Organizing pair work and group work in speaking lessons

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HÓA

TRƯỜNG THPT YÊN ĐỊNH 3

SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM

ORGANIZING PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK IN
SPEAKING LESSONS

Người thực hiện: Đỗ Thị Thủy
Chức vụ: Giáo viên
SKKN thuộc môn: Tiếng Anh

THANH HÓA NĂM 2017


Table of contents
1. Introduction ………………………………………………………
1.1. Reasons for choosing the topic .…………………………...
1.2. Purposes of the study………………………………………
1.3. Objects of the study……………………………………......
1.4. Methods of the study………………………………………
2. Contents ………………………………………………………….
2.1. Theoretical background…………………………………….
2.1.1. Definition of pair work and group work………………..
2.1.2. Pair and group activities in a speaking lesson………….
2.1.3. Advantages and disadvantages of pair work and group
work…………………………………………………….
2.2. The use of pair work and group work in speaking lessons
at Yen Dinh 3 High School ……………………………….
2.3. How to organize pair work and group work effectively…..

2.3.1. Preparation for pair or group work. ……………………
2.3.2. Steps in the classroom………………………………….
2.3.3. Steps for organizing pair or group work in a speaking
lessons………………………………………………….
2.3.4. Sample speaking lesson plan applying pair work and
group work……………………………………………..
2.4. Effects of the study on teaching and learning……………..
3. Conclusion ……………………………………………………….
3.1. Conclusion …………………………………………………
3.2. Recommendation ………………………………………….
References ……………………………………………………
Appendice

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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1.

Reasons for choosing the topic

In recent decades, it is undeniable that English has become a primary
medium of international communication in commerce, transportation, banking,
tourism, technology, aviation, diplomacy, scientific research etc,. As a result,
Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training has adopted English as a
compulsory subject at schools, colleges and universities since 1990s. However,
most of the students have still been confused with the demand of communicative
competence, which derives basically from the lack of the opportunities to
practice, the limited exposure to the real language interferences, and especially
the lack of suitable teaching and learning methods. They are mainly taught with
the traditional method – Grammar Translation Method which focuses on
academic study of grammar; subsequently, students are discouraged from
promoting their overall communicative competence.
Since the onset of the communicative era, speaking has been perceived as the
most fundamental skill to acquire and also the ultimate goal of language
training; therefore, its development has become the focus of attention of both
teachers and students. However, helping students to achieve proficiency in

English language speaking in such Vietnamese classroom conditions faces a
number of difficulties. Fistly, classes are at large size. Secondly, most students
have low motivation to learn English. Besides, materials do not fulfill students’
need because many topics for speaking in the course book do not relate much to
students’ everyday conversations and hardly reflect the variety of oral
communication in real life situations. Moreover, many students are too shy to
speak in English lessons. They may have difficulty taking part in the
conversations because they suffer from saying something wrong or
incomprehensible and losing face in front of their teacher or peers. Last but not
least, students find it easier to express themselves in their mother tongue than in
English, so if they are not instructed carefully, they will not try to express their
ideas in English.
According to Nunan (2003), one of the main principles for teaching speaking
skill is that ‘teacher increase students’ talking time by letting students practice
in pair or group and limit teacher’s talking time’. Pairwork and groupwork has
long been applied in teaching but in fact the majority of students are still afraid
of speaking lessons. So what is the main cause for this – that is also the reason
why I choose the topic “ Organizing pairwork in speaking lessons” to study
with the hope of trying to find out the better way to teaching speaking lessons
effectively
1.2.

Purposes of the study.

This study is aimed at:
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- Investigating the use of pair work and group work in speaking lessons at
Yen dinh 3 High School.

- Pointing out the benefits and challenges of using pair and group work
activities
- Suggesting some effective ways of using pair and group work in speaking
lessons
1.3. Objects of study
As mentioned above, the study focusses on finding out the frequency of using
pair and group work in speaking lessons as well as the methods applied to
improve students’ speaking skill in the speaking lessons. Besides, the researcher
makes an attempt to find out the advantages and disadvantages of pair and group
work in speaking lessons as well as suggest the effective ways and methods of
using pair and group work to teach this skill. The study is carried out on forty
two grade – ten students at Yen Dinh 3 High School in Yen Dinh district and
four English teachers there.
1.4.

