VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDY HOÀNG THỊ MINH EFL TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ BELIEFS ABOUT FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION IN GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES AT HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION (NHẬN THỨC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ SINH VIÊN VỀ NHỮNG NHÂN TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN SỰ THAM GIA VÀO HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM CỦA SINH VIÊN NGOẠI NGỮ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM HÀ NỘI) M. Minor Thesis (Chương trình 1) Major : English Language Teaching Methodology Code : 60.0111 Hanoi, 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDY HOÀNG THỊ MINH EFL TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ BELIEFS ABOUT FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION IN GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES AT HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION (NHẬN THỨC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ SINH VIÊN VỀ NHỮNG NHÂN TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN SỰ THAM GIA VÀO HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM CỦA SINH VIÊN NGOẠI NGỮ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM HÀ NỘI) M. Minor Thesis (Chương trình 1) Major : English Language Teaching Methodology Code : 60. Nguyễn Đức Hoạt Hanoi, 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “EFL TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ BELIEFS ABOUT FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION IN GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES AT HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION” is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or tertiary institution.
Date: Signature: i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I am indebted to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen Duc Hoat, for his great understanding and wholehearted support throughout the process. Without his valuable time, professional guidance and critical feedback for every minor detail, I would not have been able to complete my work. My special gratitude is also to be expressed to all the professors, lecturers, teachers, staff and students of the Faculty of Post-graduate Study, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their valuable support, instruction, assistance and materials during my study and investigation at the university.
I am heartily thankful to many teachers and students of Faculty of English, Hanoi National University of Education who fully supported me in the collection of data and participated in this research. Along the way, I owe my deep gratitude to my beloved family and friends who always provided tremendous support and encouragement when I was in the process of completing this study. Lastly, I offer my regards and blessings to all those who supported me in any aspect during the completion of the research. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This survey research, based on the claim that EFL teachers and students highly value the application of group work and students’ participation in group work context, analyzed their beliefs about factors affecting students’ participation in group work activities and highlighted the importance of the conditions underlying effective classroom interaction.
Quantitative and qualitative data gathered from survey questionnaires and interviews indicate both the similarity and difference in their beliefs. These teachers and students appreciated students’ preference to group work, appropriate group task, collaborative interaction; accepted the possibility to use native language; and did not view fully preparing and knowing the right answer as a prerequisite for participation. However, while the learners believed that participation was impacted by issues of students’ personality, group composition and teachers’ policy of grading participation; the teachers’ beliefs were not so flexible. These results assert the significance of teachers’ and learners’ involvement in classroom research and draw attention to the need to incorporate learners’ beliefs into pedagogy.
iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENT DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENT. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES.
vii PART I: INTRODUCTION. Purpose of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study.
Overview of the study. 3 PART II: DEVELOPMENT. Teachers’ and students’ beliefs. Definition of beliefs.
Role of beliefs. Measurement of beliefs. Definition of group work. Elements of effective cooperative learning group work.
Benefits of group work. Some group work activities. Students’ participation in group work. Definition of students’ participation in group work.
The role of students’ participation in language learning and group work13 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Measurement of students’ participation in group work. Factors affecting students’ participation in group work. Related previous studies.
Design and approaches. Context and participants. Data collection instruments. Data analysis methods.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. The similarity between teachers’ and students’ beliefs about factors affecting students’ participation in group work activities. The difference between teachers’ and students’ beliefs about factors affecting students’ participation in group work activities. Both converging and diverging beliefs about factors affecting students’ participation in group work activities between teachers and students.
36 PART III: CONCLUSION. Limitations and suggestion for further research .I Appendix A: Questionnaire for Students .I Appendix B: Questionnaire for Teachers. IV Appendix C: Teachers and Students Questionnaire Responses. VII Appendix D: Transcripts of Students Interviews.
IX Appendix E: Transcripts of Teachers Interviews. XII Appendix F: Ewald’s (2008) Questionnaire. XV v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as foreign language FOE: Faculty of English HNUE: Hanoi National University of Education I: Interview Q: Questionnaire Std: Student T: Teacher vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 1. Outcomes of cooperation.
Teachers’ and students’ beliefs related to students’ preference to group work. Teachers’ and students’ beliefs related to teachers’ preference to group work. Teachers’ and students’ beliefs related to the requirement of students’ preparedness to participation. Teachers’ and students’ beliefs related to students’ attitude to errors 26 Figure 3.
Teachers’ and students’ beliefs related to possibility to use native language. Teachers’ and students’ beliefs related to the nature of group task .2-1 Teachers’ and students’ beliefs related to students’ personality. Teachers’ and students’ beliefs related to group composition. Teachers’ and students’ beliefs related to teachers’ policy of grading participation.
