An investigation into the perceptions and actual behaviors of the teachers and the students at the faculty of Foreign Language of Ho Chi Minh City University of20150227.PDF

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Table of contents
PART I: INTRODUCTION………………………… ………………….… ………… 1
1. Rationale 1
2. The purposes of the study…… 2
3. Research questions 2
4.Methods of the study 2
5. Scopes of the study 3
6. Design of the study 3

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Communicative language teaching 5
1.2. Group work 6
1.2.1. Definitions of group work 6
1.2.2. Advantages and disadvantages of group work 7
1.2.2.1. Advantages of group work 7
1.2.2.2 Disadvantages of group work 8
1.2.3. Teacher’s roles in carrying out group work 8
1.2.4. How to organize group work in speaking lessons 8
1.2.5. Group formation 10
1.2.6. Group Size. 11
1.3. Perception and behavior 11
1.3.1. Definition of perception 11
1.3.2. Definition of behavior…………………………………………………………12

1.3.3. Relationship between perception and behavior in teaching and learning
language 13
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 15
2.1. Background of the study 15
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2.1.1. Description of the students at FFL, HUI 15
2.1.2. Description of the teachers at FFL - HUI.…………………… …… 15
2.1.3. Description of the physical setting … 16
2.1.4. Description of the subject matter ………………………………………….16
2.2. Design and data analysis 16
2.2.1. The student sample 16
2.2.2. The teacher sample 17
2.2.3 Research instruments 17
2.2.4. Procedure…………………………………………………………… ……18

. CHAPTER 3: RESULTS
3.1. Questionnaire results………………………………………………… ………19
3.1.1. The teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the best way to teach and learn
speaking in class 19
3.1.2. The students’ feelings when they work in groups 20
3.1.3. The teachers’ perceptions of the appropriate time for each group work
activity…………………………………………………………………………… …… 21
3.1.4. The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of preferred group
members 21
3.1.5. The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of the most appropriate number of
members in each group 22
3.1.6. The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of the benefits and the weaknesses
of group work for improving speaking skill 23
3.1.7. The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of the things should be done by the

instructor before activity………………………………… ………………………… … 25
3.1.8. The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of the things should be done by
the instructor during activity 25
3.1.9. The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of what the teachers should do
after activity ………………………………………………………………… ……… 26
3.1.10. The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of the difficulties when carrying
out group work 26
3.2. Class observation 27
CHAPTER 4: MAJOR FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS…………………… 32
4.1. Major findings …………………………………………………………………….32
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4.2. Recommendations ……………………………………………………………… 36

PART III. CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………………… 43
References
Apendix A- Teacher questionaire
Apendix B- Student questionaire
Apendix C- Observation sheet
Apendix D- Collected data

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ESL: English as a Second Language
EFL: English as a Foreign Language
FFL: Faculty of Foreign Languages

HUI: Ho Chi Minh University of Industry
CLT: Communicative Language Teaching
L1: First language
L2: Second language






















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PART I INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale
English has been widely used in many areas such as politics, economics, tourism,
electronics, telecommunication, culture and science and technology. English is not only a
means but also a key to accessing the latest achievements of science and technology.
Therefore, it is necessary for many Vietnamese to have a good command of English to
satisfy the growing needs in a developing country like Vietnam.
Speaking is an essential skill for English as a second or foreign language
(ESL/EFL). For many, speaking is the most important to master. With strengthened
speaking skills, ESL/EFL speaker will make greater progress and attain greater
development in all academic areas.
Being a teacher of English at Faculty of Foreign Language – Ho Chi Minh
University of Industry (FFL-HUI), the researcher is well aware of the importance of using
group work to help energize the speaking class. Like many other teachers working here,
however, the researcher has also faced many challenges in organizing and managing group
work during English speaking lessons. For instance, the noise created by students when
they work in groups, student‟s laziness, students‟ use of their mother tongue, etc.
In fact, there is a close relationship between one‟s perception and his/her behaviors.
Yu (2004) stated that teachers' perceptions "construct" their practices, which in turn, lead
to whatever progress both the learners and the teachers achieve. Practice and progress in
language learning and teaching will re-construct teachers' perceptions of L2 development.
Teachers need to reflect upon their own ideas and practices to be better informed. Dewey
(1933) argued that teachers should be reflective-practitioners through questioning the
beliefs and methods in their own experimental approach to schooling - psychology and
sociology being tools or resources for the construction of new educational hypotheses to be
tested against experience.
To meet the increased needs of teachers and students, at FFL- HUI, the author of
this study is determined to choose this area to do research on. This study is intended to
make a modest contribution to investigating what the teachers‟ and students‟ points of
views about group work activities and what they really do before, during and after this
activity. The results of the study, hopefully, enhance the flexibility of using group work to

