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The adoption of the new series of English textbooks throughout Vietnam since 2000 has proved to be a big step in enhancing students’ communicative skills. Among a great number of improvements that can be clearly seen in these textbooks, the researchers have a noticeable interest in the use of pair work and group work in teaching speaking. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the feasibility and the effectiveness of the implementation of these two ways of classroom management in teaching speaking to the freshman at FFLIUH. The survey is carried on 100 students and 10 English instructors in ffliuh. At first, the respondents are delivered some questionnaires aimed at exploring their attitudes towards the application of pair work and group work in teaching and learning speaking. Next, the researchers invite some of the participants to join in separate interviews as well as ask for permission of one instructors to observe one of her speaking period. The quantitative data obtained through the questionnaires – the most important basics for analysis – are supported by the qualitative data which lie in the interviewees’ answers and the classroom observation. The findings reveal not only a great number of merits but also some problems and obstacles to the implementation of pair and group work. The instruments – questionnaires show values in conveying students’ and instructors’ thoughts about the use of these two ways of classroom management, which may have a strong influence on teaching and learning speaking in Vietnamese University context.
- The Title AN INVESTIGATION INTO USING PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK IN TEACHING SPEAKING TO THE FRESHMAN AT FFL-IUH". - Abstract The adoption of the new series of English textbooks throughout Vietnam since 2000 has proved to be a big step in enhancing students’ communicative skills. Among a great number of improvements that can be clearly seen in these textbooks, the researchers have a noticeable interest in the use of pair work and group work in teaching speaking. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the feasibility and the effectiveness of the implementation of these two ways of classroom management in teaching speaking to the freshman at FFL-IUH. The survey is carried on 100 students and 10 English instructors in ffl-iuh. At first, the respondents are delivered some questionnaires aimed at exploring their attitudes towards the application of pair work and group work in teaching and learning speaking. Next, the researchers invite some of the participants to join in separate interviews as well as ask for permission of one instructors to observe one of her speaking period. The quantitative data obtained through the questionnaires – the most important basics for analysis – are supported by the qualitative data which lie in the interviewees’ answers and the classroom observation. The findings reveal not only a great number of merits but also some problems and obstacles to the implementation of pair and group work. The instruments – questionnaires show values in conveying students’ and instructors’ thoughts about the use of these two ways of classroom management, which may have a strong influence on teaching and learning speaking in Vietnamese University context. 1 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Problem Statement/Rationale In recent years, English has been considered one of some important subjects and a compulsory one for Vietnamese students. "Better English, better careers" was the answer given by many of them when they told about their purpose of learning this language. In their daily life, it can't be denied that this international language may help them prepare better for their career in the future because it does not only equip learners with a necessary source of information of social and culture knowledge but also gives them up-to-date information concerning a different issues in our society nowadays. Especially, our country's recent regional and global participation has been increasing the demand for English speaking people, who are wanted to communicate with the outside world and access up- to- date technology. Vietnamese students are creative however there are many problems facing them when they speak this language, especially the the freshman at FFL-IUH. Among them, the problem of oral communication seems to be the most serious one. Teaching this language has been had necessary help from educators but having the best appropriate teaching method which may meet the need of the education and the society is still considered a big question for teachers of English in Vietnam. There have been some important changes in the teaching and learning this language in recent years because of big efforts from many international organizations and educational projects. Different modern approaches, techniques and methods on the teaching of this language have been applied in many universities, colleges and high schools. Generations of teachers of English are trying their best to have the best result in their career and in the classroom's contexts. During learning English, speaking skill is one of the most necessary ones that can help students have a better job. For many years in teaching, teachers may know that learners would like to speak but they feel they have not enough confidence. As a fact they can think that, this language is not easy so they are not interested in learning, especially in speaking. This action research study of effectiveness of pair work and group work activities because that may also give students more opportunities to improve other skill better. 