SEVERAL ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SMALL GROUP WORK IN TEACHING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ

TRƯỜNG THPT YÊN ĐỊNH 1

SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM

SEVERAL ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SMALL GROUP WORK
IN TEACHING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS

Người thực hiện: Lê Thị Hà
Chức vụ: Giáo viên
SKKN thuộc lĩnh vực (môn): Ngoại ngữ

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS.....................................................................................i
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION......................................................................1
1.1. Title of the innovation................................................................................1
1.2. Reason for choosing the topic....................................................................1
1.3. Aims of the innovation...............................................................................1
1.4. Subjects of the innovation..........................................................................1
1.5. Research methods.......................................................................................2
CHAPTER 2. CONTENT...................................................................................2
2.1. Rationale for the innovation....................................................................2
2.1.1. English speaking skills........................................................................2
2.1.1.1. The importance of teaching English speaking skills...................2
2.1.1.2. Principles of teaching English speaking skills............................3
2.1.2. Small group work................................................................................4

2.1.2.1. Definition, advantages and disadvantages of small group work 4
2.1.2.2. Teaching English speaking skills through small group work......4
2.2. Context of the innovation........................................................................5
2.2.1. General situation.................................................................................5

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2.2.2. Current situation at Yen Dinh 1 high school.......................................5
2.3. The solutions which have been used to improve students’ speaking
ability, focusing on small group activities.....................................................6
2.3.1. The psychological and methodological preparation...........................6
2.3.2. Using different activities to promote speaking lessons.......................7
2.3.3. Specific examples................................................................................8
2.3.3.1. Example 1: Using information gap and picture describing
activities....................................................................................................8
2.3.3.2. Example 2: Using discussion activities.....................................13
2.4. Effects of the innovation........................................................................16
2.4.1. Subjects and data collection methods...............................................17
2.4.2. Results and discussion.......................................................................17
2.4.2.1. Students’ participation and interaction in small group activities
.................................................................................................................17
2.4.2.2. Students’ attitudes towards the small group activities..............18
CHAPTER 3. CONCLUSION AND SUGESSTIONS...................................19
3.1. Conclusion................................................................................................19
3.2. Suggestions for further studies.................................................................19
REFERENCES.......................................................................................................I
APPENDIX 1 – Questionnaires 1..........................................................................I
APPENDIX 2 – Questionnaire 2.........................................................................III

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CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Title of the innovation
Several activities to improve the effectiveness of small group work in
teaching English speaking skills
1.2. Reason for choosing the topic
The process of international integration, also known as globalization,
along with the development of the internet poses an urgent need for learning
English in schools, because it helps students access to a rich source of
information. From there, students can actively search for learning materials as
well as approach useful learning methods.
Speaking is as important as the other three skills: reading, writing, and
listening for foreign language learners. These four skills give learners
opportunities to create contexts in which they use the language for exchange of
real information, evidence of their own ability (proof of learning) and, most
important, confidence. Speaking, however, makes it more difficult than others
for both learners and teachers because it not only requires learners to be
confident to express their thoughts in other language, but also requires teachers
to find a suitable method for learners to practice directly with others (classmates
or teacher), while other skills can be followed individually and then submitted to
teachers for correction.
Working in small groups, one of the new teaching methods, in my opinion
is suitable for speaking teaching because it increases the interaction between
learners with learners, and learners with teachers. It thereby creates
opportunities for learners to practice more often. The fact is that my colleagues
and myself have tried to apply this method in speaking teaching, but it is not
really effective (will be presented in detail in chapter 2). Realizing this situation,
the innovation “Several activities to improve the effectiveness of small group

work in teaching English speaking skills” is implemented.
1.3. Aims of the innovation
The innovation on enhancing the effectiveness of small group activities in
teaching speaking skills has been carried out with the aim to investigate the
benefits students can gain from the application of working in small groups in
speaking lessons, together with finding out the more appropriate ways to
conduct the activities. The innovation, thus, aimed to answer the two following
questions:
- What benefit would students at Yen Dinh 1 high school gain from small
group activities?
- What are the more appropriate activities to carry out the small group
work in speaking class at Yen Dinh 1 high school?
1.4. Subjects of the innovation
This innovation focuses on difficulties of students in class 10A7 and
10A8 at Yen Dinh 1 high school when encountering small group activities in

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learning speaking skills and some techniques to help them to overcome these
difficulties.
1.5. Research methods
To achieve the purposes mentioned above, the method of reading and
synthesizing books and other materials on learning speaking skill and on
teaching strategies was used, combined with exchange of experience with
colleagues. In addition, two data collection tools including observation and
questionnaires were implemented to gather information from students.

