A. INTRODUCTION
I. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY.
Nowadays English has become more and more important part in Vietnam
and it is an international language. Therefore, it has been taught in Vietnam from
primary schools to high schools as a compulsory subject.
With many years of experience in teaching English at Nguyen Quan Nho
high school, I found out that speaking stages are very important in teaching
speaking and it also has significant effects on the students’ speaking
performance. If students do not prepare well enough they can not speak well.
They can not even speak anything. However, my students have met difficulty in
oral communication classes. This is, as recognized, due to their little motivation
in the English oral classes. Many of my students usually find no interest in
speaking English even they are asked to do and some, in other cases, feel less
confident when they use English to interact among class members because of
their language ability. Therefore, I have tried lots of possible teaching methods
in oral class so as to probably change the current situation. Among many
teaching techniques for speaking skill I found out that cooperative learning
strategy, as group-work learning, has lots of interesting activities from which my
students can benefit in English oral classes, for they will get more confidence
and chances as well to express their ideas and opinions among group members.
My students will feel more motivated when they have chances to engage in a
variety of speaking activities such as round robin, three-step-interview (Spencer
Kagan), team jigsaw (Sikes and Snapp 1978) or group investigation, etc. By
using teaching method of this kind, I hope that my students’ attitude towards
English oral class will have a lot of positive changes. They, to large extent,
become more activated and ready to work hard to master their speaking skill in
all oral communication classes. Therefore, I decided to apply “Using
cooperative learning in teaching speaking competence for the 11 th form
students ” as the topic of my research.
II. AIMS OF THE STUDY.
This paper aims at research carried out with 11 th graders at Nguyen Quan

Nho high school with the textbook “Tiếng Anh 11”.
IV. METHODS OF THE STUDY.
- Using the text- book to apply to each lesson and section.
- Using references to improve.
- Pictures and other materials.
- Discussing with other teachers,
- Observing and drawing out experiences.
B. DEVELOPMENT
I. LITERATURE REVIEW.
According to Cohen(1994) and Weidner(2003: 33), Cooperative learning
can be characterized as a social process in which knowledge is acquired through
the successful interaction between the group members. Also, Slavin(1995: 2)
said cooperative learning refers to variety of teaching methods in which students
work in small groups to help one another learn academic content. In cooperative
classrooms, students are expected to help each other, to discuss and argue with
each other, to access each other’s current knowledge and fill in gaps in each
other’s understanding.
Learners, on the one hand, can gain such great achievements, social
benefits and economic benefits through cooperative learning, which is seen as
key changes in societies Weidner(2003: 18-25). Obviously, more learners can
probably become the winners by joining in cooperative learning and sharing the
success of achievements among them, Slavin(1984). Cooperative learning
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produces greater student achievement than traditional learning methodologies
(Slavin 1984). Low achieving students when grouped with higher achieving
students tend to be more hard-working, for there is a competition among groups
in cooperative learning. Likewise, one of the essential elements of cooperative
learning is the development of social skills. Besides academic benefits, learners


Operational definition:
Teacher uses the cooperative
learning approach to help
motivate students to speak
English in the class

To motivate students in
oral communication
classrooms

Operational definition:
Students get motivated and
more confident in English
speaking classes.

3


2. Research design
Research Questions
1. Why do our students
become unmotivated in
oral communication
classroom?
2. What benefits of
cooperative learning
can my students
accomplish?
3. What can we do to


Tools for
analysis
- Frequency
count
- Percentage
- Critical
discourse
analysis of
classroom
observation.

3. Data collection procedures.
The Data collection procedure is indicated in the following chart.
Pre-intermediate
11 graders

Interviews

Classroom observation

The use of cooperative learning

Classroom observation

Analysis of classroom observation notes

Students’ Questionnaires

3.1. Selection of the subjects:

boring.
d. The teacher doesn’t encourage students to speak.

50

55%

20

22%

15

17%

5

6%

3. 3. Lesson plans:
Lesson plans play an important role in the work of teaching. Teachers will
know what and how to teach their students. Hence, it is essential that I need to
collect lesson plans as a data source for my Action Research.
Basing on the textbook “Tieng Anh 11” (national English textbook issued
by MOET of Vietnam), I choose some of the speaking periods to design my
target lesson plans in a way that the cooperative learning can probably be
applied and easily observed. Below are some cooperative learning techniques to
be applied in my teaching of speaking.

