- Minor Thesis

7/28/2019 - Minor Thesis

1/39

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale of the study:

Until now, English has been considered very important in every field of each society such

as: diplomacy, business, aviation, education and science and technology. Because of its

globalization, English has become the crucial medium in communication.

In Vietnam, since 1986, English has become very popular because there have been

English-speaking people coming to, visit or work in Viet Nam. They come to Vietnam not

only because they want to do business with the Vietnamese but also they want to get to

know about the people, the cultures and explore the beauty of Vietnam. Specially, with theopen-door policy, many foreigners have been attracted by Vietnam. Thus, English has been

the key to Vietnams regional and global integration. English is used not only between the

Vietnamese and foreigners but also between the Vietnamese and the Vietnamese. All this

burns the desire of learning English in Vietnam. The demand for English training is

promoted by an increasing influx of foreign investments from both English-speaking

countries and non-English-speaking countries which needs English as a means of

communication. Vietnamese people need to be able to communicate in English

successfully and effectively. The lack of communicative ability in oral and other language

skills in using English can put Vietnamese regionally and internationally in an inferior

position both in politics and economics.

In FPT University, English is a compulsory subject and certainly, every student knows that

it will be important for their future job. They will use English at work. The students here

opt for English due to their realization that a high proficiency in English will give them

more opportunities for employment, let alone the possibility of going abroad for their

further study in the exchange training program of FPT University and some Universities in

Germany, Japan etc. Among the four languages skills, most students think that speaking is

the most important in the first year of studying in FPT University. During the time of

studying in FPT University, they will have to learn English for 3 semesters (each of which

in university lasts for 13 weeks) include most English lessons. After the second year, they

will learn the subjects almost with the Englishspeaking teachers and they will have to

present their topic of study in English. Furthermore, after graduation the students will have

to do business, negotiate with the partners in English to sell their products to them. To

1


2/39

make these successfully, they must have a good ability of English especially

communicating orally in it.

For a long time, the language teaching and learning was based on the out of date methodswhich could not help the students speak fluently and communicatively. For over the past

few years, Communicative Language Teaching method has been widely applied. As a

result, the students speaking skill has been improved remarkably. This marked the

beginning of the major change in the language teaching and learning at all levels from

school to university.

FPT University is a newly founded university (more than two years old) who also would

like to innovate their teaching and learning... With this implied ambition, we expect that

there will be many changes in the teaching as well as learning in FPT University. Here, the

teaching of speaking skill is always emphasized. All the teachers here have been trying

their best to help their students in learning English speaking skill well. However, the result

has not met their expectation. Many failed their speaking test. When discussing in group,

many students still use Vietnamese while others keep silent etc.

In the speaking class, the 1st year students have to do many speaking activities. Among

them, group work-one of the key features of learner-centered orientation- have received

more emphasis -because at the end of each semester, the students from the level of pre-

intermediate on have to sit for speaking test which includes two parts: panel discussion and

individual response. Much time has been devoted to group work activities because of a

number of advantages they bring about. For example, group work can dramatically

increase the amount of talking for individual students, encourage border skills of

participation, cooperation and negotiation, promote learner autonomy by allowing students

to make their own decisions in the group without being told what to do by the teacher, and

free the teacher from her usual role of instructor-corrector-controller.

Working as a teacher at FPT University for more than two years, the researcher is well

aware of the importance of using group work to help improve the speaking class of the 1 st

year students. However, like many other teachers of English here, the researcher has also

faced many challenges in organizing and managing group work during speaking lessons.

Are the students getting out of the control? Arent they lapsing into their mother tongue?

Isnt the organization into group work good for some lazy and passive students? Are they

participating in group work? Being aware of these challenges, the researcher and her

colleagues at FPT University have decided to help the students to learn speaking skill and

this is also the reason why the author of this study chose this area to do her research which

2


3/39

is intended to make a modest contribution making speaking class of the 1 st year students at

FPT University effective and successful.

2. Aims of the study:This study is aimed at investigating the reality of the use of group work in the speaking

class of the 1st year students at FPT University. To be specific, the aims of the study are:

- To clarify how group work is used in the speaking class of the 1 st year students at

FPT University.

- To find the factors that causes the difficulties for the teachers in their application of

group work in the speaking class of the 1st year students at FPT University.

- To recommend practical suggestions for the possibility of group work in the

speaking class of 1st year students at FPT University.

3. Scope of study

To improve speaking skill of 1st year students at FPT University, the researcher intends to

investigate the current situation of using group work in the speaking class of 1 st year

students at FPT University an then making some suggestion for improving it.

4. Research questions:

This study is implemented to find answer to the following research questions:

1. How group-work is used in the speaking class of 1st year students at FPT University?

2. What facilitates and prevents the teachers from using group work in the speaking class

of FPT University?

3. What recommendations for improvement are needed to make group-work successful in

speaking class of the 1st year students at FPT University?

5. Methods of study

In order to examine the situation of the study, this research used the following methods:

questionnaire, class observation and informal interview is also included. The data collected

from the questionnaire (both for students and teachers) and class observation will then beanalyzed and generalized.

6. Design of the study

The Minor Thesis is divided into three parts.

The first part is the Introduction

The second part consists of Literature Review, Research Methodology and Findings and

Recommendations

The last part is the conclusion.

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

3


4/39

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1. Speaking skills and its related concept;

1.1.1. The importance of speaking skill in the classroom

Among the four skills in learning English, speaking and writing are the productive skills.

However, speaking is regarded as very important for language teaching and learning.

Speaking is a bridge to reach other skills. Speaking helps learners to read better, to listen

more effectively and write more accurately. Speaking is surely the most effective means of

communication. (Ur, 1996)

There are two most important reasons why speaking should be taught in the classroom.

The first reason is speaking is a good source of motivation for students. Nunan (1991)

points out, success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the

(target) language. For the students who have ability to speak English eligibly, they want

to speak English; they know to express themselves in English. Thus, they always speak

when possible. But for those who can not speak English well, they do not want to speak in

group. As a result, they may soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning English.

In addition to this, in the English speaking class, if the speaking activities are organized in

the suitable way, speaking can have a lot `of fun and therefore can raise motivation in thelearners. If the speaking is practiced successfully, the other skills can also be improved

through speaking.

For the second reason, nowadays, the demand for communication among people is really

important. Without it, the life does not exist. For this, speaking always plays an important

role in peoples lives. Speaking is considered as survival skill in real life (Ur, 1996; p 134)

For the ideas above, speaking skill also plays the key role in foreign language learning and

teaching.

1.1.2. Types of classroom speaking performance

According to Brown (1994), there are six categories relating of oral production:

- Imitative: which accounts for very small portion of speaking time in the speaking

time when learners are practicing an intonation contour trying to pinpoint a certain

vowel sound, etc

- Intensive: includes any speaking performance that is designed to practice some

phonological or grammar aspect of language.

4


5/39


6/39

1.2.2.1. Advantage

s

Clearly, group work can increase the student talking time, which increases the speaking

skill. In other word, group work helps improved communication. The students who have

little chance to talk to each other now can share ideas, become close in the short time and

above all solve the common problem assigned by the teacher.

Besides, working in groups helps students to produce greater output. Simply because of the

number of people involved, each with different experience, knowledge, points of view and

values, a larger number and variety of ideas can be given. Moreover, the exchange of the

ideas in the group can act as a stimulus which will encourage individuals to give moreideas, more opinions and therefore contribute more to group work activities.