CHAPTER 2. CONTENT
2.1. Rationale for the innovation

2.1.1. English speaking skills
2.1.1.1. The importance of teaching English speaking skills
Although English is not ranked first in terms of number of native speakers
but it is the most spoken language in the world with an estimation of 1.5 billion
speakers across the world [1]. English is widely used in the field of scientific
research, education, business, the internet, travel and tourism, media and
newspapers, software, medicine, engineering, information and technology,
entertainment, banking, and so on. All our software development today, the
communication facilities available to us through internet, our access to a variety
of websites, are all being carried out in English. Most of the research works are
conducted and compiled in English. Furthermore, most of the books related to
higher education are published in English. As a result, most of the foreign
language learners try to learn English. In this process, they have to acquire all
the four basic skills of the language including listening, speaking, reading and
writing. Among them, listening and reading are considered to be passive or
receptive skills as the learners do not show their talent in exhibiting these skills.
They just listen to the language or read it without producing anything. Whereas,
the learners have to produce sentences on their own and they need a lot of
practice and learn many things related to grammar, vocabulary, sentence
structure and usage. Therefore, speaking and writing are considered to be active
or productive skills [2,3].
Among these four key language skills, speaking is deemed to be the most
important skill in learning English. Describing the importance of this skill,
Brown and Yuke wrote, “speaking is the skill that the students will be judged
upon most in real life situations” [4], while Yunzhong stated, many language
teachers consider speaking as the most effective means of gaining a fluent
reading knowledge and correct speech as the foundation for good writing [5].
Indeed, speaking is an important part of everyday interaction and most often the
first impression of a person is based on his/her ability to speak fluently and
comprehensibly. The ability to speak skillfully provides the speakers with

several distinct advantages such as [6]:
- To participate actively in pair or group activities in the classrooms

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- To give a maiden and impressive speech on different occasions
- To participate actively in debates and group discussions
- To develop critical thinking among the learners
- To pursue higher studies in foreign countries
- To interact with people all around the globe
- To promote the sale of products in the business
- To make living abroad simpler and easier
- To get better employment opportunities
- To make use of the internet effectively
- To perform well in job interviews
- To acquire more knowledge
- To travel to a foreign country
- To do good international business
- To earn high respect in the society
- To give presentations for all purposes
- To communicate effectively with others
- To increase the income of the individual
- To boost up the speakers’ self-confidence
- To know the different cultures of the world
- To interact with people all around the globe
- To keep over cognition and reasoning very sharp
- To get better employment opportunities all over the world
- To increase the ability of problem-solving and critical thinking
- To improve the overall development of the speaker’s personality

- To highly motivate and attract the customers in buying the products.
Since these important advantages, the English teachers should concentrate
on teaching speaking skills and have to think of various techniques and
approaches to help the learners in speaking development.
2.1.1.2. Principles of teaching English speaking skills
According to Anuradha et al., following are the principles of teaching
speaking skills [7]:
- Encourage students to speak right from the first day. If not, as early as
possible and not to wait till she teaches them a stock of words, phrases or
sentences.
- Tolerate the students if some of them simply repeat what they say.
- If a student gives one-word answer to any question, bear it for the time
being.
- Let the learners speak actively with whatever English knowledge they
have.
- Propose structures/phrases/words and let the learners use it in different
situation and drill as much as possible.
- Encourage back-chaining or tail-forwarding technique to make long
sentences by combining more than ten sentences.
- Organize role-play and pair-work as much as possible and supervise the
learners to correct the active ones and activate the passive ones.
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- Be well prepared in advance in terms of lesson planning, activities and
tasks.
- Let the learners commit errors and mistakes at the primary stage.
Interruption and correction hinder fluency and discourage the learner.
- Individual weaknesses should be taken into account and the teacher
should be sympathetic in outlook for individual attention.

2.1.2. Small group work
2.1.2.1. Definition, advantages and disadvantages of small group work
Small group work is defined as two or more students, typically 3-6
members, working together without direct intervention by the teacher [8]. This
does not mean that students are left uninstructed. It does, however, mean that the
teacher must structure the learning environment so the students can interact
productively under indirect guidance as they work collaboratively towards
achieving particular learning outcomes [8].
A lot of advantages of small group work have been mentioned. It
promotes maximum participation from all students because all of them are
involved in both thinking and doing [9]. Small group work promotes cooperative
skills, such as listening and communication skills, analytical and interpersonal
skills problem solving and sharing of tasks. Small group work also develops the
capacity to listen, question, persuade, respect the opinions of others, help, share
and participate, all lifelong values [10]. In addition, working together can be a
great way for shy students, who often find it difficult to speak to teachers, to get
more involved with classmates in an easygoing atmosphere. Therefore, small
group discussion provides more opportunities for individual students to voice
their opinions. This allows the teacher to gain an understanding of how each
student is progressing.
Issues can also arise from small group work. This type of group work can
sometimes allow students to sit back and not contribute productively. This could
be a result of lack of prior knowledge, low levels of metacognitive awareness,
feeling socially anxious and worried about being accepted by peer groups [8].
Moving students’ positions to fit in groups and exchanging ideas among team
members leading to classroom noise is another disadvantage of this method.
2.1.2.2. Teaching English speaking skills through small group work
It is important to emphasize that speaking is a skill, just like swimming,
driving a car, or playing ping-pong. Too often, in the traditional classroom, the
learning of English has been relegated to linguistic knowledge only such as

