difficulties faced by lower secondary school teachers in teaching speaking skills in bien hoa city

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Đinh Thị Thùy Trang

DIFFICULTIES FACED BY
LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS
IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS
IN BIEN HOA CITY

MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2020


VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

\

Đinh Thị Thùy Trang

DIFFICULTIES FACED BY
LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS
IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS
IN BIEN HOA CITY

Field: English Language
Code: 8220201
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phạm Hữu Đức

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2020


DECLARATION BY AUTHOR
I hereby declare that the thesis, entitled “Difficulties faced by the lower
secondary school teachers in teaching speaking skills in Bien Hoa city” has been
written solely by myself and has not been submitted to this University or any
other institutions in application for admission to a degree, diploma or other
qualifications.
This master thesis has not been published before. And if it is eventually
proved that I am cheating, I am ready to take responsibility, including the
revocation of my academic degree.
Author’s signature

Đinh Thị Thùy Trang
Approved by
SUPERVISOR

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phạm Hữu Đức
Date:………………………

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis could not have been completed without the help, encouragement
and support of many people.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Assoc. Prof.
Dr. Phạm Hữu Đức, my supervisor for his helpful comments, remarks and
recommendations in completing this master’s thesis.

Second, I would like to send my thanks for the useful materials, guidance
and enthusiasm for this study to all lectures and staff of the Graduate Academy
of Social Sciences, Vietnam Academy of Social Science, in Ho Chi Minh City.
In addition, my sincere gratitude goes to the teachers and students of the Le
Quang Dinh Lower Secondary School who have willingly spent their precious
time in the interview process.
Last but not least, many thanks to my beloved family and friends who are
always beside me to support and encourage me to fulfill my study.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
DECLARATION BY AUTHOR ....................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...........................................................................................ii
ABSTRACT

.............................................................................................................vi

LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................vii
LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................ix
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.......................................................................................xi
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. 1
1.1 Rationale........................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Aims of the Study............................................................................................................. 2
1.3 Research questions ........................................................................................................... 2
1.4 Scope of the Study ........................................................................................................... 2
1.5 Significance of the study .................................................................................................. 2
1.6 Research methods ............................................................................................................. 3

1.7 Structure of the study ....................................................................................................... 3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................. 4
2.1 The nature of speaking and speaking skills ..................................................................... 4
2.1.1Definition of speaking .............................................................................................. 4
2.1.2The nature of speaking and speaking skills ............................................................. 5
2.2 The role of speaking in language teaching ....................................................................... 6
2.3 Teaching and learning speaking skill ............................................................................... 7
2.3.1Teaching speaking skill ............................................................................................ 7
2.3.2Learning speaking skill ............................................................................................ 8
2.4 Factors affecting learner’s speaking achievement ......................................................... 10
2.4.1Teacher’s factors .................................................................................................... 10

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2.4.2Learner’s factors..................................................................................................... 12
2.5 Teacher’s difficulties in teaching English speaking skills ............................................. 14
2.6 Previous study ................................................................................................................ 15
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ........................................................................... 17
3.1 Research questions ......................................................................................................... 17
3.2 Participants ..................................................................................................................... 17
3.3 Data collection instrument ............................................................................................. 17
3.3.1Survey Questionnaires ........................................................................................... 18
3.3.2Interviews ............................................................................................................... 19
3.4 Data collection procedures ............................................................................................. 19
3.5 Data analysis .................................................................................................................. 20
3.6 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 20
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ................................................... 21
4.1 Data analysis of teachers’ survey questionnaire ............................................................ 21
4.2 Data analysis of students’ survey questionnaire ............................................................ 36

4.3 Data analysis of students and teachers’ survey interview .............................................. 52
4.3.1Teachers’ interview ................................................................................................ 53
4.3.2Students’ interview................................................................................................. 55
4.4 Discussions ..................................................................................................................... 56
4.4.1Difficulties from the students ................................................................................. 57
4.4.2Difficulties from the teachers ................................................................................. 59
4.4.3Problems from other factors ................................................................................... 60
4.5 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 62
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ................................................................................. 63
5.1 Recapitulation ................................................................................................................ 63
5.2 Concluding remarks ....................................................................................................... 64
5.3 Implications .................................................................................................................... 64