create positive, dynamic and effective atmosphere in English speaking (speaking) lessons,
and more importantly improve students‟ oral practice of English.
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For all of the reasons above, it would be necessary to have an investigation into the
students‟ and the teachers‟ perceptions of using group work to improve English speaking
skill and their classroom practice respectively. By doing so, we could recommend some
techniques to increase the effectiveness of teaching and learning English speaking by using
group work at the FFL-HUI. It is hoped that this study will reveal issues concerning
teaching speaking by group work and provide classroom English teachers with an in-depth
understanding about the procedure of organizing group work to teach speaking effectively.
2. The purposes of the study
The first purpose of this study was to examine teachers‟ and students‟ perceptions
of using group work to teach and learn English speaking at the FFL-HUI. That is to say,
the researcher aimed at finding how the participants at the chosen setting think about the
effectiveness of this activity to improve English speaking skill for the learners. Moreover,
the study also aimed at investigating the actual behaviors of the participants when group
working in the real lessons to compare with their perceptions. Finally, the results of this
study helped to facilitate the application of group work in teaching and learning speaking
to improve the effectiveness of speaking lessons at the FFL-HUI.
3. Research Questions
In the study, the following research questions are posed:
1.a What are FFL-HUI teachers‟ perceptions of group work in English speaking class?
1.b What are FFL-HUI students‟ perceptions of group work in English speaking class?
2.a What are the teachers‟ actual behaviors when group working in English speaking
class?
2.b What are the students‟ actual behaviors when group working in English speaking
class?
3. How to further improve the effectiveness of group work in speaking lessons at FFL-

HUI?
4. Methods of the study
To achieve the aims of the study, a mixed method combining both qualitative and
quantitative styles was used.
The data for the research was collected from the third- year students and the teachers
who have experienced in teaching speaking at FFL-HUI by survey questionnaires, oral
interviews and classroom observations.
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Both qualitative and quantitative analysis methods were used to deal with the collected
data. Data from questionnaires were processed quantitatively for descriptive statistics. On
the basis of those statistics, the researcher can give comments, recommendation,
conclusions about the perceptions of the teachers and the students of group work in
speaking lessons at FFL-HUI, thus answering research questions 1.a and 1b. To answer
research questions 2.a, 2.b, and 3, a qualitative method using an “interpretive model”
(Hatch 2002: 179) was employed to analyze data collected from the researcher‟s interviews
and observations of the speaking English classes in the setting to find out the participants‟
actual behaviors when they work in groups in the classrooms and recommendations for
further improvement.
5. Scope of the study
Group work can be applied to improve all of the four skills in learning language,
speaking, listening, writing and reading, but the study only focuses on speaking skill.
Moreover, it is not the researcher‟s intention to investigate the perceptions and behaviors
of all the teachers and the learners in the FFL-HUI about this activity. Instead, the
researcher only intends to draw a brief overview of the point of view and actual behaviors
of the teachers who have experienced in teaching speaking and of the third-year students in
the FLL-HUI about group work. The reasons for this choice were that the teachers having
experiences in teaching speaking can give clearer opinions about this activity as they have
used it to teach speaking, so that they can understand what should be done to improve the

effectiveness of group work. Meanwhile, only the third- year students were chosen to
investigate since these learners have had nearly 3 years at the college so they get used to
learning at the higher level. Furthermore, the objectives of the training syllabuses for the
third-year students are to help the learners improve communicative skills rather than
improve pronunciation or vocabulary at all.
6. Design of the study
The study consists of three main parts:
Part I, Introduction, presents the rationale, purposes, research questions, scope, methods
and the design of the study.
Part II, Development, is organized into four chapters.
- Chapter 1, Literature review, reviews such basic concepts and knowledge relevant
to the study such as Communicative Language Teaching approach, some basic
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factors of group work as well as theory of perception and its importance in
language teaching.
- Chapter 2, Methodology, provides an overview of the current situation of teaching
and learning speaking at FFL-HUI. Sampling, Instruments and Procedures for Data
collection and analysis are also presented in this chapter.
- Chapter 3, Results, presents the research results,
- Chapter 4, Recommendations, discusses the major findings of the research and also
suggests some recommendations to further improve the effectiveness of group work
in teaching speaking at FFL-HUI.
Part III, Conclusion, summarizes the major findings and suggestions. The limitations of the
study and recommendations for further studies are also included in this part.
References and appendices complete the thesis.