In addition to this, group work helps to reduce bias. The shared responsibility in a group in

coming to decisions can encourage individuals to explore seemingly realistic ideas and to

challenge accepted ways of doing things. Individual biases and prejudices can be

challenged by the group, forcing the individual to recognize them. Group pressure can also

encourage individuals to accept that change is need.

Finally, students group work frees the teacher from the usual role of an expert who

always lectures and allows him/her to walk to each group, to guide, to answer questions

from students or to encourage students to work actively.

(Harmer, 1999:116)

1.2.2.2. Disadvantages:

One obvious disadvantage is the noise made by the group who have a big argument on the

problem or by the group who are so excited about working with one another. It is hard for

the teacher to control these kinds of groups. This can distract the other groups.

The very bad effect of working in groups is that many passive students or lazy students let

their friends do everything provided that they still have their names in the groups result.

Working in group can cause competitions. Most students working in a group

unconsciously perceive the situations as a competition. This generates a destructive

behavior and drains the creative energy of the group. For example, we often perceive

disagreement with our ideas as a put-down. The natural reaction is to regain our self-

esteem, often by trying to sabotage the ideas of those who disagreed with us. Instead of

looking for ways to improve their ideas we chose to destroy them. Eager to express our

6


7/39

own ideas, we may totally ignore what others suggest. Power-seekers may use ploys such

as highlighting flaws in others' arguments, barbed questions and displays of expertise to

show their supremacy. These types of behavior create an atmosphere which is

incompatible with effective problem solving.

Another disadvantage is that working in group is a relatively slow process compared with

working alone. It requires individuals to come together at an assigned time, usually for

about a long time, and this can cause organizational problems. It is really time-consuming.

It is not only time-consuming for the students in group but also for the teacher. The teacher

needs more time to organize the group work and control all the members in the group let

alone the unsuitable students in groups which makes the class in disorder.To conclude, although there are some disadvantages of group work, the advantages still

outweighs. Learning from each other in small groups is much more effective than from the

teacher alone.

(Harmer, 1999:116)

1.2.3. Group formation

Small groups or learning teams can be formed in three ways: randomly (counting off or by

seat proximity), teacher-selected, or student-selected. Random group assignments avoid

cliques and ensure that students interact with different students throughout the semester.

Once you know your students fairly well, teacher-selected groups can be useful for pairing

weak and strong students, students with common interests or shared learning styles, etc.

According to I- Jung (2004), frequently employed grouping methods include random,

student-selected and teacher-selected groupings

1.2.3.1. Random

grouping

Random grouping is often used for in-class activities because of its convenience and

readiness that is random grouping is a way including collecting and gathering students

ignoring any differences among students in terms of their language level, learning style,

interests etc.

With the seating arrangement, fixing the numbers, using playing cards, or distributing the

card of different categories, random grouping is established.

For the class of different levels, random group can be used to narrow down the gap

between the students of different levels.

7


8/39

1.2.3.2. Student-selected grouping:

Compared to random grouping and teacher-selected grouping, student-selected is

preferred. Knowing well one another or getting on well with each other can help the

students take part in the activities assigned well. They can have more talking, making more

performances and making the group work activities very interesting. However, student-

selected grouping can result in making so much noise because of too much socializing.

This can distract the group activities.

1.2.3.3. Teacher-selected grouping

Compared to random grouping and student-selected grouping, teacher-selected grouping isa more time-consuming one. The reason is that the teacher has to take students

preferences into consideration, also the learning style, the activeness etc to help the

students who are at the lower levels to keep up with the better students. This kind of

grouping can help peer tutoring which is really the most effective way of learning from one

another.

1.2.4. Group size

Group size is very flexible depending on many aspects such as task type, the time

available, the class and how skillful the group members are? How big the group should be?

The smaller the group is, the more chance each member has. The fewer skills of managing

the teacher need to have. However, when the group is small, there will be a lot of small

groups in the class. This also leads to the lack of time for them to give report to the class.

So how many members in each group is enough?

Many authors have suggested that three to five in one group can be the best number. Four-

member group is suggested by Honeyfield (1991), I-Jung (2004), Ngoh (1991). Four

members in a group might lead to more interesting and challenging tasks, with a wide

range of opinions being expressed, and more negotiation required for the group members

to reach an agreement. Six members in a group should be the maximum number.

(Honeyfield, 1991; I-Jung, 2004). It can clearly be seen that four is the optimum size to

manage students learning. It allows a good range of experiences and individual

contributions.

1.2.5. Teacher role in group work

8


9/39

In Communicative Language Teaching, the teacher has the roles of a guide, an instructor,

an organizer, an assessor, a prompter and a participant (Hammer, 1991). When carrying

out group work, even though the students are more independent, the teacher still plays an

important role in conducting( designing) the tasks, analyzing the need. The teacher will be

of great help for the students as the group members interacting with each other as well as

helping them with the difficulties.

According to Cross (1992:54), the teacher is the manager of an activity who must plant it,

organize it, start it, monitor it, time it and in the end conclude it. The teacher in the group

work activities is not the free one but the one who is active with assisting, supervising and

monitoringthe group. The teacher is not only at the beginning or the end of the learningprocess but from beginning to the end of it. The teacher is:

- activity selector: This is very important because the teacher has to create activities that

fit the students' skills and abilities, assign group tasks that allow a fair division of energy as

well as set up "competitions" among groups.

- instructor so that the students will be not misleading.

- performance controller. While the students are working in group, this is the time for the

teacher to help, to assist them with the knowledge and may be tackling the difficulties they

have with the group.

- group evaluator. In the group work, the teacher not only evaluates the whole group work

but also each member of the group. If the teacher has good comments on each groups

performance, this helps a lot because it is both good for the students and the teacher

himself. It is the ideas for the following activities.

Whether group work is successful or not, it depends much on how and where the teacher

applies these roles.

1.2.6. Common oral activities for group work

There are many activities that can be applied for group work but which one is suitable for

the each class type?

For the most common activities, I have quoted three ones which are being used mainly

among the students in my class. They are: group discussion, debating and cross grouping.

The reason why I made a choice among many other activities is that: the students in my

class and some other classes of the same level have to perform these in the final term

examination which includes two main parts: group discussion and individual response. The

9


10/39

first part takes fifty percent of the total speaking mark, which shows the importance of

itself.

1.2.6.1. Group

discussion

Discussion sections create great opportunity for students to use active learning strategies to

make your classroom a more interactive environment. In this kind of activity, the students

have a chance to share their ideas with their friends. Moreover, their individuals opinions

are also clearly seen and highly appreciated. In this part, the students have used a lot of

discussion language to show their ideas to their partners. According to Ur, ( 1992: 2),

discussion is the most natural and effective way for learners to practice talking freely inEnglish is by thinking out some problem or situation together through verbal interchange

of ideas; or in simpler terms, to discuss. He also adds some factors to the good (or

successful) discussion, that is, topic, group work and role play.

Sometimes in the group discussion, the group has also to find a solution to a problem of

different kind. In groups, students can summarize main points; review problems such as for

exams, compare and contrast knowledge, ideas, or theories; solve problems; or generate

comments for you on class progress or on their levels of skill and understanding.