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5.3.1Implications for students ........................................................................................ 64
5.3.2Implications for teachers ........................................................................................ 67
5.4 Limitations of the study ................................................................................................. 68
5.5 Suggestions for further studies ....................................................................................... 69
REFERENCES 70
Foreign Authors ........................................................................................................... 70
Vietnamese Authors ..................................................................................................... 72
APPENDIX 1

...............................................................................................................i

APPENDIX 2

.............................................................................................................iv

APPENDIX 3

............................................................................................................vii

APPENDIX 4

.............................................................................................................. x

APPENDIX 5 ..................................................................................................... xi

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ABSTRACT
English speaking is an important skill and mostly used in daily life to express
opinions, explain, and make arguments. To get a better result in learning English
and get a good job in the future, students have to speak English fluently. The aim
of this study was to explore some difficulties faced by students and teachers at
Le Quang Dinh Lower Secondary School in learning and teaching English
speaking skills and suggesting solutions to resolve those difficulties. The study
subjects were 104 students and 18 English teachers. Research data were obtained
from questionnaires, interviews, by both students and teachers. The findings
showed that the difficulties faced by students in learning English were low levels
of English proficiency, lack of motivation and problems with the use of mother
tongue. Teachers' difficulties in teaching English-speaking skills were
insufficient communication skills and inadequate methods. Furthermore, large
and multi-level classes, the current test system and lack of class time were
additional difficulties in learning and teaching English speaking skills for
students and teachers. Some recommendations were made from these findings

with the aim of improving Le Quang Dinh Lower Secondary School's teaching
and learning of English, especially speaking skills.

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1. Information about the teachers participated in the survey .................. 21
Table 4.2. Teachers’ year of teaching English ..................................................... 21
Table 4.3 Information about students participating in the survey ....................... 36
Table 4.4. Students’ years of learning English .................................................... 37

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 4.1. Interesting of teachers in teaching speaking skill .............................. 22
Figure 4.2. Teacher’s opinions about other skills ................................................ 22
Figure 4.3. Teacher’s opinion about the importance of English speaking skill .. 23
Figure 4.4 The current testing system .................................................................. 24
Figure 4.5 Large and multi-level classes ............................................................. 24
Figure 4.6 There are multi-level students in the class. ........................................ 25
Figure 4.7. The contents in textbook are difficult for student’s ability. .............. 26
Figure 4.8 My knowledge of speaking topics is restricted. ................................. 26
Figure 4.9. There is limited time for large knowledge. ....................................... 27
Figure 4.10. Teachers’ teaching method. ............................................................. 28
Figure 4.11. I find it difficult to create pleasant and comfortable atmosphere in
English speaking lessons. ..................................................................................... 29
Figure 4.12. I apply some techniques in teaching speaking skill (role-play,
interview…) ......................................................................................................... 30

Figure 4.13. Teacher’s instruction in speaking class ........................................... 30
Figure 4.14. After giving speaking topics, I often provide new words and
structures relating to the topics ............................................................................ 31
Figure 4.15.It is difficult to find suitable activities. ............................................. 32
Figure 4.16. Limited time affects to student’s practice speaking skill. ............... 33
Figure 4.17. I rarely give activities involved in each speaking task .................... 33
Figure 4.18. I give feedbacks for only few students because of the limited time 34
Figure 4.19. Students are passive in learning speaking skill ............................... 35
Figure 4.20. Lack of teaching and learning facilities........................................... 35
Figure 4.21. Students’ opinion about the learning speaking skill ........................ 37
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Figure 4.22. Speaking skill is the most difficult among the four skills ............... 38
Figure 4.23. Speaking skill is very important ...................................................... 39
Figure 4.24. I learn English speaking skill to communicate with foreigners ...... 40
Figure 4.25. The aim of learning speaking English is to pass examinations ....... 41
Figure 4.26. I am shy and feel nervous when speaking in front of other people
because I am afraid of being wrong and lose face ............................................... 41
Figure 4.27. I have a poor vocabulary to express my ideas ................................. 42
Figure 4.28. I am not good at pronunciation, stress and intonation ..................... 43
Figure 4.29. I usually use Vietnamese during pair work and group work........... 44
Figure 4.30. My speaking’s ability is good .......................................................... 45
Figure 4.31. My partners are unwilling to practice speaking English with me ... 45
Figure 4.32. It is difficult to have chances to practice English with foreigners .. 46
Figure 4.33. I rarely have chances to practice English outside the class ............. 47
Figure 4.34. Teachers’ instructions are ambiguous ............................................. 47
Figure 4.35.Teachers often get angry and interrupt to correct when I make
mistakes ................................................................................................................ 48
Figure 4.36. Teachers’ knowledge is restricted ................................................... 49

