VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES
*********************

ĐẶNG THỊ HOA

PARTICIPATION BY 10
th
-FORM STUDENTS IN
GROUPWORK ACTIVITIES IN SPEAKING LESSONS
AT THANH HA HIGH SCHOOL, HAI DUONG

( Sự tham gia của học sinh lớp 10 vào hoạt động nhóm trong giờ học nói
tại trường THPT Thanh Hà, Hải Dương)

M.A.MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
FIELD : ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE : 601410

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
FIELD : ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE : 601410
SUPERVISOR: ĐỖ THỊ MAI THANH, M.A

HANOI - 2011

iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declaration .i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
Table of content iv
List of abbreviations vii
List of tables and figures viii
PART I: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale for the study 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Research question 2
4. Scope of the study 2

10 16
1.3.7. How to design group work activities effectively 18
1.3.7.1. Forming students in groups 18
1.3.7.2. Preparing for students to work in group 20
1.3.7.3. Monitoring group work activities 20
1.3.7.4. Ending group work activities 21
1.4. Summary 21
CHAPTER 2: METHODS OF THE STUDY 22
2.1. An overview of the research site 22
2.2. Subjects 23
2.3. Methods of data collection 23
2.4. Summary 24
CHAPTER 3: PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA 25
3.1. The students' and teachers' attitudes towards learning and teaching speaking skill 25
3.2. The students and teachers' opinions on the frequency of group work activities in
speaking lessons the teachers at school are implementing 25
3.3. The students' and teachers' opinions on the design of the activities for groupwork 27
3.4. The students and teachers' opinions on the benefits of groupwork activities 27
3.5. The students' attitudes towards the current groupwork activities 28
3.6. The students' participation in the groupwork activities 29
3.7. The students' preference of kinds of groupwork activities 30
3.8. The students and teachers' problems in implementing groupwork activities 31

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3.9. The students' suggestions to increase their participation in group work activities in
speaking lessons 32
3.10. The teachers' suggestions to increase their students' participation in group work
activities in speaking lessons 33
3.11. Summary 34
CHAPTER 4 - FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 35

EFL refers to English as a First Language
ESL refers to English as a Second Language


compulsory subject at secondary schools all over the country and it has become one of the
three main subjects at high schools. As a result, the high school curriculum has laid a great
deal of stress on teaching and learning this widely-used language especially in a
communicative way. The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training has recently put into
practice a new series of English textbooks, which focus on the Communicative Language
Teaching. In order to apply this method effectively, the use of group work activities in
teaching speaking skill is emphasized, as is stated in the teacher‟s guide books.
In the new textbook, English 10, most of the activities in speaking lessons are encouraged to
be organized in group work activities. It has been reported by a number of the studies that in
speaking lessons, group work activities make it possible for the teacher to devote more time to
the students' oral production, which perhaps before had not been a priority in the foreign
language classroom. Thanks to group work activities, less confident students get the chance to
put their knowledge of the new language into practice in a non-threatening environment, away
from the critical eye and ear of the teacher. Instead of being dependent on the teacher, students
get used to helping and learning from each other. Meanwhile, the teacher is left free to
discreetly monitor progress and give help, advice and encouragement where and when it is
needed. Small groups provide greater intensity of involvement, so that the quality of language
practice is increased. Despite the enormous benefits of using group work activities in
developing the students' speaking ability, both the teachers and the students at Thanh Ha high
school are generally not much successful in teaching or learning through this type of activity.
Almost the teachers often complained that their students did not fully participate in group
work activities. Therefore, they had a lot of difficulties using group work activities in their
class. This led me to carry out an investigation into the matter in the hope to work out and

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explain how the 10th form students participate into group work activities in speaking lessons
will be identified and better understood. Furthermore, based on the study, practical teaching
ideas to improve the students' participation into the group work activities in speaking lessons
will be drawn out.
2. Aims of the study

to come to a widely applicable conclusion.
5. Methods of study
To conduct the study, quantitative and qualitative methods will be used. Questionnaires
and semi-structured interviews will be used to collect information and evidence for the study.
All the comments, recommendations and conclusions provided in the study will be based on
the data analysis.
6. Design of the study
The thesis consists of three main parts:
Part I, INTRODUCTION, provides some brief information about the reasons for choosing the
topic, the aims, the methods, the scope as well as the design of the study
Part II, DEVELOPMENT, is composed of four chapters:
Chapter 1, LITERATURE REVIEW, presents various concepts relevant to the research topic
such as speaking skill, definitions of groupwork, advantages and disadvantages of groupwork
activities, the teacher and students' roles in groupwork activities and kinds of groupwork
activities.
Chapter 2, METHODS OF THE STUDY, provides the methodology underlying the research
which includes the general information about the situation of teaching and learning English at
Thanh Ha high school. This chapter also deals with the methods of data collection such as
survey questionnaires and interviews.
Chapter 3, PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA, gives a detailed presentation of
data and description of data analysis. Explanations, interpretation of the findings are
mentioned.
Chapter 4, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS, provides the summary of the findings.
Based on the findings, the research recommends some possible teaching ideas to make the