Methods of the study

To realize the aims of the study, the reseacher has used both quantitative and
qualitative methods. The theoretical background of the study comes from a lot of
published books by famous researchers in the field. The data for the charts has
been collected through survey questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS software.

2. CONTENTS
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2.1. Theoretical background
2.1.1. Definition of pair work and group work
The definitions of pair work have been developed over the years with the
contribution of a great number of linguistics and are brought together by Doff

(1988): ‘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.”
The definition of pairwork in this case is an activity that gives students a
chance to talk to each other, practice language together, study a text, research
language or take part in information-gap activities. They can write dialogues,
predict the content of reading texts, or compare notes on what they have listen or
seen.
In general, there are two main types of pairwork, fixed pairs and flexible
pairs, suggested by Byrne (1983). 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. Meanwhile, the second one
is when students keep changing their partners. They can lift the chair freely to
talk to any partner they like, which makes the activity more interesting.
In group work, the teacher divides the class into small groups of four or five
students to work together and all the groups work at the same time just as in pair
work (Doff 1988: 137). In this setting, students are assigned a task that involves
“collaboration and self-initiated language” (Brown 2001:177), then students
have opportunities to speak and altogether take the responsibility to pursue the
common goals.
2.1.2. Pair and group activities in a speaking lesson.
According to Brown (2001), appropriate pair activities include Dialogues,
Questions and Answers, Drills, Quick Brainstorming. Pair work enables teachers
to engage students in interactive communication for a short period of time with
minimum of logistical problems. Typical group tasks are Games, Role – play
and simulations, Drama, Projects, Interview, Brainstorming, Information gap,
Jigsaw, Problem solving and decision making, and Option exchange.
Byrne (1991: 36-102) suggests some more activities for pair and group work.

In his opinion, pair work can be used for Controlled converstion, Questionnaires
and Quizzes, Find a partner whereas group work for Discussion, Interpretation
activities, Planning activities, Invention activities and Project activities.
Moreover, Doff (1988: 211) adds Exchanging personal information activity for
pair work and Guessing games activity for group work.
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Perhaps the list of activities for pair work and group work is still lengthened
by many other researchers. For the limitation of this study, some most popular
ones will be focused on.
• Games
A game could be any activity formalizing a technique into units that can be
scored. For example, students can practice twenty questions through a guessing
game in whicj one member secretly decides he/ she is some famous person; the
rest of of the roup has to find out who, within twenty yes/no questions, with
each member of the group taking turns asking questions. The person who is “it”
rotates around the group and points are scored.
• Information gap
In this activity, students are supposed to be working in pairs. One student will
have the information that other partner does not have and the partners will share
their information. This activity serves the purposes of solving a problem,
collecting information etc,.
• Role play
Role play involves giving a role to each member of the group and assigning an
objective that participants must accomplish. In pair, for example, student A is an
employer; student B is a prospective employee; the objective is for A to
interview B. Or a group role – play might involve a discussion of a political
issue, with each person assigned to represent a particular political point of view.
• Interview

Students work in pairs or in groups of three or four to conduct interviews on a
list of topics based on the theme and content in the textbook. In each pair/ group,
one is the interviewer and the other(s) will be the interviewee(s). Their tasks are
to prepare questions for the interview and to answer them in a given period of
time. When time is over, each pair/ group will be called on to present their
results to the class.
• Problem solving
Students are requested to find out the solutions to a specified problem which
might be relatively simple (such as giving direction on a map), moderately
complex ( such as working out an itinerary from a train, plane, bus schedules),
or quite complex ( such as solving a mistery in a crime story)
• Discussion
In group discussions, students should always be encouraged to work into
small groups of four or five to ask questions, paraphrase ideas, express support,
check for clarification and so on. This activity is often carried out after students
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have completed a content –based lesson under teacher’s control to gain the
general knowledge of the topic.
2.1.3. Advantages and disadvantages of pair work and group work.
• Advantages of using pair and group work activities.
Brumfit says that pair work and group work are the most effective techniques of
classroom organiztion which combine aspect of communication learning and
natural interaction in a stress free environment (Brumfit, 1984: 78)
Pair work and group work 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, exchaging opinions, practising new
stuctures more than listening to their teacher talking. By dividing the class into
groups, students get more chances to talk than in full class organzation, thus

