USING PAIRWORK AND GROUPWORK IN HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASSES AN INVESTIGATION OF STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES AND EXPERIENCES

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN THỊ THANH THỦY

USING PAIRWORK AND GROUPWORK IN HIGH SCHOOL
ENGLISH CLASSES : AN INVESTIGATION OF STUDENTS’
ATTITUDES AND EXPERIENCES

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
Code: 60.14.01.11
MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION

SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN GIA VIỆT, Ph.D

Nghe An – 2017


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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I hereby certify that this thesis entitled “ Using pairwork and groupwork
in high school English classes: An investigation of students’ attitudes and
experiences” is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at
Vinh University. No material in this thesis has been accepted for the award of
any other degree or diploma in any university and neither does this thesis use
and contain previously published material or written by another person.
Author
Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Nguyen Gia
Viet for his constant help, precious suggestions and valuable advice.
I also wish to express my sincere thanks to the board of examiners for
having accepted to examine my dissertation.
I am so grateful to the teachers who taught us during the M.A course.
I would like to express my gratitude to my principle, colleagues, my
students, my classmates, my friends who have kindly accepted to cooperate,
without whom, this work would not have been possible.
Last but not least, great thanks go to my parents-in-law, my parents, my
daughter, and especially my husband who devoted all their time for me during
the M.A course, as well as during the preparation of this work.
Vinh, 2017
Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy


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ABSTRACT
This study aims to investigate the attitudes of

students when using

pairwork and groupwork techniques in communicative English classes. Survey
questionnaires for teachers and students were carried out. The findings of the
research revealed that pairwork and groupwork were usually applied in
communicative English classes at Huong Son high school. The reason was that
these two techniques strongly increased students’ participation

in class

activities. The students found working in pairs and in groups interesting, which
made them participate more in the lesson. In addition, thanks to pairwork and
groupwork, the interaction between students were closer. However, there were
some problems the teachers should consider when conducting these activities
such as group size, the way of grouping, students’ level of proficiency, etc.
I hope that this thesis will help other teachers of English be aware of the
usefulness of pairwork and groupwork techniques and apply them in their
teaching.

TABLE OF CONTENTS


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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP...........................................................
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......................................................................
ABSTRACT................................................................................................
TABLE OF CONTENTS...........................................................................
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS....................................................................
LIST OF TABLES......................................................................................
LIST OF FIGURES...................................................................................
Chapter 1 : INTRODUCTION.................................................................
1.1. Rationale...............................................................................................
1.2. Aims of study........................................................................................
1.3. Scope of study.....................................................................................
1.4. Research questions...............................................................................
1.5. Methods of study.................................................................................
1.6. Thesis outline.......................................................................................

Chapter 2 . LITERATURE REVIEW....................................................
2.1. Communicative language teaching (CLT)............................................
2.1.1. An overview of CLT
2.1.2 . Communicative activities.................................................................
2.1.3 . The techniques of CLT......................................................................
2.2 Participation..........................................................................................
2.2.1. Definition..........................................................................................
2.2.2. Benefits of participation....................................................................
2.2.3. Affective factors affecting students' participation in classroom.......
2.3. Attitude................................................................................................
2.3.1. Definition...........................................................................................
2.3.2. Importance of attitude.......................................................................
2.4 Pairwork and groupwork......................................................................
2.4.1 Definition...........................................................................................
2.4.2 Organization.......................................................................................
2.5 Activities commonly used in pairwork and groupwork........................
2.6. Advantages and disadvantages of pair and group work.......................
2.6.1 The advantages of pairwork and group work.....................................
2.6.2 The disadvantages of pairwork and group work.................................
2.7 Problems in conducting pairwork and groupwork................................
2.8. Some suggested ideas for working in pair and in group.......................
Chapter 3. METHODOLOGY...............................................................
3.1. Background of the study......................................................................
3.1.1 The English syllabus at Huong Son high school................................
3.1.2 Description of the students at Huong Son high school.......................

