Nâng cao các hoạt động nói tiếng Anh của sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên ngữ tại trường Cao đẳng Cộng đồng Hà Nội = Improving English speaking activities of

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

-----------o0o------------

TRẦN MỸ HẠNH

IMPROVING ENGLISH SPEAKING ACTIVITIES OF THE FIRSTYEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HA NOI
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Nâng cao các hoạt động nói tiếng Anh của sinh viên năm thứ nhất không
chuyên ngữ tại trường Cao đẳng Cộng đồng Hà Nội

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60140111

HANOI – 2014


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

-----------o0o------------

TRẦN MỸ HẠNH

IMPROVING ENGLISH SPEAKING ACTIVITIES OF THE FIRSTYEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HA NOI
COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Nâng cao các hoạt động nói tiếng Anh của sinh viên năm thứ nhất không
chuyên ngữ tại trường Cao đẳng Cộng đồng Hà Nội

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60140111
SUPERVISOR: PROF. NGUYỄN HÒA

HANOI – 2014


DECLARATION

I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled “Improving English speaking activities
of the first-year non-English major students at Ha Noi Community College” is the
result of my own research and that it has not been submitted for any other degree.

Hà Nội, August, 2014
Student‟s signature

Trần Mỹ Hạnh

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To accomplish this study, I am indebted to many people for their thoughtful help.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor,

Prof. Nguyen Hoa for his patient and enthusiastic guidance, encouragement, and

invaluable assistance throughout my research.
I am also grateful to the lecturers and all the staff members of the Faculty of
Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam
National University, Hanoi for providing me valuable lessons, support and
encouragement in fulfillment of this thesis.
My sincere thanks go to all my colleagues and my students at Hanoi Community
College. Without their enthusiasm and help, I would not have been able to conduct
my research.
I would like to express my appreciation to my friends and relatives who have
contributed in the fulfillment of this study.
Last but not least, my sincere thanks go to my dear family, my parents and my
husband for their enormous spiritual support. Their great encouragement and love
have helped me to overcome the difficulties during my study.

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ABSTRACT
This thesis is carried out to investigate the use of pair work and group work
activities to develop speaking skills for the first year non-English major students at
Hanoi Community College. It sought the answer to the question: “How can pair
work and group work contribute to improving speaking skills of the 1st year nonEnglish major students at HCC?”
The study is carried out in two classes (target class and control class ) which are
taught differently by the researcher and another teacher at HCC. One class is taught
according to the program of the course book “Lifelines - Pre-intermediate”. The
other is designed to use pair/group work activities in speaking lessons.
In this study, two data collection instruments are used: pre-test/post-test and
questionnaires. The results of the research indicate that pair/group work activities

motivate the students in their speaking lessons. After seven weeks, the students‟
speaking competence improves. Besides, the students become more interested in
pair work and group work activities. These activities help students feel confident to
speak English. These make them have high motivation in speaking lessons.
Moreover, they have more opportunities to communicate in the teaching language
in a variety of real life situation.

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

HCC: Hanoi Community College

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

TABLES
Table 1: Students‟ opinion about speaking skills
Table 2: Students‟ opportunities to speak English in speaking lessons
Table 3: The frequency of speaking activities in class
Table 4: Students‟ attitudes to the topics of speaking
Table 5: Students‟ participation in speaking lessons
Table 6: Students‟ attitudes to classroom atmosphere
Table 7: Totals (agree% + strongly agree%) measurement: Questionnaire

CHARTS
Chart 1: Results of pre-test of the target class and the control class
Chart 2 : Results of post-test of the target class and the control class
Chart 3: Comparing pre-test and post-test scores of the target class (KT1-K8)
Chart 4: Comparing pre-test and post-test scores of the control class (KT2-K8)