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PART II DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter consists of 3 sections which review major theoretical background that the
researcher based on when carrying out the thesis. Section one deals with the issues of
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) which is intended to be discussed in terms of
CLT charateristics and communicative activities. Section 2 concerns some concepts related
to the study of factors that affect the effectiveness of group working such as definition of
group work, advantages and disadvantages of using group work in English speaking
lessons, students and teachers‟ roles, how to organise groups, form groups. The last section
in chapter one focuses on reviewing scholars‟ ideas of perception and behavior as well as
their relationship in language teaching and learning.
1.1. Communicative language teaching
The Communicative Approach emerged in the early 1970s as a result of the work
of the Council of Europe experts (Al-Mutawa and Kailani, 1989). However, it can be
traced back to the work of Chomsky in the 1960s, when he advanced the two notions of
'competence' and 'performance' as a reaction against the prevalent audio-lingual method
and its views. These two concepts were developed later on by Hymes, into a
„communicative competence' which refers to the psychological, cultural and social rules
which discipline the use of speech (Hedge, 2000).
Dimensions of communicative competence which are identified in the literature

include: linguistic or grammatical competence, sociolinguistic or pragmatic competence,
discourse competence, strategic competence (Richards & Rogers, 1986; and Hedge,
2000), and fluency (Hedge, 2000). Communicative Language Teaching is best considered
as an approach rather than a method (Richards & Rogers, 1986). Within language
teaching methodology, a distinction is often made between methods and approaches, in
which methods are held to be fixed teaching systems with prescribed techniques and
practices, whereas approaches represent language teaching philosophies that can be
interpreted and applied in a variety of different ways in the classroom (Rogers, 2001).
Learner-centeredness is a key point of CLT. Students in this approach are seen to
be able to play a more active and participatory part than in traditional approaches.
Therefore, the roles of the teachers will be re-defined with the charge of activity
organization because each learner is thought to have unique learning styles, needs and
goals, which should be reflected in the design of the method of instruction. (Richards and
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Rodgers, 2001).
In conclusion, CLT can be characterized by the following features:
- An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target
language
- The introduction of authentic texts into 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.
(Nunan, cited in Brown 1994a:78)
1.2. Group work
1.2.1. Definitions of group work

According to Doff (1988:137), in group work, the teacher divides the class into small
groups working together (usually four to five students in each group) and all the groups
work at the same time. Nolasco and Arthur (1998) defines that group work is a number of
people (usually more than two) assigned a task together and they will work on it
cooperatively. Richards and Platt (2010; 163 - 164) considers group work in language
teaching is a learning activity which involves a small group of learners working together.
The group may work on a single task, or on different parts of a larger task. Richards also
discusses that this teaching activity has three characteristics: first, a small number of
students (two to twelve) meet together; second, they choose, or are given, a common topic
of problem and a goal or objective; third, they exchange and evaluate information or ideas
about the topic.
In short, group work is a cooperative learning activity which involves from more
than two students up to twelve students. The group-members work together to carry out an
activity given by the instructor or chosen themselves. In a language lesson, the students are
more comfortable when sitting in groups; however, they have certain linguistic targets to
reach. There are a lot of activities for them to get the target. More importantly, although
they work cooperatively, each member in the groups has their own responsibilities and
targets.
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1.2.2. Advantages and disadvantages of group work
1.2.2.1. Advantages of group work
Martine (2005) states that there are four main advantages of small group work in
language classes:
- Group work increases students’ talking time
Long and Porter (1985) estimated that in a 50 minute lesson with 30 students, if
the students talked only to the teacher, they would get 30 seconds of talking time
per lesson. They calculate that this equals “just one hour per student per year” (p. 208).
Therefore, using group work quite simply substantially increases the opportunities the