1.2.6.2. Debating

In the book, Discussion that works, (1992:105) even though Penny Ur lists some

limitations in debating, he also shows his regret if debating is completely excluded from

group work because there are many students enjoying this kind of discussion and he also

emphasized the importance of debating when he affirms the things learned in this activity

much better than any other ones. It is much more interesting when he clearly presents some

very useful steps in designing the debating activity including the number of people in each

group, the quantity of group, the debating topics, group selection, and time limit as well as

motivation creation.

This is also called For and against (Ur, 1996, p134, box 9.6) that is the whole is divided

into two big group that. One group is for and the other is against. This kind of group work

includes 2 stages. The first is preparation, the second is debating. In the first stage, the

teacher thinks of the arguments world be for or against. In the second stage, the teacher

divides the class into 2 groups. One has to think of the reasons which agree with the topics

set by the teacher and the other group also thinks of the reason but disagrees with that.

10


11/39

Then, one or two main speakers present the case for each group, and after that the

discussion is then thrown open for free participation. Very importantly, at the end of the

discussion, the teacher has to put the issue to the vote. At this point the teacher may

abandon the view of the group he/she does not accept and vote according to his/her own

inclination.

1.2.6.3. Cross

grouping

Cross grouping is a new kind of activity that can make a lot of improvement in speaking.

It is not only the involvement of the member in each group but also the exchange of

member in each group for the new and maybe more attractive environment for speakingactivity. It can be also called Jigsaw. First, the students in a class are divided into some

small groups. After discussing with the partners in the experts groups, the students are

mixed and they will share the opinion with other partners in other cooperative group. For

this, the ideas are exchanged and students can learn form one another.

1.2.7. Problems and solutions in making the group work in class effective

According to Jacobs and Hall, 1994, there are many problems associated with group works

which can be solved with careful preparation, clear instructions and appropriate

facilitations.

1.2.7.1. Some students talk too much or dominate the group

a. Talk to the students privately. Explain that while you are pleased that they have a

lot to contribute, you would like other learners to have more opportunities to think

for themselves. Sometimes, the students just need to be made aware of the

situation.

b. Even if you have not planned to assign roles to group members, do so at an

appropriate point during the group task, either for all groups or for only the one(s)

with a dominant students. Ensure that some roles require significant periods of

silence (e.g. summarizer, detective, recorder, observer, timekeeper, a liaison among

11


12/39

the groups.) Alternately, speak privately to the dominant students and give him or

her one of these roles.

c. Ask the entire group to reflect on how it is functioning with questions such as: How

well did you complete the task as a group? Did someone take the lead, and if so,

how did this come about? Whose ideas are most strongly presented in the solution

to the task? Was there anything you thought but didnt actually say?

d. During long period of group work, call for regulation periods of reflective

silence( e.g., after every fifteen to twenty minutes) in which students think (and

write ) about the points that have been made, contradictions that have surfaced,

omissions that should be added, and where the discussion should go next. Whensignaling for the discussion to resume, invite students who have said little to read

out what they have written.

1.2.7.2. Some students speak too little or are freeloading

a. Speak to the students privately to determine the reason for lack of participation,

e.g., introversion, fear of looking stupid, feeling unprepared, fearing a trap, feeling

unwelcome, past experiences, trying to be cool, lack of reward.

b. Consider using even smaller groups. Quiet students may feel more comfortable

participating in this situation, and freeloading students will be less able to coast

on the others efforts.

c. Ask students occasionally to hand in their group notes or their preparation notes.

d. As when handling dominating students, assign ones to one or all of the group

members. Some roles that require active vocal participation are spokesperson,

skeptic, organizer, facilitator, liaison to other group.

e. Suggest go round (or Circle of voices), so that each group member has to

contribute.

f. Offer a general reminder, either to the whole class or to a group in particular, that

every student has valuable input and that there is no poor question. Be sure to

respond appropriately, then, when students have comments or questions.

g. Recognize that quantity is not quality. There is a place for silence in discussion.

h. If the students are shy, consider incorporating an electric discussion into the course.

Students may find it easier to contribute on a class bulletin board, chat room.

12


13/39

i. Remind students that the content of the group work will be tested on a quiz or test.

You could design a test question in which students must summarize their groups

result.

1.2.7.3. Students are not listening to fellow group members

a. Comment on the issue in the general class setting.

b. Tell the students that in the plenary session, you will call on one member of each

group (your choice) to summarize the groups discussion or answers.

c. Call a time-out, and restructure the activity so that all students must connect what

they say to what the previous person just said.

1.2.7.4. Students lack the social skills needed to work with othersa. Encourage students who prefer to work alone to stay in group work and at the same

time assist the group by assigning them a task that would give them some sort of

isolation.

b. Explain and ask students to get familiar with active and tolerant listening.

c. Show students the way to give and receive constructive criticism.

d. Tell the students how to negotiate, manage disagreements.

e. Preteach students the way to refuse, disagree, argue..politely in English.

f. Use pair work and group work frequently so that students will become more

skillful.

1.2.7.5. Students overuse mother-tongue

a. at the beginning of the activity, teachers should emphasize that students must use

the target language in group work

b. During the group work, teachers move around the classroom to remind learners of

this rule and provide them with language assistance.

c. Make the work task oriented.

d. Join the group briefly to encourage and facilitate the learners participation.

e. Set rules, agreed to by the class, for disciplining frequent offenders.

f. Limit the time available. It is better to have a shorter time than is strictly necessary

for full practice of the language because students tend to use mother tongue of

spare time at the end of the group.

g. Preteach some words or phrase necessary for group work.

h. Give someone in the group the role of language monitor.

13


14/39

14


15/39

CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1 Design and methodology

2.1.1. The setting of the study

My university FPT University is located at 15B Pham Hung street, Cau Giay District,

Hanoi. This is a new university but rather wanted because we have received four Batches

within two years time. For this reason, our university has been opened to meet the demand

of the society when the economy is in need of software engineers. In the 1 st year the

students are equipped with theoretical and practical skills of general English, that is in

almost every conservation of everyday life.

In our university, English is a compulsory subject and students show their great interest in

learning English. It is really a must that students have to get 450 marks in Toefl at the end

of the first year. To become the second year student, they have to make great efforts in

learning English and overcome this exam. However, if they fail it, they can still go up to

the second year but are not allowed to do on-job training after the second year.

For Batch 3, the least quantity compared with Batch 1, 2, and 4, there are nearly about 200

students. Their ages and English level are not the same. After the placement test, they are

sorted into 6 classes of the same level. Each English class has about 30 students. (This isconsidered the best number for a class at Universities learning English). The teachers of

English are also various including three full-time ones. Many other visiting teachers from

other Vietnamese universities, colleges and foreign countries are also invited to the

universities to teach here.

For all the students in FPT University, there are 10 semesters in four years. In the first and

second year, each has 3 semesters. For the third and fourth year, each school year has 2

semesters. Only in the first and second year do the students learn English. In the first year,

they just learn General English in the book TOP NOTCH (from Top Notch Fundamental

to Top Notch 3) including 4 books and Summit (volume 1 and 2). For the second year,

they just learn Intelligent Business with 4 periods a week. Beside Top Notch and

Summit book as core books, there are a lot of other reference books in the library which

help the students a lot in learning English. Each unit in Top Notch and Summit contains:

Topic Review, Sound bites, Conversation Snapshot, Grammar focus, Pronunciation,

Listening, Reading, Writing , Activities for pair and group( collaborative) work, and

15


16/39

Checkpoint. Obviously, these text books cover the four skills of listening, speaking,

reading and writing as well as pronunciation and vocabulary. Especially, from Top Notch 3

to Summit 1 and 2, there are a lot of controversial topics and activities planned for group

discussion, debating and presentation. Speaking skill is not separately taught in this book

but with listening skill. Primary goal is to enable the students to acquire communicative

competence, that is, the ability to communicate in English in a like -real situations.