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3.1.3 Description of the teachers at Huong Son high school.......................
3.1.4 Description of physical settings..........................................................
3.2 Participants.............................................................................................
3.2.1 Students...............................................................................................
3.2.2 Teachers.............................................................................................
3.3 Research instruments............................................................................
3.3.1. Survey questionaires..........................................................................
3.3.2. Interview............................................................................................
3.4. Procedures.............................................................................................
Chapter 4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS..........................................
4.1 Findings.................................................................................................
4.1.1 Findings from teachers’ questionnaire...............................................
4.1.2. Findings from students’ questionnaire...............................................
4.2. Examples of pair and groupwork.........................................................
4.2.1. Pairwork.............................................................................................
4.2.2. Groupwork........................................................................................
4.3. Discuss of the findings.........................................................................
4.3.1. Frequency of pairwork and groupwork organization........................
4.3.2. Students' attitudes to pairwork and groupwork..................................
4.3.3. Teachers and students' problems with pairwork and groupwork......
Chapter 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS............................
5.1. Summary of study...............................................................................

5.2. Implication..........................................................................................
5.3. Limitations of the study......................................................................
5.4. Suggestions for further study..............................................................
REFERENCES
APPENDIX

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CLT : Communicative Language Teaching
L2

: The second language


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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Time for pairwork and groupwork in class....................................
Table 2 : The benefits of pairwork and groupwork in language classes......
Table 3: Teachers’ opinion on pairwork and groupwork.............................
Table 4: Things the teachers do when the students work in pairs and in

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groups...........................................................................................................
Table 5: Group size......................................................................................
Table 6: The ways to group students............................................................
Table 7: Students’ profiles...........................................................................
Table 8 : The students’activities in English classes.....................................
Table 9 : The time for pairwork and groupwork..........................................
Table 10 : The main benefits of the pairwork and groupwork.....................

Table 11 : The skills for pairwork and groupwork.......................................
Table 12: The impacts of pairwork and groupwork techniques...................
Table 13: Factors causing difficulties..........................................................
Table 14: Students’ recommendation for the things the teacher should do.
Table 15: Group size preferred by students.................................................
Table 16: How would students like to be grouped.......................................

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Techniques used in English classes..............................................
Figure 2: Factors causing difficulties...........................................................
Figure 3: The frequency of pairwork and groupwork activities..................
Figure 4: The frequency of difficulties........................................................

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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
Today, English has become an international language. It is spoken as a
second language and an official language in many countries, and millions of
people speak English as a foreign language. Besides, English is considered the
medium of communication in many fields such as science, technology, aviation,
internet, commerce, etc. Therefore learning and teaching English are getting
more and more important to non-native nations of English. In Vietnam, English
is a compulsory subject at schools and colleges. It plays a key role in getting a
good job. According to Decision No. 1400/QĐ-TTg by the Prime Minister, by
the year 2020 most Vietnamese young people who graduate from vocational
schools, colleges and universities should gain the capacity to use a foreign
language independently; in other words, they must achieve communicative
competence. Especially, university students must gain B1 certificate as one of
the graduation conditions.
Learning a language is learning how to communicate culturally, socially
and academically in appropriate ways consistent with the norms and customs of
the target language users. Communication is a process of making meaning
through interactions between people. The more interactions among students as
well as between the teacher and students, the better the language learning
achieved by students. Teachers play a critical role in promoting interactions
among students and engaging them in the learning process.
The teaching of foreign language is an interactive process which involves
participation of both the teacher and the learner. The traditional teaching
methods of English language such as Grammar-Translation, the Direct Method
and the Audio-lingual have been used as dominating ways of teaching and

learning English. These methods do not focus on communicative skills, but
much on grammatical points with a view to helping learners to achieve some


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certain English linguistic knowledge. These methods often require students to do
exercises individually most of the time, and rely on the teacher. As a result,
students acquire second language passively and rarely have opportunities to
express their ideas. These methods are not favored in language classrooms
because they do not meet the current educational requirements. Therefore, the
results of the English courses are not very good.
Like many teachers in the schools of Vietnam, teachers of English at Huong
Son high school are faced with a common problem: students’ poor participation in
activities in the classroom. In fact, there are a variety of reasons for this poor
participation, and therefore finding appropriate techniques and methods for
teaching English effectively to students at Huong Son high school requires a long
serious research.
My study, entitled “ Using pairwork and groupwork in high school English
classes: An investigation of students’ attitudes and experiences” is hoped to be little
contribution to the process in innovating teaching methods in Ha Tinh province
recently.
1.2. Aims of study
The aims of this study are to investigate :
+ the use of pair and groupwork at Huong Son high school.
+ the students’ attitude and experiences towards the roles of pairwork and
groupwork in English class.
1.3. Scope of study
There are a variety of techniques to encourage students to participate in
communicative English classes. However, it is not my intention to cover all of
them because of the time and the length of the study, only two techniques,

groupwork and pairwork are investigated in communicative English classes at
Huong Son high school. The advantages of these two techniques were found out
by interviewing, and surveying students at Huong Son high school.