each student can say something. Penny Ur recommends that teachers working
with larger classes should divide them into five groups which is the most
effective organization for practising speaking. (Ur, 1996:232)
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 seem to be fear. They become silent and cannot
think of anything to say. However, when participating in pairs or groups, they
may find it easier to share their opinions.
Besides practising and consolidating the language, pair work and group work
help to integrate the class. Students learn how to cooperate with one another,
make compromise, negotiate, and respect individual with different abilities and
views, which is important for the class atmosphere and relationship with the
teacher. Instead of sitting alone passively listen to the others, they can help each
other and contribute to the success of a lesson. In such a class, the teacher is no
longer a supervisor but become a resource center and advisor for the students.
• Disadvantages of using pair work and group work activities.
Gross (1993: 67) also points out clearly disadvantages of using pair work and
group work activities as follow:
Some teachers are reluctant to use pair or group work being afraid of noise or
discipline problems which might occur particularly. Indeed students make noise
while working on the task; they discuss things, check words and communicate
with one another. However, it is so-called “positive noise” and it does not
disturb the students. They are concentrating on their task so they do not hear it.
If an activity goes on for too long; students, especially the poor ones make noise
because they become bored, they want to get the teacher’s intention and they
become disruptive.
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Another disadvantage of using pair or group work activities is making

mistakes. Some teachers neglect to use pair or group work saying that students
make mistakes trying to express their own ideas. Indeed, incorectness is a
problem yet in real life, it is communicative fluency that matters not accuracy, so
we should not be concerned too much with accuracy if we want to practice oral
skills. According to Doff (1998:141), when learners work in pairs, it is
impossible for the teacher to listen and correct all the mistakes they make and it
is also not the purpose of this activity. However, he or she can reduce the
number of mistakes before the students start working by demonstrating the
activity to the class first and by asking pairs to perform in front of the class
afterwards and discussing what they said and pointing out the most common
mistakes.
2.2.

The use of pair work and group work in speaking lessons at Yen dinh
3 High School.

I have conducted a survey to find out the real information about the application
of pair work and group work in speaking lesson at Yen dinh 3 High School
through two survey questionnaires; one for four English teachers and one for 40
grade-ten students (see the Appendices). The followings are the results of the
survey when I started carried out this survey.
Table 1. Teachers’ frequency of using pair work and group work in speaking
lessons

The pie chart shows that half of the teachers often use pair work and group work
activities to teach students. Twenty percent always use this method and the rest
often organize this activity. Therefore, it is clear that, pair work and group work
play an important role in teaching English at Yen Dinh 3 High School.

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Table 2: Kinds of pair work and group work activities used in speaking lessons
With four options for the teachers to select in the survey questionnaire:
Dialogue, Role play, Games and Other activities to answer the question about
kinds of pair work and group work they often use to teach speaking skill, only
two options have been selected. Most of them use Dialogue and only one uses
Role play and no one mentions any other kinds of pair work and group work. So
we can see that more activities should be applied to enhance the effect of the
speaking lessons.
Moreover, with the last question in the survey for teacher, all of them confirm
that pair work and group work are very effective in speaking lessons.
Table 3. Students’ feelings when taking part in pair and group work in
speaking
Excited

Nervous

Timid

Bored

6

25

8

3

14,3

59,5

19

7,2

Number
Percentage (%)

It is illustrated in the table that most of the students feel nervous when they
are assigned tasks in the speaking lessons. Nineteen percent are still timid and
only 14,3 percent of the students are excited with pair or group activities. The
rest feel bored with these activities.
Table 4 below illustrates the frequency of taking part in pair work and group
work activities. The majority of the students sometime join in these activities,
which acounts for 85.7 percent. Six of them often do so and noone chooses
‘Always’ or ‘Never’ option.
Always

Often

Sometime

Never
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Number

0

6

36

0

Percentage

0

14.3

85,7

0

Table 4: The frequency of participating in pairwork and group work among
students
Answering the last questions in the survey for the students about their attitude
towards the frequency of pair and group work activities, most of them hope that
pair work and group work will be organized more often so that they can practise
speaking English better
Through the survey, it is clear that pair work and group work have been used
to teach speaking lessons. However, very few kinds of these activities are
applied and students are sometime involved in. Besides, when taking part in pair
or group work, many students still feel nevous or timid. Therefore, the question
is that how to enhance the effect of pair and group work in speaking lessons to

improve students’ speaking ability.
2.3.