knowledge of vocabulary and grammar rules, with little or no attention paid to
practicing language skills. How can we tell the difference between knowledge
and skill? Bygate pointed out “one fundamental difference is that both can be
understood and memorized, but only a skill can be imitated and practiced” [11].
For that reason, all students of English, whether they are intermediate, advance,
or beginners need to have a lot of practice using their English freely in
classroom to practice the language they have learned. With all the advantages of
small group work mentioned above, there is no doubt that this is a very valuable
method for practicing of fluency in speaking. Simply imagine that there are 5
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groups in a class, students can get 5 times as some chance to speak as in a big
class.
2.2. Context of the innovation
2.2.1. General situation
Despite knowing the importance of English speaking skills, teaching these
skills at high school in Vietnam has been underestimated or taught but is not
effective for the following subjective and objective reasons:
- Objective reason: The development of speaking skills is not an easy
task for anybody. Even the learners learn the language for so many years, they
find it difficult to speak in real time situations when it is demanded. According
to Bueno, Madrid, and Mclaren, “speaking is one of the most difficult skills
language learners have to face” [12]. There are many aspects that have to be
taken into account in the learning speaking skills, such as: the learners must
have a certain knowledge of grammatical structures and vocabulary; the learners
must be active and dynamic in practice; during the learning process, the learners
must be exposed to a natural environment of the target language that enable
them to develop their awareness of conversational features and strategies.
- Subjective reasons: In my opinion, it is so hard to get our students to

speak English fluently because of several reasons:
+ In previous years the methodology was teacher-centered with a focus
only on reading or writing. Grammar was considered of primary importance
and was often taught through a separate grammar book. Vocabulary teaching
consisted mainly of memorization. Writing lessons consisted of memorization
and writing of model compositions, combined with grammar and vocabulary
exercises. Speaking skills were not dealt with seriously in any way. English
language teachers taught speaking just as a repetition of drills or memorization
of dialogues.
+ Most of the teaching activities are of the traditional modes, such as
reading the dialogue, reciting texts, doing translation, and the materials chosen
for the students are non-authentic. Usually students feel deadly bored instead of
appreciating them and accepting them.
+ Many teachers only lay emphasis on accuracy with no thought of
fluency, which makes students worry too much about their mistakes.
+ Almost important examinations do not consist of an oral test, which
causes both the teachers and students to neglect oral English.
+ Teachers are reluctant in using Communicative Approach because of
their deficiency in speaking ability themselves.
+ Students’ attitude towards their learning process is also a factor that
causes less effective teaching.
2.2.2. Current situation at Yen Dinh 1 high school
For nearly 18 years of teaching English at Yen Dinh 1 high school,
besides the general issues mentioned above, my colleagues and I also
encountered the following difficulties in teaching speaking skills:
- The big difference in qualifications between students in a class requires
a lot of time and effort from teachers to come up with an effective lesson plan
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(there are about 5 good students, 25 average students, and 15 below average at
English subject in each class).
- The large number of students in each class (approximately 40 learners)
is unsuitable for the subject that requires lots of interaction like English. There is
no time for each student to practice carefully.
- In addition, most students live in rural areas where the importance of
learning to speak English has not been appreciated. Moreover, there are not
many clubs or organizations for students to improve or nourish their language
skills.
Despite many issues as analyzed, I also realized several advantages in
teaching English speaking to students at Yen Dinh 1 high school, including:
- Most of students at Yen Dinh 1 high school are hard-working students.
- Most of them have been learning English for at least seven years at
primary and secondary schools, from Grade 3 to Grade 9. So, it can be said that
their English background is at an acceptable level.
- With the support of the Thanh Hoa Department of Education and
Training and the Board of Rectors of Yen Dinh 1 high school, English teachers
have been able to acquire new teaching methods. Recognizing the usefulness
of small group work, my colleagues and I have tried to apply this method in
teaching English speaking skills. However, the results were limited because only
one good student in each group would dare to represent the group to speak to the
whole class.
2.3. The solutions which have been used to improve students’
speaking ability, focusing on small group activities
2.3.1. The psychological and methodological preparation
- Knowing students’ anxiety to speak a foreign language
Students’ levels are actually different form one to another in the same
class. Some students may be able to speak English fluently because they began
to learn it earlier or their parents spent a lot of time practicing it together with
them. However, others may not be so lucky. They often feel frustrated or even