Chart 5 : Comparing post-test scores of the target class (KT1-K8) and the control
class (KT2-K8)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declaration .................................................................................................................. i
Acknowledgements .....................................................................................................ii
Abstract ..................................................................................................................... iii
List of abbreviations .................................................................................................. iv
List of figures and tables ............................................................................................ iv
Table of contents ......................................................................................................... v
PART A: INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1
1. Rationale ............................................................................................................................ 1
2. Aims of the study ............................................................................................................... 2
3. Research questions ............................................................................................................. 2
4. Scope of the study .............................................................................................................. 2
5. Methods ............................................................................................................................. 3
6. Design of the study ............................................................................................................ 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................................... 4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................... 4
1.1. The nature of speaking .................................................................................................... 4
1.2. Types of activities in teaching speaking skills................................................................ 5
1.2.1. Interview ...................................................................................................................... 5
1.2.2. Role - play .................................................................................................................... 5
1.2.3. Games .......................................................................................................................... 6
1.2.4. Conversation grid ........................................................................................................ 6
1.2.5. Jigsaws ......................................................................................................................... 6
1.2.6. Problem solving ........................................................................................................... 6

1.3. Pair work and group work .............................................................................................. 7
1.3.1. Definition ..................................................................................................................... 7
1.3.2. Advantages and disadvantages of using pair work and group work ........................... 8
1.3.2.1. Advantages of using pair work and group work activities ....................................... 8
1.3.2.2. Disadvantages of using pair work and group work activities .................................. 9
1.4. The roles of the teachers and students in pair work and group work activities ............ 10
1.4.1. The roles of the teachers in pair work and group work activities ............................. 10
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1.4.2. The roles of the students in pair work and group work activities.............................. 11
1.5. Criteria of an effective speaking activity ...................................................................... 12
1.6. Procedures for pair work and group work .................................................................... 12
1.6.1. Selecting and organizing activities for pair work and group work ........................... 12
1.6.2. Planning pair work and group work activities .......................................................... 13
1.7. Previous research on pair and group work.................................................................... 14
1.8. Concluding remarks ...................................................................................................... 16
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................... 17
2.1. Research question ......................................................................................................... 17
2.2. The setting of the study ................................................................................................. 17
2.3. The textbook ................................................................................................................. 18
2.4. The participants............................................................................................................. 18
2.4.1. The students ............................................................................................................... 18
2.4.2. The teachers ............................................................................................................... 19
2.5. Data collection instruments .......................................................................................... 19
2.5.1. Questionnaire............................................................................................................. 19
2.5.1.1. Reasons for choosing questionnaire ....................................................................... 19
2.5.1.2. Description of the questionnaire............................................................................. 19
2.5.2. Pre-test ....................................................................................................................... 21
2.5.3. Post-test ..................................................................................................................... 21

2.6. Data collection procedures............................................................................................ 21
2.7. Data analysis procedures: ............................................................................................. 23
2.8. Concluding remarks ...................................................................................................... 24
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .............................................................. 25
3.1. Findings and discussion from the pre-questionnaire .................................................... 25
3.1.1. Students’ opinion about speaking skills. .................................................................... 25
3.1.2. Students’ opportunities to speak English in speaking lessons ................................... 26
3.1.3. The frequency of speaking activities in class ............................................................. 26
3.1.4. Students’ attitudes to the topics of speaking .............................................................. 27
3.1.5. Students’ participation in speaking lessons. .............................................................. 27
3.1.6. Students’ attitudes to classroom atmosphere............................................................. 28
3.2. Findings and discussion from the post questionnaire ................................................... 29
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3.3. Findings from the pre-test and post-test ....................................................................... 31
3.3.1. Results of the pre-test ................................................................................................. 32
3.3.2. Results of the post-test ............................................................................................... 32
3.3.3. Comparing pre-test and post-test scores of the target class (KT1-K8 ...................... 33
3.3.4. Comparing pre-test and post-test scores of the control class (KT2-K8) ................... 34
3.3.5. Comparing post-test scores of the target class (KT1-K8) and the control class (KT2K8) ....................................................................................................................................... 34
3.3.6. The correlation between results of post-questionnaire and post-test scores ............. 35
3.4. Concluding remarks ...................................................................................................... 36
PART 3: CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 37
1. Recapitulation .................................................................................................................. 37
2. Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 37
3. Implications ..................................................................................................................... 38
4. Limitations of the study ................................................................................................... 39
5. Suggestions for further study ........................................................................................... 39
REFERENCES................................................................................................................... 40

APPENDIX ................................................................................................................ I