How to organize pair work and group work effectively.

2.3.1. Preparation for pair or group work.
In order to prepare for pair or group work, according to Littlewood (1981)
the teacher needs to do the following:
-

Select the activity
Prepare any physical material for pair or group work ahead of time
Anticipate the size and the selection of pairs or groups
Anticipate how students will be organized within the pairs or groups
(tasks and roles)
- Consider the timing of the pair or group work
- Consider how the pair or group work will be shared with the entire class
and linked with the overall curriculm
2.3.2. Steps in the classroom
• Select the activity
An activity that is best suited for pair work and group work may meet the
following criteria:
- The activity has multiple tasks that can be shared among pair or
groupmembers or a single task, such as generating ideas, that benefit from
the articipation of all individuals within a pair or group.
- The activity involves problem solving and discussion.

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- Examples of activities that may be suited for pair or group work are
investigations of materials (newspapers, scientific specimens) and development
of ideas or arguments
• Preparation for materials
The teacher will need to personally collect, or organize students to collect,
physical specimens for investigation. For example, if the teacher anticipates
doing a lesson on the role of the media, she or he might ask the students to bring
into class newspapers and magazines. There should be materials sufficient for
each pair.
• Size and selection of pairs or groups
Pair size normally ranges between two students. Group size can sometimes
go larger although groups larger than 8 do not ensure that everyone will
participate.
Pair membership can be determined in different ways. A random selection
might be done by “counting off” with students (go around th room
systematically having students count 1,2, etc., with each number representing a
pair or selecting pairs on the basis of birth date.
Sometimes pairs are organized for one activity. Other times, teachers use pairs
for series of activities, so that students get used to working with one another.
• Organize students within the pair
A laissez-faire approach to pairwork would be that the teacher gives a general
assignment to the pair - such as organize a research project on ‘qualities of a
good leader’ – and the students are left to organize the pair or group work
themselves.
A highly structured approach would be that the teacher assigns a specific role
to each pair or group member. Depending upon the task, the role might include
‘materials handler’, ‘scribe’, ‘reporter to the pair’ and so on. A semi-structured
approach might be that the teacher recommend certain roles, but leaves it to the
pair or group to assign roles.
A more structured approach, with rotation of tasks within a pair or group, is

often used with younger students. A less structured approach can be used with
students having experience in pair or group work or for simple tasks that do not
require students to take on different roles.
• Time the pair and group work
The teacher should anticipate student questions about timing, the task results,
sharing with the whole pair, and so on. After giving clear instructions to the
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students, the teacher should be available to answer questions, but not interfere
with the pair or group’s activities.
It is common in many classrooms that a pair or group activity constitutes 20
minutes of a 40 minute – period, with 10 minutes allowed for sharing other pair
or group work with the whole class.
• Share pair or group work with the whole class
Usually the results of the pair or group work are shared with the class. This
sharing can be oral (reporting out), visual (written or graphic representation), or
both.
It is highly interesting to contrast the results of pair or group work.
2.3.3. Steps for organizing pair or group work in a speaking lessons
Harmer (2001) divides pair and group work into three steps: Pre activities,
While activities and Post activities
• Pre activities
We need to give instructions to let students understand what they are going to
do, give them ideas of when they will have finished the task they ar going to get
involved in. Sometimes, we may ask them to repeat the instructions or to
translate them into their first language so as to check their understanding. In
some cases, our instructions may involve a demonstration.
• While activities
While students are working in pairs the teacher has 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 classroom) and keeps 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 pair from some distance away. The teachers can then
decide whether to go over and help that pair.
An alternative procedure is to go round the class watching and listening to
specific pairs. The teacher can stay (with their agreement) for a period of time
and then intervene if we think it is appropriate or necessary, always bearing in
mind what we have said about the difference between accuracy and fluency
work.
When students are working in pairs, the teachers have an ideal opportunity to
work with individual students whom would then feel benefit from their
attention. They also have a great chance to act as observers, picking up
information about students’ progress.
• Post activities
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When pairs or groups stop working together the teacher needs to organize
feedback. The teacher should let them discuss what occurred during the group
sesson and, where necessary, their own assessments and make corrections.
Where pair or group work has formed part of a practice sesson, our feedback
may take the form of having a few pairs or groups quicly demonstrate the
language they have been using. The teacher can then correct it, if and when
necessary and this procedure will give both those students and the rest of the
class good information and experience for future learning and action.
Finally, it is vital to remember that constructive feedback on the content of
student work can greatly enhance students’ future motivation. The feedback the
teacher gives on languge mistakes is only one part of that process.
2.3.4. Sample speaking lesson plan applying pair work and group work