2 For all the above problems, it is willing for me to propose "Investigation into using Pair work and Group work in teaching speaking to the freshman at FFL - IUH" as the subject of this study. 1.2 Research Goals There have been many studies on the spoken English teaching group work so far. Therefore, this study does not claim to introduce a new way of English teaching method. The main objective of the study is for the benefits of the learners, and the study will be a source of materials for teachers of English on the teaching of speaking skill, who consider pair work and group work as one of some important educational ways to help students speak better. All in all, this study is aimed at investigating the outcome of the implementation of pair work and group work in teaching speaking for the first year students of FFL- IUH and pointing out the merits and the problems as well as suggesting some possible solutions. To achieve this aim, the research addresses the following questions: 1. What are the advantages and the possible problems of using PW-GW in teaching speaking for the the freshman in FFL ? 2. How can English teachers apply PW-GW to teaching speaking for the freshman effectively? 1.3. Indication of the Importance/Significance of the Research With a focus on the current situation of the implementation of PW-GW in teaching speaking for the freshman in FFL, this study is supposed to be a reliable source for teachers of English who desire to investigate a variety of methods for a successful communicative classroom in FFL 3 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW/THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1. Definitions of Pair work and Group work Pair work-group work has been incorporated into language teaching and learning in most parts of the world since the emergence of the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in the early 1970s, and has taken firm root in many present-day ESL or EFL classrooms. This approach came into being because of the ever-growing need for the use of language for communicative purposes, and because of the fact that a lot of educators and linguists became more and more dissatisfied with the Audio-Lingual and Grammar-Translation methods of language teaching. In this context, there began a movement away from traditional lesson formats where emphasis was put on the mastery of different items of grammar, hence shifting practice from controlled activities such as mechanical memorization of dialogs and drills towards communicative activities, which can be successfully done through PW-GW. According to Brumfit (1984), group work is often considered an essential feature of communicative language teaching. In favor of it, Long & Porter (1985) hold that PW-GW can promote students’ practice, the quality of their talk, their motivation, and positive classroom atmosphere. Salmon (1988) supports Long & Porter’s ideas and adds that PW-GW also helps increase students’ confidence. Similar to CLT, Cooperative Language Learning (CLL) also promotes learning through communication in pairs or small groups. CLL is an approach to teaching that makes maximum use of cooperative activities involving pairs and small groups of learners in the classroom. This means each learner is held accountable for his or her own learning and is motivated to increase the learning of others (Olsen & Kagan, 1992, p.8). The concept “cooperative” in CLL emphasizes an important aspect: developing classrooms that foster cooperation rather than competition in learning. That is to say, students in pairs or groups work together towards a common goal instead of competing with one another for individual ambitions. Other benefits which PW-GW may offer are mentioned below. First of all, it may maximize each learner’s opportunity to speak and that practicing in pairs and groups will reduce to some extent the psychological burden of public performance. Thanks to PW-GW, students will also have more language practice opportunities and the time they will have for interacting with one another in pairs and groups is absolutely abundant. Second, pair and small group activities enable 4 students to take a more active role in their learning as well as to act as an important resource person for one another (McGroarty, 1989). Last, students learn best when they are actively involved in the learning process via pairs or groups. According to Davis (1993), students working in small groups tend to learn more of what is taught and retain it longer than when the same content is presented in other instructional formats. Besides the aforesaid advantages, unfortunately, several possible problems and difficulties may arise in a class using these two types of interaction patterns. Because a lot of pairs and groups work at the same time, the first problem language teachers might confront is that the class gets rather noisy and out of hand. We think it is natural for a teacher to feel a need to keep control of the class, but