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PART A: INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the rationale, aims, scope, research questions, research
methods and design of the study.
1. Rationale
Nowadays, English has been used more and more widely and important in every
part of the world. It is considered to play a crucial role on the path of
industrialization and modernization of the country as well as in the process of
intergration and globalization in the world. Therefore, the need for learning it has
increased rapidly. English is a useful means they need for their future career since it
equips them with linguistic, social and cultural knowledge and provides them with
access to the modern world in the era of informatics and technology. It is used as
the official language in many powerful and developed countries. In addition, it is
also considered as the medium of communication in many fields such as science,
technology, business, education, commerce, and so on.
In Vietnam, English is also a compulsory subject to be taught and learned at schools
and universities. It plays an instrumental role. Understanding the necessity of
English in the development of the society in general and of each individual in
particular, every learner wants to be competent in English and uses it to
communicate with foreigners. That‟s why most schools now focus on developing
students‟ ability to speak English. Among the four skills in learning English,
speaking and writing are the productive skills. However, speaking is regarded as
very important for language teaching and learning. Speaking is the bridge to reach
other skills. Speaking helps learners to read better, to listen more effectively and
write more accurately. Speaking is surely the most effective means of

communication (Ur, 1996). So learners of English should have motivation and
positive attitude to learn English speaking.
At Hanoi Community College, students seem to have lost interest in learning
English and they are not active in participating in speaking activities. Teachers tried
1


to organize some activities such as pair work, group work, role play, games, etc to
stir up the atmosphere, to help students to have chances to speak English as well as
to improve their speaking skills, but they find difficulties of the use of these
activities in the speaking class. They find that their students are not very active with
these activities, sometimes some students do not want to participate in the activities
at all, they do not pay much attention to their speaking skills, they often keep quiet
in speaking lessons. Moreover they apply these activities in speaking lessons
unsuccessfully. These lead to the underachievement and have a negative effect on
students learning English as a foreign language. As a teacher of English at Hanoi
Community College, I would like to make these activities effective and successful
to help my students to master the language and have an ability to communicate
confidently in English.
For the above reasons, I choose the topic “Improving English speaking activities of
the first-year non-English major students at Hanoi Community College”. I hope that
the research will make a contribution to confirming the advantages of pair work and
group work activities in teaching and learning English and it can help other teachers
of English be aware of these advantages and apply pair work and group work
activities in their teaching.
2. Aims of the study
The aim of the study is to improve English speaking skills and develop
communicative skills for the first year non – English major students through using
pair work and group work activities.
3. Research questions

The study intends to find out the answer to the question: “How can pair work and
group work contribute to improving speaking skills of the 1st year non-English
major students at HCC?”
4. Scope of the study
The study examines how to use pair work and group work to improve the speaking
2


skills of the first year non-English major students at HCC
5. Methods
To examine the effectiveness of pair work and group work activities on teaching
and learning speaking skills, two data collection instruments are used: pre-test/posttest and questionnaires. The data collected from the questionnaires and test will then
be analyzed by SPSS version 22.
6. Design of the study
The study consists of three main parts:
Part A provides an introduction which includes the rationale, aims, scope, research
questions, methods and design of the study.
Part B provides a development which is divided into three chapters.
Chapter 1 presents some key theories related to the study such as definition of
speaking, definitions of pair work and group work. The chapter also mentions
advantages and disadvantages of using pair work and group work as well as the
roles of teachers and students in these activities.
Chapter 2 presents methodology including the background information of the
context where the study is conducted, the subjects, the instruments used to collect
data, and the procedures of data collection. Furthermore, a detailed description of
data analysis is presented; and some explanations and interpretations of the findings
of the study are given in this chapter.
Chapter 3 provides discusses the findings of the study.
Part C is the conclusion of the study and makes some recommendations on how
pair work and group work should be used to improve speaking skills for the firstyear non-English major students at HCC. It also discusses the limitation of the study

and made some suggestions for further research.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter aims to explore the theoretical background for the thesis, focusing on
the following points: nature of speaking, types of activities in teaching speaking
skills, characteristics of an effective speaking activity, pair work and group work,
advantages and disadvantages of using pair work and group work, procedures for
pair work and group work, the roles of the teachers and students in pair work and
group work activities, and the previous research on pair work and group work
1.1. The nature of speaking
There are many definitions of speaking that have been proposed by some experts in
language learning.
Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing
and receiving and processing information. In this process, speaking form and
meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants
themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes
of speaking (Brown, 1994)
According to Chaney and Burk (1998), speaking is "the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of
contexts".Bygate (1987) claims that "speaking is a skill which deserves attention as
much as the literary skills in both native and foreign languages". When students
speak in a confident and comfortable way, they can interact better in real daily
situations. Because of this, it is necessary to encourage the development of the
students' ability of fluency in spoken English. Developing fluency implies taking
risks by using language in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere-an atmosphere of trust and
support. Speaking fluently, of course, involves speaking easily and appropriately

with others.