students get to speak English.
- Group work mimics typical ‘real’ English conversations.
The language learning classroom can never accurately replicate the experience of
using a language in an authentic context. Therefore it was with caution that we used the
word „real‟ regarding this advantage. However, it is important to try to create as
genuine a language learning environment in the ESL/EFL classroom as possible. The
goal of communicative teaching which utilizes activities like these is to establish a
truthful exchange of meaningful communication.
- Group work creates a more secure and positive classroom atmosphere.
Taking risks and making errors is all part of effective language learning.
However, in a small group or as part of a pair, there is a sense of security because they
are working with their classmates to come up with an answer or accomplish a task.
Group work can create a positive atmosphere in the classroom (McDonough and Shaw,
1993; Martin, 2005). It can also encourage independent learning and motivate learners to
work co-operatively (Johnson, 1995).
- Group work is more fun.
Group work gives the students more speaking time and allows them to use a greater
variety of English to express what they really want to communicate. This type of work
usually motivates students because it is quite simply more fun to work and talk with your
classmates than it is to do tasks individually. By making lessons and activities more fun
we can stimulate students not just to come to class but to also enthusiastically contribute to
their own learning.
1.2.2.2. Disadvantages of group work
According to Martine (2005), there are three main drawbacks of group work:
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- The teacher may feel like they are losing control of the class.
When students work in groups, it is possible that they can make a lot of noise that makes
the teacher hard to control.

- Students will speak only in their L1
Some students may be lazy to speak L2 because they are not afraid of being
punished.
- Teachers are often concerned that students will pick up incorrect English from other
student.
In small groups the teacher is not always on hand to correct errors and
mistakes. Therefore, students will use incorrect or pick up unusual English from other
students.
Although there are still some weaknesses of using group work in teaching
language, the benefits far outweigh them. Instead of being dependent on the teacher,
students get used to helping and learning from each other in a non-threatening
environment. Meanwhile, the teacher is left free to discreetly monitor progress and give
help, advice and encouragement where and when is needed.
1.2.3. Teacher’s roles in carrying out group work
Harmer (1991) says that the teacher plays such different roles in group work as an
organizer, a controller, an assessor, a prompter, and a participant. According to Kay &
Christison (1987), important teacher‟s role in carrying out group work is as an instructor,
a consultant, a supervisor, a co-communicatior, and a controller, giving instructions for
the job duties, encouraging them actively to participate in learning process and to interact
with each other, helping them with their difficulties in linguistics matters as well as
background knowledge. The teacher is active, marking, remaining sensitive to the
atmosphere and the pace of the groups and noting persistent for remedial teaching. If the
task is seen to be going drastically wrong, they will stop it and revert to some form of
practice before starting group work again.
1.2.4. How to organize a group work activity
Ur. (1996:234) suggested four main steps to organize group work, namely presentation,
process, ending and feedback.
- Presentation
Ur. (1996) appreciates the role of presentation of group work. In his opinion, the
instructions given at the beginning are crucial; if the students do not understand exactly

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what they have to do, there will be time-wasting and lack of effective practice, possible
loss of control.
- Process
Teacher‟s job during the activity is to go from group to group and monitor and either
contribute or keep out of the way-whichever is likely to be more helpful, therefore, teacher
decides to intervene.
- Ending
If a time limit is set, this will help the teacher draw the activity to close at a certain
point. In order to do the ending well, the teacher should set an appropriate time-limits and
it is beter to end group work while the whole class are still enjoying it and are interested in
only just beginning to flag.
- Feedback
This period allows teacher to check whether the activity is successful, it meets the
target goal set beforehand and, more importantly, helps teacher check students‟
understanding of the activity. A feedback session usually takes place in the context of full-
class interaction after the end of the group work.
Harmer (1999) suggests 3 steps to organize a group work activity: before activity,
during activity and after activity.
- Before activity
Teacher makes students feel enthusiastic about what they are going to do. They need
to understand what they are going to do, and they need to be given an idea of when they will
have finished the task they are going to get involved in.
The important thing about instructions is that students should understand and agree
on what the task is. To check what they do, we may ask them to repeat the instructions, or,
in monolingual classes, to translate them into their first language.
- During activity
While students are working in groups, teachers have a number of options. They