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Lips
(thin, full, heart
shaped…)

Build
(slim, thin,
plump…)
Appearance
(handsome,
beautiful, ...)
Height
(tall, short,
medium…)

- T. calls on some students to give their answers
Eg: 1. Can you describe the boy in the picture?
2. What does the boy look like?
3. Does he have short hair?
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4. Is he tall or short?
5. What colour are his eyes?
6. Does he have a round face?
7. Is he wearing a pair of glasses?
8. Is he handsome?
Activity 2. Students work in groups. Discuss and number the following
personalities in order of importance in friendship.
Objectives of activity: Students will be able to understand some adjectives in


- Teacher divides the class into 3 groups and asks students to complete the
network.
Activity 3. Students work in pairs, one student plays the role of a journalist is
going to interview an other student to ask some questions about his/ her friend.
Using the network and the information in activity 2.
Objectives of activity: Students will be able to ask and answer some questions
to describe the physical characteristics and personalities of their friends.
Example:
A: What’s your best friend’s name?
B: Her name is Lan.
A: When was she born? (How old is she?)
B: She was born in 2001. (She is 17 years old)
A: What does she look like?
B: She is very beautiful. She is tall. She has big eyes and long black hair.
7


A: What is she like?
B: She is helpful and honest.
A: What does she usually do in her free time?
B: She usually reads book in her free time?
A: What are her hobbies?
B: They are reading and swimming.
A: What subject does she like best?
B: She likes Maths best.
A: How much time does she spend on Maths every day?
B: About an hour a day.
UNIT 3: A PARTY
Period: 15

- Were there any decorations?
- Were there a lot of people there?
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-

Did you know most of the people there?
What sort of the drink and food did you have?
What was the music like?
Did you dance?
Did you meet anybody nice there?
What time did it start?
What time did it finish?
Did you stay to the end?

Activity 3: Work in pairs. Tell your partner about the party.
Objectives of activity: Students will be able to ask and answer about the
party they have been to.
Example:
A: Whose party was it?
B: It was my friend-Lan
A: What was the occasion?
B: It was Lan’s birthday party.
A: Who did you go with?
B: I went with some my friends.
A: Where was the party?
B: It was held at Lan’s house.
A: Were there any decorations?
B: Yes, there was.



Dressing codes
(formal?
informal?
costumes?)
Who to
to invite
invite
(family?relative?
(family?relative?
friends?
friends?
classmates?)
classmates?)

Planning
a party

Budget
(How much to
spend? How
much to

Decorations
Decorations
(colored light
(colored
light
bulbs?flower?)

the start of the lunar New Year.
A: What spesial dishes or foods are prepared on Tet?
B: Many traditional foods are prepared such as Banh Chung, Mut…so on
A: Can you tell about Tet’s decoration?
B: Homes are often decorated with plants and flowers. Peach blossom is
traditional at Tet in the North while apricot blossom is in the South.Every family
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has a five-fruit tray on the ancestral altar and a dish of fruits, a tray of candied
fruits and a Banh Chung on the table.
A: What activities people usually do during Tet?
B: People visit their relatives and friends, they exchange New Year’s wishes.
Children receive their” lucky money inside red envelopes. Many people go to
the pagoda to pray a lucky year for themselves and their family.
2. Activity 2: Matching.
Work in pais. Look at some pictures about some popular holidays and
celebrations in Vietnam and in the world. Asks students match the holiday with
their main purpose and activities.
Objectives of activity: Students will be able to know about some popular
holidays and celebrations in Vietnam and in the world.

A: Which holiday is in each picture ?
B: The first picture is Mid-Autumn Festival (15th , Aug Lunar)
The second picture is Thanksgiving (Thur3rd,Nov)
The third picture is Valentine’s Day (14th Feb)
Holiday/Celebration

Its main
purpose

with special cakes and
lot of fruits , etc .

3. Mid-Autumn Festival
(15th day of the 8th lunar

c. People celebrate
the harvest.

C. Family members
get together. They
prepare a large meal
with roast turkey .

1. Thanksgiving
(third
Thursday
November)

in

month)

3. Activity 3: Work in pairs. Ask and answer about the holidays above, using the
dialogue in Task 1 as the model.
Objectives of activity: Students will be able to ask and answer about some
popular holidays and celebrations in Vietnam and in the world.
Sample:
A: Do you know thet next month is Valentine’s Day.
B: What is Valentine’s Day?

Telephone
& fax
service

Post office

Phone cards&internet
cards

EMS

Mail
&Pacel
service

Postal savings

Find out some services of the post office
2. Activity 2:

Role-play

Objectives of activity: Students will be able to read and find out the service
which the customer using.
Task 1: T asks Ss to act out the dialogue and then answer the questions: What
service is the customer taking in the dialogue ?
- Call 2 students to read the dialogue and answer the question.
Conversation:
A. Excuse me?
B. Yes, what can I do for you, sir?