The activities in these books are pair work, discussion (mostly appear in any small lesson

of each unit) and whole class activities involving information sharing and role-play to

encourage real communication.

Speaking skill at our university is considered to be so important that any student has to takean oral exam at the end of each semester which includes 2 parts (individual response and

discussion). Discussion part is more emphasized. (60% of the total speaking mark). In this

way, students have the opportunities to personalize the English language they have learnt,

making full use of their own knowledge and experiences to express their own ideas and

opinions.

2.1.2. Data collection instrument

The survey questionnaire is one of the most effective instruments for collecting data in

social science. Advantages of using questionnaire which Gillham (2000) highlights are:

less pressure on respondents, not under pressure of interview bias and analysis of answer is

straightforward. The researcher used the survey questionnaire as the main sources to fulfill

its aims. Two sets of questionnaires were designed to investigate the teachers and the

students opinion about the use of group work in the speaking classes of the 1 st year

students at FPT University. Clear instructions were given when the questionnaire was

administered.

The first is the questionnaire for students which includes 14 questions written only in

English, was administered to 60 students (2 classes of the same level in the first year).The

questionnaire was divided into 5 main parts:

Part 1: Students opinions on speaking skill. (Question 1, 2, 3)

Part 2: Students opinions on learning in group work (4, 5, 6, 7, and 8)

Part 3: The difficulties of the students when working in groups (9, 10, and 11)

Part 4: The students wishes in working in groups. (12, 13, 14)

16


17/39

The second is the questionnaire for the teachers including 14 questions written only in

English, was administered to 6 teachers (both full time and part time). This is divided into

5 parts:

Part 1: Teachers opinions on speaking skill (question 1)

Part 2: Teachers opinions on the use of group work in a speaking lesson.( question 2, 3 , 4 and

5)

Part 3: Teachers current teaching methods in using group work in the speaking class.

(questions 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11)

Part 4: Obstacles teachers has experienced when applying group work in the speaking

class.( question 12, 13)Part 5: The teachers solutions to overcome their obstacles (question 14).

For the questions with others (to specify), the researcher came to each teacher and asked

him/her to explain clearly to understand their opinions.

2.1.3. The informants

2.1.3.1. The teachers

The teachers asked are all teaching in FPT University and all teaching the 1 st year students.

There are four female teachers, the rest are male. Their ages are from 24 to 34 years old

with at least two years experience in teaching English. They were mostly trained in

Vietnam, at Hanoi National University, College of Foreign Languages. Among them, two

have MA from Sydney, Australia. One of them have MA from National University,

College of Foreign languages. They are all professionally experienced with EFL.

2.1.3.2. The students

The 60 1st year students at FPT University were from 2 classes. They are aged from 18 to

24 and come from different provinces in Vietnam (from the North to the South). A large

number of them have learnt English since primary and secondary schools. Their English

are considered the same because before entering these two classes, they had taken a

placement test to be sorted into these two classes. However, the two class teachers (English

teachers: My friend and I) are not satisfied with the level they are at because some of them

at the right level, but some are not (maybe higher or lower). This is expressed in the

written work as well as spoken one.

2.2. Preliminary results

17


18/39

Before giving the concrete result of the survey, the researcher will show the preliminary

result.

2.2.1. Student Survey

2.2.1.1. Students opinions on speaking skill

Table 1: Students opinions on speaking skill

Options

Questions

a b c d

1 a. English speaking is compulsory at your

university.

b. You just want to pass the oral exam.

c. Speaking is necessary for your future job.

d. You are interested in the speaking skill.

16 10 60 54

2 a. very b. rather

c. little d. Not at all

54 6 0 0

3 a. very b. rather

c. little d. Not at all

54 6 0 0

The statistics in table 1 shows the students opinions on speaking skill. It can clearly be

seen that all the students asked (100 %) say that Speaking is necessary for their future job

and 90 % of them are interested in speaking skill while a small amount of them (26 %)

says they learn Speaking skill because English is compulsory at their university. They find

English really interesting while there are only a few students (17 %) who want to learn

speaking skill just to pass the oral test. 90 % of them stated that English is so important for

them.

2.2.1.2. Students opinions on learning speaking skills in group work

Table 2: Studentsopinions on learning speaking skills in group work.

Not at all Little Rather Very

1. Individually 60

2. In a small group 0 1 23 36

3. With the whole class 60

In the table 2, all of the students asked (100%) said that they had very little favor for

working individually, 38 % of them rather like working in a small group, and 60 % ( more

than half of the students asked) really like working in group in the speaking skill. And no

student reported that they did not like working on their own. From this, it can be

understood that most of the students see the importance of working in group for the better

18


19/39

speaking skill. In addition to that, the group work is very suitable for the speaking skill

especially in their book: TOP NOTCH to SUMMIT with many controversial issues raised

and written in it. This also means that group work is surely the most suitable activity for

the speaking skill.

2.2.1.3. Students appreciation of the use of group work in the speaking class at FPT

University

Table 3: Students assessment for the teachers frequent use of group work

Options/

questions

a b c d

5 a. Always c. Sometimes

b. Often d. Never

0 57 3 0

Not very surprising information from table is that the students (95 %) affirm that the

teachers in their university use the group work in the speaking lesson very often because it

is compulsory that the teachers implement this to follow the book activities planned in the

teachers book and make the students get used to doing this for any oral test and may be for

the students future job. This is of great use in helping the students to communicate with

each other.

Table 4: Student appreciation of their participation in group work

Options/Questions a b c d

6 a. Work with great interest

b. Remain silent all the time.

c. Chat with other group members about other

topics

d. Speak in Vietnamese to discuss with others

while others discuss in English

21 3 17 19

From these number in the table 4, just only 35 % of the students asked (21 out of 60)

reported that they had taken part in the group work activities enthusiastically and the

number of the students who did not participate in group work by chatting with other groups

or speaking Vietnamese is so big (29 % and 32 % irrespectively) that it must be looked

into consideration about the group work among these students in these two classes. In

addition to that, the number in the table also implies that the students in these two classes

may have very low proficiency of speaking skill or not enough English background

19


20/39

knowledge to communicate with their partners or may be the topic is no interest to them

etc.

When being asked why some of them kept silent in the speaking lesson, they said they did

not know what to speak and how to speak. The teacher asked them to speak English in

group means making them quiet. But when the teacher asked them to contribute their ideas

in Vietnamese, they said that they could not think of anything. Another reason why they

kept silent is that many students could not understand the Englishspeaking teachers

instructions. The researcher in this study thought that may be they were the worst students

in these two classes. There would be very little chance for them to pass any oral tests.

Table 5: Students appreciation of group work for the benefit of speaking skill (question 7)Not at all Little Rather Very

a. Speak more in English 58

b. feel more confident 60

c. Give you more opportunities for exchanging ideas 60

d. Learn from each other 18 41

It can be surely said from the table that almost all the students (97 %: 58 out of 60) found

that group was so beneficial for their speaking skill that they can speak more in English,

they can be much more confident and they also have chance to exchange their ideas with

their friends. Regarding the benefit of learning from each other of group work, 68% (41

out of 60) the students stated that it was rather beneficial but only 30 %( 18 out of 60)

think it is a little beneficial.