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10th form students' participation in the group work activities more effective in speaking
lessons.
Part III, CONCLUSION, gives a brief summary of the whole thesis, the limitations of the
study and provides some suggestions for further study.

learning are discussed in the third section.
1.1. Speaking skill and teaching speaking skill
1.1.1 Definitions of speaking
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.” Speaking is one of the basic skills that
must be mastered by students since it is very important for them to communicate in the class
or outside the class. They must practice it especially in learning teaching in order to be fluent,
without an ability to speak, it would be impossible to have a natural communication among
people. Brown and Yule (1989: 14) state in their book. “Speaking is to express the needs
request, information, service, etc.” The speakers say a word to the listener not only to express
what in their mind but also to express what they need. Most people might spend their everyday
life communicating with others. 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.
1.1.2. Teaching and learning speaking skill
People use oral language as their most means of communication- all peoples have developed a
form of oral language. Skill and fluency in speaking have dramatic effects upon life in general.
The recent emphasis on communication has focused particular attention on ways of promoting

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speaking skills. This is a question of developing not only language competence but also
language use. Speaking activities aim, therefore, to develop the confidence, desire, and ability
to use the target language accurately and appropriately and effectively for the purposes of
communication as well. Teaching speaking is to prepare students to be able to use language.
How this preparation is done and how successful it is depend on how we as teachers

deadly boring, they will certainly become de-motivated and do not want to participate in the
speaking activities. On the contrary, if the students are interested in their teacher' method,
there is no doubt that they will be ready to engage in the activities. It is necessary that teachers
need to apply appropriate methods for their students' level.
1.2.2.2. Teachers' personalities and characteristics
Teachers' personalities and characteristics are considered to be the key influence on students'
liking of their success in different at school. The teacher's prestige will make students feel
secure in his or her lecture and thus they are wiling to participate in language learning more.
Barry and King (1994) pointed out the necessary characteristics of teachers like being nature,
being warm, being pleasant, being approachable and being tolerant. Besides, a good teacher
owns certain qualities such as encouragement to active learning, friendliness, support, ability
to create positive and friendly learning environment. He or she gets students involved in his
lesson and encourage them take part in the lesson enthusiastically. It may be well worth noting
that teachers' personalities and characteristics enhance students' participation in learning in
speaking lessons.
1.2.2.3. Students' learning style
Students' learning style refers to their general approach towards using particular types of
learning activities. It is evidenced in the students' attitudes towards and preferences for
particular activities, the particular choice of activities they use for learning, the way in which
they approach the use of particular types of learning tasks.
There are different learning styles identified by educators and psychologists. Richard (1994,
cited in Knowles, 1992) classified students' styles into four types as follows: Concrete learning
style, analytical learning style, communicative learning style, authority- oriented learning
style.
1. 2.3.4. Students' learning motivation

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Motivation is viewed as a major factor affecting students' participation in language learning. It
affects directly students' failure and success in language learning. Motivation is understood as
interest and enthusiasm for the activities used in classes, persistence with learning task. It is

- study teams
Informal learning groups are temporary clusterings of the students with a single class session.
Informal learning groups can be initiated, for example, by asking students to turn to partners
and spend several minutes discussing a question the teacher has raised. The teacher can also
form groups of three or five to solve a problem. Informal learning groups can be organized at
anytime 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 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 often
required to work in groups of three to five to do a specific speaking tasks set in the textbook,
English 10. The speaking tasks in this book are designed to develop students' communicative
competence. Group work activities are often conducted and last about seven minutes to ten
minutes.
1.3.3. Advantages of using group work activities in speaking lesson

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Many different kinds of speaking activities such as brainstorming, discussion, interview,
dialogue ect can be performed in groups. It can not be denied benefits of group work in these

their instruction to the needs of the average

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student but in groupwork the needs of
individual students can be attended to.
4. Anxiety can be reduced
Students feel less nervous speaking in an L2
in front of their peers than in front of the
whole class.
5. Motivation can increase
Students will be less competitive when
working in groups and are more likely to
encourage each other.
6. Enjoyment can increase
Students are „social animals‟ and thus enjoy
interacting with others in groups; in teacher-
fronted classrooms student-student
interaction is often proscribed.
7. Independence can increase
Group activities help students to become
independent learners.
8. Social integration can increase
Group activities enable students to get to
know each other.
9. Students can learn how to work together
with others
In typical teacher-fronted classrooms
students are discouraged from helping each
other; group work helps students to learn
collaborative skills.

pleasure, and fulfillment. Group work may be a good way to help the teacher to check
students' progress in learning. The teacher can do it without students' knowledge about the fact
that they are observed and checked. Walking round the class and listening to the students, the
teacher can not only make notes of the most common mistakes to discuss them later, but also
discover whether they are able to communicate with each other in the foreign language or not.
Such discovery helps the teacher to decide which parts of material need to be repeated or
explained later. Another important advantage for the teacher is that group work gives him/her
time to consult the lesson plan and organize materials for the next stage of the lesson.
Although the teacher can be prepared for the lesson very well, sometimes it may happen that