UNIT 2: SCHOOL TALKS (Tiếng Anh 10 – NXB Giáo dục 2006:25)
Leson 2: Speaking
1. Objectives:
- Help students to practice and create small talks related to everyday topics.
- Students communicate with each other to create natural social relationship.
2. Requirements:
- Students know how to start and close a conversation
- Students can communicate through small talks basing on the topics given
3. Teaching methods: communicative, mainly through pair and group work
activities
4. Teaching aids: a board, chalk, overhead projector
5. Time : 45 minutes
6.Teaching procedure:
Teacher’s activities
Students’ activities
1-Warm - up: ( 5 mins)
- Aims: to focus sts on the topic of the
lesson and to raise their interest.
- Introduces the situation and writes a - Look at the board and listen to the
short dialogue on board:
instruction
"Suppose that you meet a friend at the
supermarket. You are very busy .What
will you say to open and end the
conversation."
A: ............................... ( 1)
B: Hi Lan. How are you?
A: I’m fine. Thank you. And you?
- Work in pairs to ask and answer.
B: I’m very well. Thanks. I haven’t

seen you for a long time. Let’s go
- Some pairs stand up to report their
somewhere for a drink
work.
A: Sorry, ..................... ( 2)
(1) Hello, Mai/ Hi Mai
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- Asks sts to complete the dialogue in
pairs.
- Asks some pairs to report.
"Today we will practice speaking
conversation having starting and
closing sentences."
2.Before you speak( 12 mins)
Aims: Introduce phrases used to start
or to close a conversation.
+ Task 1:
- Asks sts to look at the phrases in the
book and to work in pairs to put the
expressions in starting and closing a
conversation
- Makes sure that sts understand all the
expressions = + How’s everything at
school?= How 's your studying?
+ Catch you later = See you later.
- Moves round to conducts the
activity.
- Asks two sts to give answers.

- Gets feedback and gives remarks.
- Asks sts to read all the expressions
aloud in chorus.

3. While you speak:( 12 mins)
Aims: Sts can practise making a
conversation using the suggested
words.
+ Task 2:
- Asks sts to read through all the
sentences and rearrange them into an
appropriate conversation.
- Asks sts to do the task individually
and then discuss with their partners.
- Goes around to help sts
- Gets feedback and give correct
answers.
- Asks sts practise reading this
dialogue in pairs.
- Asks some pairs to read aloud.

(2) I’m very busy now .
I really must go now, Perhaps
another time.

- Work in pairs to put the phrases into
the correct columns.
- Ask two sts to give feedback.
Starting a
Closing a

conversation
conversation
Good morning
Goodbye. See
you later
How’s
Well, it’s been
everything at
nice talking to
school ?
you.
Hello. How are
Sorry. I’ve got to
you?
go. Talk to you
later.
Hi. How is
Great. I’ll see
school?
you tomorrow.
Hello. What are Catch you
you doing?
later.

- Read and rearrange the sentences
into a conversation.
- Share their ideas with their partners.
Answers : D - F - B - H - E - C - G
- A.
- Practise reading in pairs.