we need to differentiate between ‘productive’ and ‘unproductive’ noises. The former is exactly what most teachers want to achieve, not the latter. A classroom full of students in pairs or groups talking and interacting in English, even if it is really noisy, is surely what we wish. A high level of noise during this session can be tolerated since this is a good sign signifying that the students feel engaged, included and enthusiastic about learning itself when communicating with their friends. Long & Richards (1987) maintain that a learner-centered class like the above, where learners do most of the talking in pairs or groups, and take responsibilities for using communicative resources to complete a task, proves to be more conducive to language learning than a teacher-centered class. Consequently, the noise which seems to be an inevitable problem in any classrooms can sometimes be very beneficial. Difficulty in monitoring the class is also a problem for teachers. As Kumar (1992) mentions, large class size might make interaction and involvement difficult. It is obvious that in Vietnam’s language teaching context, a classroom often houses approximately over 40 students. That is to say, a teacher has to monitor at the same time lots of pairs and groups. As a result, he or she will not be able to equally give help and advice to every pair or group. Another trouble that most language teachers may face is how they form pairs and groups at the beginning. Should pairs or groups be of mixed ability, so more capable language learners may help weaker ones? Or would same-ability pairs or groups be preferable, so that faster learners can progress at their own pace, while the teacher gives extra help to individual learners in the slower groups? Studies indicate that mixed proficiency pairing or grouping may be optimal. In a mixed-ability group, faster learners will consolidate their own understanding of issues at hand 5 when explaining these to slower learners, while slower ones will benefit from peer tutoring by faster learners. However, in some cases, this kind of pairing and grouping is likely to give rise to another problem: not all members participate equally in discussions. For instance, a high-level learner may not want to work with a weaker partner and tend to dominate and monopolize most of the time. As a result, slow learners have the tendency to withdraw and sit still listening to their domineering partners. Furthermore, some students complain that when they work in pairs and groups, they are greatly concerned with face-losing when using the target language incorrectly or inappropriately. In their mother tongue, learners have a wealth of strategies at their disposal to avoid a difficult or embarrassing situation, to self-correct, or to seek help in case of linguistic trouble. They also know how to show others that they acknowledge and appreciate others’ opinions. On the contrary, in the target language, they are not equipped with those kinds of things mentioned above. Consequently, they are not confident enough to interact with other members in the group. Besides, teachers fear that the potential chaos and conflicts may arise within pairs or groups and that in classrooms where students share a common native language, they have the tendency to overuse the mother tongue. With the former problem, teachers ought to effectively manage the conflicts that are inevitable in pairs or groups. Cognitive conflict among students, if managed effectively, can be very constructive, leading to increased motivation and to higher levels of cognitive development and moral reasoning, as Johnson & Johnson (1979) propose. With the latter problem, because students feel more secure with their own language, they tend to turn to mother tongue whenever they engage in a conversation or a discussion, and this can be tolerated only for the first time. All in all, PW-GW can lose their meaning if they are utilized and handled in an automatic and unthinking way on the part of the teachers. No technique is the panacea for all our teaching problems and its value should be reconsidered from time to time. However, we cannot deny the obvious merits that PW-GW can offer. 2.2. Advantages and problems of PW-GW 2.2.1. Advantages 6 - Give learners more speaking time - Changes the pace of the lesson - Takes the spotlight off teachers and puts it onto learners - Allow learner to mix with everyone in the group - Give learners a sense of achievement when reaching a team goal - Teach learners how to lead and be led by someone other than teachers - It allows teachers to monitor, move around the class and really listen to the language they are producing. (By Jo Bertrand Originally published 2009) 2.2.2. Problems - If an activity of PW – GW goes on for too long students, especially the poor ones make noise because theybecome bored, they want to get the teacher's attention and they may become disruptive. Such noisemay become disruptive for the whole activity and class behaviour because misbehaviour is contagious. - Another disadvantage of pair work and group work is the use of the mother tongue. When studentsget excited working in pairs or groups they sometimes use their mother tongue to express somethingthey are not able to express in a foreign language. Such a situation is normal because they want to communicate. - When learners work in pairs or groups it is impossible for the teacher to listen and correct all the mistakes they make and this is not the purpose of the activity. - It may be a problem to put students into groups. There is the danger 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. 