shame if they cannot speak English as good as their peers in the class. This
might cause anxiety to those students and it is also a challenge for me whether I
am able to balance my teaching approaches according to deferent levels of
learners.
It is said that parts of the speaking anxiety come from students’ confusion
to classroom instructions. At this point, I tried to support my students by giving
effective explanation. An effective explanation should be brief, clear, and
simple. Using illustration with the example or media is also a good idea because
it helps students understand better but also it can attract students to give full
attention to our explanation. Keep in mind that our own mind about what needs
to be explained is perfectly clear, but the experience shows that our explanations
are often not as clear to our students as they are to themselves. Therefore, to get
feedback from the learners is important.
- Understanding the difficulty of students in expressing their thoughts,
opinions, and ideas in a second language without immediate help of the teacher:
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Speaking lessons often tie in pronunciation and grammar which are
necessary for effective oral communication. So, it is very important that students
are well prepared before the speaking task:
+ Students must know enough vocabulary to do the activity
+ Students must have learned enough correct grammar or appropriate
functional language to be able to do the activity
+ Students must have enough knowledge of the topic to be able to do the
activity
+ Instructions for the activity must be very clear (as explained above).
- Understanding that the aim of speaking is communication and that does
not require perfect English:
Students, especially shy students, may take a long time to speak and when

they do, their English often contains errors. To break the silence and encourage
them, I emphasized both two important goals of a speaker including accurate
(clear, grammatically and phonologically correct) and fluent (flowing, natural).
Then I tried to encourage my students to communicate with whatever English
they can use, not necessarily using too much new vocabulary or grammar. It is
also important not to interrupt the flow of communication. I took notes their
errors during the activity, then wrote these errors on the board and ask who can
correct them after the communication.
- Knowing each learner’s personality and ability to group effectively:
As mentioned above, the limitation of small group work is that only one
good student representing the group speaks in front of the whole class. To
overcome this situation, I took into account the personality and ability of each
learner, so that during the grouping process each group consisted of students at
different levels, with different forte. I tried to encourage all students to
contribute to the group’s activities by asking each group to include both simple
and complex sentences in their conversations. I then asked all group members to
practice, so weak students can also speak some simple sentences. Moreover, the
evaluation of the effectiveness of group activities was also based on many
criteria. In addition to the accuracy in terms of vocabulary and grammatical
structure, participation of all team members and presentation fluency were
greatly appreciated.
2.3.2. Using different activities to promote speaking lessons
By using several different activities listed below in teaching English
speaking skills, I tried to create a classroom environment where students have
real-life communication and to promote students collaborate in small group to
complete a task.
- Discussion: this activity fosters critical thinking and quick decision
making, and students learn how to express and justify themselves in polite ways
while disagreeing with others. For efficient group discussions, it is always better
not to form large groups, because quiet students may avoid contributing in large

groups.
- Role-play: students pretend they are in various contexts and have a
variety of roles. In role-play activity, the teacher gives information to the
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learners such as who they are and what they think or feel. This activity increases
the self-confidence of students because they will have a different role and do not
have to speak for themselves meaning that they do not have to take the same
responsibility.
- 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. Information gap activities serve many
purposes such as solving a problem or collecting information. Also, each partner
plays an important role because the task cannot be completed if the partners do
not provide the information the others need. These activities are effective
because everybody has the opportunity to talk extensively in the target language.
- Picture describing: in this activity, each group is given a different
picture. Students discuss the picture with their group, and then they describe the
picture to the whole class. This activity fosters the creativity and imagination of
the learners as well as their public speaking skills.
- Finding the difference: for this activity, each group is given two different
pictures, for example, picture of boys playing football and another picture of
girls playing tennis. Students in each group discuss the similarities and/or
differences in the pictures.
2.3.3. Specific examples
2.3.3.1. Example 1: Using information gap and picture describing
activities
English 10: Unit 1. A DAY IN THE LIFE OF….
SPEAKING

I. Objectives:
1. Educational aims:
- Students work in pairs to ask and answer about one’s daily activities using a
timetable or pictures
- By the end of the lesson, students can talk about their daily routines.
2. Knowledge:
- General knowledge: A day in the life of a student.
- Language: Words concerning school subjects, daily activities, the way to tell
clock time, the present simple tense.
- Skills: speaking, making dialogues, describing pictures, asking and answering
- Attitude: active and serious in learning. Students will know the importance to
form the habits
- Competency development:
+ General competency: problem-solution, co-operation, communication, use of
language.
+ Specific competence: writing a short paragraph, speaking, describing pictures
II. Methods:
- Teaching method: integrated, mainly communicative.
- Testing method: Students in pairs ask and answer questions, answer the
teacher’s questions, describe the pictures, write a short paragraph
III. Teaching aids: - pictures, board, chalks, textbook, handouts
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IV. Procedures:
Teacher’s activities
Students’ activities
Warm-up
Aims: to introduce the topic of the lesson
and to raise the students’ interest in the

lesson.
- Shows two pictures, and ask students Look at the pictures and answer
questions about each
the questions

Question 1: What are people in each
picture doing?
Question 2: What do they do?
Question 3: What do they do every
day?