- Some pairs stand up to read the
dialogue aloud.
- Read all the words and phrases as
well as the dialogue.
- Work individually ,then work in
pairs.
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+ Task 3:
- Asks sts to read all the given
expressions and the incomplete
dialogue.
- Asks sts to complete the conversation
with suitable words, phrases or
sentences in the box.
- Asks sts to work individually first
and then work in pairs
- Gets feedback and gives correct
answers.
- Asks some pairs to practise in front
of the class.
- Listens and helps sts if necessary.
4- After you speak:( 15 mins)
Aims: Sts can make small talk on
suggested topics.
+ Task 4:
- Introduces the topics:
The weather
Last night’s TV programmes

Football
Plans for the next weekend
- Divides the class in to four groups.
Each group gets one topic and use the
starting and ending of a conversation to
practise.
- Asks sts to work in pairs to make
small talks about the topic they are
assigned.
- Goes round to help sts.
- Calls on some pairs to act out the
dialogues in front of the class.
- Asks others sts to comment on their
conversations.
- Gets feedback and correct any
mistakes if there are
5- Homework:( 1 min)
- Learn all the structures they have
learnt to start or close a conversation
2.4.

- Some pairs read the dialogue aloud.
A: ..................... What’s the matter
with you?
B: ....... I feel tired .I’ve got a
headache
A: .................. You’d better go home
and have a rest
- Listen to the teacher and try to
brainstorm about the topics.

- Listen to the teacher.
- Work in pairs to make small talks.
- Some of sts act out in front of the
class.
1. The weather:
A: Hi, Lan. How was your trip to
Vung Tau?
B: Hi Hung. It was wonderful|. I
really enjoyed it.
A: What did you like most in Vung
Tau?
B: The weather.
A: What was the weather like in Vung
Tau?
B: It was warm. I prefer the weather
in Vung Tau to Nha Trang.
A: Oh, really? I love it, too.
B: By the way, do you want to see my
photos?
A: Sure ...
- Do this work at home

The effect of pair work and group work in the speaking lessons.

After step by step carrying out the ways of applying pair work and group
work in speaking lessons in Tiếng Anh 10 text book, I find out that my students
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have become more confident in talking. They do not feel afraid of making

mistakes as they used to do. Now I really feel happy and proud of my students.
Their attitude towards pair and group activities has changed significantly as
shown in the table bellow.
Moreover, I also share my experience in applying pair and group work with
my colleagues and they also agree that organizing pair work and group work in
such a way as I mentioned above will be more effectively than the way they
applied before.
Table 5. Students’ feelings when taking part in pair and group work in speaking

Number
Percentage (%)

Excited

Nervous

Timid

Bored

35

5

2

0

83,3

11,9

4,8

0

Table 6 &7
A comparision in the students feelings before and after the application of the new solutions

Before

After

These charts show a change in the students’motivation before and after the study
is carried out. Obviously, the students no longer feel bored in the speaking
lessons. They are more excited and less nervous. All of these facts mean that
what the teacher applied in her class has brought about a good effect on the
students
3. CONCLUSION
3.1. Conclusion

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Using pair work and group work is not a brand new way of teaching speaking
in foreign languages. However, how to apply this kind of activities effectively is
still a challenge to many language teachers. The result of teaching speaking can
be seen in the attitude of students when taking part in a conversation or when
speaking up in front of the class and the teacher. With the purpose of finding out
a better way of teaching English to students in speaking lessons through pair

work and group work, I have tried to analyze the problems students encounter
when they work in pair or group and I have also summarized a lot of literatures
related to the topic which are written by famous researchers and educators all
over the world.
With nearly a school year time has passed since I started applying the steps in
teaching pair and group work in speaking activities to grade – ten students, I can
now affirm that letting students work in pairs and groups under the control of the
teacher is the best way to teach speaking skill. What the students need is a
proper guide of the teacher to make them feel confident to work on their own.
3.2.Recommendation
- To teachers: As I once heard from Asso. Pro. Dr. Le Van Canh, a famous and
experienced lecturer at ULIS ‘there is no stupid student, there are only teachers
who do not know how to teach’, teaching is a hard job and it requires a lot of
knowledge and skills. Therefore, every teacher should try their best to find
suitable teaching method to their own students. Teachers should encourage
students to take part in learning activites, especially in pair and group work to
help them communicate better.
- To students: As an English saying: ‘ You can lead a horse into the water but
you can not force it to drink’ , your teachers can only help students to learn if
they are willing to. Learning any foreign language is really a big challenge to
any learner, which requires motivation and hard work. Therefore, try your best
to learn English because it is very useful in your life. Every students should
actively participate in learning activities during class hour as well as other
activities outsides classroom to acquire knowledge on their own. On important
thing to help English learners to be successful is that they should take chances of
getting their teacher’s help. Ask them whenever you encounter difficulty.

