive knowledge receivers, the teaching techniques is really
important to guide students in their learning process and different teaching
techniques create different degrees of students‟ participation and interest in
the lesson.
The last factor that I would like to mention is teachers‟ personal
qualities. So as to draw students‟ attention and interest, teachers should make
students trust and feel comfortable when they participate in speaking lesson.
Barry (1993) points out some characteristics a teacher should have. The
necessary characteristics are being natural, being warm, being pleasant, and
being tolerant.
Being natural means the relationship between him and his students will
be closer, if the teacher behaves naturally, which promotes students‟ interest
in the lesson. Being warm is when the teacher considers students as his
friends. Students therefore will find it easy to express themselves in the
lesson. Being pleasant will make the classroom‟s climate comfortable and
interesting, which increases students‟ motivation and participation. Being

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
11

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.
Study teams are long- term groups (usually existing during the course
of a semester) with stable membership whose primary responsibility is to
provide members with support, encouragement, and assistance in completing
course requirements and assignments. Study teams serve a broader purpose.
They last the entire semester (or even several semesters).
From the above definitions of group work types, the term "group work
activities" used in this thesis belongs to the first type- informal learning
groups. It means that students are required to work in groups of three to five
to do a specific speaking tasks set in the textbook, English 11. The speaking
tasks in this book are designed to develop students' communicative
competence. Group work activities are often conducted and last about ten
minutes to fifteen minutes.
1.4.3. Group work activities
According to Hayriye Kayi (2006), there are nine main group works
activities that can be used to promote students‟ speaking skills.
a. Discussion: A discussion can be held for various reasons, after a

spaces. The two partners are not permitted to see each other‟s timetables and
must fill in the blanks by asking each other appropriate questions. These
13

activities are effective because everybody has the opportunity to talk
extensively in the target language.
e. Brainstorming: gives students opportunities to produce ideas in a
limited time. Depending on the context, either individual or group
brainstorming is effective and learners generate ideas quickly and freely. The
good characteristic of brainstorming is that the students are not criticized for
their ideas so students will be open to sharing new ideas.
f. Storytelling: is the activity that students can briefly summarize a tale
or story they heard from somebody beforehand, or they may create their own
stories to tell their classmates. Story telling fosters creative thinking. It also
helps students express ideas in the format of beginning, development, and
ending, including the characters and setting a story has to have. Students also
can tell riddles or jokes. For instance, at the very beginning of each class
session, the teacher may call a few students to tell short riddles or jokes as an
opening. In this way, not only will the teacher address students‟ speaking
ability, but also get the attention of the class.
g. Interviews: get students to conduct interviews on selected topics with
various people. It is a good idea that the teacher provides a rubric to students
so that they know what type of questions they can ask or what path to follow,
but students should prepare their own interview questions. Conducting
interviews with people gives students a chance to practice their speaking
ability not only in class but also outside and helps them becoming socialized.
After interviews, each student can present his or her study to the class.
Moreover, students can interview each other and “introduce” his or her
partner to the class.
h. Playing cards is the game that students can form groups of four.

15

- Mutual help: Group work encourages students to share ideas and
knowledge. In a class, there are always weak and strong students, so working
in groups, students can learn from each other a lot. It recognizes the old
maxims that “two heads are better than one”, thus promoting learner
cooperation. (Adrian Doff, 1988: 144).
1.5. Organization of group work
1.5.1. Preparation for group work
In order to prepare for group work, according to Felisa Tibbits from
Harvard University, the teacher needs to do the following to make an
effective group work.
First, the teacher should select suitable activity for students. An activity
that is best suited for group work need to meet some necessary criteria: The
activity has multiple tasks that can be shared among group members or a
single task, such as generating ideas, that benefit from the participation of all
individuals within a group, the activity involves problem solving and
discussion and examples of activities that may be suited for group work are
investigations of materials (newspapers, scientific specimens) and
development of ideas or arguments
Second is the preparation of the materials. The teacher will need to
personally collect, or organize students to collect, physical specimens for
investigation. For example, if the teacher anticipates doing a lesson on the
role of the media, she or he might ask the students to bring in to class
newspapers and magazines. There should be materials sufficient for each
group.
Third, size and selection of group should be prepared with consideration
when organizing group work. Generally, group size normally ranges between
3-5 students. Group size can sometimes go larger although groups larger than
8 do not ensure that everyone will participate. Since groups often report their

should have good preparation from beginning to end so that group work
activities become effective and gain successfulness.
1.5.2. Steps of organizing group work
Harmer (1991) divides group work organization into 3 steps : before
activities, during activities and after activities. In this part I will discuss more
about them.
In the before activities, the teacher should make students feel
enthusiastic about what they are going to do. They need to understand what
they are going to do, and when they have to finish the task they are going to
take part in. Teacher‟s instructions should be clear to students so that they
understand what to do and how to do in the task. The important thing about
instructions is that the students should understand and agree on what the task
is. To check students‟ comprehension teacher may ask them to repeat the
instructions, or, in monolingual classes, to translate them in to their first
language.
In the during activities, while students are working in groups the
teachers have a number of options. They could, for instance, stand at their
convenience in the classroom and keep an eye on what is happening, noting
who appears to be stuck, disengaged, or about to finish. In this position
teacher can „tune in‟ to a particular group from some distance away. The
teachers can then decide whether to go over and help that group. An
alternative procedure is to go round the class watching and listening to
specific groups.
When students are working in groups the teacher has an ideal opportunity
to work with individual students whom they feel would benefit from their
18

teachers‟ attention. They also have a great chance to act as observer, picking up
information about students‟ progress.
After activities happen when groups stop working together the teacher