could, for instance, stand at the front or the side of the class (or at the back or anywhere else
in the room) and keep an eye on what is happening, noting who appears to be stuck or
disengaged, or about to finish. In this position, we can „turn in‟ to a particular group from
some distance away. The teachers can then decide whether to go over or help that group.
- After activity
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It is vital that constructive feedback on the content of student work can greatly
enhance students‟ future motivation. The feedback that teachers give on language mistakes
is only one part of that process.
1.2.5. Group formation
Optiz (1998) suggests that we can put the learners in equal ability groups since this
will be more effective than asking the good and bad learners to work together. Groups may
also be formed randomly (Dunne & Bennett, 1990) and this is useful when groups are
formed regularly and the teacher wants the learners to work with different individuals each
time. Pollard (2002) suggests that groups can be formed on the basis of age, attainment,
interest, and friendship.
I-Jung (2004) suggests three major methods to form groups in class namely:
random, student – selected and teacher – selected groupings.
- Random grouping
Random grouping is often used for in-class activities because of its readiness and
convenience. Randomly assigned groups ignore the differences among students, such as
their language level, learning styles and abilities.
- Student – selected grouping
Student – selected grouping is probably the most preferred option by learners.
Students often cluster with good friends; Students are more likely to participate in activities
if they feel they are among friends. When engaging in group work, learners feel more
comfortable taking risks, making mistakes, and enjoying themselves.
- Teacher – formed grouping

Teacher – formed grouping is acknowledged by most teachers as requiring the most
amount of careful planning. When forming groups, teachers take into account students‟
prior achievements, level of preparation, work habits, learning preferences and so forth.
In another study, John Honeyfield (1991) suggests some criteria for the formation of
groups that teachers should follow:
- Free grouping: Students make their own decision about who to work with.
- Same proficiency level grouping: students of about the same proficiency level are
grouped together.
- Mixed proficiency levels grouping: Students are grouped so that each group has a mix
of proficiency levels
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- Random grouping: Students are allocated to groups in some random way, e.g. on the
basis of who is sitting next to whom in the class.
- Grouping based on other differences: in a mixed class, students are grouped so that each
group has a mix of other characteristics, e.g. sex, age, nationality, mother tongue or ethnic
origin.
1.2.6. Group size
The smaller the group, the more each member talks and the less chance there is that
someone will be left out. If time is short, smaller groups can usually do an activity more
quickly. Smaller groups also require few group–arrangement skills. Thus, when starting
with cooperative learning, groups of two or three may be the best. On the other hand, the
smaller the groups, the more groups there are, so the teacher has more monitoring to do and
the less practical it is to have group reporting back to the class.
Four – member group is suggested by Honeyfield (1991), I-Jung (2004) and Ngoh
(1991). Four members in a group might lead to more interesting and challenging tasks, with
a wide range of opinions being expressed, and more negotiation required for the group
members to reach agreement. Six should be the maximum number of participants in most
small groups (Honeyfield, 1991; I-Jung, 2004).

1.3. Perception and behavior
1.3.1. Definition of perception
Perception may be defined from physical, psychological and physiological
perspectives. But for the purpose of this study, it shall be limited to its scope as postulated
by Allport (1966), which is the way we judge or evaluate others. Eggen and Kauchak
(2001) gave cognitive dimension of perception; they see perception as the process by
which people attach meaning to experiences. They explained that after people attend to
certain stimuli in their sensory memories, processing continues with perception. Perception
is critical because it influences the information that enters working memory. Background
knowledge in the form of schemas affects perception and subsequent learning.
Teacher effectiveness is impeded if the teacher is unfamiliar with the body of
knowledge taught and that teachers‟ effectiveness is subject specific. The implication of
this for teachers is that they must thoroughly understand the content of what they teach.
The teacher whose understanding of topic is thorough use clearer language, their discourse
is more connected, and they provide better explanation than those whose background is
weaker. The way the students perceive the teachers in terms of their (teachers) knowledge
12