Pre- speaking
Aims: to input students some words or
phrases which helps students do the tasks
more easily
- Writes down some vocabulary on the
board.
- Uses some techniques to teach these
words
time-table = schedule (n)
Civic education (n)
Information technology (n)
Physical education (n)
Class meeting (n)

Suggested answers:
1. The man in the 1st picture is
ploughing his plot of land
and the women in the 2nd
picture are doing the

transplanting.
2. They are farmers
3. Their work is very hard.
They ………. (the answer
depends on the student)
- Write down all the words
- Listen to the teacher and
pronounce these words
- Make sentences withthese
words
E.g.: - I have a busy timetable
from Monday to Tuesday.
- I have two Civic education
lessons a week.
- I like Physical education most.
- I have/ take a bath before
dinner.
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have a shower (v-phrase)
stadium (n)
- Reminds students the way to tell the
time

While- speaking
Task 1. Quan is a tenth-grade
student. He goes to school every morning.
Using the information from his timetable
(given by the teacher) to ask and answer

questions with your partner, then fill in the
missing information on the schedule.
Example:
A: What time does Quan have an
English lesson on Monday?
B: (He has an English lesson) at 8:55
a.m.
or
A: Which lesson does Quan have at
8:55 a.m. on Monday?
B: (At 8:55 a.m. on Monday he has)
an English lesson.
(In this task, students ask and answer in
pairs. The teacher gives each of them a
timetable with some information gap so that
one student will have information that
his/her partner does not have. He/she needs
to ask his/her partner to collect information
to complete the timetable.)
Task 2. Talk about Quan’s activities,
using the pictures given by the teacher.
Activity 1. Students ask and answer about
Quan’s activities in pairs.
Example:
A: What does Quan do at 2 p.m.?
B: He gets up at 2 p.m.

- Practice telling the time
7.00: seven o’clock
7.15: seven fifteen/ a quarter

past seven
7.20: seven twenty/ twenty
past seven
7.30: seven thirty / half past
seven
7. 45: seven forty-five/ a
quarter to eight.
7.50: seven fifty/ ten to eight

- Read the requirement of the
task
- Read the information in the
timetable (given by the
teacher) carefully
- In pairs, ask and answer
questions to find out the
missing information to
complete the table.
Suggested answers:
S1: What lesson does Quan study
at …………?
S2: He has …….. (at……)
Or: S1: What time does Quan
have Chemistry lessons?
S2: (He has a Chemistry lessons)
at ………on …….

- Look at the pictures
(delivered by the teacher)
- In pairs, ask and answer

questions
about
each
picture
Suggested answers:
S1: What time does Quan have
dinner?
S2: He has dinner at ……..
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S1: What does he do after dinner?
Activity 2. Students play a chain game in S2: After dinner, he………
groups of four
Example:
Student 1: Quan gets up at 2 p.m.
Student 2: Quan gets up at 2 p.m. At
2:15 p.m., he does his homework.
- In group of four, look at the
Student 3: Quan gets up at 2 p.m. At
pictures and play a chain
2:15 p.m., he does his homework. He
game
watches TV at 4:30 p.m.
- Do as the example.
Student 4: Quan gets up at 2 p.m. At Suggested answer:
2:15 p.m., he does his homework. He A: Quan goes home from the
watches TV at 4:30 p.m. Then he rides his stadium at 6:30
bike to the stadium at 5 p.m.
B: Quan goes home from the

stadium at 6:30. At 6:45, he takes
(In this task, each group is given 4 pictures a shower.
showing the different times and activities of C: Quan goes home from the
Quan during the day. Weak students speak stadium at 6:30. At 6:45, he takes
simple sentences, and good students speak a shower. And then he has dinner
long and complex ones)
with his family at 7:00.
Post- speaking:
D: …………………
Task 3: Tell your classmate about your
daily routine
- Aims: students practice speaking freely,
they can express their own ideas.
- Asks students to think about themselves,
and then work in small groups to tell their
friends about their daily routines.
- Reminds students that they are using the - Think about their daily activities
present simple with the first person.
and talk to their friends.
- Moves round to check the activities and to - Try to use English to talk.
make sure that students are working
“I usually get up at 5.30 and
effectively.
then do morning exercises. Then I
- Asks one or two students to report in front have small breakfast with my
of the whole class.
family at 6.15. I go to school by
- Checks and gives remarks.
bike at 6.30. I oeften go to school
from Monday to Friday in the

morning and in the aftennoon I go
to school on Monday, Tuesday
and Wednesday. We have four or
five
lessons
at
school……………….”
Homework:
Write a short paragraph (about 100-150
- Do as required at home
words) about your daily activities.
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Handout: (Task 1)
Monday
7:15
8:05
8:55
9:55