2.2.1.4. The best group size and difficulties the students had when working in group

work.

Table 6: The best group size and difficulties students had when working in group work.

Options/ questions a b c d

8 a. from three to five

b. more than five

c. the more the merrier

d. it depends on the kind of activities.

15 3 12 30

9 a. Yes, often c. Yes, but rarely

b. Yes, sometimes d. No, never

17 40 3 0

10 a. The teachers low proficiency and

experience in English and methodology.

b. The students low proficiency in English

c. The students passive learning styles with

20 45 56 6

20


21/39

overload work

d. Topics are not interesting.

e. OthersRegarding the group size, 50 % (30 out of 60) think the number of the students in a group

depends on the activities they take part in. Only 25 % (15 out of 60) agree that from three

to five are the best number and 20 % (12 out of 60) like to have as many partners as

possible in their group but just only 0.5 % think that the group should consist of more than

five.

According to the table 6, no students said that they had never had any difficulties in

working in group work. All of them had difficulties, among them, 67 % (40 out of 60), of

the students sometimes had that difficulties, 28% ( 17 out of 60) often had difficulties, and

only 5 % (3 out of 60) rarely had difficulties with group work. It means that almost all of

the students in these two classes had difficulties with group work and they also blamed

their low proficiency and passive learning styles with overload work 75% and 93 % for

their difficulties, just more than 33 % thought it was because of the teachers low

proficiency and only 10 % blamed on the boring topics. Besides, they also added more

factors that had caused their difficulties. They are: specially overloaded working every

week, members in the group didnt understand each other, laziness and the anxiety of

making mistakes.

Regarding this table, one underlying cause but easy to understand is their passive learning

style. This not only appears among the students of the 1st year of this university but also in

many other universities even though in this university, administrator has applied the

gradual assessment, that is they have 30% mark for A.P (Assignment and Participation),

30% for the midterm test and 40 % for the final test. This requires the students to learn in

the whole time not just at the end of the semester.

2.2.1.5. Students desire for the better group work

Table 7: Students desire for the better group work

Options /

questions

a b c d e f g h

10 a. Students of the same 6 26 52 46 2 2 15 54

21


22/39

proficiency.

b. Students of the mixed

proficiency.

c. Students of the same interest

d. Students sitting next to you

and near to you.

e. Students of the same age.

f. Students of the same sex.

g. Students of the opposite sex.

h. Others11 a. Role- playing

b. conversation

c. Games

d. Debating

e. discussion

f. Cross-grouping ( Jigsaw)

g. Reading a long story

h. Problem solving

20 10 60 13 56 15 0 47

12 a. To minimize his/her talking

time

b. To create a competitive

atmosphere.

c. To give feedback, praise and

encouragement.

d. not to interrupt when youmake mistakes.

e. To provide a promoting

lead-in

f. To give clear instruction

g. To provide necessary

vocabulary and functional

language

60 60 60 47 45 60 47 53

22


23/39

h. Others

Now and even in the future, choosing the partners to work with is really important because

it makes the group work more effective. And when being asked for their favorite kind of

partners, 87% (52 out 60) of the students preferred to have the partners of the same

interest. Only 1 % of them liked to work with the partners of the same proficiency, and 43

% liked to work with partners of the mixed proficiency. One thing which is very easy to

understand is that, 46 out of 60 (77 %) are interested in talking with the students sitting

next to or near them. This can be easily explained that they did not want to stand up and

move to a new place, maybe this can affect their working results and most of them just

wanted to keep fixed and lazy in one place. However, according to the statistics in the

table 7, most of the students in these two classes also wanted to work with partners with

different levels of English so that they can learn a lot from their friends even though they

knew they were sorted into the class of the same level of English proficiency and they

nearly all did not care for their friends ages. In addition to that, only 25 % of the students

answered that working with partners of the opposite sex is better maybe because they knew

for sure that in these two classes, men outnumber women even in one class, for instance,

there are only 3 female students out of 33 students. One more thing reveals in this table is

that 90 % (54 out of 60) of the students gave more answers for their wishes in group work.

They nearly all had the same ideas with one another for the suitability of the partner with

the partners. They said that any partner was alright as long as he/she matched with them.

For the types of group work activities , 100% of the students responded that they liked

Games activities, more than 93 % of them liked to do discussion activities, 78 % of them

liked problem solving activities meanwhile none of them liked reading along story, and

they did not like the conversation activities, debating activities, and cross-grouping and

role playing very much. (16%, 21 %, 25 %, and 33 % in turn).This can be completely

explained that the students in these two classes were at the low level of English proficiency

so they could not do the debating activities (this is only suitable for the high level of

proficiency) and they just wanted to do the practical activities that can help them a lot in

the oral test. The reason why all of them liked games activities is that they wanted to have

an exciting game in their lesson not just a lecture with only saying and writing as they were

so stressed with other subjects such as Concrete Mathematics, High Mathematics, C

program etc.

23


24/39

One very important thing which helps to improve group work activities is to get the

students ideas about what the teachers should do about that. It is quite clear that all of them

(100 %) wanted their teachers to minimize his/her talking time, to create a competitive

atmosphere, to give feedback, praise and encouragement and give clear instruction. But 75

% (45 out of 60) wanted their teachers not to interrupt when they made mistakes. 78 %(47

out of 60) would like their teacher to give enough necessary vocabulary and functional

language for their activities, 95 % added more requirement for the teacher, that is, the

teacher should answer any questions during their group work, translate any words for them

into English (not many ideas) and one more funny thing is that nearly all of them said that

the teachers should not give too much homework after the group work activities.2.2.2. Teachers survey

The teachers who are asked to answer the questions in the survey are all teachers teaching

the 1st year students at different levels in Batch 3.

2.2.2.1. Teachers opinions on teaching speaking skill

Table 8: teachers opinion on teaching speaking skill

Options/

Questions

a b c d

1 a. Very b. rather

c. Little d. Not at all

6 0 0 0

From the table 8, all the teachers liked teaching speaking skill. They claimed that speaking

skill can help the students learn the other skills like reading, writing and listening better.

For one more reason is that speaking skill is the compulsory lesson of all the teachers who

were asked. Speaking skill in the future (in more than 1 year) can help students to work in

groups when doing a big project or doing the presentation on the topics requested.

2.2.2.2. Teachers opinions on the use of group work to teaching speaking skill.

Table 9 a:

Options /

questionsa b c d

2 a. Always b. Often

c. Sometimes d. Never

33% 77 % 0 % 0 %

24


25/39

3 a. Very b. Rather

c. Little d. Not at all33 % 77 % 0 % 0 %

4 a. its very important

b. Its quite good

c. Its both good and bad points

d. It has no use

77 % 33 % 0 % 0 %

Table 9b

Opti

ons/

ques

tions

a b c d e f g h i k

5 a. It increases the students speaking time.

b. It promotes students independence and

cooperation.

c. It improves students motivation.

d. Shy and passive students have more

chance of expressing themselves.

e. It creates exciting atmosphere as itlends itself to game activities.

f. Students can learn from each other.

g. It frees the teacher from his/her hard

role of an expert who always lectures

h. It decreases the teacher speaking time.

i. The teacher can relax or do anything

he/she wants.

j. It kills the time.