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1.4. Research questions
* How often are pairwork and groupwork used in the English classroom?
* What are the students’attitudes toward pairwork and groupwork ?
* What are students’ common problems in doing pairwork and
groupwork ?
1.5. Methods of study
To answer the above research questions, a mixture of data collection
methods will be employed. The main instrument will be survey questionnaires.
Additionally, classroom observation and interview will be used to collect
insights from students regarding pairwork and groupwork .The data collected for
the study came from two sources: the students and the English teachers at
Huong Son high school by making survey questionnaires, interview and
observation.
1.6. Thesis outline
Chapter 1: Introduction provides an introduction and an overview of the
research. It presents the rationale, aims, scope, research questions, methods and
thesis outline of the study.
Chapter 2: Literature review reviews the theory about Communicative
Language Teaching, pairwork and groupwork.
Chapter 3: Methodology provides background of the study, participants,
research instruments and procedures of the study.
Chapter 4: Findings and discussions deals with the findings drawn out
from the analysis of data. The findings and discussion are based on the fact of
the innovation in teaching methods in Vietnam and the problems explored when

implementing them into my current school.
Chapter 5: Conclusion summarizes the main findings, presents the
implications and limitations of the study and finally offers suggestions for
further research.


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Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Communicative language teaching (CLT)
2.1.1. An overview of CLT
CLT appearing between the 1960s and 1970s marks the beginning of major
innovation within language teaching and it has been widely accepted nowadays
because of it superior principles.
According to Nunan (1989:194), ‘CLT views language as a system for the
expression of meaning. Activities involve oral communication, carrying out
meaningful tasks, and using language, which is meaningful to the learners.
Objectives reflect the needs of the learners; they include functional skills as well
as linguistic objectives. The learner’s role is as a negotiator and an integrator.
The teacher’s role is as a facilitator of the communication process. Materials
promote communicative language use; they are task based and authentic”.
According to CLT, the purpose of language teaching is to develop
“communicative

competence”.

Hymes

(1972)

defines

“communicative

competence” as “what a speaker needs to know in order to be communicatively
competent in a speech community”. In other words, CLT has two following
main aims pointed out by Richards and Rogers (1986:64)
1. To make communicative competence the goal of language teaching.
2. To develop procedures for the teaching of the four language skills that
acknowledge the interdependence of language and communication
Richards and Rogers (1986: 69) also shows another point about CLT
which is “its learner-centered and experience based view of second language
teaching”. In CLT, students are able to play a more active and participatory role


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than in traditional approaches. Teachers work as facilitators, consultants or
supervisors.
Also, “activities in CLT are often carried out by students in small groups”.
(Larsen -Freeman, 1986: 132). Students are expected to interact with one
another, either through pair and groupwork or in their writings. Teachers select
activities which engage students in meaningful and authentic language use rather
than in mechanical practice of language patterns.
2.1.2. Communicative activities
Communicative activities, defined by Littlewood (1981), are those that
provide whole task practice, improve students’ motivation, allow natural
learning and create a context supporting learning as well. “In communicative
activities the teacher creates a situation and sets an activity in notion, but it is the
learners themselves who are responsible for conducting the interaction to its
conclusion (Littlewood, 1981: 18)

Harmer (1991) divides communicative activities into oral and written ones.
Oral activities include such categories as communication games, problem solving, reaching a consensus, discussion, replaying instructions, role-play, etc.
Written communicative activities consist of writing reports and advertisements;
co-operative writing, exchanging letters, writing journals and so on.
In addition, according to Littlewood (1981), there are two main types of
communicative activities which he calls: “functional communication activities
and social interaction activities”. The main purpose of the former is that learners
should use the language they know in order to get meanings across as effectively
as possible. Functional communication activities include such activities as
identifying

pictures,

discovering

identical

pairs,

discovering

missing

information, discovering differences, following directions and so on. The later
activities are those that emphasize on social as well as functional aspects of


