VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
o0o TRẦN MỸ HẠNH IMPROVING ENGLISH SPEAKING ACTIVITIES OF THE FIRST-
YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HA NOI
COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Nâng cao các hoạt động nói tiếng Anh của sinh viên năm thứ nhất không
chuyên ngữ tại trường Cao đẳng Cộng đồng Hà Nội M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60140111 HANOI – 2014
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

of the first-year non-English major students at Ha Noi Community College” is the
result of my own research and that it has not been submitted for any other degree.

Hà Nội, August, 2014
Student‟s signature Trần Mỹ Hạnh

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To accomplish this study, I am indebted to many people for their thoughtful help.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor,
Prof. Nguyen Hoa for his patient and enthusiastic guidance, encouragement, and
invaluable assistance throughout my research.
I am also grateful to the lecturers and all the staff members of the Faculty of
Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam

taught differently by the researcher and another teacher at HCC. One class is taught
according to the program of the course book “Lifelines - Pre-intermediate”. The
other is designed to use pair/group work activities in speaking lessons.
In this study, two data collection instruments are used: pre-test/post-test and
questionnaires. The results of the research indicate that pair/group work activities
motivate the students in their speaking lessons. After seven weeks, the students‟
speaking competence improves. Besides, the students become more interested in
pair work and group work activities. These activities help students feel confident to
speak English. These make them have high motivation in speaking lessons.
Moreover, they have more opportunities to communicate in the teaching language
in a variety of real life situation.
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

HCC: Hanoi Community College

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

TABLES
Table 1: Students‟ opinion about speaking skills

4. Scope of the study 2
5. Methods 3
6. Design of the study 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4
1.1. The nature of speaking 4
1.2. Types of activities in teaching speaking skills 5
1.2.1. Interview 5
1.2.2. Role - play 5
1.2.3. Games 6
1.2.4. Conversation grid 6
1.2.5. Jigsaws 6
1.2.6. Problem solving 6
1.3. Pair work and group work 7
1.3.1. Definition 7
1.3.2. Advantages and disadvantages of using pair work and group work 8
1.3.2.1. Advantages of using pair work and group work activities 8
1.3.2.2. Disadvantages of using pair work and group work activities 9
1.4. The roles of the teachers and students in pair work and group work activities 10
1.4.1. The roles of the teachers in pair work and group work activities 10
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1.4.2. The roles of the students in pair work and group work activities 11
1.5. Criteria of an effective speaking activity 12
1.6. Procedures for pair work and group work 12
1.6.1. Selecting and organizing activities for pair work and group work 12
1.6.2. Planning pair work and group work activities 13
1.7. Previous research on pair and group work 14
1.8. Concluding remarks 16
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 17

3.3.4. Comparing pre-test and post-test scores of the control class (KT2-K8) 34
3.3.5. Comparing post-test scores of the target class (KT1-K8) and the control class (KT2-
K8) 34
3.3.6. The correlation between results of post-questionnaire and post-test scores 35
3.4. Concluding remarks 36
PART 3: CONCLUSION 37
1. Recapitulation 37
2. Conclusions 37
3. Implications 38
4. Limitations of the study 39
5. Suggestions for further study 39
REFERENCES 40
APPENDIX I
1

PART A: INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the rationale, aims, scope, research questions, research
methods and design of the study.
1. Rationale
Nowadays, English has been used more and more widely and important in every
part of the world. It is considered to play a crucial role on the path of
industrialization and modernization of the country as well as in the process of
intergration and globalization in the world. Therefore, the need for learning it has
increased rapidly. English is a useful means they need for their future career since it
equips them with linguistic, social and cultural knowledge and provides them with
access to the modern world in the era of informatics and technology. It is used as
the official language in many powerful and developed countries. In addition, it is
also considered as the medium of communication in many fields such as science,
technology, business, education, commerce, and so on.
In Vietnam, English is also a compulsory subject to be taught and learned at schools

group work activities in teaching and learning English and it can help other teachers
of English be aware of these advantages and apply pair work and group work
activities in their teaching.
2. Aims of the study
The aim of the study is to improve English speaking skills and develop
communicative skills for the first year non – English major students through using
pair work and group work activities.
3. Research questions
The study intends to find out the answer to the question: “How can pair work and
group work contribute to improving speaking skills of the 1
st
year non-English
major students at HCC?”
4. Scope of the study
The study examines how to use pair work and group work to improve the speaking
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skills of the first year non-English major students at HCC
5. Methods
To examine the effectiveness of pair work and group work activities on teaching
and learning speaking skills, two data collection instruments are used: pre-test/post-
test and questionnaires. The data collected from the questionnaires and test will then
be analyzed by SPSS version 22.
6. Design of the study
The study consists of three main parts:
Part A provides an introduction which includes the rationale, aims, scope, research
questions, methods and design of the study.
Part B provides a development which is divided into three chapters.
Chapter 1 presents some key theories related to the study such as definition of
speaking, definitions of pair work and group work. The chapter also mentions