Headmaster’s confirmation

I strongly assure that this is the work of

my own and not the copy of any
other’s.
Yen Dinh, May 16th, 2017
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Nguyễn Hữu Tuấn

Đỗ Thị Thủy

REFERENCES
Brown, H.D. (2001). Teaching by principles: An Interactive Approach to
Language Pedagogy, Longman
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Byrne, D. (1983). Teaching oral English. London: Longman.
Byrne, D.(1991). Techniques for classroom interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press
Doff, A. (1988). Teaching English – A training course For Teachers, Cambridge
University Press in Association with the British Council.
Gross, B (1993). Tools for Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey – Bass publisher.
Harmer, J. (2001). The practice of English Language Teaching. Longman
Van Hoang Van et als (2006). Tieng Anh 10. Giao Duc Publisher.
Littlewood, William. (1981). Communicative Language Teaching: An
Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nunan, D. (1991). Language Teaching Methodology. UK: Prentice Hall
International
Nunan, D (2003). Practical English Language Teaching. NY: McGraw- Hill.

DANH MỤC SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM ĐÃ TỪNG ĐẠT GIẢI
- “Một số phương pháp giúp học sinh xây dựng trường từ vựng theo chủ đề bài
học” – Xếp loại C, năm học 2008 – 2009. Vào sổ số 12/ QĐ-SGD&ĐT ngày
05 tháng 01 năm 2010
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APPENDIX 1
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE
(For teachers)
This survey aims at finding out some information about the frequency and the
use of pair work and group work in speaking lessons of the English teachers at
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Yen Dinh 3 High School. Please help me to complete it by putting a tick (√) to
your answer(s)
1. How often do you use pair work and group work in speaking lessons?
A.
Always
B.
Often
C.
Sometimes
D.
Never
2. What kinds of pair work and group work do you often use in teaching
speaking?
A.
Dialogue

B.
Role play
C.
Games
D.
Others (Please specify) …………………………………………….
3. What do you think of the effect of using pair and group work in teaching
speaking skill.
A.
Very effective
B.
Not very effective
C.
Ineffective
Thank you very much for your cooperation.

APPENDIX 2
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE – BẢNG CÂU HỎI KHẢO SÁT
(For students – Dành cho học sinh)
This survey aims at finding out some information about the frequency and the
use of pair work and group work in speaking lessons of the English teachers at
21


Yen dinh 3 High School . Please help me to complete it by putting a tick (√) to
your answer(s)
Mục đích của khảo sát này là tìm hiểu một số thông tin về các hoạt động cặp,
nhóm trong giờ học nói tiếng Anh của các em. Hãy giúp cô hoàn thành nó bằng
cách các em đánh dấu tick (√) vào các phương án trả lời em lựa chon phía dưới
mỗi câu hỏi.

1. How often do you use pair work and group work in speaking lessons?Em có thường xuyên tham gia vào các hoạt động cặp, nhóm trong giờ học
nói không?
A.
B.
C.
D.

Always – Luôn luôn
Often – Thường xuyên
Sometimes – Thỉnh thoảng
Never – Không bao giờ

2. What do you feel when you take part in pair work or group work in
speaking lessons?
Em cảm thấy thế nào khi tham gia vào các hoạt động cặp, nhóm trong giờ
học nói?
A.
B.
C.
D.

Excited – Hào hứng
Nervous – Lo lắng
Timid – Rụt rè
Bored – Chán

3. How do you want the pair or group work activities should be carried out
in speaking lessons?
Em mong muốn các hoạt động cặp nhóm được tổ chức như thế nào trong
giờ học nói?

A.
More often – Thường xuyên hơn
B.
The same as they are now - Giống như hiện tại
C.
Less often - Ít hơn
D.
Others (Please specify) …………………………………………….
Ý kiến khác (Vui lòng nêu cụ thể)
Thank you very much for your cooperation.
Cám ơn sự hợp tác của các em

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