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he/she simply forgets what he/she must do next. Group activities are the best for looking up
the lesson plan. It is also good for organizing materials for the next activity, for example
hanging pictures or pieces of a text on walls, writing something on the blackboard, etc.
1.3.4. Difficulties of using group work activities in speaking lesson.
1.3.4.1. Time
The activities of speaking such as brainstorming, discussion carried out through a group are
time - consuming. For many teachers one of the major frustrations about group work is the
time it takes to accomplish the tasks. It takes longer time for students to talk and listen to
others. Since each speaking lesson lasts only 45 minutes, it is difficult for teachers to use
group work regularly.
1.3.4.2. Class organization and management
The classrooms at the high schools are often big with unmovable desks and a large number of
students. This leads to difficulty relating to class organization and management. Usually, it is
hard for teachers to ask students to remove their seats or provide proper management.
1.3.4.3. Student- related difficulties
The lack of knowledge to make meaningful contribution into group work is the typical
difficulty faced by almost the students. Speaking is one of the most complex of linguistic skills
since it involves thinking of what to be said while saying what has been thought. In order to be
able to do this, patterns, structures, and words must be chosen to fit the right situation or

Work out the instructions for an activity carefully: Presenting the activity to the class will
be a major factor in its success. Teachers must keep instructions simple, and use mother
tongue if necessary.
Present the activity to the class: Teachers can use mother tongue if necessary; however, try
to use English as much as possible because both their explanation and evaluation activities are
very real use of language in a classroom situation. Teachers should give plenty of examples
and students a "trial run"
Monitor the students' performance: While students are working in groups, teachers must
move around the class and to listen to them in order to find out how the students are getting
on. Teachers can also join groups and work as a member. Teachers should not correct
mistakes as a rule, but make a note of them and use them as the basis of feedback.

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Provide feedback: There is a set of ways of providing feedback. For example, teachers may
ask students to give their ideas first before giving their opinion. A major kind of feedback is
often concerned with language. If during monitoring of the activities, teachers have detected
mistakes, they may choose to point these out to the class afterwards. Alternatively, they may
use errors they have noted as the basis for remedial or further teaching.
Keep a record: It is important to keep a record of the activities teachers have done with the
class, together with any comments on the students' performance. Teachers should also note
down any ideas for further activities which occur to them or modifications of existing ones.
Donn Byrne (1986:77)
1.3.5.2. The role of each student in group work activities
According to Ruben (1998) students have to implement two kinds of roles in order to
accomplish group goal. They are task roles and group building and maintenance roles.
Task roles: When working in groups, students work together to gather information, make
recommendations, solve a problem or complete a specific task. Task roles as a contributor, a
analyzer, a coordinator, a recorder and a encourager are performed by students. As a
contributor, each student takes part in organizing the group's work, making all group members
understand the task, taking the group's questions, or proposing new ideas or changing way of

language. This can occur when students collaborate in groups to achieve a goal or to complete
a task. In the new English textbook 10, speaking lesson is one of the important skills. Theme-
based and task-based approaches are favored and adopted so as to create authentic language
settings for learners and engage them in purposeful communication activities. Obviously,
teaching speaking is mainly based on having students complete the tasks via pairs or groups.
The following types of speaking tasks carried out in group work activities in textbook English
10:
Information Gap
In this activity, students are supposed to be working in pairs or in groups. One or two students
have the information that other partners do not have and they will share information.
Information gap activity serves purposes such as solving a problem, collecting information.
Each partner plays an important role because the task cannot be completed if the partners do

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not provide the information the others need. This activity is effective because everybody has
opportunity to talk extensively in the target language.
Brainstorming
On a given topic, students can produce ideas in a limited time. Group brainstorming is
effective when students generate ideas quickly and freely. The good characteristic of
brainstorming is that students should not be criticized for their ideas so they will be open to
share new ideas.
Discussion
This activity is often used in the new textbook. In this activity, the students may aim to arrive,
may aim at a conclusion, share ideas about an events, find solutions in their discussion groups.
Before the discussion, teachers have to set the purpose of the discussion activity. In this way
discussion points are relevant to this purpose, so that students do not spend their time
chatting with each other about irrelevant things. For efficient group discussions, it is always
better not to form large groups, because quiet students may avoid contributing in
large groups. The group members can be either assigned by the teacher or the
students may determine it by themselves, but groups should be rearranged in every

According to Byrne in Longman Handbook for Language Teachers, the group size should be
worked out in the relation to the total number of students in class. Usually, a group of 3 to 5 is
appropriate in speaking lessons. Teachers can form groups themselves, normally on the basis
of the mixed class ability (i.e. good and weak students together), since as a rule learners do
help one another. Sometimes, teachers want the students to work together on tasks which have
been selected to suit their abilities. If t means that teachers form students of more or less equal
ability, so that they will be free to give their attention to those who most need help. Byrne also
suggests that each group should have an identifying label (i.e. name or number) and set
position in the classroom to work in so that when students are asked to work in groups, they
can do so with the minimum fuss and delay. Usually group work will involve some re-
arrangement of the classroom furniture. When concerning the allocation of members into
groups, Hurd (2000) states that most selection methods fall into four categories. They are:
 Random appointment
 Self- selection