VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG HỒNG THÚY ENHANCING GROUP COHESIVENESS AND MOTIVATION IN EFL CLASSROOM (Tăng cường tính liên kết và động lực học tập của học viên trong lớp học tiếng anh) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi – 2018 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG HỒNG THÚY ENHANCING GROUP COHESIVENESS AND MOTIVATION IN EFL CLASSROOM (Tăng cường tính liên kết và động lực học tập của học viên trong lớp học tiếng anh) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Tran Thanh Nhan, PhD. Hanoi – 2018 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION This is to certify that to the best of my knowledge, the content of this thesis is my own work.
This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or other purposes. I certify that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work and that all the assistance received in preparing this thesis and sources have been acknowledged. Student Hoàng Hồng Thuý TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the all library media specialists for their participation who supported my work and helped me get results of better quality. In addition, I would like to thank my fellow master students for their feedback, cooperation and of course friendship.
I am also grateful to the Ms Trần Thanh Nhàn PhD, for her guidance. Without her, this thesis may not be possible. Last but not the least, I would like to thank my family: my parents, my brother and my husband for supporting me spiritually throughout writing this thesis and my life in general. i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.81402 ABSTRACT English learning is considered a social process.
Therefore, it is vital to analyze how the process works. This action research presents the results of a study exploring the relationships of classroom group cohesiveness and motivation among groups of students in Vietnam universities. Six lessons of six different teachers were filmed and analyzed by the method of conversation analysis. The results show that teacher‘s class management skill affect group cohesiveness.
Each activity was closely monitor and the techniques that the teachers use were accurately recorded. The findings show that novice teachers may enhance and inhibit group cohesiveness, either purposefully or unintentionally. More study is recommended to look at this matters at a different demographic and age groups.81402 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.81402 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. ii PART A: INTRODUCTION.
Rationale of the study. Scope and aims of the study. Significance of the study. Design of the thesis.
7 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Group cohesiveness and motivation. Review of previous studies. Review of previous studies on group cohesiveness.
Review of previous studies on classroom interaction using Conversation analysis. Restatement of the research questions. The setting of the study and participants. Implementation of the Action Research.
Data collection instruments and procedures. Data analysis methods. Encouraging the cooperation of the students.81402 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Developing and encouraging the experience of a good group and organizing group cohesiveness opportunities inside the classroom.
Developing a competition between groups. Evidence of group cohesiveness inhibition. Limitations and suggestion for further study .81402 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Rationale of the study Over the course of time, there have been traditional and long-standing views of both the nature of language and the nature of learning.
Firth and Wagner (1997 and revisited in 2007) challenged existing conceptualisations of learning. Firth and Wagner argues that learning should be seen as a social process and that language should be viewed as a complex, dynamic system that is locally managed by interactants in response to emerging communicative needs. Under this view, learning can be traced in the moment- by-moment co-construction of meanings and by using conversation analysis (CA). The relatively new, emergent field known as CA-for-SLA quite clearly views learning as participation and maintains that we can measure and track learning through the interactions that take place (Markee 2008).
One can hardly deny that learning, as a social process, is more effective if it is comfortable. Excessive stress can damage memory capacity and thought processes. Therefore, the teachers‘ duty, which is to accommodate learning, is to make students‘ learning experience more enjoyable and motivating. One way to do this is to create a learning environment in which all students are motivated to work and feel comfortable with other members of the group.
If learners are hostile to each other or resist any cooperation, the effectiveness is likely to plummet, making the learning experience rather tense and unsuccessful. In contrast, a friendly and comfortable learning atmosphere stimulates students to enjoy exploring new knowledge. If a group member feels attracted towards and accepted by the others, they will likely form a strong bond that help each individual override negative feelings during the course of learning. This accepting climate is the base of group 1 (LUAN.81402 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.
The necessity and importance of a language class as a social group has been realized (Brumfit, 1984; Hadfield, 1992;Senior, 1997; Dörnyei and Murphey, 2003). Group cohesiveness (also called group cohesion and social cohesion) arises when bonds link members of a social group to one another and to the group as a united entity. Although cohesion is a multi-faceted process, it can be broken down into four main components: social relations, task relations, perceived unity, and emotions (Forsyth, 2010). Members of strongly cohesive groups are more inclined to participate readily and to stay with the group.
Group cohesiveness brings a number of advantages, including motivation, performance or member satisfaction. This is why there are activities to boost group cohesiveness in almost every field, from team building sessions to boost employees‘ morale to fraternities and sororities in American universities. According to Cummins and Davison (2007), group cohesiveness refers to the closeness and the ―we‖ feeling of a group, that is, the internal gelling force that keeps the group together. Enhancing group cohesiveness, therefore, can be very beneficial to the teacher and their students, especially in Asian culture.