of content of subject matter may significantly affect the students‟ academic performance.
Pedagogical content knowledge depends on an understanding of a particular topic and how
to explain it in away that it will make sense to the students.
Pedagogical content knowledge implies, an understanding of ways of representing
the subject that make it comprehensive to others and an understanding of what makes the
learning of specific topics easy or difficult. Eggen and Kauchak (2001) declared that where
pedagogical content knowledge is lacking “teachers commonly paraphrase information in
learners‟ textbooks or provide abstract explanations that are not meaningful to their
students”. From evidences available in literatures it is being established why teachers‟
knowledge of subject matter is highly essential for effective teaching. Ehindero (1990)
confirmed that a teachers‟ teaching is influenced by the level of his pedagogical

knowledge, as different from his subject matter knowledge. It is to be noted that
pedagogical knowledge are not exactly the same thing as knowledge of subject matter, they
nevertheless are, intimately linked with it, because teachers‟ mastery and use of them in the
classroom will indicate the depth of their knowledge of subject matter.
1.3.2. Definitions of behavior
According to Skinner (1974), behavior is the activity of living organisms. Human behavior
is the entire gamut of what people do including thinking and feeling. Johnston and
Pennypacker (1993) discussed that behavior is that portion of an organism's interaction with
its environment that is characterized by detectable displacement in space through time of
some part of the organism and that results in a measurable change in at least one aspect of
the environment. Often, the term behavior is used to reference a larger class of responses
that share physical dimensions or function. In this instance, the term response indicates a
single instance of that behavior. If a group of responses have the same function, this group
can be classified as a response class. Finally, when discussing a person's collection of
behavior, repertoire is used. It can either pertain specifically to a set of response classes
that are relevant to a particular situation, or it can refer to every behavior that a person can
do.
1.2.3. Relationship between perception and behavior in teaching and learning
language
Brophy & Good, 1974; Hardre & Sullivan, 2008 say that teachers‟ individual
perceptions and the differences they bring to their classroom environments are becoming
13


increasingly recognized as fundamental contributors influencing the way they teach, how
they motivate and engage their students. Teachers' perceptions of what is meant by L2
learning, and what affects learning will influence everything they do both within and
beyond classroom situations. In order to make informed decisions in their day-to-day
teaching, teachers must be consciously aware of what their beliefs about learning and
teaching are. They must increase their tolerance and understanding of diverse opinions and

viewpoints in order to make the language classroom a more welcoming environment
encompassing dignity and respect for both students and teachers alike (Williams &
Burden, 1997).
Teachers' perceptions "construct" their practices which in turn lead to whatever
progress both the learners and the teachers achieve. Practice and progress in language
learning and teaching will re-construct teachers' perceptions of L2 development.



Figure 1. Inter-relationships among perception, practice and progress (Yu: 2004)
In summary, we have reviewed the theoretical background for the study of neccessarity
and techniques to increase the effectiveness of using group work in English speaking
classes. We also have emphasized the main points in CLT. In addition, the theory of
perception, behavior and the close relationship between them are also discussed carefully
in this chapter. The discussion of various issues related to st in the students‟ participation
as well as factors affecting the effectiveness of group work in English speaking classes are
also presesented carefully in the chapter. In the next chapter, we will discuss the
methodology of the study.
14

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
The previous chapter has reviewed several issues pertaining to the current study that looks
into perceptions of teachers and students at FFL-HUI on using group work to teach and
learn English speaking. This chapter reports the study that seeks answers to the following
questions:
1.a What are FFL-HUI teachers’ perceptions of group work in English speaking class?
1.b What are FFL-HUI students’ perceptions of group work in English speaking class?
2.a What are the teachers’ actual behaviors when group working in English speaking
class?
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2.b What are the students’ actual behaviors when group working in English speaking
class?
3. How to further improve the effectiveness of group work in speaking lessons at FFL-
HUI?
2.1. Background to the study
The students at FFL - HUI
The students at FFL-HUI come from so many different regions in the country. A lot
of them are from the south of Vietnam, others are from the central, even from provinces in
the north of the nation. This various background creates a variety in the classrooms in
terms of cultural features, accents, ways of thinking, habits, and their pronunciation.
Thanks to these differences, students feel excited about learning new information and
knowledge that they may not know from their friends. There are about 3000 students at the
FFL-HUI whose ages are from 18 to 22. They are following different courses including