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communication. Learners, therefore, not only convey meanings effectively, but
also, pay greater attention to the social context in which the interaction takes

place. Simulation and role-playing are important techniques for creating a
variety of social relationships and situations.
2.1.3. The Techniques of Communicative Language Teaching
The techniques of CLT are described by features.
Nunan (1991a:279) gives five features to characterize CLT:
+ An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target
language.
+ The introduction of authentic texts in to the learning situation
+ The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but
also on the learning process itself.
+ An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important
contributing elements to classroom learning.
+ An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation
outside the classroom.
According to Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers (1986:170),
because communicative principles can be applied to the teaching of any skill, at
any level, and because of the wide variety of classroom activities and exercise
types discussed in the literature on Communicative Language Teaching,
description of typical classroom procedures used in a lesson based on CLT
principle is not feasible. Savignon (1983) discusses techniques and class
management procedures associated with a number of CLT classroom procedure
(e.g., group activities, language games, role plays), but neither these activities
nor the ways in which they are used are exclusive to CLT classrooms.
Johnson and Johnson (1998) offer five core characteristics that underlie
current applications of communicative methodology:


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+ Appropriateness: Language use reflects the situations of its use and must be
appropriate to that situation depending on the setting, the roles of the

participants and the purpose of the communication, for example. Thus learners
may need to be able to use formal as well as casual styles of speaking.
+ Message focus: Learners need to be able to create and understand messages,
that is, real meanings. Hence the focus on information sharing and information
transfer in CLT activities.
+ Psycholinguistic processing: CLT activities seek to engage learners in the use
of cognitive and other processes that are important factors in second language
acquisition.
+ Risk taking: Learners are encouraged to make guesses and learn from their
errors. By going beyond what they have been taught, they are encouraged to
employ a variety of communication strategies.
+ Free practice: CLT encourages the use of “holistic practice” involving the
simultaneous use of a variety of sub-skills, rather than practising individual
skills one piece at a time
To sum up, Communicative Language Teaching is best considered an
approach rather than a method. It refers to a diverse set of principles that reflect
a communicative view of language and language learning and that can be used
to support a wide variety of classroom procedures.
2.2. Participation
2.2.1. Definition
Having defined the scope of views on student participation, I should
attempt to settle what ‘student participation’ means in the context of this project.
Leading figures in the field, Rudduck and Flutter’s definition of student
participation is twofold: firstly, it takes (seriously) into account pupils’ views on
their experience of learning, and what they identify as good and bad practices.


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Secondly, it involves finding effective ways to include these views in the process
of designing the learning environment and the learning experience, from the

classroom to the institutional level (Rudduck and Flutter, 2004). Lodge proposes
a more concise definition under the name of dialogic participation, defining it as
“young people [being] viewed as active participants in their own learning”
(2005: 134). A yet more positively radical conception of student participation is
democratic education, whose main advocates include Hannam (2001; 2002;
2006) and Apple and Beane (1999). Educational structure may involve varying
degrees of democracy, from school councils with more or less executive power
given to students, to fully‐democratic schools. This latter model includes some
‘rough’ schools, schools outside the educational system, or schools particularly
welcoming to young drop‐outs that rely on democratic structures as a means to
empower them, and reconciliate them with a system they rejected in the first
place (Ibid.). But participation does not need to be located towards the radical
end of the spectrum to have positive effects. For instance, Doppelt (2004) has
shown that even in non‐participatory classroom designs, hands‐on activities
were regarded as most influential by students. In his study, two different cohort
of 150 and 200 pupils in secondary education consistently rated team projects,
class discussions and laboratory experiments as more influential in their learning
(whereas assessment activities and concept maps were at the bottom of the list).
Other disciplines can also help explain the nature of learner participation. A
recent, influential compilation of educational neuroscientific findings from the
OECD outline two fundamentally different drives to learn (2007). What
educational neurosciences recognise as extrinsic motivation is the use of rewards
and punishment in educational institutions; it can be likened to the Foucauldian
concept of an integrated system of discipline (Foucault, 1977). On the other
hand, intrinsic motivation is what stems from the human brain’s natural drive to


