VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** VŨ THỊ THANH HUYỀN USING GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL FOR GRADE-5 STUDENTS AT A PRIMARY SCHOOL IN NAM DINH Sử dụng hoạt động nhóm để n ng o n ng nói Tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp 5 tại một trường tiểu học ở tỉnh N m Định M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi – 2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** VŨ THỊ THANH HUYỀN USING GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL FOR GRADE-5 STUDENTS AT A PRIMARY SCHOOL IN NAM DINH Sử dụng hoạt động nhóm để n ng o n ng nói Tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp 5 tại một trường tiểu học ở tỉnh N m Định M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231. Trần Thị Thu Hiền Hanoi – 2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “Using group work activities to enhance English speaking skill for grade-5 students at a primary school in Nam Dinh” is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master at the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, and this thesis has not been submitted for any other degrees.
Hanoi, May 2018 Vũ Thị Thanh Huyền i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like primarily to thank Dr. Tran Thị Thu Hien for helping me complete this study. This paper would not have been possible without her constant support and encouragement. Her patience and helpful criticism helped me confidently express my ideas into this paper.
I regard myself extremely fortunate in having her as my dissertation supervisor. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to all my lecturers at the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies for their valuable lectures which have helped me a great deal in gaining a lot of theoretical as well as practical knowledge. My special thanks go to the manager and teachers at Xuan Chau Primary School, Xuan Truong District, Nam Dinh Province in general and 50 grade-5 students in particular who have helped me enthusiastically in speaking lessons by applying GW activities to enhance students‟ speaking skills. Finally, I would also like to express my deep gratitude and love to my devoted parents, my brother, my husband and my friends who gave me time and encouraged me to complete this study.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT Speaking is undoubtedly one of the most essential and important skills which language learners need to master. However, for the students participated in this study, speaking in English lessons is a big challenge. They are afraid of speaking in front of the class, many of them either keep silent or exchange ideas by their mother tongue. While the students are more confident with written tests, they always feel reluctant when being asked to speak English and try to give answers as short as possible.
Additionally, they are fed up with speaking lessons. As a result, speaking is the weakest one among the four language skills. Obviously, it is necessary to find out an effective way to enhance the students‟ oral skill and attitudes towards speaking lessons. This study is aimed at describing whether or not and to what extent GW activities improve speaking skill of the grade-fifth students at a primary school in Nam Dinh as well as propose some suggestions to increase the effectiveness of using GW activities to enhance English speaking skill for grade-5 students at a primary school in Nam Dinh.
The participants included one English teacher and 50 grade-5 students at a primary school in Nam Dinh. The data were collected through the students‟ pre-test and post-test and the teacher‟s interview. The results showed that GW activities applied created a joyful and exciting classroom atmosphere which provided the students with more opportunities to obtain knowledge with pleasure and helped the students enjoy speaking lessons more. In addition, the study also indicated that most of the students had positive attitudes toward this new technique.
Some pedagogical implications, limitations and suggestions for further studies were included in this study. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS ELT: English Language Teaching ESL: English Second Language L2: Second language GR: Group work CL: Cooperation learning Q1: Question 1 Q2: Question 2 Q3: Question 3 Q4: Question 4 Q5: Question 5 Q6: Question 6 Q7: Question 7 Q8: Question 8 LISTS OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS Figure 1: Action research cycle……………………………………………. Figure 2: Result of the Pre-test ……………………………………………. Figure 3: Result of the Posttest …………………………………………….
Flow-chart 1: Steps in data collection procedure…………………………. TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. iii LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS. iv LISTS OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS.
iiv PART ONE: INTRODUCTION. Aims of the study. Methods of the study. Scope of the study.
Significance of the study. Design of the study. 3 PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT .5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Goals of cooperative learning.
The role of speaking in language teaching and learning. Approaches to teach speaking. Elements of speaking. Speaking processing skills .Types of group work activities.
Role play and simulations. 14 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Problem solving abd decision making. Benefits of using group work activities in speaking lesson.
Group work planning. Techniques for seating arrangement. The teacher‟s role in group work. Characteristics of effective group work.
Characteristics of young learners. Teaching strategies to young learners. The research setting. Cambridge English Young learner Tests.