Teachers’ and students’ beliefs related to collaborative interaction (workload sharing). Teachers’ and students’ beliefs related to collaborative interaction (interaction with group members or instructors). 39 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Along with the development of communicative language teaching approach from the late 1970s, collaborative group work is increasingly being seen as an indispensable component in teaching and learning the second and foreign language with the expectation to focus on communicatively authentic language use in real contexts (Burns, 2009: 11).
This is also true for most courses at colleges in Vietnam in general and at Faculty of English, Hanoi National University of Education in particular. In comparison with competitively and individualistically structured learning, this form of cooperative learning has some valuable benefits that are affirmed by Johnson and Johnson: higher successful mastery, retention and transfer of concepts, rules and principles; higher and more intrinsically-oriented learning motivation; more facilitated cognitive and social development; more positive attitudes to teachers, other school personnel, subject areas, school, and other classmates; more positive self-esteem and psychological health (Johnson and Johnson, 1974, 1975; Johnson, 1979 cited in Smith, 1979: 24). However, their group work is not always satisfactory and successful. The achievement of the benefits associated with group work depends on the effectiveness of members in working together and functioning as a group (Hasan & Ali, 2007: 230).
In other words, the effectiveness of group work partly depends on group members’ participation, which are influenced by many factors related to the students, the teachers, the group task, and the learning environment (Lee, 2005; Donohue & Richards, 2009; Sovajassatakul, 2008; Tran, 2005; Phung, 2006; Pham, 2011; Le, 2011). Sometimes students seem to be very active in group work but sometimes they remain quiet, engage in off-task behavior and have minimal attempts to participate. Their teachers, unfortunately, do not always pay attention to this or just neglect this habitual behavior to keep the learners working in group. 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com It is obvious that students’ beliefs are not always the same as their teachers’ while teachers’ beliefs may influence their consciousness, teaching attitude, teaching methods, teaching policies, teaching behavior and, learners’ development (Altan, 2006: 45); and students’ beliefs may indicate what expectations they have and what actions in their language learning they will take (Abraham and Vann, 1987).
Second and foreign language teachers, with an understanding of learners’ beliefs, can help enhance learners’ success in language learning by promoting their students’ beliefs that are facilitative to language learning and by refining those that are debilitative. Furthermore, students do not always act as they themselves and their teachers believe they should. As a consequence, teachers’ and students’ beliefs about students’ participation in group work context need to be taken into account. Building on previous studies’ support of collaborative learning and the roles of teachers’ and students’ beliefs, this investigation explores the similarity as well as the difference in teachers’ and students’ beliefs regarding the factors affecting students’ participation in group work activities.
Purpose of the study The aim of the present research is to explore the extent to which EFL teachers’ and students’ beliefs share and differ with regard to factors affecting students’ participation in group work activities. Based on this, the researcher expects to help to give some appropriate solutions to increase students’ participation in group work context and improve group work effectiveness. Research questions To fulfill the above aim, this study intends to answer the following questions: 1. What is the similarity between EFL teachers’ and students’ beliefs about factors affecting students’ participation in group work? 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
What is the difference between EFL teachers’ and students’ beliefs about factors affecting students’ participation in group work? 4. Scope of the study This research, in the limitation of time and effort, focuses on only a small number of fourth year students in a speaking class and some teachers at FOE, HNUE. As a consequence, it cannot be generalized to other EFL classrooms. Additionally, it only investigates EFL teachers’ and students’ beliefs about factors affecting students’ participation in group work activities but does not explore the practice of group work activities in their real classroom and the influence of their beliefs on their practice.
Significance of the study Useful information is expected to be the outcome of this study. First, the researchers can compare the similarity and difference between EFL teachers’ and students’ beliefs concerning factors affecting students’ participation in group work activities at FOE, HNUE. Second, the study is a guide for those who seek the teachers’/ students’ beliefs and practice regarding students’ participation in group work activities. As a consequence, it is considerable value for those who find the solutions to improve students’ participation in group work as well as to enhance group work effectiveness.
Overview of the study This study consists of three main parts: introduction, development, and conclusion with references and appendices enclosed. Part I: Introduction – indicates the rationale, purpose, research questions, scope, significance, and organization of the study. Part II: Development – is divided into three chapters: 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Chapter 1: Literature review – presents the theoretical framework of teachers’ and students’ beliefs, group work and the students’ participation in group work. Chapter 2: Methodology – gives details on the research design and approaches, context and participants, data collection instruments, and data analysis methods to conduct the study.
Chapter 3: Findings and discussion – analyzes and discusses the results based on the data collected.