VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *********************** NGUYỄN THỊ PHÚC THE USE OF TEAMWORK ACTIVITIES IN THE ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS AT INTERNATIONAL STANDARD PROGRAM, VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI (SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM TRONG GIỜ HỌC NÓI TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NHIỆM VỤ CHIẾN LƯỢC, ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 Hanoi, 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *********************** NGUYỄN THỊ PHÚC THE USE OF TEAMWORK ACTIVITIES IN THE ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS AT INTERNATIONAL STANDARD PROGRAM, VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI (SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM TRONG GIỜ HỌC NÓI TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NHIỆM VỤ CHIẾN LƯỢC, ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 Supervisor: Tô Thị Thu Hương, Ph.D Hanoi, 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I hereby state that I: Nguyễn Thị Phúc, being a candidate for the Master of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Thesis deposited in the library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper. I hereby declare that all the information in this paper was obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. As required in the rules, I fully cited all the sources of the results that were not original to this work.
Signature Nguyen Thi Phuc i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not be completed without the help, full support and encouragement of all the people who deserve my deepest gratitude. First and foremost, I would like to send my special thanks to my supervisor, Dr. To Thi Thu Huong, a senior lecturer at HULIS for giving me precious comments and suggestions right from the beginning of my research. Second, I would like to thank my former lecturer, Ms.
Nguyen Thanh Ha, who has provided me with the useful references for my study. Third, my sincere thanks also go to the students and teachers of English at International Standard Program (ISP), Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their full support in completing the questionnaires for my survey. Last but not least, I wish to thank my friends who have encouraged me to carry out this thesis and shared with me their materials, ideas as well as useful comments on my research. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate the currently used teamwork activities in the English speaking lessons at ISP, HULIS, VNU.
It also aimed at identifying the organization of these activities and the ways which the teacher used to group his/her students in a team. Moreover, the researcher wished to find out the problems in using teamwork during the English speaking classes. This research was carried out with the participation of 75 ISP students and 5 teachers of English at this division. The instruments used in this study included questionnaires for the students, interviews with 5 teachers, and 3 class observations.
The findings of this research revealed that teamwork activities were frequently used in the English speaking classes at ISP. The common activities were games, problem-solving, role plays, and discussion among which games and role plays were the students’ favorite activities. However, most of them lost interest in discussions. In addition, most of ISP teachers grouped the students sitting next to each other into pairs or small groups of 3-4 or by random groupings, they rarely gathered the students with mixed levels.
Another finding of this study was that the ways to motivate the learners involved using authentic materials, visual aids, and giving compliments, or gifts. The teachers also controlled the troublesome noise during the students’ teamwork by punishment. From the main findings of the study, some recommendations were given to the ISP students and teachers for using teamwork activities more effectively in the English speaking lessons. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABBREVIATIONS CLT: Communicative Language Teaching ELT: English Language Teaching T(s): Teacher(s) Ss: Students ISP: International Standard Program HULIS: Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies VNU: Vietnam National University iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration.
Statement of the problem and rationale for the study. Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the stdudy.
Teaching English speaking for communication. Activities in English speaking lessons. Requirements of a good English speaking lesson. Teamwork in English learning and teaching.
Definition of teamwork. Organization of a team. An overview of teamwork using. Benefits of using teamwork activities.
Challenges in using teamwork activities. Teachers' and students' roles in teamwork activities. Data collecting instruments. 27 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Results and discussions. The use of teamwork activities in speaking lessons at ISP. The students' attitude towards different teamwork activities. Working in teams.
The problems in using teamwork activities. Ways to motivate and control the class. For the ISP teachers. Choosing appropriate teamwork activities.
Grouping students to form a team. Solving the problems in using teamwork. For the students. Improving English speaking skill.
Cooperating in a team. Summary of the study. Contributions and limitations of the study. Suggestions for further studies.
I vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. INTRODUCTION This chapter focuses on five main parts namely the problem statement and the rationale for the study, the aims and objectives with three research questions, the scope of the study; and the significance of the study. Statements of the problems and rationale for the study There is no doubt that English has played an important role in such fields as aviation, commerce, diplomacy, science and technology, etc. This language is considered to be a means of communication which people use to exchange information as well as to broaden their mind.
