DECLARATION
To the best of my knowledge and belief, this minor thesis contains no
material which has previously been submitted and accepted for any other degree in
any university. The thesis is my own work and based on my own research. It
involves no material previously published or written by any other person, except
where due reference is acknowledged in the paper.

Signature:

___________________________

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge and thank my supervisor,
Ms. Tran Hien Lan for her valuable guidance, critical feedback and enormous
encouragement, without which my thesis would be far from completion.
I am also grateful to all the lecturers of the Post-graduate Department,
Vietnam national University, Hanoi, University of Languages and International
Studies for their guidance and enthusiasm during my course.
My sincere thanks go to all my colleagues and my students at Faculty of
Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen University.
Finally, I would like to express my thanks to my friends who were willing to
help me during the course. In particular, I find myself indebted to my family
especially my husband and my son for their love, care and tolerance when I was in
the process of writing this thesis.

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Page

Declaration................................................................................................................ i
Acknowledgements...................................................................................................ii
Abstract...................................................................................................................iii
Table of contents......................................................................................................iv
Abbreviations.........................................................................................................viii

PART I: INTRODUCTION......................................................................................1
1. Rationale of the study...........................................................................................1
2. Aims of the study...................................................................................................2
3. Scope of the study.................................................................................................2
4. Research questions...............................................................................................3
5. Methods of the study.............................................................................................3
6. Design of the study...............................................................................................3
PART 2: DEVELOPMENT......................................................................................4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................4
1.1. Communicative Language Teaching.................................................................4
1.1.1. Traditional methods of second language teaching........................................4
1.1.2. Communicative language teaching method...................................................5
1.2. The communicative learning process................................................................8
1.3. Pair work and group work...............................................................................10
1.3.1. Definition and description............................................................................10
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1.3.2. Common pair work and group work oral activities......................................12
1.3.2.1. Role-play....................................................................................................12
1.3.2.2. Information gap activity............................................................................13
1.3.2.3. Problem solving.........................................................................................13

activities in English speaking class........................................................................34
2.2.2.4. Teachers’ difficulties in using pair work and group work activities to
teach English speaking skills.................................................................................37
2.2.2.5. Teachers’ solutions to overcome difficulties in using pair work and group
work activities.........................................................................................................39
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATION.....................................40
3.1. Findings...........................................................................................................40
3.1.1. How pair work and group work activities are used at FFL – TNU.............40
3.1.2. Difficulties in applying pair work and group work activities.......................42
3.1.2.1. Students’ difficulties...................................................................................42
3.1.2.2. Teachers’ difficulties..................................................................................43
3.1.2.3. Classroom conditions’ difficulties.............................................................44
3.2. Recommendations............................................................................................44
PART 3: CONCLUSION........................................................................................47
1. Summary of the study.........................................................................................47
2. Limitations of the study......................................................................................48
3. Recommendations for further research.............................................................48

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REFERENCE..........................................................................................................49
APPENDIX ………………………………………………………………………..I
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS.................................................... I
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS................................................. IV

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
“Better English, more opportunities” has become a target of most university
students in recent years. 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.
Additionally, it is also considered as the means of communication in a number of
aspects such as business, education, science, and so on. Therefore, English teaching
and learning play an important role in social developing policies in a large number
of countries throughout the world.
In Vietnam, English has been used widely, and becomes the most popular
language in the country. Because of our country’s regional and global participation
in every aspect, the demand for English speaking people has increased. English is
also a compulsory subject to be taught and learned at schools and universities. With
a strategic view to the future, teaching and learning English in recent years are
changing. There have been several international organizations and projects and
teachers who attended TESOL, TEFL, or TESL courses with efforts to introduce
and apply new approaches, methodology and techniques to their teaching of English
nationwide. Methodologically, the methods of English teaching have shifted from
traditional grammar translation approach to communicative approach. New syllabi,
new textbooks which focus on communicative-oriented and learner-centered have
been designed. Therefore, according to the National Foreign Language Project
2020, teachers of English have to improve their capability of communicating
successfully in English. Not to be the exception to the trend, teaching English at the
Faculty of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen University (FFL, TNU) is also the
strategic duty of all teachers and students. Although communicative language
teaching is the aim to approach, the process to achieve is quite difficult.
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4. Research questions
1. How pair work and group work activities are used to teach the 1 st year English
major students at FFL, TNU?
2. What difficulties do the teachers cope with in using pair work and group work
activities in the speaking class of the 1st year English major students at FFL, TNU?
3. What suggestions are needed to make pair work and group work activities
effective and successful in developing speaking skill for 1 st year English major
students at FFL, TNU?
5. Methods of the study
To investigate the situation of the study, the researcher uses the following
methods.
The quantitative method used in this study is survey questionnaire. A survey on the
use of pair work and group work in teaching and studying speaking skill will be
conducted.
6. Design of the study
The study consists of three main parts:
Part 1: Introduction; includes the rationale, aims, scope, research questions,
methods and design of the study.
Part 2: Development; is divided into three chapters.
- Chapter 1: Literature review, reviews some key theories related to the study such
as communicative language teaching, communication learning process, definitions
of pair work and group work along with some common pair work and group work
oral activities. The chapter also mentions advantages and disadvantages of using
pair work and group work.
- Chapter 2: Design and analysis of the research.
- Chapter 3: Findings and recommendations
Part 3: Conclusion