Figure 4.37. Teachers focus much on grammar ................................................... 50
Figure 4.38. After giving speaking topics, teachers often ask to discuss the topics
immediately .......................................................................................................... 50
Figure 4.39. Some contents in textbook are difficult ........................................... 51
Figure 4.40. The classroom lacks facilities (micro, projector, videos, Internet…)
.............................................................................................................................. 52

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
LQDLSS: Le Quang Dinh Lower Secondary School
%: Percentage

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Rationale
Speaking is one of the most difficult skill language learners as well as
teachers have to face. Speaking is very important in second language learning.
Therefore, teaching speaking skill for secondary school students also has a great
effect on their ability of speaking learning. Teaching the speaking skill is the
most important aspect of learning English and success is measured based on the
ability to perform a conversation in the language. Despite its importance,
speaking has been overlooked in schools and universities due to different reasons
like emphasis on grammar and unfavorable teacher-student proportions.
The traditional method of teaching in Vietnam is heavily dependent on
books and lectures. Teachers as well as students pay much attention to the
grammatical items. As a result, those students might be structurally competent

but communicative incompetent. This is the big problem with a lot of
Vietnamese schools. They do not create enough opportunities to speak in
authentic situations. When it comes to interviewing with foreigners, speaking
skills is the most important. This is because from the initial moment that
applicants get in touch with interviewers when applying for a new job, those
interviewers will scrutinize the way they behave. If the applicants can prove their
speaking skills, it is likely that they will not only communicate well with other
coworkers but also with regular customers, which would allow them to broaden
their knowledge and gradually become a well-rounded employee.

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Finally, this study is to help those teachers who teaching speaking English
in secondary school being more successful in teaching activities.
1.2 Aims of the Study
This study aims to: identify difficulties perceived by teachers in teaching
speaking skill. Suggest solutions perceived by teachers to overcome the
difficulties for more successful teaching speaking English skill at secondary
schools in Bien Hoa city.
1.3 Research questions
1. What difficulties or challenges do the teachers face when teaching speaking
skills in classroom?
2. How can teachers and students minimize these difficulties?
1.4 Scope of the Study
The study aims at outlining the difficulties in teaching speaking skill faced
by teachers at secondary school. There are various difficulties that teachers met
when they taught a foreign language. The study sought to find out the most
popular difficulties in teaching speaking skill faced by teachers at secondary
schools. Then, this study also gave out some suggested solutions for common