university level (4 years long); college level (3 years long); and vocational college (3 years
long). The different levels require the flexibility in the ways to organize the lessons, teach
as well as evaluate their works.
The teachers at FFL - HUI
FFL-HUI consists of over 40 teachers of different ages. The female teachers take
80% and the male ones take 20%. The youngest teachers are about 23 years old and the
oldest are about 55. At present, about 90% of the teachers at the FFL-HUI are the Masters
of Art. The rest numbers are still Bachelors or Art. They have from 3 to 30 years of
teaching experience. A lot of them have studied overseas and got the M.A. certificates
there. The teachers at FFL-HUI are from many different areas in the country, thus, their
accents and behaviors are quite different.
The physical setting
At FFL - HUI, English teaching and learning activities are mostly carried out inside
the classrooms which are specially designed for the faculty. There are about 12 classrooms
with 16 desks in each. Every classroom is equipped with a board, a teacher‟s table, an LCD
plasma TV which can be easily used as a projector or a TV, a modern system of
loudspeakers. The desks are about 1.5 meters long and put in two parallel rows. In term of
class size, the average number of students in each class is from 30 to 35. This number is
still large in a language class.
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The materials for reference and self-study are available for both teachers and
students. In the school library, there are a number of language books which are quite
helpful for teachers and students, it takes quite a long time to find and get the materials
though. The small library at the faculty office is also available for readers in the
department. There are not many books here but it is being improved. There is a lab room at
the faculty which is really modern for the language lessons. There are about 35 computers
which are connected to Internet. The teacher‟s computer and the students‟ ones are linked
closely.

The subject matter
The subject matter, Advanced Speaking, is designed to be taught in 60 periods in class.
The main course book is „Mosaic 2‟ for the third – year students. The main objectives of
the course are to help the students feel more confident to communicate in English in
different situations and to help the students practice and develop advanced English as well
as give academic presentations. It means that the objectives of the syllabuses for these
learners do not focus on teaching a lot of pronunciation, vocabulary or grammar like at the
beginning of the course. The compulsory condition for the students to take this subject is
that they have finished the speaking 1 and speaking 2. There are five chapters which
include the topics for teaching and learning speaking. These topics are very popular in the
real life, easy to be discussed.
2.2. Samples and data collection tools
2.2.1. The student sample
60 third-year students at the FFL – HUI (including 10 males and 50 females) took part in
the questionnaire survey. These students are the ones who consent to participate in the
research. 10 students were randomly selected among these 60 for interviews to get clearer
explanations for the choice in the questionnaire.

2.2.2. The teacher sample
The researcher only aimed at finding the perceptions and behaviors of the teachers who
have experienced in teaching speaking to English-major students. Therefore, the
questionnaires were delivered to 10 teachers who have been teaching speaking English for
more than 5 years.

2.2.3. Research instruments
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Two questionnaires, one for teachers and the other for students were developed.
The former has 12 multiple – choice, open – ended questions; the later has 12 similar

questions. The questions in the two questionnaires are mainly used to explore the teachers‟
and students‟ perceptions, or the way they think about, of using group work to teach
speaking efficiently. In order to make sure that the participants give necessary and relevant
information as well as not misunderstand the questions, the questionnaires were designed
in Vietnamese and then results translated into English by the researcher.
Oral interviews were given after the researcher had analyzed the results of the
questionnaires for triangulation. The researcher carried out the interviews with 10 students
and 5 teachers. All of them are the members who did the questionnaires and randomly
chosen. The purposes of interviewing are to get clearer explanations for the choices in the
questionnaires.

2.2.4. Procedure
Data were collected and analyzed in the following steps:
- Delivering questionnaires to the 10 teachers and 60 third-year students at the FFL-
HUI.
- Analyzing the questionnaires data by looking for and grouping the common and
recurrent themes in the data with the use of descriptive statistics.
- Interviewing the teachers and the students to get further information for the data in
the questionnaires.
- Basing on the interviews and the questionnaires, identifying the contents to observe
in the teachers‟ and the students‟ actual classroom practice.
- Collecting the data on the teachers‟ and the students‟ practices via class
observations. Observation of 10 speaking lessons was made according to designed
criteria.
- Analyzing observation data based on the observation scheme.
- Comparing the results of actual class observation with the teachers‟ and the
students‟ perceptions reported in the questionnaires and interviews.
In short, necessary issues relating to how to carry out the thesis were illustrated clearly in
the chapter 2. We have decribed specifically the real situations of the context, participants
as well as the method of collecting, analyzing the data. The following chapter will present

the major results of the study.
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19