Wednesda
y
Civic
Physical
Physics
Education
Education
IT
Literature Literature

English
Biology
Literature
Maths

10:40

Tuesday

Chemistry

Physics

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Maths

Maths

Literature

Geography
History
Physical
Education

IT
English

English
Maths

Physics

Maths

Chemistry

Class
Meeting

Pictures (Task 2)

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2.3.3.2. Example 2: Using finding the differences and discussion
activities
English 10: Unit 5. TECHNOLOGY AND YOU
SPEAKING
I. Objectives:
1. Educational aims:
- Students work in pairs to ask and answer questions about the uses of modern
devices.
- Students work in pairs look at the pictures (given by the teacher) to talk about
the life before and after the appearance of information technology

- By the end of the lesson, students can talk about the use of information
technology.
2. Knowledge:
- General knowledge: The use of information technology
- Language: Words concerning modern inventions, computers, the internet, the
use of information technology.
- Skills: Speaking, discussing, finding differences between a pair of pictures,
making conversations, asking and answering questions
- Attitude: active and serious in learning. Students will recognize the importance
of modern invention and have a right attitude toward the use of these inventions
- Competency development:
+ General competency: problem-solution, co-operation, communication, use of
language.
+ Specific competence: writing a short paragraph, speaking, making
comparisons, discussion
II. Methods:
- Teaching method: integrated, mainly communicative.
- Testing method: answer the teacher’s questions, describing pictures, write
a short paragraph
III. Teaching aids: some pictures, board, chalks, textbook, and handouts
IV. Procedures:
Teacher’s activities
Students’ activities
Warm-up
Aims: to introduce the topic of the
lesson and to raise the students’
- Look at the pictures and
interest in the lesson
answer the questions given by
- Shows some pictures (a radio, a

the teacher.
television set, a fax machine, an
Suggested answers:
electric cooker)
P1: It is a radio.
- Asks the students to look at each P2: It is a TV.
picture and tell what each P3: It is a fax machine.
picture refers to.
P4: It is an electric cooker.
Pre-speaking: Pre-teach vocabulary
Aims: to input students some words,
13


phrases and structures that may
challenge the students during the
lesson.
- Deliver a handout
- Use some techniques to give the
meaning of all the words
- Pronounces all these words
- Asks student to read after
While-speaking
Task 1. Look at the five pictures again,
in pairs, ask and answer the questions
about the use of these modern devices
Example:
A: Can/Could you tell me what a radio
is used for?
B: It is used to……../for ……..

Or: People use it to ………
(In this task students are provided a
situation to practice the structure: “It is
used to + Verb/ for + V-ing” or “People
use it to + Verb”)
Task 2. Work in pairs, complete the
sentences using the cues.
- Makes sure students understand
all the words
- Asks students in pairs take turns
to talk about the uses of
computers
(In this task, students are input some
words related to the uses of the
information technology in daily life
and they have a chance to practice
these words in communication)
Task 3. Finding the differences
- Divides the class into groups,
give each group a pair of
pictures.
- Asks students look at the
pictures and tell the difference
between them
Example:
- shows a pair of picture about the way
people bought many years ago and the
way people use some apps on the smart
phone to buy books online

- Listen to the teacher’s
suggestions and try to guess
the meaning of each word.
- Listen to the teacher
- Practice reading all the words
- Make sentences with these
words

Suggested answers:
S1: Can you tell me what a TV used
for?
S2: It is used for watching/ to watch
news, performances and football
matches. People also use it to learn
foreign languages/………

- Read all the words in the box
(which have been taught
before) carefully
- Read all the information and
do the task.
- Give the answers
1. store
2. transmit 3. process
4. send
5. hold
6. make
7. transmit 7. receive 8. design
- get the pictures
- look at each pair of pictures

and talk about the difference
between before and now

14


- Finding the differences beween these
pictures

Many years ago, when you wanted to
buy a book, you had to go to a
bookstore to choose the book you liked
but now with the help of the internet,
you can stay at home and buy any
book you want and you will have it
delivered to your home
- asks the students to do the same with
each pair of pictures they have been
give by the teacher. (It depends on the
level of the students. Encourage the
good students speak as much as
possible about each pair of picture)

Post-speaking:
Aims: students practice speaking
freely, they can express their own
ideas.
Task 4: In groups, discussion about the
uses of information technology
- Tells the students use all the

information they have learnt in
this lesson to make a speech
about the benefits of the internet
- Calls some students to speak in
front of the class.
- Gives the comments and good
marks

Homework: Write a short paragraph
(about 100-150 words) about the uses
of the internet which you have
discussed in class.