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From some definitions above it can be concluded that speaking skill is always
related to communication. Speaking skill itself can be stated as the skill to use the
language accurately to express meanings in order to transfer or to get knowledge
and information from other people in the whole life situation.
In order to improve their students‟ participation in communicative activities in a
language classroom. Some communicative activities will be discussed in the next
section.
1.2. Types of activities in teaching speaking skills
There are many activities which can be applied in communicative English classes
through the use of pair work and group work. According to Brown (1994), Moss
(2005), Tsui (1995), various types of group activities such as interview, role-play,
games, conversation grid, jigsaws and problem-solving.
1.2.1. Interview
According to Brown (1994), interviews are very structured in terms of both the
information sought and the grammatical difficulty and variety. Using interviews in
pair work and group work students can practice the way of making questions,
express personal ideas, learning vocabulary and structures
1.2.2. Role - play
According to Richards (2005, p. 20), role-play is an activity in which students are
assigned roles and improvise a scene or exchanged based on given information or
clues. Role-play brings some usefulness to students. Firstly, it helps students master
fields of language like vocabulary, structure, pronunciation and intonation more
easily. It also gives students opportunities to practice language in various situations
not only in class but also outside classroom. Additionally, through role-play,
students are trained to deal with the unpredictable nature of language because they

act imaginary roles in a lot of situations. Moreover, role-play promotes interaction
in the classroom as well as increase motivation.
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1.2.3. Games
Games are activities that motivate most students in lessons. They always make funs
and comfortable atmosphere for the whole class when participating in class
activities. In the games, learners are free to express in the target. As a result, they
have opportunity to improve their capacity of speaking, creativity and memory.
Their grammatical knowledge and speaking fluency and accuracy enhance a lot.
1.2.4. Conversation grid
Conversation grid activities provide learners with opportunities to practice gathering
and giving the same information over and over again and a chance to negotiate
meaning (Moss, 2005). For example, to review asking and answering personal
identification questions in a family literacy class, learners can speak to classmates to
gather information.
1.2.5. Jigsaws
According to Moss (2005), jigsaws are considered to foster interaction between
learners because the „highly interactive activities” require learners to pool their
information to complete a task by questioning, explaining, requesting for
clarification.
1.2.6. Problem solving
Problem-solving activities as well as others are utilized in the class to facilitate
communicative skills. The students are often in groups, then they talk together to
find out a solution for a problem or task given. The problem solving activities
stimulate the students to talk and to listen to the others.
Harmer (1999) points out that problem solving is the kind of group activities that
encourages learners to talk or even negotiate together to find a solution to a problem
or a task. Problem solving is believed to be necessary and suited to students of all

levels. Because students are put in some situations that are similar to the real life,
they actively join in the activities because of the feeling that they are doing with
6


their language, taking the risks of experimenting what they have learned.
Additionally, the lesson can become more practical and attractive to them.
In brief, each of the above kinds of activities has its own characteristics and
strengths in classrooms. In order to increase the positive impact of these activities in
classrooms, it is teacher‟s role to select and organize them appropriately in
accordance with lesson‟s goal and objectives, learners‟ level of interest and
proficiency as well as the learning environment.
1.3. Pair work and group work
1.3.1. Definition
* Pair work:
Adrian Doff (1988, p. 137) states “In pair work, the teacher divides the whole class
into pairs. Every student works with his or her partner in pairs, and all the pairs
work at the same time (it is sometimes called “simultaneous pair work”). This is not
the same as “public” or “open” pair work, with pairs of students speaking in turn
in front of the class.”
According to Byrne (1986), there are two main types of pair work, fixed pairs and
flexible pairs. The first type is when the students work with the same partner in
order to complete task. In this kind of pairs, they will deeply understand each other
and know the other‟s ability. In the second one, students keep changing their
partners they like. They can lift their chairs freely to talk to any partners they like.
Therefore, this will make the activity more interesting and the students will feel
more comfortable.
* Group work:
According to Adrian Doff (1988, p. 37) defines group work as a process that “the
teacher divides the class into small groups to work together (usually four or five

students in each group), as in pair work, all the groups work at the same time.”