teaching problems for teachers.
1.5 Significance of the study
The findings of this study will redound to the benefit of society considering
that teaching speaking skill plays an important role in education today. The study
can help the teacher teach better way of teaching speaking skills. The result can
be useful for English teacher in giving addition input of teaching learning
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process of speaking as well as gives a broader point of view for teachers in
teaching English.
1.6 Research methods
To collect data for this study, the questionnaires were distributed to 104
students and 18 teachers. The teachers participating in the survey were teaching
English to students so that they can understand why students fail to speak fluent
English. First, the survey questionnaires are carried out to find out the problems
being faced by teachers. Then the interviews with teachers are conducted to
make clear which were ambiguous and vague in the questions.
1.7 Structure of the study
The study is organized in five chapters: Introduction, Literature Review,
Methodology, Findings & Discussions and Conclusions. Chapter 1- Introduction
presents the rationale, aims, research questions, scope of the study, significance
of the study and research. Chapter 2 – Literature Review reviews the overview of
speaking skills; Chapter 3 - Methodology includes the participants, data
collection instrument, data collection & data analysis procedure context of the
study. Chapter 4- Findings & Discussions describes the data of the
questionnaires and interviews, then gives some findings through the data
analysis; and suggests some solutions perceived by teachers to the current
problems. Chapter 5 - Conclusion focuses on recommendations for further study.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 The nature of speaking and speaking skills
2.1.1 Definition of speaking
Speaking is a part of daily life that we take it for granted. There are many
different concepts of speaking through many different liguistics, but most accept
the fact that speaking is very important to human communication. Speaking a
foreign language is a very complex skill, including vocabulary; grammar,
pronunciation, and fluency, the ability to structure talk or even non-verbal
abilities.
To Brown (1994), Burn and Joyce (1997), speaking is an interactive process
of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing
information; Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it
occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experience, the
physical environment, and the purposes for speaking; It is often spontaneous,
open ended and evolving.
According to Burn & Joyce, (1997), “speaking” is the delivery of language
through the mouth. To speak, we create sounds using many parts of our body,
including the lungs, vocal tract, vocal chords, tongue, teeth and lips. In the
framework of how we learn our first language, language has been divided into
different skill areas. A child first learns to practice language through the skill of
listening. Later, a child uses language by speaking combined with listening.
Then, when school begins, children learn the skills of reading and writing. So
speaking is usually the second of the four language skills that we learn. This

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vocalized form of language usually requires at least one listener. When two or
more people speak or talk to each other, the conversation is called a “dialogue”.
Speech can flow naturally from one person to another in the form of dialogue. It
can also be planned and rehearsed, as in the delivery of a speech or presentation.
2.1.2 The nature of speaking and speaking skills
There have existed various ways of defining speaking skills in language
teaching and learning. In fact, language experts have proposed many definitions
of speaking.
First, as Nunan (1991,p.39) argues that mastering English requires
mastering one's entire productive and receptive skills. Speaking skills held an
important place in foreign language teaching and learning "Mastering the art of
speaking is the single most important factor in learning a second or foreign
language and the ability to conduct a conversation in the language is measured in
terms of progress."
According to Ur (1981,p.48), “speaking is the productive oral skill. It
consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning.”
Regarding to this mater, Brown (1994) notes that speaking is a meaningbuilding process involving the creation, receipt and processing of information.
In the meantime, as demonstrated by Bygate (1987), it is of great
importance to have micro-linguistic skills in order to speak a foreign language,
which means learning certain grammar, vocabulary, and rules governing how
words are placed together to form sentences. However, these motor-perceptive
skills, as Bygate calls them, are not sufficient since they produce sentences. We
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often have to adjust them to the circumstances. He then presents the second set
of speaking skills: interaction skills, which involve the use of knowledge and
basic motor-perceptive skills to decide what to say and how to say, while
maintaining the intended relationship with others.
2.2 The role of speaking in language teaching

Language is divided into four macro-skills in terms of language teaching:
listening, speaking, reading and writing for the purpose of study and instruction.
Speaking skills are obvious as it is necessary for human communication (Ur,
1996) and plays the most significant role in foreign language teaching.
Understading the language means that you can speak the language. In addition, it
is the medium for social relations to be developed and preserved as well as for
professional advancement.
Swain (2005) suggested that in second language acquisition, output could
play several important roles. The value of learning of the output is recorded to
drive the learners with more mental effort to process the language more deeply.
He acknowledged that the learner is in control of the output. Learners can stretch
their inter-language to achieve communicative goals while speaking. They need
to create the form and meaning of linguistics and even to discover what they can
or can not do. Output may stimulate learners from semantics, open-ended,
strategic processing, prevalent to incomprehension, to complete grammatical
processing for the production needed. "Noticing" is promoted as another role of
output. Leaner notices "holes" in their linguistic knowledge and works to fill
them in various ways, such as turning to the dictionary, asking their peers or
teachers, or noticing that they will pay attention to future relevant inputs.