7 There are many problems with pair work, but there are also many ways to solve them successfully. Some more tips are suggested by Byrne(1989:34-35) to prevent problems with pair work Byrne suggests several points to keep in mind: - Divide the students into pairs in the most convenient way possible - Make sure the students know exactly what they have to do - Keep activities simple - Don’t let activities go on too long - Carry out selective checking - Control the noise level as necessary - Provide feedback 2.3. Organizing PW-GW in the classroom “Use pair work and group work to increase student talking time – even if it seems chaos” (Hadfield) The teachers notes always start with suggestions on how to introduce the game or activity. This is important as it helps stimulate interest in the topic and will prepare them for the activity to follow. (Watcyn-Jones 2002:10) To be “well-organised“ the teacher must give clear and explicit instructions and, while the pair work is taking place, the teacher should be moving around the room monitoring and if necessary guiding and correcting what individual pairs are doing. It may be necessary to write on the blackboard an outline or model of what the pairs should be doing or some key words and phrases. (Hadfield 1992:47). It is also very important to always explain very clearly what to do and, where possible, demonstrate the activity first with the whole class. This stage should not be rushed as when the students understand fully what they feel more confident and are able to do their best and really benefit from the activity. 8 It is a good idea to set a time limit for each activity and write this up so that everyone can see it. Give a warning a few minutes before it expires so that students can start to finish off. 2.3.1. Feedback session and follow-up work Each activity should end with checking/feedback session for the whole class. This checking and evaluation is an integral part of the activity and it is important to leave enough time for it. After any PW-GW exchange students can recall and re-tell their partner what they remember about the exchange (e.g. if they’ve just been eliciting personal information or opinions). Or they can swap partners and tell their new partner about the ideas of their previous partner. This doubles the amount of speaking generated by any activity and is a good way to keep fast finishers busy while the rest catch up. Teacher can occasionally discuss the activity with the students. The discussion could include talking about what the students found difficult as well as finding out if anyone wanted to say something but didn’t have necessary language skills to express himself or herself. This is also the time when any mistakes can be pointed out and, if necessary, revision practice given. One way of doing this is to write on the board sentences which contain the main language mistakes you noted while circulating round the class during the activity. Teacher can get the students to work in pairs and to identify and correct mistakes. 2.3.2. How to pair students off Sometimes teacher might want to choose the pairs and at other times you may wish it to be random. For example, ask students to stand in a line with the oldest at one end all the way down to the youngest at the other end. Then pair the oldest with the youngest, the second oldest with the second youngest, and so on down the line. 2.3.3. Seating arrangements during PW-GW For teachers who are used to a more formal arrangement – with the teacher facing rows of students – it is advisable to try out less formal pattern with one or two specific tasks, and reflect on its advantages and disadvantages before making it a regular used layout. (Underwood 1987:52) 9 In traditional classroom, the students sit in rows. If it is at all possible, the room should be arranged in such a way that pairs face one another across a desk or a table. This is to give them ‘eye-contact’ which makes communication a lot easier. However, there may be practical reasons why such a classroom arrangement may not be possible. In the case of large classes organized in rows try to get students to work with the person sitting directly in front of or behind them. If this isn’t possible and the students have to work with the person sitting next to them, they can move their chairs so that they are at an angle. Finally, when organizing a class into pairs, the students should sit so that it is difficult for them to see their partner’s handout (unless it is an activity where they share handouts). According to Byrne (1989:32-33), teachers should as far as they can use the existing classroom arrangement. He suggests to get the students to work with a neighbour and only move a student if it is absolutely necessary. The important thing is for students to be able to form pairs quickly and without any fuss. However, Scrivener says (1994:93) that it’s difficult to sit still for a long time; it’s worth including activities that involve some movement, even if only to give people the chance to stretch their legs. He suggests several original ideas for investigating and exploring the possibilities of seating: • If the students normally sit in rows try forming a circle. • Turn the classroom around so that the focus is on a different wall from normal. • Make a train carriage with seats (or an aeroplane, or a town centre, or whatever). • Divide the class into separate groups at far corners of the room. • Ask how can we reorganize this classroom to make it a nicer place to be? Let the class discuss it and agree, then do it. • Push the seats or desks up against the wall. Sit on the floor. • Get rid of the seats completely. Ask everyone to bring in a bean-bag or cushion. (Scrivener 1994:95). 