Suggested answers:
P1: Before, people often did the
shopping in the market or
supermarket. But now, people can
use some apps on the smart phone or
computer to order anything they
want. And the foods will be delivered
to their own homes.
P2: Before the appearance of the
internet, when people want to
contact with others in a long
distance, they had to write letters,
went to the post office and waited for
some days before their letters were
delivered
to
the

receivers.
Sometimes, the letters were lost.
Sometimes, when the receiver got the
letter, all the information in the letter
was back world. But now, we can use
e-mail which is very fast in less than
a minute and convenient without any
fee………

- Discuss
the
uses
information technology
- Present before the class

of

E.g.: Modern inventions in general
and computers or information
technology in particular play an
important part in our daily life. It
makes our lives easier and more
interesting. It allows us to………….
It helps us to ……… with the
appearance of computers, we can
now………… With the help of
computers, we can ……………
- Write at home.

15

Pictures (Task 3)

16


2.4. Effects of the innovation
The solutions presented above have been applied in teaching English
speaking skills to students in two classes 10A7 and 10A8. To evaluate the
results, qualitative methods including observation and questionnaire were
conducted to obtain information on students’ participation and interaction, as
well as students’ attitudes towards the small group activities. Obtained results
are analyzed and summarized in this part.
2.4.1. Subjects and data collection methods
The observation method was used in the two classes 10A7 and 10A8 in
each lesson during 10 weeks, and the questionnaire was also carried out in these
two classes.
- Observation: this is a data collection tool that provides information from
teachers’ perspective. According to Hilmi & Lu, through observation, observes
can have deep understanding of how their subject matter is conducted, what
teaching techniques are implemented and how the actual process of a lesson
takes place in the classroom [13]. The observation in this research focused on
two aspects of the lessons including students’ participation and interaction in
small group work, their attitude towards the small group work activities and the
quality of the small group work activity implementation.
- Questionnaire: this data collection method was selected with aim to
gather information about students’ views on the use of small group work
activities. As the questionnaire was collected with anonymous information
meaning that students were asked not to write their name on the paper, they were

therefore believed to feel free to express their opinion. Sample of the
Questionnaire can be found in Appendix 1and 2.
2.4.2. Results and discussion
2.4.2.1. Students’ participation and interaction in small group
activities
It was found out from the observation that students’ overall involvement
in group work was good; however, the extent to which students participated and
interacted in the lesson varied from week to week. It was observed that during
the first three weeks, some students participated passively or kept quiet during
the lessons. Students also used too much Vietnamese during their discussion.

17


From the 4th week, the number of passive students reduced. Students showed
more involvement and enthusiasm in group activities. It is worth noting that
during the 5th and 8th week, when students were allowed to choose their own
partners to work with, they were more enthusiastic and active in group working.
However, in the two last weeks, when group members were assigned by the
teacher, the interaction was not as good as before. This was probably because
when students worked with the partners that they knew well or they liked, they
would interact more with each other than when working with those they did not
know well. Regarding to the interaction, students also demonstrated limited
interaction during some first weeks. The interaction between group members
was improved in groups where the group leaders worked effectively in
controlling and inviting their partners to speak. Furthermore, the appearance of
the teacher and the encouragement to the quiet students could also enhance the
interaction. Observation also showed that the lack of participation and
interaction was often found in students of low English level.
2.4.2.2. Students’ attitudes towards the small group activities

It was found out from the class observation that students had the tendency
to show their interest in speaking activities towards the end of the innovation.
The extent of interest, however, varied according to different factors such as the
topic of the speaking or the method of grouping. When the speaking topics were
more familiar to students, for example education or daily activities, they had
more ideas, vocabulary so that they showed higher level of interest. Similar to
the participation and the interaction, the level of enthusiasm of students
increased when they were allowed to choose their own partners.
Results from the questionnaires also reflected students’ attitudes towards
the use of small group activities in speaking lessons. By using Questionnaire 1
(Appendix 1), in which students were asked whether they like the group
activities or not, at the beginning of the research, 17 out of 43 students of
10A7 class said yes (40%), while 26 others said no (60%). In the case of 10A8
class, only 15 students said yes (35%) while 28 others said no (65%). After 10
weeks of the research using several new group activities, the number of
students who like these activities increased significantly: 37 out of 43 students
of 10A7 said yes (86%), while 6 others said no (14%). These number of 10A8
class are 35 (81%) and 8 (19%) respectively. Students who said yes explained
that they found those activities interesting and funny. They also felt more
confident when working with their classmates, the scared feelings of making
mistakes in speaking was disappeared. They also said that they enjoyed the
small group work because they have more chance to raise their voice in
comparison to the traditional teaching methods. For the students who said that
they did not like the group activities, they explained that they found grouping
took too much time. Moreover, some students in the groups did not act seriously,
but mainly chatted or spoke Vietnamese all the time. However, they also
admitted that if the group leader and the teacher had good control of how the
group members worked, they would enjoy more in those activities.