According to Chaney and Burk (1998), speaking is "the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of
contexts".Bygate (1987) claims that "speaking is a skill which deserves attention as
much as the literary skills in both native and foreign languages". When students
speak in a confident and comfortable way, they can interact better in real daily
situations. Because of this, it is necessary to encourage the development of the
students' ability of fluency in spoken English. Developing fluency implies taking
risks by using language in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere-an atmosphere of trust and
support. Speaking fluently, of course, involves speaking easily and appropriately
with others.
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From some definitions above it can be concluded that speaking skill is always
related to communication. Speaking skill itself can be stated as the skill to use the
language accurately to express meanings in order to transfer or to get knowledge
and information from other people in the whole life situation.
In order to improve their students‟ participation in communicative activities in a
language classroom. Some communicative activities will be discussed in the next
section.
1.2. Types of activities in teaching speaking skills
There are many activities which can be applied in communicative English classes
through the use of pair work and group work. According to Brown (1994), Moss
(2005), Tsui (1995), various types of group activities such as interview, role-play,
games, conversation grid, jigsaws and problem-solving.
1.2.1. Interview
According to Brown (1994), interviews are very structured in terms of both the
information sought and the grammatical difficulty and variety. Using interviews in
pair work and group work students can practice the way of making questions,
express personal ideas, learning vocabulary and structures
1.2.2. Role - play

communicative skills. The students are often in groups, then they talk together to
find out a solution for a problem or task given. The problem solving activities
stimulate the students to talk and to listen to the others.
Harmer (1999) points out that problem solving is the kind of group activities that
encourages learners to talk or even negotiate together to find a solution to a problem
or a task. Problem solving is believed to be necessary and suited to students of all
levels. Because students are put in some situations that are similar to the real life,
they actively join in the activities because of the feeling that they are doing with
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their language, taking the risks of experimenting what they have learned.
Additionally, the lesson can become more practical and attractive to them.
In brief, each of the above kinds of activities has its own characteristics and
strengths in classrooms. In order to increase the positive impact of these activities in
classrooms, it is teacher‟s role to select and organize them appropriately in
accordance with lesson‟s goal and objectives, learners‟ level of interest and
proficiency as well as the learning environment.
1.3. Pair work and group work
1.3.1. Definition
* Pair work:
Adrian Doff (1988, p. 137) states “In pair work, the teacher divides the whole class
into 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.”
According to Byrne (1986), there are two main types of pair work, fixed pairs and
flexible pairs. The first type is when the students work with the same partner in
order to complete task. In this kind of pairs, they will deeply understand each other
and know the other‟s ability. In the second one, students keep changing their
partners they like. They can lift their chairs freely to talk to any partners they like.

in the lesson much more actively because they are involved in talking to their
friends exchange opinions, practising new structures more than listening to their
teacher talking. By dividing the class into groups, students get more chances to talk
than in full class organization, thus each student can say something. Ur (1996, p.
232) recommends that teachers working with larger classes should divide them into
five groups which is the most effective organization for practising speaking.
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Students may feel less anxious when they are working in a group with a small
number of people. Particularly, timid students find it hard to speak in front of the
class and teacher in their eyes seems to be a fear. They become silent and cannot
open their mouth with an empty mind. However, when participating in pairs or
groups, they maybe find easier to share their opinions naturally. “It is generally
easier to show that you do not know, or do not understand something, in a smaller
group than in a large one.” (Norman, Levihn and Hedenquist, 1986: 6)
Richards & Lockhart (1994, p. 152) states that “through interaction with other
students in pairs and groups, students can be given the opportunity to draw on their
linguistic resources in a non-threatening situation and use them to complete
different kinds of tasks.” He also emphasizes the following advantages of pair work
and group work:
 It reduces the dominance of the teacher over the class.
 It increases the amount of student participation in the class.
 It increases the opportunities for individual student to practice and use new
features of the target language.
 It promotes collaboration among learners.
 It enables the teacher to work more as a facilitator and consultant.
 It can give learners a more active role in learning.
1.3.2.2. Disadvantages of using pair work and group work activities
According to Brown (1994) there are also some disadvantages of using pair work
and group work activities as follow:

