VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERS! - HANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES BE THI THU TRANG. AN INVESTIGATION INTO VIET BAC IHGII SCIIOOL 11™ GRADE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS ‘THE APPLICATIONS OF PAIRWORK AND GROUPWORK LN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS (NGHIEN CUU THAI DO CUA GIAO VIEN VA HOC SINH LỚP 11 TRUONG THPT VIET BAC BOI VOL VIEC SU’ DUNG HOAT DONG CAP, NITOM TRONG DAY ITOC KY NANG NOD, MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS. FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 601410 HA NOI — 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - FEANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDLES BE TH] THU TRANG. AN INVESTIGATION INTO VIET BAC HIGH SCHOOL 11™ GRADE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE APPLICATIONS OF PAIRWORK AND GROUPWORK IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS (NGHIÊN CỨU THÁI BỘ CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ HỌC SINH LỚP H TRUONG THPT VIET BAC DÓI VỚI VIỆC SỬ DUNG HOAT DONG CAP, NHOM TRONG DAY HOC KY NANG NOD MINOR PROGRAMME FUESIS: FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 601410 SUPERVISOR: TRAN HIẾN LAN, M.
TEA NOI - 2010 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. TABLE OF CONTENTS.2 Aims of the stuty.3 Research questions bà 1.4 Method of the study b LS Scope of the study wow 1.6 Designof the study PART U: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1- THEORETICAL BACKGROUND L1. Conununicative Language Teaching. Definition of CLT.
Charateristics of CLT 1. Using CLT in toaching speaking skill 2. What is speaking ?. Definition of speaking IDO 1.
Why should we teach speaking skill in the classroom 1. Characteristics ofa successfull speaking activity.1, Leamers talk a lot 4 1.4, Language is of an acceptable level L3. Pairwark and groupwork 1. Definition of pairwork and groupwork, 13.
Advantages and disadvantages of pair and group work ina speaking tas on 13.1, Advantages of pair and group work in a speaking lesson.Disadvantages of pair and group work ina speaking lesson integrated accomplishment. When using communicative activities students are simmdatsd to respond activ: and participa vith their classmates. Cornmuricative activities are often conducted with pair work and group work in which students talk to many partners and interact with them. This reduces their stress and anxiety about their performance In brief, communication activities can boost proficiency and greaily improve communicative competence.
What is speaking? 1. Definition of speaking Itis regarded speaking ability as the measure of knowing a language. Exactly, it is the first slop lo vonfirin who knows or docs nol know a bmgnage antl a medium thraugh which language is learnt, As for Ur (1996), people who know a language are referred to as zakers” of that language as if speaking includes all other kinds of knowing To define speaking Florez states that speaking is “an interactive process of constructing meaning that involvcs producing and recciving and processing information, It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving.” (Hlorez, 1999,p1) In language leaching and learning, it is essential for language Leachers to pay attention to teaching speaking skill rather than leadmig students to pure memorization. The teacher should provide real-life communication, authentic language and meaningful tasks for students to promats their learning 1.
Why showdd we teach speaking skill in the classroom? Ofall the four skilis (listering, reading, speaking and writing) speaking skill seems inluilively the mast important in language toavking and learning. To mastsr a language we not only know how to read, to write and to listen but also know how to communicate with English speakers. Motivation and communication are the reasons why we should teach speaking skill Firstly, motivation makes students want to speak English. This means if students do nol wanl lo speak they will ignors all the opportunities ta speak in the language classroom As a.rosull, thoy lose [heir interest in learning, In addition, speaking skill has a groal influence on listening, reading and writing skill.
If speaking skill is thoroughly practiced, the other three skills will be learned. In this case, the teacher has to provide his/ her (ii) By means of quantitative method, the survey questionnaire is the main tool, Virstly, a survey questiormaire is given ta 6 Icachers who arc teaching English to 1 + rade stadents at Viet Bac high school. Another survey questionnaire is to 100 students at grade 11. ‘These survey questionnaires were used to collect information and evidence for the stucly with Ihe hope that the research would be reliable and the yrocessing of data would be manageable within limited từng In addition, the researcher also used qualitative method, class observations with the hope that two methodologies supplemen each other so that the data could be taore reliable.
All comments, remaxks, recommendations and conclusion provided in the study are based on the data analysis 1. Design of the study This study consists of three parts: introduction, development, and conclusion. ‘The Introduction presents the background, aims, research questions, scope and design of the sturty. Tho development comprises thr: chapiars: - Chapter I reviews the theoretical backgrounds, which related to speaking skills, pair work and group work ~ Chapter IT presents in more details the selling and data analysis - Chapter Ils findings, proposed activities and some pedagogical suggestions.
“The conclusion at the end of the thesis summarizes the main issues in the study and makes suggestions for further tesearch, PART H- DEVELOPMENT Chapter I— TIMMORETICAL BACKGROUND L1. Communicative Language Teaching(CL1).1 Definitian of CLT Although there are many definitions about CLT, they have the general idea that CL emphasizes communication in foreign language teaching and improves the learners” competence through conmeumicati ctivities. As for Richards and Rodgers (1986) CLT means using procedures where learners work in pairs or groups employing available language resources to complete problem-solving tasks. ‘Nunan states “Communicative Language Teaching views language as a system for the expression of meaning, Activitics involve oral communication, carrying out moaning ful tasks and using language, which is meaningful to the learners.