18

By using another questionnaire (Questionnaire 2 - Appendix 2) in which
students were asked to score from 0 to 3 corresponding to their interest level in
small group activities, the obtained results are presented in the table below:
Interest level of students of 10A7 and 10A8 classes in small group activities after 10 weeks of
the research

Score - Interest level
0 - Not interested
1 - A little interested
2 – Interested
3 - Very interested
Total

10A7 class
Number of Percentage
students
(%)
6
13.9
3
7.0
7
16.3
27
62.8
43
100

10A8 class
Number of
Percentage
students
(%)
8
18.6
2
4.7
9
20.9
24
55.8
43
100

It is easy to realize that the attitudes of students towards the small group
activities in speaking lessons were very positive with more than 50% students
showed their satisfaction with small group activities.

CHAPTER 3. CONCLUSION AND SUGESSTIONS
3.1. Conclusion
Findings from the research have fully answered the two research
questions, which aimed to investigate the effects that small group work activities
have on the speaking skills of students at Yen Dinh 1 high school and to identify
the more appropriate activities to implement the small group work in speaking
lessons. It was pointed out that the use of small group work in speaking lessons
had positive effects on both students’ speaking performance and their language
competence. Benefits could be listed as the higher rate of participation and
interaction of students throughout the speaking lessons, the raise of interest and

motivation of students in learning speaking skills. With the benefits that students
at Yen Dinh 1 high school received from the use of small group work, it is
believed that this teaching technique can be adapted to use widely in other
school to help develop the speaking skill of all students.
Due to the limited time and knowledge, mistakes in this innovation are
inevitable. Therefore, all comments, remarks and suggestions are welcome and
highly appreciated.
3.2. Suggestions for further studies
Because of the limited time, knowledge, materials and little experience,
the study still remains some problems which need to be solved in future studies:
- By using observation and questionnaires, only two aspects including
students’ participation and interaction as well as students’ attitudes were
analyzed. Another important aspect, the quality of small group activities, need
to be studied.

19


- The subjects as well as activities used in this innovation were limited.
Therefore, other future studies should be carried out on a large scale to ensure
their effectiveness.
XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG
ĐƠN VỊ

Thanh Hóa, ngày 30 tháng 6 năm
2020
Tôi xin cam đoan đây là SKKN của
mình viết, không sao chép nội dung
của người khác.
(Ký và ghi rõ họ tên)

LÊ THỊ HÀ

20


REFERENCES
1. WorldAtlas. What is the Most Spoken Language in the World?
/>2. Sadiku, L. M. (2015). “The importance of four skills reading, speaking,
writing, listening in a lesson hour”. European Journal of Language and
Literature, 1(1), 29-31.
3. Englishmate. Developing the four essential skills - listening, speaking,
reading & writing. />4. Brown, G. and Yule, G. (1983). Teaching the spoken language. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
5. Essays, UK. (2018). The speaking skill.
/>6. Rao, P. S. (2019). “The importance of speaking skills in English classrooms”.
Alford Council of International English & Literature Journal, 2(2), 6-18.
7. Anuradha, R. V., Raman, G., Hemamalini, H. C. (2014). Methods of
Teaching English. Hyderabad: Neelkamal Publications.
8. Killen, R. (2013). Effective teaching strategies: lessons from research and
practice. Melbourne: Cengage Learning.
9. Lipman, M. (2003). Thinking in education. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
10. Deakin University (2016). Working in groups.
/>11. Bygate, M. (1987). Speaking. Oxford University Press.
12. Bueno, A., Madrid, D., McLaren, N. (2006). TEFL in Secondary
Education. Granada: Editorial Universidad de Granada.
13. Hilmi, H., Lu, E. T. (2010). Teaching speaking skill through group work
activities: A case study in SMK Jayamore. FakultiPendidikan. University
Teknologi Malaysia.

I


DANH MỤC
CÁC ĐỀ TÀI SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM ĐÃ ĐƯỢC HỘI ĐỒNG
ĐÁNH GIÁ XẾP LOẠI CẤP PHÒNG GD&ĐT, CẤP SỞ GD&ĐT VÀ CÁC
CẤP CAO HƠN XẾP LOẠI TỪ C TRỞ LÊN
Họ và tên tác giả: Lê Thị Hà
Chức vụ và đơn vị công tác: Giáo viên, Trường THPT Yên Định 1

TT
1.

2.

Tên đề tài SKKN

Cấp đánh
Kết quả
giá xếp loại đánh giá
(Phòng, Sở, xếp loại (A,
Tỉnh...)
B, hoặc C)
Sở GD&ĐT
Loại B

Teaching vocabulary
Dạy học theo chủ đề tích
hợp: Vận dụng kiến thức liên

môn để giảng dạy phần
Reading (đọc hiểu), bài 10:
Sở GD&ĐT
Endangered species (các loài
động vật có nguy cơ bị tuyệt
chủng), Tiếng Anh 12

Giải KK

Năm học
đánh giá
xếp loại
2004-2005

2014-2015

II