activities
1.4.1. The roles of the teachers in pair work and group work activities
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According Harmer (2001, p. 58), the teacher is not only at the beginning or the end
of the learning process but from beginning to the end of it. The teacher is:
 Organizer: This is “one of the most important roles that teachers have to
perform is that of organizing students to do various activities” (Harmer,
2001).The teachers have to create activities that fit the students‟ skills and
abilities and put them into pairs or groups.
 Tutor: so that the students will be not misleading
 Observer: while the students are working in pair and group, the teachers go
around and give help if necessary.
 Assessor: To have a good result, the teachers have to good comments on
each pair or group‟s performance.
1.4.2. The roles of the students in pair work and group work activities
The roles of students have changed since the invention of Communicative Teaching
Approach. According to Morrow (1977, p. 71), “the learner is now concerned with
using language, not English usage. In order to do this, learners take on roles and
interact with other learners who also have roles. What they say is determined by the
roles they play, their communicative intentions and the contribution of the other
learners”.
Breen and Candlin (1980) claim that the learner serves as a negotiator – between the
self, the learning process and the object of learning. This role emerges from and
interacts with the role of joint negotiator within the group. The student should
contribute as much as he gains, and thereby he can learn in an independent way.
This fundamental role is clarified by the following set of particular roles:
 Learners regularly work in groups or pairs to transfer (and, if necessary,
negotiate) meaning in situations in which each person plays his own role.
 Learners often engage in role play or dramatization to adjust their use of the

select them, how to organize and in which procedure largely depend on the
characteristics and goal of the practice tasks
First, according to Brown (1994), different activities such as simple question and
answer, practicing dialogues with a partner, performing certain meaningful
substitution drills should be used in pair work. To foster students to exchange ideas,
feelings or information, both pair work and group work can be used with different
activities such as interview, role-play, games, jigsaws, discussion, problem-solving.
Second, according to Hadley (1993) each task is based on specific content and
functions so in organizing activities appropriately to complete the practice tasks, it
is very important to take function, content and situation into consideration.
Third, the teacher should modify the kinds of tasks so that they are interesting and
relevant to students‟ level of proficiency.
1.6.2. Planning pair work and group work activities
In order to make pair work and group work effectively and successfully, Brown
(1994, p. 183) points out seven stages as follows
 Introduce the activity: The introduction may simply be a brief explanation
which should include a statement of the ultimate purpose so that students can
apply all other directions to the objective. For example, an introduction may
begin with “Now, in group of three, you are going to discuss…”
 Justify the use of small groups for the activity: This stage is to remind
students that using small groups help students who are reluctant to speak up
in front of the whole class have a opportunity to do so in security of a small
group.
 Model the activity: The teacher have to give as many examples to make sure
the whole class has the idea before the whole class is put into pair work or
group work. The teacher can model the activity with a learner or two and
then let other learners perform until the whole class can begin work on their
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own. This ensures that the class understands what to do and how to do it and

activity. After the action research his students highly motivate in using English and
communication strategies and the students‟ fluency much improved so that
pair/group work is considered as an effective way in improving students‟ speaking
skill.
Syamsuddin (2000) conducted an experiment to investigate the contribution of
pair/group work activities in improving students‟ speaking performance. The
subjects of the study were 60 students of SMAN 2 Maros. 30 students for control
class and 30 students for experimental class, and they were in the same level. The
data were obtained by giving pre-test, post-test and questionnaire. The result of the
study showed that the uses of pair/group work activities are successful and useful in
improving the students‟ performance compared to conventional method.
Bac (2005) conducted an experiment with the use of group work and questioning
techniques for increasing students‟ participation in communicative activities in large
classes at Thai Nguyen College of Education. She concluded that the use of group
work strongly increases the students‟ talking time and participation and reduces
teacher‟s talking time in language activities.
Chung (2008), Linh (2008) carried out their studies on pair and group work
activities. They shared the same ideas that group work activities are very interesting
and often used in their school. Pair and group work activities gave the students more
opportunities to practice the target language and they can learn from their partners
and so on. However, both teacher and students in their school have faced a lot of
challenges in implementing on managing group work during speaking lesson. For
instance, the organization of group work is noisy, teachers sometimes lose control
of the class or students tend to switch use mother tongue when not under the
teachers‟e yes and so on, from that difficulties, they suggested some
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recommendations for teachers and students at their school to make group work
successful in the speaking class.
Thu (2012) also carried out a quasi-experiment to investigate the effectiveness of