7


Brown (1994, p. 8) provides a modernized and more comprehensive definition of
group work. He states that “group work provides a context in which individuals help
each other; it is a method of helping groups as well as helping individuals; and it
can enable individuals and groups to influence and change personal,
group,organizational and community problems”. He goes on to distinguish
between “relatively small and neighborhood centre” work and “macro, societal and
political approaches” within community work, explaining that only the former may
be properly classified as group work.
1.3.2. Advantages and disadvantages of using pair work and group work
1.3.2.1. Advantages of using pair work and group work activities
Generally, students, at first, are so self-conscious that they are reluctant to speak in
the target language, especially when being listened or saw closely by a lot of
people. However, there are a lot of different ways to help students overcome such
situation. Pair work and group work activities not only provide students with
maximum speaking time and opportunity but also provide a safer, less public
environment in which the students will fell free to practice speaking in the target
language.
Brumfit (1984, p. 78) says that pair work and group work are the most effective
techniques of classroom organization which combine aspects of communication
learning and natural interaction in a stress free environment.
Pair work and group work activities help to solve the problem of large classes and
give students more opportunities to speak English in classroom. Students participate
in the lesson much more actively because they are involved in talking to their
friends exchange opinions, practising new structures more than listening to their
teacher talking. By dividing the class into groups, students get more chances to talk

than in full class organization, thus each student can say something. Ur (1996, p.
232) recommends that teachers working with larger classes should divide them into
five groups which is the most effective organization for practising speaking.
8


Students may feel less anxious when they are working in a group with a small
number of people. Particularly, timid students find it hard to speak in front of the
class and teacher in their eyes seems to be a fear. They become silent and cannot
open their mouth with an empty mind. However, when participating in pairs or
groups, they maybe find easier to share their opinions naturally. “It is generally
easier to show that you do not know, or do not understand something, in a smaller
group than in a large one.” (Norman, Levihn and Hedenquist, 1986: 6)
Richards & Lockhart (1994, p. 152) states that “through interaction with other
students in pairs and groups, students can be given the opportunity to draw on their
linguistic resources in a non-threatening situation and use them to complete
different kinds of tasks.” He also emphasizes the following advantages of pair work
and group work:
 It reduces the dominance of the teacher over the class.
 It increases the amount of student participation in the class.
 It increases the opportunities for individual student to practice and use new
features of the target language.
 It promotes collaboration among learners.
 It enables the teacher to work more as a facilitator and consultant.
 It can give learners a more active role in learning.
1.3.2.2. Disadvantages of using pair work and group work activities
According to Brown (1994) there are also some disadvantages of using pair work
and group work activities as follow:
 Learners make noise. Some teachers are reluctant to use pair work and group
work being afraid of noise or discipline problems which might occur

particularly. Indeed students make noise while working on the task; they

9


discuss things, check words and communicate with one another. However,
this is so-called “positive noise” and it does not disturb the students.
 Learners use of mother tongue. When students get excited working in pairs
or groups they sometimes use their mother tongue to express something they
are not able to express in a foreign language. In this situation, the teacher
should give them a special care and make full use of the role as a facilitator
to help them to participate in the task.


Learners make mistakes. Some teachers neglect to use pair work and group
work saying that students make mistakes trying to express their own ideas.
However, the teachers can reduce the number of mistakes before the students
start working by demonstrating the activity to the class first and by asking
pairs or groups to perform in front of the class afterwards and discussing
what they said and pointing out the most common mistakes.



Difficult to control class. When learners work in groups, the teacher may
have difficulties to control the class. The teacher can gain more control by
giving clear instruction about when to start, what to do and when to stop.