In fact, nowadays more and more learners have attempted to achieve English levels to hunt for a better job. Being aware of this tendency, Vietnam’s Ministry of education and training has adopted English as an official subject at secondary schools, colleges and even in some primary schools since the early 1990s (Thi Nguyen Anh, English teaching in the new world, 2008). Although English has been widely taught at colleges for long, the goal of acquiring it for communication has not been emphasized. As a matter of fact, the traditional teaching method Grammar Translation Method has been in wide use at colleges, which discourages students from achieving their communicative competence.
Consequently, a large number of students are really good at doing exercises of grammar, however, they feel confused when communicating in the target language. To avoid the situation above, it is high time that a new approach – Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) should be applied in order to promote students’ ability of using English in real communications. One of the techniques used in CLT is group work or teamwork which is regarded as an effective way to enhance students’ communicative competence. 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com As can be observed, at ISP division of VNU, the students’ communicative competence has been considered to be the core of learning and teaching in this environment and it can be best revealed through their speaking ability.
In this division, one of the common techniques being used to foster students’ speaking ability is organizing teamwork activities in class. In fact, the frequency, organization and effectiveness of these activities have not been clarified. Hence, this study focuses on investigating the current situation of using teamwork activities in teaching English speaking at ISP. Aims of the study This study was carried out with three aims.
Firstly, it was expected to find out different teamwork activities currently being used in English speaking lessons at ISP. Secondly, the frequency of these activities and the teachers’ ways to use them were also identified. Next, this study aimed to identify students’ attitudes towards each kind of activities in their lessons. Last but not least, the problems of using these activities for both the teachers and students in carrying out this technique were carefully analyzed to reveal the findings.
In a nutshell, all the objectives of this study could be summarized into these three following research questions: 1. What kinds of teamwork activities are currently used in English speaking lessons at ISP? 2. What are the students’ attitudes towards these activities? 3. What are the problems in using these teamwork activities? 3.
Scope of the study As mentioned in the title, this study focused on the use of teamwork activities as a means to improve the students’ oral skill in their English speaking lessons. The researcher spent time and effort investigating how they 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com were organized and used only for English speaking lessons, not in the other English lessons. Therefore, in this paper, speaking lessons refer to the ones carried out in English, not in other languages. In terms of participants, the researcher attempted to investigate a certain number of the chosen students at pre-intermediate English level at ISP.
In addition, ISP teachers in charge of their speaking lessons were also the important participants in this research. Significance of the study With reference to the significance, this study is supposed to benefit the teachers and students of the surveyed division in particular, and others in the same conditions. As for ISP students, it is expected that they will be aware of the benefits of teamwork activities in their speaking lessons, hence, the importance of tight cooperation with their partners to achieve their communicative competence best under their teacher’s directions will be highly noticed. As for the teachers, this study is assumed to provide the strategies in designing and carrying out teamwork activities appropriately in English speaking lessons.
Furthermore, with its findings through thorough analysis, this study is believed to be such a reliable reference for all those who are concerned about this matter. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter discusses the theories related to speaking lessons and the technique of using teamwork in the light of cooperative learning. Teaching English speaking for communication 1. Activities in a speaking lesson It is undeniable that designing and organizing activities for speaking plays a leading role in fostering student’s use of English in real communication.
With the aim of enhancing the effectiveness of a speaking lesson, Harmer (1991, pp.36-37) suggested these following activities, all of which were organized for small groups of students. Discussions This activity is followed by a content-based lesson. More specifically, students study their reading or listening comprehension in each unit of their textbook under teacher’s control to gain the general knowledge of the topic. After that, the whole class will be divided into small teams of four or five to get involved in the discussion.
Teachers should provide their students with controversial situations so that they can freely express their different ideas, for instance, “Parents should allow their children to play video games. Do you agree or disagree? Why?” Teachers should notice that they should master the time excellently so that as many students have a chance to present their teams’ opinions as possible by giving them a limited time to finish their task, to share their ideas before the class as well as to get comments from their teacher.