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learn in order to “fulfil internal needs and desires” (OECD, 2007: 71). It is, of
course, possible to build on both sources of motivation. But according to

neuroscientific research, increasing learner participation does not amount to
trying West End Story: Teacher Perspectives and Student Participation in a
London Independent School Review of the literature 7 hard to create something
additional (motivation)4, but trying to deconstruct oppressive institutional
structures, so that the intrinsic drive to learn is left with greater latitude to
motivate the learner (Vallerand, 1992; Ryan and Deci, 2000; OECD, 2007).
Paradoxically, it could be less costly, in terms of economic and human efforts, to
let one’s intrinsic motivation play a greater role in their education, rather than
maintain controlling systems leading to boredom and possibly rejection of social
structures. But it is only paradoxical insofar as independent learning is desirable
(Whitty and Wisby, 2007). Various other parameters, especially political or to do
with social control, can make restraining motivation and creativity worthwhile.
The OECD further concludes that one of the most important challenges for
modern education is to “find out how to give purpose to learning and how to
encourage the internal drive to want to learn” (2007: 73). The construction of
internal vs. external motivation is nothing new to the sociology of education.
Vallerand et al. (1992) pointed to the finer differences between different types of
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and Ryan and Deci (2000) already proposed a
re‐appraisal of what is meant by the two types of motivation. Their importance
in the debate of student participation seems to have been underestimated, and
further exploring the link between motivation theories and the policy‐oriented
debate on student participation may be needed. While Rudduck and Flutter’s
evidence also “suggests that a stronger focus on pupil participation […] can
enhance progress in learning” (2004: 11), it may turn out to be detrimental in a
limited number of instances, which I set out to explore in the next section.


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Students’ participation can be identified in terms of three kinds of
interaction: students to their teacher, students to students, and students to

material.
The interaction between students and their teacher includes care, contact,
co-operation between them in the class. Students who have a good interaction
with their teacher always participate in the class discussion, support and act as
their teacher requires. Moreover, they seem to be involved in what is happening
in the class by asking for more information or explanation, volunteering to
perform an activity, or sharing personal experience relating to the topics being
discussed. Thus, participation not only means attending the lass regularly and on
time but also taking part in the lesson actively or showing desire or be active.
Students become self- centered in the class activities.
The interaction between students and students is set up through their
discussion in small groups. They work together, help each other, and learn from
each other. A good interaction involves their co-operation and contribution to the
task given. Students feel pleasant and comfortable when they work together,
then they will do their best to complete the task.
Students’ participation also includes the interaction between students and
material. Obviously, students will be active and pay more attention to the lesson
if they are interested in the material or the task given. In other words, good and
interesting materials can get students involved in the lesson. Students will find it
difficult to participate in the class activities if they don’t understand the tasks or
feel bored with them
In short, students’ participation is concerned with their activeness in the
lesson, their success in completing the class activities and their attention to what
is happening in the class.
2.2.2. Benefits of participation
Benefits of participation Crone (1997) noted that if you engage a
student in participating in an active learning environment, they have the


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opportunity to become critical thinkers and in turn will be less passive. Garside
(1996) defined critical thinking as: (a)Thinking that is clear, precise, accurate,
relevant, logical, and consistent; (b) thinking that reflects a controlled sense of
skepticism or disbelief of any assertion, claim, or conclusion until sufficient
evidence and reasoning is provided to conclusively support it; (c) thinking that
takes stock of existing information and identifies holes and weaknesses, thereby
certifying what we know and don’t know; and (d) thinking that is free from bias,
prejudice, and on-sidedness of thought. (p. 215) . The above definition shows
that critical thinking is an important ability that student’s need to develop as it
will carry them both through their education, no matter what the discipline, and
careers.
2.2.3. Affective factors affecting students’ participation in classroom
Learners, in particular classroom learners, react to the learning situation,
they find themselves in a variety of affective ways. For example, Schumann
(1977) reports being unable to settle down to study Farsi and Arabic until he had
achieved order and comfort in her physical surroundings. Bailey (1980)
discusses a classroom crisis that occurred when her French teacher administers a
test that the class considered unfair. Ellis and Rathbone (1987) studied and
reported that one of the beginner learners of German was unable to learn any
German during a period because of a boyfriend problem. These and other studies
testify to the complexity and dynamic nature of learners’ affective states and the
influence these have on their ability to concentrate on learning.
Students’ participation can be identified as students’ involvement in
classroom activities, and in this case, speaking activities. It is shown in
interactions between students and students, and between students and teacher.
Students’ participation can be measured by students’ sense of responsibility and
cooperation in classroom activities for their own learning progress and of the