10 [...]... Teaching experience: How long have you been teaching English? 1-5 years 11 years+ 6-10 years 3 Have you ever taken part in any workshops or training sessions on teaching speaking? Yes No II Pair work and group work in teaching speaking Please tick () the most appropriate boxes Q1 Do you spare a certain amount of time for teaching the speaking section in classes? Yes No Q2 In your opinion,... 4 Conclusion In order to examine the implementation of PW-GW in teaching speaking for first year students at FFL - IUH, I have addressed two main questions as have been indicated in the beginning 20 1 Pair work and group work have been implemented into teaching speaking for the freshman and have gained a great deal of favor among both teachers and students The use of pair work and group work has proved... and groups in your speaking classes? Shown in Table 1 Q9 Do you like to work in pairs or in groups in your speaking classes? Very much: 21.5% Much: 54.2% Not much: 22.3% No: 2% Q10 The reasons why you like to work in pairs or groups in speaking classes are: Shown in Table 2 35 Q11 The reasons why you don’t like to work in pairs or groups in speaking classes are: Shown in Table 3 Q12 In your opinion,... you investigate This study takes place in FFL – IUH and in an English class 3.2 Research object Students One hundred freshman of FFL – UIH participate in the survey Teachers Ten teachers agree to join in our investigation All of them possess a great deal of teaching experience, at least approximately five years of teaching Many of them have participated in workshops and training sessions on teaching. .. seating arrangement is not suitable for pair work and group work b The amount of time suggested in the syllabus is not sufficient for the implementation of pair work and group work c Students are not familiar with working in 31 pairs/groups d Students don’t know how to share equal responsibilities among members in groups or between partners in pairs e Students lack fluency and accuracy when talking... when speaking in English In contrast, nearly one fourth of the students give negative responses to the idea of using pair work and group work Their major reasons include their habit of working individually, the inconvenience when changing seats, noisy class, and their teachers’ inability to reach and help every student However, as shown in Table 4, both teachers and students have the same opinion that... Do you have a speaking practice period in your class ? Yes: 78.1% No: 21.9% 33 Q2 Does your English teacher operate pair work and group work in your speaking classes? Yes: 91% No: 9% Q3 How often do you work in pairs or groups in your speaking classes? Always: 15.7% Usually: 37% Sometimes: 41.3% Rarely: 6% Never: 0% Q4 How much effect do pair work and group work have on your speaking ability? Very much:... 12 Q4 How often do you operate pair work and group work in your speaking classes? Always Usually Sometimes Rarely Never Q5 How much time does pair work -group work usually take up over the total time of your speaking class per unit? 1’-10’ 11’-20’ 21’-30’ 31’-40’ 41’+ Q6 Do your students like to work in pairs or in groups in your speaking classes? Yes No Q7 Are most of the activities... speaking practice period in your class ? Yes No Q2 Does your English teacher operate pair work and group work in your speaking classes? Yes No If you choose “yes”, please continue from question 3 If you choose “No”, please continue from question 10 Q3 How often do you work in pairs or groups in your speaking classes? Always Usually Rarely Sometimes Never 24 Q4 How much effect do pair work. .. making up 100% response rate All of the teachers (100%) acknowledge the contribution of PW-GW to the success of a speaking class and thus spare a certain amount of time for their students to work in pairs or groups in their speaking classes (as illustrated in Appendix D; Q2, Q3 and Q5) However, there is a difference between the respondents’ answers about how often they have pair work and group work in . II: LITERATURE REVIEW/THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1. Definitions of Pair work and Group work Pair work -group work has been incorporated into language teaching and learning in most parts of the world. pair work and group work will motivate students and give them more time to practice speaking English, many of those first year students admit having used Vietnamese when working in pairs or groups,. mentioned and elaborated on the merits as well as the potential problems and obstacles of pair and group work. Researchers, linguists, and language teachers all over the world have discovered and studied