Objectives reflect the needs of the learners including functional skills as well as linguistic objectives, The learner's role is a negotiator and inteprator. The teacher’s role as a facilitator of the commmnication process.” (Nunan, 1989:194) Nunan’s definition above, as with any definition of the language Leaching method, represents a particular view of understanding and explaining language acquisition, Obviously, the superiority of communicative language teaching approach is that emphasis on developing speaking ability of students through speaking activities and other techniques, Thus, students arc cneouragedfo use real approprials language 10 communicate with one another. Characteristics of CLT CLI is identified with the following characteristics: - Thmakes communicative competence the goal of teaching = Th develops procedures for the teaching of the four language skills that acknowledge the interdependence of language and conumunication. - It considers learners and his communicative needs the centre of language 1.2 Aims of the study The study aims to achieve the following primary aims: @) to investigate the attitudes of teachers and LL" grade students at Viet Bac high school towards the application of pair and groupwork in teaching and learning speaking skills (i) to examine the ciwrent situations ofthe application of pair and group work in leaching and learning spcaking skills at this school Gil) 10 suggest some simple activities of pair work and group work to make students interested in their speaking lessons.
Research questions This study aims to answer the following research questions @ What are attitudes of 11 grade students and teachers at Viet Bac high school towards the application of pair work and group work in learning and teaching speaking skills ? (i) What is the current application of pair work and group work in teaching and learning speaking skills al Viel Bac high school like? 1. Seope of the study As stated above, the shdy focuses on the investigation into Viet Bac 11 grade students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards the application of pair work and group work in teaching and learning speaking skills. Basing on the reality, the researcher tends to give some suggestions about pair and group work activities in order to make learning and teaching speaking skills more effective, and more appropriate for students’ coramunicative abilily 1S. Method of the study Both qualitative and quantitative methods are applied (@® By mcans of qualitative method, the author has to refer to different materials, lectures, former researches and relevant issues related to pairwork, groupwork and teaching speaking skill lo gain more knowledge of the subject matter and ta come to the final conclusion.
PART H- DEVELOPMENT Chapter I— TIMMORETICAL BACKGROUND L1. Communicative Language Teaching(CL1).1 Definitian of CLT Although there are many definitions about CLT, they have the general idea that CL emphasizes communication in foreign language teaching and improves the learners” competence through conmeumicati ctivities. As for Richards and Rodgers (1986) CLT means using procedures where learners work in pairs or groups employing available language resources to complete problem-solving tasks. ‘Nunan states “Communicative Language Teaching views language as a system for the expression of meaning, Activitics involve oral communication, carrying out moaning ful tasks and using language, which is meaningful to the learners.
Objectives reflect the needs of the learners including functional skills as well as linguistic objectives, The learner's role is a negotiator and inteprator. The teacher’s role as a facilitator of the commmnication process.” (Nunan, 1989:194) Nunan’s definition above, as with any definition of the language Leaching method, represents a particular view of understanding and explaining language acquisition, Obviously, the superiority of communicative language teaching approach is that emphasis on developing speaking ability of students through speaking activities and other techniques, Thus, students arc cneouragedfo use real approprials language 10 communicate with one another. Characteristics of CLT CLI is identified with the following characteristics: - Thmakes communicative competence the goal of teaching = Th develops procedures for the teaching of the four language skills that acknowledge the interdependence of language and conumunication. - It considers learners and his communicative needs the centre of language teaching process.
The abjective of language leaching is lo develop “communicative compelenee™. In communicative classes, students communicate with each other and learning tasks are completed by means of interaction between students. It is clear that students’ completing a task is fore-grounded and commumicaling with sach other is back-groumded. This may lead to considerable use of pair work and group work and mixed activities.
In the classroom CLY often takes the form of pair and group work requiring negotiation and cooperation bolweon Icurners, ueney-basod aclivitios thal encourage faamners lo develop their confidence, role-plays in which students practise and develop language fimetions, as well as judicious use of grammar and pronunciation focused activities. Larson Froorman (1986) states that CIT uses authentic, ftom life materials Communicative language teaching makes use of real-life situations that necessitate commnnication. ‘I'hus, it is a good way to provide students with as many opportunities as possible for the communicative purposes CLT is also associated with Jcarncr-centered and experienced bascd tasks, Students in leamer-centered approach are seen as being able to play more active and participatory role Based on these characteristics of CLT, teachers should choose appropriate techniques as well as activities in the classroom to increase and improve students’ communicative competence. Using CLT in teaching speaking diills, According to CLT, teaching speaking skills involves the use of language through differcnt communicative activilies, When using commuricalive activiti in speaking, it is necessaryto make sure that students are comfortable and confident, This brings students a feeling of security so they find it easy to discuss and share their ideas with their partners.
Students also have more opportunities to speak since the students try to achieve mutual understanding and modify their language according to the demand of the situation. Communicative aclivities 1 KoWwage motivation because they ensure (hat communication is purposcfil rather than artificial. Communicative activities offar opportunities to develop speaking skill as well as cognitive ability such as analyzing, evaluating and synthesizing information. It is believed that successful communicationis an teaching process.
The abjective of language leaching is lo develop “communicative compelenee™.