encoding of meaning, the elements being phonemes, morphemes, words,
structures, and sentence types.” The overall goal of the Audio-Lingual
method was to create linguistic competence in learners. Through tapes,
visual aids, the students listened and then repeated several times to memorize
the pronunciation as well as vocabulary. Therefore, just listening and
speaking skills of students could be drilled in a mechanical way.
However, the above two methods only focus on grammar, linguistic competence
and individual learning. Grammar-translation method was based on language study
(grammar, literature) and written exercises (translation) rather than real life
communication and speech. As a result, after several years of studying, students
might have a fairly good knowledge of grammar and translating skills, but could
hardly communicate. The overall goal of the Audio-lingual method was to create
communicative competence in learners. However, it was thought that the most
effective way to do this was for students to “overlearn” the language being studied
through extensive repetition and a variety of elaborate drills. These old methods fell
out of fashion because in recent years, people tend to learn language by
communicating and keep on searching for a new method which is the combination
of the old ones.
1.1.2. Communicative language teaching method
The origins of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) are to be found in
the changes in the British language teaching transition dating from the late 1960s.
According to Richards and Rodgers (1996), the work of the Council of Europe, the
writings of Wilkins (1972), Widdowson, Candlin, Christopher Brumfit, Keith
Johnson, and other British applied linguists on the theoretical basis for a
communicative or functional approach to language teaching. Later on, the rapid
application of these ideas by textbook writers, the equally rapid acceptance of these
new principles by British language teaching specialists, curriculum development
centers, and even governments gave prominence nationally and internationally to
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In this book Communicative Language Teaching Today (2006), Richards
points out that in recent years, language learning has been viewed from a different
perspective. It is seen as resulting from processes such as:
 Interaction between the learner and users of the language
 Collaborative creation of meaning
 Creating meaningful and purposeful interaction through language
 Negotiation of meaning as the learner and his or her interlocutor arrive at
understanding
 Learning through attending to the feedback learners get when they use the
language
 Paying attention to the language one hears (the input) and trying to
incorporate new forms into one’s developing communicative competence
 Trying out and experimenting with different ways of saying things
According to Littlewood, there are four domains of skill which makes up a
person’s communicative competence, which must be recognized in foreign language
teaching:
 The learner must attain as high a degree as possible of linguistic competence.
That is, he must develop skill in manipulating the linguistic system, to the
point where he can use it spontaneously and flexibly in order to express his
intended message.
 The learner must distinguish between the forms he has mastered as part of
his linguistic competence and the communicative functions, which they
perform. In other words, items mastered as part of a linguistic system must
also be understood as part of a communicative system.
 The learner must develop skills and strategies for using language to
communicative meaning as effectively as possible in concrete situations. He
must learn to use feedback to judge his success and if necessary, remedy
failure by using different language.



Structural activities
Pre-communicative activities
Quasi – communicative activities

Functional communicative activities
Communicative activities
Social interaction activities

Pre-communicative activities are “learner was not engaged in activities
where his main purpose was to communicate meanings effectively to a partner.
Rather, his main purpose was to produce certain language forms in an acceptable
way.” (Littlewood, 1981:16) In this kind of activities, the teachers isolate specific
elements of knowledge on skill, which compose communicative ability and provide
learners with opportunities to practise them separately. The learners; therefore, are
being trained in the part-skills of communication rather than practicing the total
skill to be acquired. They are subdivided into structural activities and quasicommunicative activities. The first sub-division focuses on the grammatical system
and on the ways in which linguistic items can be combined. On the other hand, the
second sub-division is made to help learner relate forms and structures to
communicative functions, specific meanings and social context. Littlewood also
points out that the aim of Pre-communicative activities is providing learners with a
fluent command of the linguistic system, without requiring them to use this system
for communicative purpose. Accordingly, the main purpose of learners is to produce
language which is acceptable, which means sufficiently accurate or appropriate
rather than to communicate meanings effectively.
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Unlikely, communicative activities are those in which “the learner has to