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whole class. For instance, they are willing to share their experience and
information about the related topics, volunteer to answer the teacher’s questions,
volunteer to perform the tasks, etc.
It is not easy to study all the affective factors affecting students’
participation in oral activities. It can be affected by different affective factors
originating from students, teachers and other classroom related factors such as
anxiety, personality, interests in language learning, classroom interaction, classroom
environment, motivation and attitudes. In the following sections, some of the factors
will be discussed.
Anxiety : Anxiety is one of several affective factors which can influence
attention and hence lead to deterioration in language performance. There are
different types of anxiety. A distinction can be made between trait anxiety, state
anxiety, and situational-specific anxiety. Scovel (1978) defines trait anxiety as ‘a
more permanent predisposition to be anxious’. It is perhaps best viewed as an
aspect of personality. State anxiety can be defined as apprehension that is
experienced at a particular moment in time as a response to a definite situation
(Spielberger 1983). It is a combination of trait and situation-specific anxiety.
This latter type consists of the anxiety which is aroused by a specific type of
situation or event such as public speaking, examinations, or class participation.
Psychological definitions of anxiety refer to a “transitory emotional state
or condition characterised by feelings of tension and apprehension and
heightened autonomic nervous system activity” (Spielberger 1972: 24), a state
which can have both negative and positive effects, and which motivates and
facilitates as well as disrupts and inhibits cognitive actions such as learning.
There are a lot of reasons for assuming that an anxious learner will not be
a good one. Anxiety will distract from the task of attending to and remembering
new items; it will discourage from the practice that will establish items. A


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number of earlier studies failed to find evidence of the effect of general anxiety
on second language learning. Bailey (1983) analysed the diaries of 11 learners
and found that they tended to become anxious when they compared themselves
with other learners in the class and found themselves less proficient. Bailey also
identified other sources of anxiety, including test and learners’ perceived
relationship with their teachers. Ellis and Rathbone (1987) reported that some of
their diarists found teachers’ questions threatening. These and other possible
sources of anxiety (like communication apprehension, tests, fear of negative
evaluation) in the foreign language classroom are reflected in the questionnaires
which a number of researchers have devised to measure learner anxiety such as
Gardner and Smythe (1975), and Cope (1986).
When anxiety does arise relating to the use of second language learning, it
seems to be restricted mainly to speaking and listening, reflecting learners’
apprehension at having to communicate spontaneously in the target language.
Anxiety manifests itself in speech in a greater degree of pausing, in a lack of
coherence, in the insertion of fillers, and in an increased number of false starts.
In short, there is sufficient evidence to show that anxiety is an important
factor in second language acquisition in general and in students’ participation in
speaking activities in particular. Anxiety is best seen not as a necessary
condition of successful L2 learning, but rather a factor that contributes in
differing degrees in different learners. Therefore, language educators should
strive to promote a non-threatening learning environment and “user-friendly”
oral exams which students could prepare for well in advance, in order to prevent
negative interactions between language anxiety and other personality variables
such as learning styles, motivation, and personality types. Teachers themselves
could eventually discover and apply the most effective techniques in controlling
anxiety.


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Motivation: There has been a great deal of research on the role of
motivation in second language learning. The overall findings show that positive
motivation is related to success in the second language learning (Gardner, 1985).
It is a matter of common knowledge that motivation “is a very important,
if not the most important factor in language learning” (van Lier, 1996: 98),
without which even ‘gifted’ individuals cannot accomplish long-term goals,
whatever the curricula and whoever the teacher. Therefore, the concept of
language learning motivation has become pivotal to a number of theories of L2
acquisition, and motivation has been widely accepted by teachers and
researchers as one of the key factors influencing the rate and success of
second/foreign language (L2) learning, often compensating for deficiencies in
language aptitude and learning. It could be said that all other factors involved in
L2 acquisition presuppose motivation to a certain degree.
Motivation in second language learning is a complex phenomenon which
can be defined ‘as an affective factor alongside culture shock’ (Schumann,
1978). Motivation is defined as emotions that constitute the source of the drive
to expend effort required to learn a second or foreign language (Atonia, 1981). It
is also defined in terms of two factors: learners’ communicative needs and their
attitude towards the second language community. If learners need to speak the
second language in a wide range of social situations or to fulfill professional
ambitions, they will perceive the communicative value of the second language
and will therefore be motivated to acquire proficiency in it. Likewise, if learners
have favourable attitudes towards the speakers of the language, they will desire
more contact with them. Gardner and Lambert (1972) identified motivation as
integrative motivation and instrumental motivation. Integrative motivation
involves an interest in learning an L2 because of ‘a sincere and personal interest
in the people and culture represented by the other language group’ (Lambert


15

1974: 98).