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Speaking is crucial to human communication. Just consider all the
conversations in one day and compare how much you do in writing in one day.
Which more do you do? Most of us speak more than we write in our daily lives,
yet many English teachers still spend most of their time reading and writing
activities almost lacking the ability to speak and listen. This is a good balance,
do you think? If your language course is really aimed at enabling your students
to communicate in English, then speaking skills in the language classroom

should be taught and practiced.
The ability to speak English is clearly important in international
relationships to be able to participate in the broader world of work. The ability to
speak is assessed by the ability to speak in the language. It is really important
that language teachers pay close attention to the teaching of speaking skills for
the reasons mentioned above.
2.3 Teaching and learning speaking skills
2.3.1 Teaching speaking skills
Communicative performance is the goal of teaching language skills.
Learners should be able to make themselves known in the fullest possible use of
their current skills. Because of incorrect pronunciation, grammar or vocabulary,
they should try to avoid ambiguity in the message and follow the social and
cultural rules that apply in each communication situation.
Speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of
verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts” (Chaney, 1998, p. 13).
Speaking is an integral part of learning and teaching in a second language. Given

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its significance, language teaching has been undervalued for many years, and
English language teachers have tended to teach speaking just as a repetition of
exercises or dialog memorization. Today's world, however, needs the aim of
teaching speaking to develop the communicative skills of students, because only
in this way will students express themselves and learn how to obey the correct
social and cultural rules in each communicative situation. The teachers help their
students to develop this body of knowledge through authentic practice in the
communication model of language education, which prepares them for real-life
communication situations. They help their students develop the ability to
produce, using suitable (that is, understandable) pronunciation, grammatically

correct, logically related sentences that are relevant to specific contexts.
2.3.2 Learning speaking skills
In the classroom, the exposure to the language data helps students to set the
value of parameters. Krashen claims that the procedure consists mainly of
comprehensible L1 feedback in relation to the affective filter. They concentrate
on the L1 and positive translation (universal language) and languages’ proximity.
Learning practice is helpful to beginners or students who cannot use their
environment to get a language. Students do not need to be compelled to speak;
when they are ready, they will volunteer. “People learn second language by
using that language.” (Horwitz, 2008). Activating mental participation is
regarded as one of the most important elements of cognitive theory. Practice is a
redesign practice – new input that introduces a current structure to a new
information transformation. Practice is a good time to process and internalize
explicit knowledge in a controlled way. In communication, theory preparation
happens verbally or nonverbally in a real conversation. The theory of
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acculturation takes practice outside the classroom into account and puts
additional emphasis on society.
Although students highly appreciate the ability to converse, they find it
difficult it dificult to speak because they often feel a lot of anxiety around
speaking. However, because of the need for English communication today,
students’ thinking becomes positive, and hence they actively engage themselves
in speaking tasks. They want to improve their speaking skills with clear
objectives. Since students are eager to learn and love English, they are always
wondering everything about English. In my point of view, this is the most
important aspect of learning. The young learners know that a good Englishspeaking ability will bring them invisible opportunities in their future life.
Students who do not like English and consider it as something obligatory,
they are still aware of the benefits of learning English. If they accept doing

homework or just practicing because of their teachers or parents, many of them
like to find websites that include interesting and meaningful English-related
contents.
The most important thing is that students understand when they learn
English, particularly required oral skills, and they can learn better when they are
not afraid to make mistakes and should be risk-takers to make progress.

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2.4 Factors affecting learner’s speaking achievement
2.4.1 Teacher’s factors
2.4.1.1 Teachers’ teaching methods
The goal of teaching English at most schools around the world is the ability
of students to use English to communicate through four language skills, i.e.
listening, speaking, reading and writing. Among other skills, mastery of speaking,
which is the basic means of human communication and English speaking, has
become the most demanding skill. This is because most learners often evaluate
their language learning success and the effectiveness of their course based on
how much they feel they have improved their speaking skills (Richard, 2008).
Apart from the importance of speaking skills, learning to speak in a second or
foreign language presents a huge challenge. Brown (Lazarton in 1994, 2001)
mentions a number of characteristics that interact to create the challenge of
speaking. Language teachers are called upon to develop and apply certain
techniques to solve the challenges of teaching speaking in order to meet the aim
of language learning and teaching language skills. This means the teacher plays
an important role in determining which technique can best encourage the
participation of students in the learning process. The teacher-centered model in
which the teacher plays the most important role in the class and is the focus of
action has been turned into student-centered because it does not provide practical