One typical trait of Chinese or Vietnamese students is the concept of ―keeping face‖, which can be subjected to the group‘s judgment and can be demotivated very quickly if they do not feel accepted in the group. In ELT, group cohesiveness certainly proves its significance in motivating students to learn, socialize and make learning a social activity that is enjoyable. The process of exchange information and helping each other prove to be more effective if the students are willing to cooperate with their friends and their teacher. Since cohesiveness affect participation greatly, it is vital to look at how teacher facilitate the development of group cohesiveness 2 (LUAN.81402 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.
Even though there have been a lot of research carried out in this field, not much research is conducted in the context of Vietnamese education. Therefore, the author wants to take a closer look at this matter in Vietnam with the hope to offer another perspective of cohesiveness and motivation in ELT. Scope and aims of the study 2. Scope of the study The study focuses on the interaction between teachers and students in English language lesson.
The centre question of this research is how teacher and students interact with each other. Furthermore, the author intend to determine whether the interaction observed is effective and if they inhibit or enhance group cohesiveness. The study‘s scope narrows down into the context of two universities in Vietnam with Vietnamese trainers and Vietnamese students. Six lessons were recorded and analyzed.
Aims of the study The study aims to find out evidences of enhancing and inhibiting group cohessiveness in the conversations among teacher and students in the classroom. Significance of the study As indicated by the title of the research “Enhancing group cohesiveness and motivation in EFL classrooms”, the author hopes to understand which technique may boost cohesiveness and which one suppresses it. From then on, modification can be made to the teacher‘s classroom management skill. Furthermore, this study also offers a more detailed observation into the matter by analyzing conversation and interaction in class with a more ad hoc method.
Since ad hoc method in conversation analyses are more flexible and attentive to details, readers are provided with a 3 (LUAN.81402 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.81402 closer look into English lessons in Vietnam. Therefore, this research paves way for more possible comparison with other country and improvement in motivating students in ELT. Research questions With the stated premises, this study is designed to examine these questions from the perspectives of the teachers: 1) In what ways may group-management techniques enhance group cohesiveness? 2) In what ways may group-management techniques inhibit group cohesiveness? 4.1 The setting of the study and participants The study was conducted at University of Languages and International Studies and the Academy of Policy and Development. Each classroom has the capacity of 30 students and all rooms are fully equipped with a projector, a television and a board.
In terms of teachers, there are six novice teachers of English. All of them have achieved the certificate of C1 in English. They work with the class once a week for 4 hours. Teachers are active to choose their own teaching methods as long as they find students satisfied with their teaching and make progress.
The students in the two chosen institutions are of different level of proficiency with the former are in B2 level while the latter are approaching B1 level in CEFR scale.2 Data collection instruments and procedures This research use observation as the instrument for data collection. Six novice teachers were chosen to participate. Then, one lesson of each teachers is recorded by means of the camera and microphone. Data-gathering was planned largely around the teachers‘ course 4 (LUAN.81402 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.81402 schedules, with efforts being made to avoid observations on days when lessons centered around in-class writing, oral presentations, or other evaluative measures that might reduce the possibility of experiencing teachers‘ group-management techniques.
After the observations, the class video recordings were reviewed by the author. The observed classes were then analyzed with the teachers in recorded interviews. The data was partially transcribed as three common themes regarding what generally ―worked‖ in terms of group-management techniques promoting group cohesiveness were identified: 1) Encouraging the cooperation of the students. 2) Developing and encouraging the experience of a good group and organizing group cohesiveness opportunities inside the classroom.
3) Developing a competition between groups 4) Evidence of group cohesiveness inhibition.3 Data analysis methods Six recordings of the lessons are then analyzed in term of the interactions between the teachers and students. The Interaction Analysis approaches are followed. In detail, the recordings are analyzed in an ad hoc method. This instrument is designed to answer only the question of how the teachers can enhance interaction and group cohesion through different management techniques rather than study a large variety of the matters.
The reasons why this method is chosen for this study will be discussed in Part B. Design of the thesis This study consists of three main parts: introduction, development adn conclusion. The introduction provides rationale, scope, aims, significance, research questions, methods, and design of the study.81402 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.81402 The development contains three chapters. Chapter one deals with literature review of theoretical framework related to the study.
Chapter two is devoted to the methodology used in the study. Chapter three discusses the findings of the study. The conclusion provides a brief summary of all main parts presented in the study, the conclusion which encloses practical suggestions for teaching and further research.81402 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.81402 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.