 Some learners prefer to work individually. There are many students who like
working on their own. Therefore, the teacher should help students to see that
language learning is for communicating with others and the more they

engage in such face to face communication, the more their overall
communicative competence will improve.
In conclusion, although pair work and group work have some problems, they are
still among of the most suitable ways to increase learners‟ participation in
classroom speaking activities.
1.4. The roles of the teachers and students in pair work and group work
activities
1.4.1. The roles of the teachers in pair work and group work activities
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According Harmer (2001, p. 58), the teacher is not only at the beginning or the end
of the learning process but from beginning to the end of it. The teacher is:
 Organizer: This is “one of the most important roles that teachers have to
perform is that of organizing students to do various activities” (Harmer,
2001).The teachers have to create activities that fit the students‟ skills and
abilities and put them into pairs or groups.
 Tutor: so that the students will be not misleading
 Observer: while the students are working in pair and group, the teachers go
around and give help if necessary.
 Assessor: To have a good result, the teachers have to good comments on
each pair or group‟s performance.
1.4.2. The roles of the students in pair work and group work activities
The roles of students have changed since the invention of Communicative Teaching
Approach. According to Morrow (1977, p. 71), “the learner is now concerned with
using language, not English usage. In order to do this, learners take on roles and
interact with other learners who also have roles. What they say is determined by the
roles they play, their communicative intentions and the contribution of the other
learners”.
Breen and Candlin (1980) claim that the learner serves as a negotiator – between the

self, the learning process and the object of learning. This role emerges from and
interacts with the role of joint negotiator within the group. The student should
contribute as much as he gains, and thereby he can learn in an independent way.
This fundamental role is clarified by the following set of particular roles:
 Learners regularly work in groups or pairs to transfer (and, if necessary,
negotiate) meaning in situations in which each person plays his own role.
 Learners often engage in role play or dramatization to adjust their use of the
target language to different social contexts.
11


 Learners‟ needs, styles and aims are focused on or accounted for.
 Learners are given some control; their creativity and innovation are
encouraged.
To sum up, it can be said that all of these roles help to enhance learners‟ sense of
competence and self-worth, a sense of mastery of their learning and thereby add to
their intrinsic motivation.
1.5. Criteria of an effective speaking activity
According to Ur (1996, p.120) speaking is the most important of the four skills. He
gives the characteristics of a successful speaking activity as follows:
 Learners talk a lot. As much as possible of the period of time allotted to the
activities is in fact occupied by learner talk.
 Participation is even. Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority
of talkative students: all get a chance to speak, and contribution is fairly
evenly distributed.
 Motivation is high. Learners are eager to speak, because they are interested
in the topic and have something new to say about it, or because they want to
contribute to achieving a task objective.
 Language is of an acceptable level. Learners express themselves in
utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other and of an

acceptable level of language accuracy.
1.6. Procedures for pair work and group work
1.6.1. Selecting and organizing activities for pair work and group work
As presented in 1.3, there are many types of activities for pair work and group work
such as interview, role-play, games, conversation grid, jigsaws, problem-solving
which can be used to stimulate students participate in speaking lessons. But when to

12


select them, how to organize and in which procedure largely depend on the
characteristics and goal of the practice tasks
First, according to Brown (1994), different activities such as simple question and
answer, practicing dialogues with a partner, performing certain meaningful
substitution drills should be used in pair work. To foster students to exchange ideas,
feelings or information, both pair work and group work can be used with different
activities such as interview, role-play, games, jigsaws, discussion, problem-solving.
Second, according to Hadley (1993) each task is based on specific content and
functions so in organizing activities appropriately to complete the practice tasks, it
is very important to take function, content and situation into consideration.
Third, the teacher should modify the kinds of tasks so that they are interesting and
relevant to students‟ level of proficiency.
1.6.2. Planning pair work and group work activities
In order to make pair work and group work effectively and successfully, Brown
(1994, p. 183) points out seven stages as follows
 Introduce the activity: The introduction may simply be a brief explanation
which should include a statement of the ultimate purpose so that students can
apply all other directions to the objective. For example, an introduction may
begin with “Now, in group of three, you are going to discuss…”
 Justify the use of small groups for the activity: This stage is to remind