Methods of the study. Pre-test and post-test. Pre-interview and post-interview. 38 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Data collection procedure. Data analysis procedure. 41 CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Pre-test and post-test Analysis.
Class Observation Analysis. 48 PART THREE: CONCLUSION. Limitations of the study. Suggestions for further study.
I vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Being born and growing up from studious hometown in Nam Dinh province, the researcher always feel proud of myself as well as my hometown. As we know, Nam Dinh‟s educational system is always on the first top all over our country. However, the result of English has not still kept pace with other main subjects such as Math, Literature or Physics.
Accompanying with other English teachers in Nam Dinh province, the author of this paper always think about how to improve the quality of English for my students because English is one of the most important subjects now. The goal of learning English is that the learners can use it to communicate with foreigners who also use English all over the world either by speech or written, so the use of English for the students is compulsory, because mastering English is a priority for many second or foreign language learners. Richard (1990) says that “The mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for many second or foreign language learners. Learners consequently often evaluate their success in language learning as well as the effectiveness of English course on the basis of how well they feel they have improved in their spoken language proficiency”.
As a teacher of English at a primary school in Nam Dinh province, from her own observation and experience, the researcher herself has noticed that my students often experience foreign language anxiety especially in speaking skill. When my English students take part in any speaking contests, they have never gotten high prizes. Usually, they are afraid of speaking in front of the class, many of them keep silent or have discussion in Vietnamese. While the students are more confident with written tests, they always feel reluctant when being asked to speak English and try to give answers as short as possible.
The fact that, the teachers still teach the students with routine activities without realizing that it would make the students bored and lost their attention to the teaching and learning process. This is stated by Douglas, “Routine activities in learning can make the students bored. As the result, their motivation and participation in learning will decrease” (1987:48). The most necessary duty is that the teachers should try best to find out the effective way which makes students go in for discussing the materials actively, so that they will 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com be able to understand what they are learning in the class and also express their own ideas orally.
To solve the problem in teaching speaking, the writer would like to conduct a research about “Using GW activities to enhance English speaking skill for grade-5 students at a primary school in Nam Dinh”. Aims of the study This study is chosen and seriously carried out in order to find out the teaching and learning speaking skill for grade-5 students at a primary school in Nam Dinh. Especially, the study aims: To improve speaking skill for grade-5 students through GW activities To propose some suggestions to increase the effectiveness of using GW activities to enhance English speaking skill for grade-5 students at a primary school in Nam Dinh. Research questions In order to achieve the above-mentioned aims, this study, therefore, focuses on two research questions: Can and to what extent GW activities improve grade-5 students‟ speaking skill at a primary school in Nam Dinh? What should be done to best improve grade-5 students‟ speaking skill at a primary school in Nam Dinh through GW activities? 4.
Methods of the study To achieve the aims of the study, action research was applied. Six lesson plans were designed and taught at two grade-5 classes at Xuan Chau primary school so that the researcher can investigate the effectiveness of teaching speaking. Then, a quantitative method technique was applied as a pre-interview and post-interview were administered for only one English teacher there in order to get a more detailed and comprehensive picture about what is investigated for the research. Other research instruments were also designed and applied.
A pretest and a posttest were given in order to evaluate the vocabulary use proficiency improvement. The students‟ scores in the post- test will be compared with the scores of students in the pre-test to determine the effectiveness of the use of 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com GW activities in teaching speaking. The qualitative research method is involved in conducting and analyzing the class observation which is needed to find out how effective this method is. Then, the data were collected, sorted and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively to obtain the results.
Scope of the study The study was conducted at a primary school in Nam Dinh province. It attempted to investigate the issues and problems that arise from grade-5 students in speaking class. From there, the study focused on investigating how cooperative GW technique presented via cooperative language learning can be employed in enhancing speaking skill for grade-5 students at a primary school in Nam Dinh and how to best improve their speaking skill through GW activities. Significance of the study This research is severely completed to determine the effectiveness of using GW in teaching speaking for grade-5 students at a primary school in Nam Dinh province and how to best improve the students‟ speaking skills through GW activities.Based on these findings, recommendations to help English primary teachers and grade-5 students determine the suitable methods to improve teaching and learning English speaking are made.