6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 0 0

Regarding the teachers opinion for the use of group work, table 9a and table 9b have the

concrete answer. 33 % teachers say they always used the group work. When asked, they

said they students required it and they finds it very essential to organize this in the

speaking lesson. Moreover, 77 % of them claimed that they had used group work as

regular group work activities. The explanation for these two things is that group work is

the essential and compulsory suggested and planned in the teachers edition book. The

25


26/39

same percent goes with the success of the teacher organizing the group work activities

because they said that group work was very important for the speaking skill.

For the benefit of group work activities, 100% of them claimed that group work is very

beneficial and help students to increase the students speaking time to promote students

independence and cooperation to improves students motivation to creates exciting

atmosphere as it lends itself to game-like activities which frees the teacher from his/her

hard role of an expert who always lectures, to decrease the teacher speaking time and

helps shy and passive students have more chance of expressing themselves and learn from

each other. They said that group work not only make them not relaxed but also make them

more energy-consuming to take care for each small group.In short, all the teachers know the importance of group work and how beneficial

the group work in relation to the students improvement (success). However, what and how

they do with group work is much more important.

2.2.2.3. How the teachers use group work in their current speaking class (by percent)

Table 10: The teachers uses of group work in their current speaking class

Question Options %

6 a. Totally follow the task in the text book. 50

b. Design the task in your own way 100c. Collaborate with other colleges to outline a common teaching

plan.

0

7 a. setting up 100

b. Monitoring 100

c. Winding down 100

8. a. Students of the same English proficiency level. 16

b. Students of the mixed English proficiency level. 33

c. Students of the same interest 33

d. Students sitting next to or near each other 83

e. Students of the same age. 0f. Students of the same sex. 100

g. Students of the opposite sex. 0

h. Let the students group themselves. 50

9 a. Role playing 100

b. Debating 50

c. Games 100

d. Discussion 100

c. Cross grouping 50

d. Conversation 100

e. Problem solving 100

26


27/39

f. Brainstorming 100

10 a. Select the task carefully 100

b. Let the students choose the topics. 33

c. provide the vocabulary and functional language they need. 50d. Group students cleverly. 100

e. Give clear instructions. 100

f. State the focus and objectives of the activity. 100

g. Set a time limit 50

h. Go round monitoring students performance 67

i. always provide feedback, praise and encourage students 50

j. Set homework relevant to the lesson. 33

k. Do nothing 0

11 a. stand in front of the class and observe 17

b. stand at any place in the classroom and observe 17c. remain in the teachers seat and observe 17

d. stand close to the students who speak much 0

e. Stand close to the students who speak the least 67

f. go round the class and give help if necessary 100

g. speak as much as possible. 0

h. only speak if necessary 67

i. Keep interrupting and correcting when students make mistakes. 33

j. work as a group member 0

k. Take notes for feedback 100

To get information about the teachers strategies in using group work, the researcher has

organized the questions from number 6 to number 11. From the table 10, 100% of the

teachers in the Batch 3 use their own way of designing the task without any collaboration

with others. In addition to that, 50 % of them also follow the task in the text book as I

mentioned above. Each teacher has a Teachers Edition and Planner with not very carefully

planned steps. Therefore it can be a good idea to get the gist of the planner and do as they

like.

For the stages used in organizing and managing the group work, all the teachers claimed

that they used the three steps: setting up, monitoring and winding up, but they also said

when the group work activity was organized at the end of the lesson, they had no time for

giving feedback.

Question 8 deals with the way the teacher used to group the students. Interestingly but not

surprisingly, the teachers said that they could not organize mixed sex group totally because

there are only two or three girls in the class. 100 % of them group the students of the same

sex and rarely group them with opposite sex. In addition to that, 83 % of the teachers

responded that they grouped their students sitting next to or near each other into small

27


28/39

groups as they explained that it can save time and as for their students wishes. And only

16% of the teachers grouped their students into the small groups of the same English

proficiency level, the percentage of the teachers put their students in the mixed English

proficiency level and in the same interest both is 33 % as they added that this depended on

the kind of activities the students had to take part in. None of the teachers care about ages

of their students. Half of the teacher said they had let their students group themselves only

for the doing project or making presentation which requires them to prepare at home. They

argued that it is more convenient for them and it can help them to do the project

effectively.

Regarding the activities the teachers chose for group work, Role playing, Games,Discussion, Conversation, Brainstorming, and Problem solving are the most frequently in

which brainstorming helps to elicit the students ideas, background knowledge, role play

helps to make the students understand the nature of English and games help them to do the

group work activities without any pressure and stress. The students may think that they are

playing not just learning. 50 % of the teachers used debating and cross grouping because

they thought that debating was only suitable for the high level of English proficiency and

cross-grouping takes time.

In this table, question 10 looks into other things the teachers used during group work

activities. The things like selecting the task carefully, grouping students cleverly, giving

clear instructions, stating the focus and objectives of the activity received 100% ideas from

the teachers. 67 % of the teachers went round monitoring the students performance as

there are two pregnant teachers teaching Batch 3. The three things which consist of

providing the vocabulary and functional language, setting a time limit and providing

feedback, praising and encouraging the students received the less percentage: 50 %. And

the last two things: letting the students choose the topics and setting homework relevant to

the lesson were done by 33 % of the teachers.

The things the teachers often did during the time of group work of the students is

illustrated in the question 11. All of them (100 %) often went round the class and gave help

if necessary and took notes for feedback. 67 % of them often stood close to the students

who spoke the least and only spoke if necessary, meanwhile the things such as standing in

front of the class and observe, stand at any place in the classroom and observe and

remaining in the teachers seat and observe all received 17 %. With more explanation for

28


29/39

these, the teacher said they rarely did these. 33 % of the teachers kept interrupting and

reminding when the students made mistakes as they found it necessary to do right away so

that the students did not have that kind of the mistakes any more. It is suggested that the

teachers should not give the correction at that time but later for the whole class is better.

None of them spoke as much as possible and worked as a group member.

2.2.2.4. Obstacles experienced by the teachers when applying group work in the

speaking class

Table 11: Obstacles experienced by the teachers when applying group work in the

speaking class by percent

Questions Options %

12 a. Always 0

b. Often 17

c. Sometimes 83

d. Never 0

13. a.. Overload work 100

b. Too little time to prepare for group work 83

c. Lack of academic training in group work 33

d. Lack of teaching experience 16

e. Few people with expertise to turn for advice 16f. Feeling deficient to facilitate a communicative class 16

g. Multi- level class 50

h. Low English proficiency of students 50

i. Students resistance to class participation 33

j. Immovable seating arrangement. 83

k. Lack of money for material and teaching aid development 0

l. Students use Vietnamese during group work. 67

m. Students make so much noise 50

Looking into the obstacles experienced by the teacher, the researcher see that 83 % of the

teachers sometimes met the obstacles and the rest 17 % often met difficulties. None of

them either always or never met obstacles when applying group work.

Table 11 offers the result of the types of obstacles the 6 teachers faced. Clearly, all the

teachers (100%) had overload work. When asked, they said most of them had from 15

hours a week or more in the same class, therefore, they had very little time (83 % said so)

to prepare for the lesson, especially group work requires a lot of time. Moreover, there is

one teacher who had even 24 hours a week (one class in the morning and the other in the

afternoon), may be he will be exhausted soon. The same percent (83 %) goes with the

29


30/39

obstacles of immovable seating arrangement. The teachers just wanted to save time and

satisfy the students wishes to remain in one place. 67 % of the teachers said their students

use Vietnamese during group work if without their teachers attention.50 % of the ideas

collected go to Multi-level class, low English proficiency of students and students made so

mush noise. 33 % of the ideas go to lack of academic training in group work and students

resistance to class participation as they said since they graduated from university, they had

had no time to go to workshop, and moreover, the students refused to do group work

because they did not like or they just wanted to sleep because they are all night awake for

other homework. Only 16 % of the teacher said they needed more teaching experience and

needed people with expertise to turn for advice and feeling deficient to facilitate acommunicative class. And lastly, all of them did not blame the obstacles on the lack of

money for material and teaching aid development.

2.2.2.5. Teachers solutions to overcome their obstacles

Table 12: Teachers solutions to overcome their obstacles (by percent)

Options/

Questions

a b c d e

14 a. Tried to use different ways of implementing

group work

b. Made the speaking tasks suitable to the

students.

c. Punished lazy students.

d. Asked for help from the faculty and

administration

e. others ( please specify)

50 10

0

50 10

0

50

The table 12 shows the solutions of the teachers to overcome their obstacles. 100 % of theteacher resorted to the ways of making the speaking tasks suitable to the students and

asking for help from the faculty and administration. They said they had tried their best to

help the students to do well in group work activities and asked the faculty to give more

advice for the part they met obstacles. 50 % of the teachers tried to use different ways of

implementing group work. However, 50 % of the teachers punished their lazy students. 50

% of them chose the other methods. In this answer, they included the ways of talking with

the stdudents having big problems like keeping silent or chatting with others in the other

30


31/39

groups, and get the students used to doing group work by leting them choose their own

favorite topics, choose their own group ...In conclusion, the teachers are trying their best to

make the group work activities efective and sucessful.

CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

3.1. Findings:

The following findings were withdrawn from the data taken from the survey of teachers

and students

3.1.1. How group work was used

The survey result indicates that most of the students in the 1st year (Batch 3) saw the

importance of speaking skill in their life especially in their future job as well as their oral

test and so do the teachers. Most of them were interested in this skill compared to other

skills such as listening, writing and reading. They also knew good speaking skill could help

them to communicate successfully.

For the group work activity, the teachers and the students also claimed how beneficial the

group work was for their teaching and learning English. Both of the teachers and students

have been trying to make use of the advantages group work activities bring about.

For the students, firstly, group work activities helped them to get closer to their friends asthey had not had any chance to talk to their friends until one day the teacher put them in

the same group and they become very friendly. Secondly, group work helped them to be

more independent from their teacher and learn a lot from each other. This is really the

better way compared with the way they learnt from their teacher. Thirdly, group work

activities helped them to be more confident when speaking in front of the class as they

were given time to prepare, to check mistakes with friends and to do rehearsals.

The teachers also had some advantages from this. The first is the teacher freed herself/

himself from being an expert who always lectures. The teacher had more time for each

small group to get closer to the students. Therefore, the students mistakes were corrected

and their weaknesses were limited too.

Also from the survey, it can be concluded that the teachers used the group work very often

because of the requirement from oral tests and the lesson. The use of group work helped a

lot in improving the speaking skill of the students. And most of the teachers in the survey

31


32/39

said that they designed their own ways to make the group work activities suitable to the

students, these activities were also used but rarely.

For the kind of group work activities, Role - play, Games, Discussion, Conversation,

Problem Solving and Brainstorming were mostly preferred and frequently used. The other

activities such as Cross-grouping (Jigsaw) and Debating were less frequently used because

they are just suitable for the students high level of English proficiency.

For the way of organizing and managing the group work in the speaking lesson, the

teachers often followed the three stages: Monitoring, Setting up and Winding down to

make the group work go smoothly. The teacher also often put the students sitting next to or

near each other in the same group to save time, and the students of the same sex (becauseof the fact of few female students in the university), and they only sometimes let the

students group themselves when they did the project and prepared for the presentation at

home with each other.

To make group work activities work effectively, the teachers also selected the task

carefully, gave clear instructions, grouped the students appropriately, set the focus and

objectives of the activity, and praised and encouraged the students during that time. They

also often set the time limit, provided feedback when having enough time but never let the

students choose their own topic.

In order to make sure the small group works, the teachers also went round, monitoring the

groups. They went to each group and helped them to correct the mistakes, even translated

the words for them (the words they thought in Vietnamese) and helped them participate

actively in their groups.

Although the teachers have done many things to make group work successful and

effectively, there are still some obstacles in the teachers, the students and also in the

administration.

3.1.2. Obstacles in applying group work:

3.1.2.1. Students obstacles

For the students, there were three main obstacles which prevented the group work from

going smoothly. The first and very big one was the students passive and lazy learning

style. The students only learnt what they are asked to learn or even did not do homework.

During the group work, some of them kept silent or spoke Vietnamese and even talked

about the other topics with other groups. They did not actively take part in the group work

32


33/39

and some even refused to do group work at home and were ready to receive zero if they did

not have to. In addition to that, some of them did not pay attention to the teachers words

or just slept. Although the administrator has applied the policy of marking, that is the total

mark is the 30 % of Mid term test, 40 % of Final test and 30 % of AP mark ( assignment

and participation) to assess the usual learning, many of the students still ignored the

teachers warning or let it be. There is one more thing in the students passive learning

style. That is before each semester, or at the beginning of the first term, the students did not

go to explore the subjects they would learn in the first and the following semesters. That is

the reason why they were shocked, not well informed and not well prepared for that.

The second obstacle in the students position was the students uneven level of Englishproficiency. Although the students are sorted in the same-level class but some of them are

at a higher level and some of them were at the lower level. Therefore, when they were

given the difficult task, the weak students did not do or say anything. There was a

dependence of the weak on the better although they also got their names in the group

results list. The students with better English proficiency level feel really reluctant to work

with the worse ones. This may make the group work activities slow and ineffective.

The third is about girls. There is only one faculty of software engineer in FPT University,

so that many subjects are hard for the girls. The girls in this University had to try their best

to keep up with the male students.

3.1.2.2. Teachers obstacles

For the teachers, there were also two main obstacles which prevented them from applying

the group work. The first thing was that, the teachers in this university were too overloaded

with their teaching hours. As said above, every week, one teacher had to teach 15 hours or

more of English in one class so they had little time for the group work preparation.

Moreover, every lesson must be submitted one day earlier so that the administration had

time to prepare documents for them. Many hours teaching a week and just fixing in one

class caused stress and depression among the teachers. Usually, the English teacher is also

the class teacher so he or she is responsible for the other work of the class. Or with two

teachers teaching in one class, the cooperation between them was not good. This had bad

influence on the quality of teaching and learning.

The second thing was that the teachers have to face with the chase of the text book This

means that in 13 weeks, both the teacher and the students had to finish 2 volumes of a book

33


34/39

(each volume consists of 15 units and each unit consists of topic preview , four lessons and

checkpoint in the same format). When the students complained about that, the teachers

seem to be more stressful with the thought of pouring the knowledge into the students

minds and make it theirs. In addition to that, after finishing one lesson, the teacher wanted

to test their knowledge in all skills, the teachers were also stressed with marking a lot of

papers in a week that gradually delayed their marking and their correction became not very

exact anymore. This led to the boredom among the students to repeat so many group work

activities again and again.

3.2 Recommendations:

To make the group work work more effectively, there must be a lot of changes among thestudents, the teachers as well as the administrators.

3.2.1. For the students

To limit the obstacles in the students, we should concentrate on the learning habits and the

Students English proficiency.

For the learning habits, firstly, let the students, especially the freshmen, be informed of the

overview of the whole semester before they learn so that they are not shocked or passive

with the learning load and they can be well prepared for that. Secondly, they themselves

must know they are the centre of the learning process and the result of their learning only

depends on them. They must try hard to overcome the difficulty of the oral test and take

actively part in the activities set by the teachers in class activities. Secondly, in this

university, despite the heavy load of the subject, the students should find themselves the

suitable way to learn and set the goal to achieve or else they will fail and be kept behind. It

has the same meaning with the students having to adapt to the current situation of the

university.

For the Students English proficiency, firstly, they can register to take part in the English

speaking club or other activities (talk show, English speaking contests etc) held by the

English Department to improve their speaking skill. These activities not only help them to

practice to be more fluent in their speaking skill but more confident as well. Secondly, the

students should form a habit of speaking only English in the speaking lessons. Thirdly but

more importantly is, the students should turn to the teachers for advice about their

problems so that their teacher can help to overcome their difficulties. This is one of the

best ways to be successful.

34


35/39

3.2.2. For the teachers

Firstly, the teachers should ask for decreasing the excessive teaching time at the same time

with asking for teaching speaking skill in the two classes of the same level. This way will

help them have more time for preparing the lesson and organizing the group work activities

as well as marking their students papers. This can assure for the high quality of the

teaching time. By teaching speaking in the two classes of the same level, the teacher can

perfect the not good things they have experienced in the previous class.

Secondly, like the students, the teachers can also learn from each other. Regular

observation and assessment will help them to learn the better way to deal with group work

activities. Two heads are better than one. Moreover, the teachers can discuss in the samelevel group to have the best way to teach every lesson.

Thirdly, the teacher should register to take part in the annual workshops during summer

time. In order that the teachers can share their teaching experiences in organizing group

work activities and work together to find the solution to the problems of students laziness

or passive learning styles.

3.2.3. For the administrator

Helping to solve the problems of both the students and the teacher needs a lot of

cooperation from the administrator. The first thing is that the administrator should help the

students to have an overview of the learning process in the orientation program, to be

aware of the importance of learning as well as the activities. The second thing is that the

administrator and the faculty of English Department should arrange the teaching time (by

stretching learning time from 13 to 15 or 17 weeks.) suitably for the teachers so that the

teachers and the students feel less stressful. Last but not least, the administrator should

invite the experts on methodology to help and give advice for the teachers.

35


36/39

PART III: CONCLUSION

1. Summary of the findings:

The findings of the whole study of application of group work in the speaking class of the

1st year students can be concluded in the following:

a. The advantages of the group work activities for the students

- maximize the opportunities for the students to engage oral practice and communication.

- gain independence from the teachers

- gain confidence before talking or presenting in front of others.

b. the advantages of the group work for the teachers:

- free himself/ herself from being an expert who always lectures

- have more time with small group and give more attention to them

- help to make speaking lessons varied in forms of group work activities.

Although, the use of the group work activities is very often in the speaking lesson of the 1 st

year students of Batch 3, the effectiveness of that is not very high. There are still some

problems in teacher as well as students:

c. the students problems:

- low level of English proficiency and passive learning habit- using Vietnamese during group work

d. teachers problems:

- excessive teaching time.

- lack of training and teaching experiences in organizing group work methodology.

The recommendations for the students, teachers and administrators are also included in the

following:

For the students, they should change the way of thinking that they passively learnt the

things from the teachers but not actively explore themselves to adapt to the current

situation of the University with a lot of hard subjects. Changing learning habit as well as

turning for teachers for advice is the good way to improve their speaking skill.

For the teachers, they should ask for the reduction in the teaching time to prepare for really

good quality teaching time. Moreover, the improvement and teaching experience sharing is

a necessity.

36


37/39

For the administrator, they should rearrange the suitable teaching time for the teacher. In

addition to that, they should stretch the semester so that the teacher and the students do not

become so stressful

2. Limitation of the study

Like many others research thesis, this study has some limitations. The researcher of the

study had said in the previous part, this study was intended to look into the current

situation of using group work in the speaking class of the 1 st year students in Batch 3 of

FPT University and then making some suggestion for improvement. The students are only

in 2 classes of the 1st year in Batch 3, so the opinion about using the group work in the

speaking class might not be representatives of all the students at FPT University and manyother universities.

3. Suggestions for further study

Because of time and limited knowledge, my research study can not be complete and

inclusive. Many other issues have not been mentioned and need investing more. The

investment can help to improving the quality of education by giving some suggestions such

as reducing the teaching time for the teachers, reducing the lazy students and changing

their passive learning habits to help them overcome the difficulties as well as adapting to

the new and active ways of learning. This study might be a basis for the following studies:

- How to help all the students in FPT University and Vietnamese students as well do

group work effectively.

- Strategies for involving the students into group work activities.

37


38/39

References:

1. Brown, H.D. (1994), Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language

pedagogy, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents.2. Byme, D. (1978), Teaching Oral English, London: Longman.

3. Bygate, M.( 1987), Speaking, Oxford University Press.

4. Carter, R. and Nunan, D. (2001), The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to speakers of

other Languages.

5. Cross, D. (1992), A practical handbook of language teaching. Great Britain: Prentice Hall

International.

6. Doff, A.(1988), Teach English- A training course for Teachers, Cambridge University Press

7. Duong, Luu Thuy ( 2006), An investigation into the use of pair and group work in thespeaking class of 1styear students at Hanoi Open University, Faculty of Tourism.

8. Gillham, B (2000),Developing a Questionnaire, London and New York, Continuum

9. Gillham, B (2000), The research Interview, London and New York, Continuum.

10. Harmer, J (1998),How to teach English, Cambridge University Press.

11. Harmer, J (1999), The Practice of ELT, Longman.

12. Honeyfield, J. (1991), The formation of Small groups in the Language Classroom,

Guidelines- A periodical for Classroom language teacher, Vol.13 No.1, June 1991, SEMEO

Regional language center.

13. I- Jung, C (2004, April), Utilizing group work effectively in the English language classroom,

TESL reporter, 37(1), 1-7

14. Jacobs, G.M. & Stephen, H. (1994) Implementing cooperative learning. English Teaching

Forum, 32, 2-13.

15. Ngoh, S (1991). Groupwork, Small groupwork in the classroom, Guidelines- A periodical

for Classroom language teachers, Vol.13, No.1 June 1991, SEMEO Regional Language Center.

16. Nunan, D. (1989), Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classrooms, Great Britain:

Cambridge University Press.

17. Nunan, D. (1991),Language teaching Methodology, UK: prentice- hall International

18. Nunan, D. (1992), Research Methods in language Learning, Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

19. Ur, P (1981), Discussion that work: task-centered fluency practice, Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press

20. Ur, P (1996),A course in Language Teaching- Practice and Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

38


39/39

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration ............................................................................................................................i

Acknowledgement ................................................................................................................ii

List of table .........................................................................................................................iii

Abstract ...............................................................................................................................iv

39

Documents

- Minor Thesis