B: Can you come on Friday?
A: Yes, that’s fine. Have you got a telephone yet?
B: Yes, I have a telephone already. How much is the installation fee and monthly
fee?
A: The installation fee is free and the monthly fee is 20 thousand Dong. Could
you please fill this form?
4. Activity 4: Imagination.
Objectives of activity: Students will be able to make conversations for the
situations then read the conversations.
Task 3: Work in pairs.
Imagine that one of you is a clert at the post office and the other is a customer,
make a dialogue for each of the situations.
- Ask Ss to work in pairs to do the task.
Situation 1: You want to subscribe to the Lao Dong Daily for a year and have
the newspaper delivered to your home every morning before 6.30. Your address
is 67 Ngoc ha Street, Hanoi.
Example:
A: Good afternoon. Can I help you?
B: Yes, I would like to suscribe to Lao Dong daily newspaper.
A: Yes sir. How long would you like to get the newspaper?
B: For a year, please.
A: Where would you like to get the newspaper?
B: At home, please. My address is 67 Ngoc Ha Street, Ha Noi.
A: Ok. What time do you want to get the newspaper?
B: Oh, can I get the newspaper before 6.30 every morning ?
A: Ok, 6.30 every morning.
B: Yeah, thank you.
A: All right. Could you fill in this form please.
Situation 2: Your best friend’s birthday is on 16th May. You want to use the
Flower Telegram Service provided by the post office to send her a greetings

my teaching approach. Students’ feedback is of great value from which I can
choose the most suitable methods to apply in my teaching and to help my
students learn better in all speaking classes.
4. Data analysis:
Both quantitative and qualitative data are collected to support my
research. For the qualitative method, I will do critical discourse analysis of
teacher’s classroom observation notes, lesson plans and diaries. Also, the
quantitative method is used to deal with students’ questionnaires which are
analyzed and reported in a table as frequencies and percentages.
5. Research schedule.
Below is the timetable showing the exact time and stages when this study
is put into practice:
No.

Activities

Date to carry out

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1

Keeping the traditional teaching method September, 2017 - week 1
for oral classes without using cooperative
learning approach

2

Prepare major focuses to interview October, 2017 - week 1-2

Data analysis

8

Designing and running a questionnaire to April, 2018- Week 4
see
students’
attitudes
towards
cooperative learning strategy in oral
classes.
Writing a report on how cooperative May, 2018-Week 1
learning can motivate students in oral
communication classrooms

10

April, 2018 – week 3

III. RESULTS.
The number of students desire speaking lessons

Classes

At the beginning of the schoolyear 2017-2018

At the end of the schoolyear 2017-2018

11B3


understand English better.
IV. RECOMMENDATIONS.
I do hope that the teaching strategy of using cooperative learning in oral
communication classrooms will much benefit my students as they have more
chances to engage in speaking activities. Students who are timid, shy and feel
less motivated when joining in speaking classes of this kind will feel more
confident. More importantly, competition among the groups was an important
factor to motivate students to work as a group, because it is important for them
to be the best and to be recognized. Students will be aware of their responsibility
in the speaking process. They should understand that one way to improve
speaking is practicing with others, interacting with others, and learning from
others.
C. CONCLUSIONS AND PROPOSALS.
In this proposal, I have identified the problem and reviewed literature
related to my research field. Also, I have conducted data collection procedures
from different sources to support my study. we have planned out the timetable to
carry out my work in sequence. Having analyzed and worked through this
research project, we have concluded that cooperative learning strategies
helped students to improve oral production and interaction, but it was a
gradual process. I confirmed that speaking is a productive skill and it involves
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many components.
Although this research work has successfully been conducted and has
helped to deal with the problems mentioned well, there are some limitations.
The first limitation is the scale of the study. This research work is only carried
out in my school. In fact, it could be conducted in a large scale with the same
knowledge and researching procedure. The next one is concerned with the scale
of survey questionnaires and observation with the enrollment of nearly a half of

role of motivation and use. Journal of Language and Social Psychology.
- Johnson, D. W. (1991). Circles of learning. Cooperation in the classroom.
M.N. Interaction Book Company.
- Johnson, D. W. (1988). Cooperation in the classroom. Edina: Interaction Book
Company.
- Johnson, D., & Johnson, R. “Cooperative Learning.”
(Online) from http://www.clcrc.com/pages/cl.html
- Kagan,S.(1986). Cooperative learning and
socio-cultural factors in
schooling. California: California State University.
- Nunan, D. (1989). Understanding language classrooms. New Jersey: Prentice
Hall.
- Slavin, R. E. (1990). Cooperative learning: Theory, research and practice.
New Jersey: Prentice Hall
- The text book of English 11.
II. APPENDIX
1. Factors that prevent students from taking part in speaking activities.

What factors prevents you from participating in speaking activities
Numbers
%
(90 Ss)
Factors
a. Speaking activities are difficult because I don’t have
enough words to speak.
b. Be shy and fear of mistakes and derision.
c. Speaking activities are not interesting, the topics are
boring.
d. The teacher doesn’t encourage to speak.


Assessor group: ...........................
Performance group: ....................................
Relevant to situation? ................................
Accuracy (grammar, pronunciation, word choice): ...........................
Fluency (hesitation, pauses, repetition): ...................
Strong points: .................................. ...........................
Weak points: ............................. ........................... ...........................
Comments: ............................ ............................. .............................
Total score: .............................................................
3. Interview
Ask your partners questions to get information to complete the table below:
Names

Partner 1

Partner 2

Partner 3

Partner 4

Things to ask
Your hobby
Why do you like it
When did you like
it

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