And instrumental motivation refers to the practical value and

advantages of learning a new language. SLA research has shown that these types
of motivations are a key factor in L2 learning. In the earlier research (Gardner
and Lambert, 1972), integrative motivation was seen as more powerful predictor
of achievement in formal learning situations than instrumental motivation. In
later research, Gardner (1985) has continued to assert the importance of
integrative motivation, although he now acknowledges that instrumental
motivation can also lead to successful learning. However, Gardner argues that
whereas instrumental motivation emerges a significant factor only in some
studies, integrative motivation has been found to be invariably related to L2
achievement.
Harmer divides motivation into extrinsic motivation and intrinsic
motivation. Extrinsic motivation is caused such outside factors as passing an
exam, the hope of financial reward, good career, or the possibility for future
travel, etc. In contrast, intrinsic motivation is caused by inside factors like the
enjoyment of the learning process itself or by a desire to learn the target
language.
In order to make students motivated in learning, we have to understand
the sources of motivation. According to Harmer, the sources of motivation are
diversified. They may derive from the society we live in, parents of old siblings,
the teacher and the method. Among these sources, the teacher and the method
may be of the most importance. For the teacher, his or her attitudes and
enthusiasm help create a positive classroom atmosphere. For the method, it
means involving both teacher and students’ confidence shown in the way of
teaching and learning.

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With a view to helping teachers realize whether a learner is motivated or not,
Ur (1996) points out some typical characteristics of a motivated learner which
include:
● Positive task orientation: The learner is willing to tackle tasks and
challenges, and has confidence in his or her success.
● Ego-involvement: The learner finds it important to succeed in learning
in order to maintain and promote his or her own positive self-image.
● Need for achievement: The learner has a need to achieve, to overcome
difficulties and succeed in what he or she sets out to do.
● High aspiration: The learner is ambitious, goes for demanding
challenges, high proficiency, top grades.
● Goal orientation: The learner is aware of the goals of learning, or of the
specific learning activities, and directs his or her efforts towards achieving them.
● Perseverance: The learner consistently invests a high level of effort in
learning, and is not discouraged by setbacks or apparent lack of progress.
● Tolerance: The learner is not disturbed or frustrated by situations
involving a temporary lack of understanding or confusion; he or she can live
with these patiently and in the confidence that understanding will come later.
Downs (2000) also points out some conditions that help increase students’
motivation. He says that motivation increases when students feel acknowledged
and understood, when students are confident they can succeed, when language has
a communicative purpose, and when students take responsibility for their own
learning.
Clearly, motivation plays an important role in the success of language
learning in general, but we may wonder how much or to what extent motivation
accounts for students’ participation in oral activities. We may not give the
correct answer but

it can be concluded with certainty that the degree of

17
motivation is directly proportional to the level of involvement in oral activities.
To be more concrete, the more motivated the learners are, the more actively they
will participate in oral activities.
To sum up, integrative (or intrinsic) motivation has been shown to be
strongly related to L2 achievement. It combines with instrumental (or extrinsic)
motivation to serve as a powerful predictor of success in formal contexts.
Learners with integrative motivation are more active in class and are less likely
to drop out. However, integrativeness is not always the main motivational factor
in L2 learning, some learners may be more influenced by other factors like selfconfidence, friendship or attitudes. Therefore, we, teachers, must be responsible
for sustaining their motivation otherwise it may be weak and die. When students
are motivated either extrinsically or intrinsically as long as their motivation is
enough sufficient intensity they will have in themselves a force that pushes them
to participate more actively in classroom activities in general and oral activities
in particular
Teaching techniques: It is obvious that different teaching techniques
create different degrees of students’ participation and interest in the lesson. For
example, techniques which focus on grammatical and phonological accuracy
like choral repetition, drilling substitution, content explanation will result in
learners’ passiveness and limit their participation in learning. In contrast, the
techniques that involve students in communicative activities such as role-play,
problem-solving, pair and group work, discussion, etc can encourage students to
participate in the lesson.
Teachers’ personal qualities and characteristics: In order to involve students
in the lesson, teachers should be ones that students trust and respect. In other
words, when students feel “safe” in the class, they will be willing to participate in
class activities. Barry (1993) points out some characteristics a teacher should have
as follows: