Sử dụng các hoạt động nhóm trong việc dạy kĩ năng Nói tiếng Anh của sinh viên Nhiệm Vụ Chiến Lược, Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
***********************


NGUYỄN THỊ PHÚC


THE USE OF TEAMWORK ACTIVITIES IN THE
ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS AT INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD PROGRAM, VIETNAM NATIONAL
UNIVERSITY, HANOI
(SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM TRONG GIỜ HỌC NÓI
TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NHIỆM VỤ CHIẾN LƯỢC, ĐẠI
HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10


Hanoi, 2013
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
***********************


NGUYỄN THỊ PHÚC

THE USE OF TEAMWORK ACTIVITIES IN THE
ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS AT INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD PROGRAM, VIETNAM NATIONAL
UNIVERSITY, HANOI
(SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM TRONG GIỜ HỌC NÓI
TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NHIỆM VỤ CHIẾN LƯỢC, ĐẠI
HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI)

M.A MINOR THESIS



Field: English Language Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10
Supervisor: Tô Thị Thu Hương, Ph.D


Hanoi, 2013

i
DECLARATION
I hereby state that I: Nguyễn Thị Phúc, being a candidate for the Master of
Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the University relating to the
retention and use of Thesis deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in
the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in
accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the
care, loan or reproduction of the paper.
I hereby declare that all the information in this paper was obtained and

presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. As required
in the rules, I fully cited all the sources of the results that were not original to
this work.


Signature

Nguyen Thi Phuc






ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis could not be completed without the help, full support and
encouragement of all the people who deserve my deepest gratitude.
First and foremost, I would like to send my special thanks to my supervisor,
Dr. To Thi Thu Huong, a senior lecturer at HULIS for giving me precious
comments and suggestions right from the beginning of my research.
Second, I would like to thank my former lecturer, Ms. Nguyen Thanh Ha,
who has provided me with the useful references for my study.
Third, my sincere thanks also go to the students and teachers of English at
International Standard Program (ISP), Vietnam National University, Hanoi
for their full support in completing the questionnaires for my survey.
Last but not least, I wish to thank my friends who have encouraged me to
carry out this thesis and shared with me their materials, ideas as well as useful
comments on my research.

iii
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate the currently used teamwork
activities in the English speaking lessons at ISP, HULIS, VNU. It also aimed
at identifying the organization of these activities and the ways which the
teacher used to group his/her students in a team. Moreover, the researcher
wished to find out the problems in using teamwork during the English
speaking classes. This research was carried out with the participation of 75
ISP students and 5 teachers of English at this division. The instruments used
in this study included questionnaires for the students, interviews with 5
teachers, and 3 class observations.
The findings of this research revealed that teamwork activities were
frequently used in the English speaking classes at ISP. The common activities
were games, problem-solving, role plays, and discussion among which games
and role plays were the students’ favorite activities. However, most of them
lost interest in discussions. In addition, most of ISP teachers grouped the
students sitting next to each other into pairs or small groups of 3-4 or by
random groupings, they rarely gathered the students with mixed levels.
Another finding of this study was that the ways to motivate the learners
involved using authentic materials, visual aids, and giving compliments, or

gifts. The teachers also controlled the troublesome noise during the students’
teamwork by punishment.
From the main findings of the study, some recommendations were given to
the ISP students and teachers for using teamwork activities more effectively
in the English speaking lessons.



iv
ABBREVIATIONS


CLT: Communicative Language Teaching
ELT: English Language Teaching
T(s): Teacher(s)
Ss: Students
ISP: International Standard Program
HULIS: Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies
VNU: Vietnam National University

v
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
Declaration i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
Abbreviations iv
Chapter 1. Introduction 1
1. Statement of the problem and rationale for the study 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Scope of the study 2
4. Significance of the stdudy 3
Chapter 2. Literature Review 5
1. Teaching English speaking for communication 5
1.1. Activities in English speaking lessons 5
1.2. Requirements of a good English speaking lesson 8
2. Teamwork in English learning and teaching 11
2.1. Definition of teamwork 11
2.2. Organization of a team 15
2.3. An overview of teamwork using 18
2.3.1. Benefits of using teamwork activities 18
2.3.2. Challenges in using teamwork activities 20

2.3.3. Teachers' and students' roles in teamwork activities 22
Chapter 3. Methodology 25
1. Participants 25
2. Data collecting instruments 25
3. Data analysis 27

vi
Chapter 4. Results and discussions 28
1. The use of teamwork activities in speaking lessons at ISP 28
1.1. The frequency 28
1.2. The students' attitude towards different teamwork activities 29
2. Working in teams 32
2.1. Grouping students 34
2.2. The problems in using teamwork activities 36
2.3. Ways to motivate and control the class 39
3. Conclusion 39
Chapter 5. Recommendations 40
1. For the ISP teachers 40
1.1. Choosing appropriate teamwork activities 40
1.2. Grouping students to form a team 44
1.3. Solving the problems in using teamwork 44
1.4. Motivating students 45
2. For the students 47
2.1. Improving English speaking skill 47
2.2. Cooperating in a team 48
3. Summary 50
Chapter 6. Conclusion 51
1. Summary of the study 51
2. Contributions and limitations of the study 52
3. Suggestions for further studies 52

References 55
Appendices I



1
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
This chapter focuses on five main parts namely the problem statement
and the rationale for the study, the aims and objectives with three research
questions, the scope of the study; and the significance of the study.
1. Statements of the problems and rationale for the study
There is no doubt that English has played an important role in such fields as
aviation, commerce, diplomacy, science and technology, etc. This language
is considered to be a means of communication which people use to exchange
information as well as to broaden their mind. In fact, nowadays more and
more learners have attempted to achieve English levels to hunt for a better
job. Being aware of this tendency, Vietnam’s Ministry of education and
training has adopted English as an official subject at secondary schools,
colleges and even in some primary schools since the early 1990s (Thi Nguyen
Anh, English teaching in the new world, 2008).
Although English has been widely taught at colleges for long, the goal of
acquiring it for communication has not been emphasized. As a matter of fact,
the traditional teaching method Grammar Translation Method has been in
wide use at colleges, which discourages students from achieving their
communicative competence. Consequently, a large number of students are
really good at doing exercises of grammar, however, they feel confused
when communicating in the target language.
To avoid the situation above, it is high time that a new approach –
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) should be applied in order to
promote students’ ability of using English in real communications. One of

the techniques used in CLT is group work or teamwork which is regarded as
an effective way to enhance students’ communicative competence.

2
As can be observed, at ISP division of VNU, the students’ communicative
competence has been considered to be the core of learning and teaching in
this environment and it can be best revealed through their speaking ability. In
this division, one of the common techniques being used to foster students’
speaking ability is organizing teamwork activities in class. In fact, the
frequency, organization and effectiveness of these activities have not been
clarified. Hence, this study focuses on investigating the current situation of
using teamwork activities in teaching English speaking at ISP.
2. Aims of the study
This study was carried out with three aims. Firstly, it was expected to find
out different teamwork activities currently being used in English speaking
lessons at ISP. Secondly, the frequency of these activities and the teachers’
ways to use them were also identified. Next, this study aimed to identify
students’ attitudes towards each kind of activities in their lessons. Last but
not least, the problems of using these activities for both the teachers and
students in carrying out this technique were carefully analyzed to reveal the
findings. In a nutshell, all the objectives of this study could be summarized
into these three following research questions:
1. What kinds of teamwork activities are currently used in English
speaking lessons at ISP?
2. What are the students’ attitudes towards these activities?
3. What are the problems in using these teamwork activities?
3. Scope of the study
As mentioned in the title, this study focused on the use of teamwork
activities as a means to improve the students’ oral skill in their English
speaking lessons. The researcher spent time and effort investigating how they

3
were organized and used only for English speaking lessons, not in the other
English lessons. Therefore, in this paper, speaking lessons refer to the ones
carried out in English, not in other languages.
In terms of participants, the researcher attempted to investigate a
certain number of the chosen students at pre-intermediate English level at ISP.
In addition, ISP teachers in charge of their speaking lessons were also the
important participants in this research.
4. Significance of the study
With reference to the significance, this study is supposed to benefit the
teachers and students of the surveyed division in particular, and others in the
same conditions. As for ISP students, it is expected that they will be aware of
the benefits of teamwork activities in their speaking lessons, hence, the
importance of tight cooperation with their partners to achieve their
communicative competence best under their teacher’s directions will be
highly noticed. As for the teachers, this study is assumed to provide the
strategies in designing and carrying out teamwork activities appropriately in
English speaking lessons. Furthermore, with its findings through thorough
analysis, this study is believed to be such a reliable reference for all those who
are concerned about this matter.








4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter discusses the theories related to speaking lessons and the
technique of using teamwork in the light of cooperative learning.
1. Teaching English speaking for communication
1.1. Activities in a speaking lesson
It is undeniable that designing and organizing activities for speaking
plays a leading role in fostering student’s use of English in real
communication. With the aim of enhancing the effectiveness of a speaking
lesson, Harmer (1991, pp.36-37) suggested these following activities, all of
which were organized for small groups of students.
Discussions
This activity is followed by a content-based lesson. More specifically,
students study their reading or listening comprehension in each unit of their
textbook under teacher’s control to gain the general knowledge of the topic.
After that, the whole class will be divided into small teams of four or five to
get involved in the discussion. Teachers should provide their students with
controversial situations so that they can freely express their different ideas, for
instance, “Parents should allow their children to play video games. Do you
agree or disagree? Why?” Teachers should notice that they should master the
time excellently so that as many students have a chance to present their
teams’ opinions as possible by giving them a limited time to finish their task,
to share their ideas before the class as well as to get comments from their
teacher. “This activity fosters critical thinking and quick decision making”,
Harmer affirmed the strength of discussion in his book. In this activity,
students also learn how to negotiate with the others by justifying themselves
in a polite way when their idea is different from the other groups. Also

5
according to Harmer, students should always be encouraged to ask questions,
support their partners or check for clarification.

Problem solving and decision making
Problem solving and decision making help the students to develop their
critical thinking and creativity. As a matter of fact, to solve the situations or
problems given by the teacher, the students cooperate with their partners
within a limited period of time to find out the appropriate solutions. As for
this activity, small teams of 3-4 students should be formed to quickly solve
the given problem, especially the challenging ones. The team members may
have different solutions; however, they will negotiate with one another to find
out the best one.
Games
It is obvious that games are the best choice to motivate the students,
especially in the speaking lesson. Teachers often use games in the lead-in part
to lead their students to the topic quickly and effectively. Students themselves
are in favor of these activities as they do not have to endure any pressure
during the lesson. There are some common kinds of games such as
crosswords, gap fillings, jumbled words or matching, etc. However, a game
should not take so much time, in fact, 5-10 minutes is enough for each
because the time for each speaking period is ranging from 40- to 50 minutes.
The rest of the time should be spent on the other activities as well.
Role Plays
In Harmer’s study, he clarified that role-play is a situation in which
students pretend they are in "various social contexts" and have a variety of
social roles. In these activities, teachers provide students with such
information as who they are and what they think or feel. For example,
teachers assign each student a role; “You are a hotel receptionist and you are a

6
customer ….”. It can be seen that students gain much from taking part in this
activity. Moreover, role play is also a kind of entertainment which makes
them feel relaxed and find themselves more creative. What is more, they have

an opportunity to practice English speaking, particularly improve their
vocabulary and pronunciation. Familiar situations could be assigned in class
in the form of teamwork. However, for complicated ones, it is better to give
the students enough time to do their rehearsal, probably at home to save time.
Stimulations
Stimulations are somewhat similar to role-play; however, the realistic
environment created in these activities makes stimulations different from role-
play. In stimulations, students bring their prepared items to class to create
their own situation, i.e., a student who is going to act as a singer can bring a
microphone and music player, or even put on their make-ups to perform
before the whole class. It was stated in Harmer’s book that these activities
increase the hesitant students’ self-confidence and entertain the whole class.
In fact, the more natural the students’ performances are, the more successful
the speaking lesson is.
Information Gaps
In this activity, it is suggested that students should work in pairs. To
make it clearer, one student owns the information that the other does not have
and two members in each pair will share or exchange their information.
However, teachers should promote their students to use the target language
when they exchange information. If so, everyone has the opportunity to talk
extensively in English when they try to negotiate with each other.
Brainstormings
With the aim of activating students’ critical thinking, teachers give a
topic or a situation for small groups of students to produce ideas in a limited

7
time. In this activity, students can freely share their new ideas with one
another and then they negotiate to give out the best ideas to present before the
class.
Storytelling (picture narrating)

Brainstorming fosters students’ critical thinking whereas storytelling
helps foster their creative thinking. Teachers provide their students with a
series of pictures and ask them to invent a story based on the main episodes or
details presented in each picture. Thanks to this, students can create different
interesting and surprising details to make their story fascinating based on their
imagination. It is recommended that this activity should be organized as a
competition in which every group of students tries to win the prize. This, with
no doubt, plays such an important role in motivating students as everyone
wants to become the champion and to be appreciated by their teacher.
Interviews
Students should work in pairs or in teams of three or four to carry
out this task. In this activity, teachers will provide their students with a list of
topics based on the theme and content presented in the textbook. Each team
will choose one topic to conduct their interview in which one student is the
interviewer and the other(s) will be the interviewee(s). They have to prepare
questions for the interview and try to answer them in a given period of time.
After discussing, each group will be asked to present their products to the
class. This kind of oral activity gives students a chance to practice their
speaking skills, hence, develop their competence.
Reporting
Each team of students is assigned with their task that they should carry
out at home. The task is reading a newspaper or magazine at home and trying
to summarize its content in their own words. After that, the representative of

8
each team will be called to present their shared report in front of the whole
class. Besides, the other members can support their partner during the
performance. To motivate the students, teachers may allow them to talk about
their own experience, which is also called “reporting”.
Shared presentations

Presentations and reports are ways of communicating ideas and
information to the others. However, unlike a report, a presentation carries the
speaker’s personality better and allows the immediate interactions among the
participants. Additionally, a presentation is longer and requires more
preparations for the content before it is delivered to the audience. In order to
make a good presentation, the students need time to prepare and rehearse at
home before the class time. What is more, the teacher should ask their
students to work in teams so that they can support each other in their
preparations as well as their performance before the class.
Picture describing
In this activity, each team is expected to describe what is in the picture
which is given by the teacher. After finishing teamwork, some representatives
from each will report their shared work to the class. It is undoubted that this
activity fosters "the creativity and imagination" of the learners as well as their
public speaking skills (Harmer, 1991, p.37).
Finding the differences
This activity requires students to work in pairs. Each pair is given two
pictures which are somehow similar. The students themselves are supposed to
work together to find out all the differences between their two provided
pictures and tell the whole class afterwards.
1.2. Requirements of a good English speaking lesson
Researchers have shared the same idea that CLT is the most effective
approach to teaching English skills including speaking. In the light of CLT,

9
the student is the center of the lesson and the teacher is the instructor, a
facilitator in the classroom. The aim of using CLT is to develop students’
communicative competence so that they can communicate in the target
language in the real world. According to Harmer (2001, p.57), a good
speaking lesson depends on both teachers and students. In fact, the teacher’s

role in designing and organizing the lesson should be much more emphasized.
Teachers’ contributions
It is true that the key to a successful lesson depends on teachers’
preparations and organization. In fact, a well-prepared lesson can motivate
students even though the topic of the lesson is quite strange or difficult to
understand or even boring to them. In the light of CLT, teachers are the
"facilitators, resources and promoters" (Harmer, 2001, p.57) who instruct
their students to successfully complete their tasks and help them to achieve
their goals; however, this is not to say that they do not have any responsibility
for the lesson. As a matter of fact, before the lesson, they have to work so
hard to find out the best approach to each lesson as well as techniques to
foster students in speaking as much as possible. Researchers have
recommended that teachers should apply the learners’ cooperative learning in
speaking lessons to exploit their tight cooperation and motivate them. As
mentioned above, Harmer suggested some teamwork activities in speaking
lessons which are beneficial to the teachers and students. As for the students
of the pre-intermediate level, discussions and role-plays are the most
appropriate ones that foster them to use the target language and help teachers
control the whole class.
Students’ contributions
It is obvious that students’ participation plays the most important role in
any speaking lesson as they are the center of the lesson in the light of CLT. In
interactive and cooperative learning, the success of a lesson depends on the

10
interaction and cooperation among students, not their individual silent work
or competition. In other words, there should be no gaps between team
members in any teamwork activity. In order to achieve the shared goal, every
member has to work hard and seriously on their task and be willing to assist
their partners in solving problems or work as negotiators in the near real and

real situations.
What makes a good English speaking lesson?
In the light of CLT, learners are trained to achieve their communicative
competence; thus, the ability of using the target language in the real world is
the very first criterion to assess the process of learning and teaching. To
acquire the goal of CLT, each lesson should create a meaningful and realistic
environment, in other words, the topics and situations given to the learners
should be connected with their everyday life so that they can communicate
easily and naturally. Besides, the activities designed for each lesson must
involve the whole class in communication so that after the lesson they can use
the target language fluently and accurately. In fact, it is common that teachers
try to use teamwork activities to motivate and involve their students; however,
it does not work if the students use their mother tongue so much during their
discussion and presentation before the whole class. According to the CLT
theory, such the case to exploit teamwork activities is counter-productive. To
achieve the communicative competence, students are expected to use the
target language as much fluently and accurately as possible; hence, teachers
should encourage their students to use and practice speaking English any time
and anywhere they can, especially in the speaking lessons.




11
2. Teamwork in English learning and teaching
2.1. Definition
In English Teaching Methodology (ELT), the terms "pair work" and
"group work" become so common nowadays among language teachers and
learners since it is one of the features of CLT and also proved to contribute to
the great effectiveness of a speaking lesson. However, this study does not

attempt to adopt these terms because working in groups and working in teams
are not the same thing. According to Harmer (2001, p.116), students working
in pairs or groups can "veer away from the point of an exercise" and spend
their time on private talks. In fact, the reason for this problem is the lack of
responsibility among group members because there seems to be no thread
holding them together. At this time, pair work and group work are not
concerned about members' collaboration.
In contrast, teamwork guarantees the optimum contribution of each
member to the shared result of the whole team. Thus, teamwork-based
learning is called Interactive and Cooperative learning which is also familiar
to students and teachers in the light of CLT. This research would adopt the
theories of David and Rodger Johnson (2001) on cooperative & Interactive
learning.
Cooperative learning is simply working together to accomplish shared
goals. In cooperative activities, students reach for the outcomes that are
beneficial to themselves and to all other members. Using teamwork activities
is the instructional use of small groups in which students cooperate to
maximize each other’s learning effectiveness. More specifically, cooperative
efforts result in participants "striving for mutual benefits", or all the team
members gain from each other’s efforts. This is the activity in which “we all
sink or swim together here” (David & Johnson Rodger, 2001, p384). It is very
clear to see that one’s performance is mutually caused by oneself and one’s
colleagues.

12
In this theory, there is a "positive interdependence" among students’
goal attainments in cooperative learning situations (page 384). The students
perceive that when the other students in the learning group also fulfill their
goals, it means individuals themselves can achieve their goals In fact, it is
quite essential to distinguish cooperative learning from competitive or

individual learning. Competitive learning environment refers to a student who
works against each other to attain his/her own success of being the winner.
Therefore, there is a negative interdependence among goal achievements.
Another learning environment is called individual learning. In this type of
learning, students work alone to accomplish the goals regardless of their
peers' goals, hence, their achievements are independent.
In complete contrast with the two learning situations mentioned above,
cooperative learning brings out the benefits for every learner.
Cooperative learning
David and Johnson Rodger (2001) pointed out that cooperation
typically results in higher achievement and greater productivity; more caring,
supportive, and committed relationships; and greater psychological health,
social competence, and self-esteem. It is true that the goal achievement in
cooperative learning is shared among students, which means that the success
or failure of this member is the others’.
Below is the summary of cooperative learning given by David and
Johnson Rodger:
Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams,
each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to
improve their understanding of a subject. Each member of a team is responsible not
only for learning what is taught but also for helping teammates learn, thus creating an
atmosphere of achievement. Students work through the assignment until all group
members successfully understand and complete it.

13
Cooperative learning efforts result in participants striving for mutual benefit so
that all group members:
 Gain from each other’s efforts. (Your success benefits me and my success
benefits you)
 Recognize that all group members share a common fate (We all sink or

swim together here)
 Know that one’s performance is mutually caused by oneself and one’s team
members. (We cannot do it without you)
 Feel proud and jointly celebrate when a group member is recognized for
achievement (We all congratulate you on your accomplishment)
(David & Johnson Rodger, 2001, p.384)

These authors also provided the following elements of cooperative
learning to be set as the criteria to achieve a productive cooperative lesson.

1. Positive Interdependence
(sink or swim together here)
- Each group member’s efforts are
required and indispensable for group
success
- Each group member has a unique
contribution to make to the joint effort
because of his/her resources and/or role
and task responsibilities





2. Face –to-Face Interaction
(promote each other’s success)
- Orally explaining how to solve the
problems
- Teaching one’s knowledge to other
- Checking of understanding

- Discussing concepts being learned





14
- Connecting present with past
learning

3. Individual & Group
Accountability
(No hitchhiking, no social loafing)
- Keeping the size of the group
small. The smaller the size of the
group, the greater the individual
accountability may be.
- Giving an individual test to each
student
- Randomly examining students
orally by calling on one student to
present his/her group’s work to the
teacher (in the presence of the group)
or to the entire class
- Observing each group and
recording the frequency with which
each member contributes to the group’s
work
- Assigning one student in each
group with the role of checker. The

checker asks other group members to
explain the reasoning and rationale
underlying group answers.
- Having students teach what they
learned to someone else.



4. Interpersonal & Small-Group
Skills


15
(Social skills must be taught)
- Leadership
- Decision-making
- Trust-building
- Communication
- Conflict management skills


5. Group Processing
- Group members discuss how well
they are achieving their goals and
maintaining effective working
relationships
- Describe what member actions are
helpful and not helpful
- Make decisions about what
behaviors to continue or change

(Chart summarized by David & Johnson Rodger, 2001, pp. 385-389)

In brief, it is proved that cooperative learning environment promotes
the learners to develop their communicative competence easily and quickly in
the light of CLT.
2.2. Organization of a team
 Ways to divide the whole class into small teams
Groupinging students by interests
Teachers can allow those who are interested in the same topic to work
together. By working in this way, do they easily motivate their students to
show their real interest in the chosen topic. It is vital that teachers give out a
list of different topics related to the lesson so that the students have more

16
chances to choose and then form a team of the same interest. However, the
teachers should notice that in some cases, there are so many students sharing
the same interest, which makes it difficult to group them. To solve this
problem, the teachers should ask their students to form small teams of three or
four or even five, there can be different ones of the same interest.
Grouping students by different abilities
The fact that students can assist each other to achieve their learning
goals is the aim of this method. A team of different abilities involves excellent
students, good ones as well as slow ones. In each activity, these students work
together to complete their task, hence, students of advanced level will help
those of the lower one to improve their English speaking. For example, when
this one does not know how to express his or her idea in English, the other

ones can help him or her and gradually, this one’s ability of using English will
be much developed.
Convenient grouping
To save time in class, teachers tend to group the students sitting next to
each other to form a team. These students know and understand each other
much better than those who sit far from them, therefore, they can easily form
a strong team by cooperating tightly with each other to complete the assigned
task.
Random student groupings
This is the most common way of grouping as it is considered to be fair
among students. Random student groupings can be done by having students
count off, pair up or cast lots. There will be no change and no argument when
this method is used.



17
 The size of a team
What “team” means is more than one; this is to say ones gather together
to share their ideas or to solve problems. According to Jacobs and Hall
(1994), even two people can form a team; however, how many people in a
team should be the best? Also according to Jacobs and Hall, the smaller the
team is, the more each member talks and the less chance that someone will be
left out. Additionally, as for smaller teams, all the members can be easily
controlled or they require fewer management skills and decisions can be made
faster with a few ideas from the members.
Teams of two members
In his action research (1996), William Pellowe affirmed that activities
for teams of two members or pair work activities are an integral aspect of
many teachers’ approach to language teaching. He noted that “pair” refers to

teams of 2 or 3 (as for classes of odd numbers of students, there must be a
team of three).
Likewise, according to Jaques (2000, pp.52-53), doing a small team
activity is one way to “change the pace” in the classroom. The aim of this
division is to generate ideas, increase students’ confidence in their answers,
and encourage broad participation in a plenary session. By using this strategy,
the students have a chance to “validate” their ideas in pairs before sharing the
ideas with the whole class (Jaques, 2000). Hence, shy students will feel more
confident to participate in activities.
Teams of three, four or five
When students face a challenging task, it is necessary that they need
more help from others. In this case, pair work is not a good idea; instead, the
size of teams should be bigger with three, four or five members. The team
leader will be responsible for dividing tasks for each member, at the same