students that using small groups help students who are reluctant to speak up
in front of the whole class have a opportunity to do so in security of a small
group.
 Model the activity: The teacher have to give as many examples to make sure
the whole class has the idea before the whole class is put into pair work or
group work. The teacher can model the activity with a learner or two and
then let other learners perform until the whole class can begin work on their
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own. This ensures that the class understands what to do and how to do it and
the teacher does not have to interrupt them to give the instruction again. It is
very important when we are carrying out a new or difficult task.
 Give explicit detailed instructions: To help students do pair work and group
work activities correctly and exactly, the teacher should give students
specific instructions including a restatement of the purpose, the rule they are
to follow, roles assigned to students and time limits.
 Divide the class into groups: According to Killen (2003), the choice of
arrangements for group work depends of five factors such as purpose of the
task, the maturity of the students, the physical facilities, the issues to be
discussed and the amount of control the teacher wishes to have over the
groups. If teacher just tells the learners to “get into pair/group”, it is not
enough. The teacher must show learners who they must work with many
times. The teacher can use techniques such as numbering off, giving out
cards categorized into related topics, separating learners according to the sex,
age, etc.
 Check for clarification: This stage ensures that all students fully understand
their task before working their groups by asking question like “What are you
doing now?” or “What do you have to do now?”
 Set the task in motion: At this stage, students are asked to get into their

groups and get started right away on the task.
1.7. Previous research on pair and group work
In recent years, there has been a lot of research on using pair work and group work
activities in teaching speaking. Pellowe (1996) modified pair/group work activities
to encourage the use of English and communication strategies. The action research
was divided into two stages. At the first stage, he investigated how much English
his students were using during pair work. At the second stage, he conducted three
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action research cycles to investigate how he could create condition under which the
students would maintain communication in English for the duration of the pair work
activity. After the action research his students highly motivate in using English and
communication strategies and the students‟ fluency much improved so that
pair/group work is considered as an effective way in improving students‟ speaking
skill.
Syamsuddin (2000) conducted an experiment to investigate the contribution of
pair/group work activities in improving students‟ speaking performance. The
subjects of the study were 60 students of SMAN 2 Maros. 30 students for control
class and 30 students for experimental class, and they were in the same level. The
data were obtained by giving pre-test, post-test and questionnaire. The result of the
study showed that the uses of pair/group work activities are successful and useful in
improving the students‟ performance compared to conventional method.
Bac (2005) conducted an experiment with the use of group work and questioning
techniques for increasing students‟ participation in communicative activities in large
classes at Thai Nguyen College of Education. She concluded that the use of group
work strongly increases the students‟ talking time and participation and reduces
teacher‟s talking time in language activities.
Chung (2008), Linh (2008) carried out their studies on pair and group work
activities. They shared the same ideas that group work activities are very interesting

and often used in their school. Pair and group work activities gave the students more
opportunities to practice the target language and they can learn from their partners
and so on. However, both teacher and students in their school have faced a lot of
challenges in implementing on managing group work during speaking lesson. For
instance, the organization of group work is noisy, teachers sometimes lose control
of the class or students tend to switch use mother tongue when not under the
teachers‟e yes and so on, from that difficulties, they suggested some

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recommendations for teachers and students at their school to make group work
successful in the speaking class.
Thu (2012) also carried out a quasi-experiment to investigate the effectiveness of
pair and group work communicative activities on teaching and learning speaking
skills, this study uses the experimental teaching of speaking as a major means of
research. In the experiment, three data collection instruments are used: pre/post-test,
questionnaires and classroom observation. The result of the research showed that
the students have positive attitudes towards pair and group work communicative
activities and pair/group work communicative activities motivate the students in
their speaking lessons.
In brief, the studies have firmly asserted the important role of pair/group work
activities in improving learners‟ speaking skills. Although they explored different
aspects of pair/group work, all suggested that the use of pair/group work in
language teaching and learning brought about great deal of benefits.
1.8. Concluding remarks
This chapter has presented all the theories relating to nature of speaking; definition
of pair work and group work, types of activities in teaching speaking skills,
characteristics of an effective speaking activity, pair work and group work,
advantages and disadvantages of using pair work and group work, procedures for

pair work and group work, the roles of the teachers and students in pair work and
group work activities; previous research on pair and group work in improving
students‟ speaking skill.

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