CHAPTER 3: RESULTS
3.1. Questionnaire results
The student questionnaire results show that these students have been studying English
for about 7 to 14 years. About 60% of them have been learning for 7-9 years,
approximately 30% for 5-6 years and about 10% for 10-14 years.
From the teacher questionnaires, 100% of these teachers are the Masters of Art in
Teaching Methodology. Only three of them are males and the rests are females. The
participants have been teaching for about 7 to 10 years. The average number of students in
their classes is from 25 to 35 students. Five of the 10 teachers are chosen to interview for
further explanations for some issues in the questionnaire.
3.1.1. The teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the best way to teach and learn
speaking in class
The students' perception about the way they learn
speaking English effectively
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Students’ choices

Percentage
A. individually
B. with a partner
C. in a small group
D. with the whole class

Figure 1: The students’ perception of the way they learn speaking effectively
(by percent)
The majority of the students (54 %) want to work in groups to learn speaking. They
want to learn with their friends when practicing speaking. They explained that it is very
effective for them to work in groups when learning speaking because the better partners
can give them good advices to improve this oral skill, especially they do not feel stressed
when talking with their classmates. Working with a partner is the second interest of the
students. 38% of the participants like this way of practicing speaking. Fewer students
(22%) want to practice with the whole class because it makes they feel safer and more
secure. There are only 7.5% of the students want to practice speaking alone. They gave the
20


reason for this choice is that because they are not very confident and sociable so they are
afraid of making mistakes and being stupid. Similarly, the investigated teachers share the
same perception about the effective ways of teaching speaking.

Very effective
(%)
Effective
(%)
Normal
(%)
Not effective

(%)
Individual
10
10
50
30
In pairs
30
60
10
0
In small groups
90
10
0
0
With the whole
class
0
40
30
30
Table 1: The teachers’ perception of the effective ways to teach speaking English (by
percent)
All of the teachers agreed with the effectiveness of teaching speaking in class by
group work. Nine out of ten participants think they can teach speaking very effectively by
group work. 1 person thinks that it is an effective way to carry out an oral task.
Interestingly, none of them denied the effectiveness of this ways of teaching in order to
improve the speaking ability of the students. Thus, cooperative learning, especially, group
working is undeniably good to be used in teaching speaking for the English-major students

in class.
3.1.2. The students’ feelings when they work in groups

The students' feelings when working in groups (by percentage)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
stressed comfortable relaxed bored excited safe Others
The feelings
Percentage

Figure 2: The students’ feelings when working in groups (by percentage)
21


There are two types of feelings detected from the questionnaires: positive feelings
and negative feelings. Relaxed, excited, comfortable belong to the former type, whereas,
stressed, bored and safe belong to the later. In the first group, the numbers of the students
who are excited and comfortable take the highest proportion, 51% and 50% respectively.
About 22% of the learners feel relaxed when they are in groups with their friends. These
positive are crucially important for the learners to learn speaking because it makes them
easier to be involved into the given activities. In contrast, the proportion of students who
have negative feelings about the group work is very low. That is to say, 8.3% feel stressed,
14% are bored and 4.2% feel safe.
3.1.3. The teachers’ perceptions of the appropriate time for each group work activity
6.70%

33.30%
46.70%
13.30%
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
35.00%
40.00%
45.00%
50.00%
1 2 3 4

Figure 3: The teachers’ perceptions of the appropriate time for each group work
activity (by percent)
Nearly half of the teachers think that each group work activity should take about 15
minutes. 33% of the investigated teachers agreed that the teacher should spend about 10
minutes on each group work activity. There is a low proportion of the participants think
that more than 15 minutes is enough for each activity. The lowest percentage of the choices
belongs to the idea of 5 minutes for each activity.
3.1.4. The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of preferred group members
Most of the teachers have the same opinion about putting the students of the same
proficiency, different sexes and random groups are the effective ways to do. The highest
proportion of the teachers‟ agreement (nine out of ten teachers) belongs to the idea that
putting the students of the same proficiency level is advisable. The second highest choice
which takes the agreement of 8 out of the 10 teachers is counting to group students
randomly. 8 and 7 of the 10 teachers think that grouping the students of different sexes

Notes:
1. About 5 minutes
2. About 10 minutes
3. About 15 minutes
4. more than 15 minutes