Vietnam national university, Hanoi University of language and international studies Department of post graduate studies Co-operative learning as an approach to improving speaking skills for the second-year non-major students of English at Hanoi University of business and technology CÁCH THỨC HỌC TẬP HỢP TÁC NHƯ MỘT ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG CẢI THIỆN KỸ NĂNG NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KINH DOANH VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ HÀ NỘI M. THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 By : Vu Thi Bich Thuy Supervisor : Le Van Canh, M. Hanoi, 12 – 2008 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Vietnam national university, Hanoi University of language and international studies Department of post graduate studies Co-operative learning as an approach to improving speaking skills for the second-year non-major students of English at Hanoi University of business and technology CÁCH THỨC HỌC TẬP HỢP TÁC NHƯ MỘT ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG CẢI THIỆN KỸ NĂNG NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KINH DOANH VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ HÀ NỘI M. THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 By : Vu Thi Bich Thuy Supervisor : Le Van Canh, M.
Hanoi, 12 – 2008 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS LISTS OF APPENDIXES CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1. Identification of the problem 2 1. Scopes, objective and research questions for the study 4 1. Methods of the study 5 1.
Design of the study 5 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 7 2. Concepts related to the study 7 2. Communicative language teaching and the teaching of speaking skills 7 2. Speaking skills in General Business English 9 2.
Definitions of cooperative learning 11 2. Cooperative learning structures 12 2. Benefits of cooperative learning in language teaching 14 2. Previous studies on cooperative learning with reference to the enhancement of students’ speaking skills 17 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Conclusion 18 CHAPER 3: THE STUDY 19 3. Context of the study 19 3. The learning context 19 3. The learning materials 19 3.
Methods of data collection 20 3. The procedures of the study 23 3. Plan of action 24 3. Determine the students’ need in continuous classroom interaction 24 3.
Implement cooperative learning structured activities basing on the course book and start the observation schedule and journals 25 3. Evaluate students’ speaking proficiency 25 3. Analyze the data 26 3. Conclusion 26 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS 27 4.
The effects on the students’ participation 27 4. Frequency of students’ participation in pre- and post- activities 27 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Comparison of the students’ participation 29 4. The effects on the students’ speaking performance 31 4.
Students’ attitudes towards cooperative learning 32 4. Discussion of the findings 34 4. What are the effects of cooperative learning on students’ participation on group activities and their progress in speaking skills? 34 4. What are the students’ attitudes towards cooperative learning? 35 4.
Conclusion 36 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 37 5. Summary of the major findings 37 5. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies 38 5. Pedagogical implications of the study 39 5.
Conclusion 40 LIST OF REFERENCES LIST OF APPENDIXES LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LISTS OF APPENDIXES Appendix 1: Lists of tables Table 1: Speaking criteria and marking scales i Table 2: Record of students‟ scores in the pre-test ii Table 3: Frequency of students‟ participation in pre- and post- activities – gr. 1 iii Table 4: Frequency of students‟ participation in pre- and post- activities – gr. 2 iii Table 5: Frequency of students‟ participation in pre- and post- activities – gr. 3 iv Table 6: Frequency of students‟ participation in pre- and post- activities – gr.
4 iv Table 7: Frequency of students‟ participation in pre- and post- activities – gr. 5 v Table 8: Frequency of students‟ participation in pre- and post- activities – gr. 6 v Table 9: Record of students‟ scores in the pre-and post tests vi Appendix 2: Lists of charts Chart 1: Comparison of the students’ participation – GROUP 1 vii Chart 2: Comparison of the students’ participation – GROUP 2 vii Chart 3: Comparison of the students’ participation – GROUP 3 viii Chart 4: Comparison of the students’ participation – GROUP 4 ix Chart 5: Comparison of the students’ participation – GROUP 5 ix Chart 6: Comparison of the students’ participation – GROUP 6 x Appendix 3: Observation schedules xi Appendix 4: Sample oral tests of 4 modules xii Appendix 5: Sample cooperative learning lessons xx Appendix 6: Optional prompts for students’ journals xxviii Appendix 7: Some typical students’ journals xxix Appendix 8: The multiple intelligent test xxx LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Introduction This chapter is concerned with the rationale behind the researcher‟s decision of choosing the thesis subject, and the way she identified the problem facing her students‟ English speaking skills.
Besides, the scope, the objectives, and the research questions as well as the methods and design of the study are also stated clearly. Rationale Never before has English become so pervasive as nowadays, and English has formally been an important subject in our educational system. “Better English, more opportunities” is the answer given by most Vietnamese university students when asked about their goal of learning English. English can help students prepare well for their future careers as it can not only equip them with a useful source of personal, linguistic, social and cultural knowledge but also provide them with access to modern technology and information concerning a variety of issues in modern society.
Especially, our country‟s recent regional and global participation has been increasing the demand for English speaking people who are expected to communicate verbally with the outside world and access modern technology. Vietnamese students, who are intelligent and hard working, no doubt, have no difficulties in mastering English grammar and vocabulary. Most of them, however, have difficulties in English communicating. For these reasons, at the tertiary level where the source of English teachers for the whole country is provided, English teaching has been granted special support from educational authorities.
However, finding out the most appropriate English teaching method that can satisfy the need of the society is still a big problem for generations of teachers in Vietnam. Thanks to the efforts of several international projects and organizations, the teaching and learning English in Vietnam has been considerably changing in the past years. Various new approaches, methods and techniques on the teaching of English have been introduced and applied in colleges and universities nationwide. Generally, English teaching has shifted from the traditional grammar translation approach to the communicative approach.
To be successful in their real classroom‟s contexts, which are communication-oriented and learner-centered, teachers of English are doing their best to improve their teaching skills. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Identification of the problem It is undeniable that it is very important for teachers to analyze, to reflect on and to make use of their own situations. To some extent, learner-centered teaching is only rhetorical in Vietnam at present.
Theoretically, learner-centered teaching requires learners to play the role as negotiators and interactors while teachers as facilitators, analysts, counselors and managers. In the real classroom, many people, including the researcher herself, have misunderstood this approach before this research. When this method was first introduced to Vietnamese education, most teachers just assigned worksheets to students and then left them to work by themselves without observing, analyzing, and reflecting on them while they participated in the task. That is a dangerous idea because some students do not have the maturity to do the task by themselves.
They may need some help to finish the task. If they do not receive help from anybody, especially their teacher, they might develop negative attitudes towards language learning which are very difficult to change. If teachers are not clear about this approach, they may create dangerous gaps unconsciously. Gradually, if they are concerned about what this approach means exactly, they may promote students‟ confidence in language learning, especially speaking skills.
Speaking English is one of the most important skills for students and will help them find a good job in the future. For over several years, the researcher herself has found that students would like to speak but they feel they lack confidence in speaking. As a result, they think that English is very difficult for them and they become bored with learning the skills. The action research study of how to promote students speaking English through co-operative learning is very important because it may also help them to develop other skills.
Moreover, Richards (2004: 3) states, “Employers too insist their employees have good English language skills and fluency in English is a prerequisite for success and advancement in many fields of employment in today‟s world.” In order to help English learners make progress in speaking, it is a good idea to focus on their communication skills. Edge (1993: 17) identified the importance of communication that communication is at the heart of modern English Language Teaching (ELT), the goal of language teaching and part of the learning process. Luoma (2004: ix) added that “the ability to speak in a foreign language is at the very heart of what it means to be able to use a foreign language.” Wongsuwana (2006: 44) also stated that speech can be trained and it does not depend on talent. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 3 However, one main reason why English speaking learning in Vietnam is not very successful is that most learners lack the opportunity to learn, and to speak English in an English environment; and for interaction in daily life.
Therefore, it is essential to find out the solution to the problem so that English learners have more opportunities to communicated, as well as to interact with one another in a so-called close-to-real English speaking environment. One of the teaching strategies that reflects the principle of learner- centeredness is groupwork, which is designed by Nunan and Lamb (1996: 142) as any classroom activity in which students perform collaborative tasks with one or more partners. It has been considered one of the major changes to the dynamics of classroom interaction wrought by student-centered teaching. Groupwork can greatly increase the amount of active speaking and listening undertaken by all the students in the language class.
Groupwork has especially received more and more emphasis in language classroom and groupwork activities are used in many aspects of the second language instructions, particularly in encouraging students‟ oral practice. Working in groups, students are not passively sitting and listening to the teachers, but joining actively in the learning process. However, it is not always true that whenever students are asked to work in groups, the cooperation will occur. Generally, there are problems such as some group members dominate the group and impede the participation of others.
Therefore, how to organize groupwork successfully in the classrooms is the question of great concern for many language researchers as well as language teachers. In learner-centered approach, group work is the most effective way to reach success; and cooperative learning is undeniably the most flexible and powerful grouping strategies as in cooperative learning, learners work together to accomplish a shared goal. Therefore, they are motivated to work together for mutual benefit in order to meet their own and each other‟s learning. Cooperative learning can create an environment in which students‟ need of love, belongingness, power, freedom and fun can be met in a way that is beneficial for both academic achievement and the development of the learners‟ social and learning skills.
Cooperative learning implementing programs have been applied successfully by thousands of teachers from all over the world. However, the application of cooperative learning has not been popular in Vietnam.