work”). This is not the same as “public” or “open” pair work, with pairs of
students speaking in turn in front of the class.”
The definition of pair work in this case is an activity that gives students a
chance to talk to each other practice language together, study a text, research
language or take part in information-gap activities. They can write dialogues,
predict the content of reading texts, or compare notes on what they have
listened or seen.
In general, there are two main types of pair work, fixed pairs and flexible
pairs, suggested by Byrne (1983). 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. Meanwhile,
the second one is when students keep changing the partners. They can lift
their chairs freely to talk to any partners they like. Therefore, this will make
the activity more interesting.
 Group work
Adrian Doff (1988: 37) also defines group work as a process that “the
teacher divides the class into small groups to work together (usually four or
five students in each group), as in pair work, all the groups work at the same
time.”
Another definition of group work provided by Brumfit (1984: 72) is “group
is often defined as a number of people who interact with one another, who
are psychologically aware of one another and who perceive themselves to be
a group”.
Shaw (1971: 7) and Mill (1967: 2) have a definition about a small group as
“units composed of two or more persons who come into contact for purpose
and who consider the contact meaningful.” In other words, group is seen as a
task-oriented group in which members have a clear perception of the purpose
and goal of the activity. Group is made up of four or five students under the
control of a group leader, whose functions are as the group organizer and as a
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act imaginary roles in a lot of situations. Moreover, role-play promotes interaction
in the classroom as well as increase motivation. Role-play is simple to prepare, easy
to play, and along with games and other communicative activities are recommended
to be used in the English speaking class.
1.3.2.2. Information gap activity
An important aspect of communication in CLT is the notion of information
gap. This refers to the fact that in real communication, people normally
communicate in order to get information they do not possess. This is known as an
information gap. According to Underhill (1987), an information gap is an activity
where one student is provided information that is kept from a partner. A lot of
communication involves bridging information gap: you know things I don not
know, and I know things you do not know. Often this is hard for students to do
naturally in class, either because they might not know enough facts or because
everyone knows the same facts. We can simulate the information gap by giving two
participant different information, which they have to share.
Information gap may take three forms:
o One student has some information and the other has to find it by
asking questions
o One student has some information and tells it to the other students
o Both students have different information and they tell each other
1.3.2.3. Problem solving
Byrne (1990) suggests an oral activity for pair work and group work.
Problem solving has been used to group together a wide range of activities that
require students to find “solution” to problems of different kinds. Puzzles,
problems, and brain-teasers can also stimulate meaningful communication if
students work together to solve them. “Although it may be quicker to do this alone,
without distractions, students have to do it with a partner and discuss how to solve
the problems. Students are focused on solving the problems and coming up with the

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Discussion works best in pairs or small groups because then more people can
give their views. In lager groups or in a whole class, once one person has given his
or her view, everyone else can only agree or disagree. (Jones, 2007: 30)
From discussion, students learn something from what is being said or
discussed. Besides, it provides students with interest in learning in a cooperative
atmosphere. When discussion are carried out in groups, students have chance to
exchange their ideas or opinions. They not only speak out their feelings and
attitudes but also listen to what others say. Additionally, the motivation of
participants also improves when they discuss in small group.
1.3.3. Advantages and disadvantages of using pair work and group work activities
1.3.3.1. Advantages of using pair work and group work activities
Brumfit says 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).
Pair work and group work give students more opportunities to speak English
in classroom. Students participate 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. Penny Ur recommends that teachers working with larger classes
should divide them into five groups which is the most effective organization for
practising speaking. (Ur, 1996: 232) According to Gorgon, A. (2008), the
advantages of using pair work and group work as follow:
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

and group work activities as follow:
Some teachers are reluctant to use pair work and group work being afraid of
noise or discipline problems which might occur particularly. Indeed students make
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noise while working on the task; they discuss things, check words and communicate
with one another. However, this is so-called “positive noise” and it does not disturb
the students. They are concentrated on the task and they do not hear it. If an activity
goes on for too long; students, especially the poor ones make noise because they
become bored, they want to get the teacher’s attention and they become disruptive.
Another disadvantage of using pair work and group work activities is the use
of mother tongue. When students get excited working in pairs or groups they
sometimes use their mother tongue to express something they are not able to
express in a foreign language. Such a situation is normal because they want to
communicate.
One of the disadvantages of using pair work and group work activities is
making mistakes. Some teachers neglect to use pair work and group work saying
that students make mistakes trying to express their own ideas. Indeed incorrectness
is a problem yet in real life, it is communicative fluency that matters not accuracy,
so we should not be concerned too much with accuracy if we want to practise oral
skills. According to Doff (1988: 141), when learners work in pairs or groups it is
impossible for the teachers to listen and correct all the mistakes they make and it is
not the purpose of this activity. However, she/he can reduce the number of mistakes
before the students start working by demonstrating the activity to the class first and
by asking pairs or groups to perform in front of the class afterwards and discussing
what they said and pointing out the most common mistakes.
Putting the students into group may be a problem. There is a challenge that if
the teacher divides the class into mixed ability groups, the best students in the group
will have to do the task while the weakest ones switch off and become disruptive.