benefits. Unlike a teacher-centered, student-centered class, the learning and
teaching process is more “student-oriented”. The learners are the focus of the
process of teaching and learning. Students are expected to play the most part in
the language teaching and learning process, and the teacher is expected to

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provide students with appropriate teaching programs. In view of the above, the
teacher should consider certain factors related to the student, such as the
student's needs, characteristics, motivation, learning strategies, learning style,
and so on, in determining certain teaching techniques to be performed in the
classroom.
2.4.1.2 Teachers – learner interaction
In the classroom, the teacher asks the students questions and, vice-versa, the
teacher takes part in the learning activities. These forms are termed interaction
between teacher and learner. In general, such interaction takes place in the class
or individuals between the teacher and the class, or small groups. The teacher
only sits or stands behind a desk in the traditional classroom and spends a great
deal of time giving lectures and instructions whereas the tasks of the students are
passively sitting, listening, and taking notes. The teacher's central role is to
dominate both the speaking time and the process. The teacher controls the topic
of the classroom conversation and determines when to start and stop talking in
the classroom.
2.4.1.3 Teachers’ role in speaking activities
According to Harmer, during various speaking activities, teachers need to
play a number of different roles. Here are some of the relevant details if we seek
to get students to speak fluently:
Prompter. The teachers could do this if students are "lost," cannot think
about what they should say and lose the desired fluency in some respects.

Through presenting discreet ideas, the teachers may assist students.

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Participants. The teacher serves as a partner in debates, role-playing or
conversation with the students. The teacher should be careful not to take part too
much and monitor and draw the full attention of the speaker.
Feedback provider. The student-speaking feedback from the teacher
depends on the tact of the teacher and the feedback applications given in specific
situations. The feedback could cover both the activity's content and the language
used.
2.4.2 Learner’s factors
2.4.2.1 Students’ learning style
Student do not speak or say anything. One way to tackle this issue is to try
and start from the root of the problem. If the issue is cultural, that is, in your
culture, it is uncommon for students to speak loudly in class, or if students feel
very shy about talking to other students, then one way to break this cultural
barrier is to build and develop their own culture in the classroom, where loud
English speaking is the norm. One way to do this is to differentiate your
classroom from your school's other classrooms by grouping the classroom desks
differently, in classes, or by decorating the walls in English language and posters
of culture. From day one, teach your students the language of the classroom and
continue to teach it and allow your students to ask questions in English. Positive
feedback also helps encourage shy students to speak more and relax. Another
way to motivate students to speak more is to allocate a percentage of their final
grade to speaking skills and let students know that they are continuously being
assessed throughout the term on their speaking practice in class.

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2.4.2.2 Students’ motivation
Most students are able to speak a language as knowledge of the language,
so that studying the language is seen as learning to speak the language or, as
Nunan (1991) wrote, "the success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out
a conversation in the (target) language.” Therefore, if students do not learn to
speak or have no chance to speak in the language classroom, they will soon
become de-motivated and lose interest in learning. Alternatively, speaking in
class can prove a lot more fun, usually motivated learners and make English a
fun and exciting place to be when the right activities are taught in the right way.
Beside that, there is also lack of motivation for some learners to speak
English. They don't see a strong need to learn English or use it. Communicative
skill development can only occur if learners have the encouragement and
opportunity to express their own personality and respond to the people around
them (Littlewood, 1981).
2.4.2.3 Learner – learner interaction
Learner – learner interaction occurs among learners. The teacher plays as a
monitor in this form of interaction, and the learners are the main participants.
Learner-learner interaction occurs in groups called learner-learner interactions, in
pairs called peer interactions. In this type of interaction pair work and group
work seem to dominate. Many researchers claim that practice is most beneficial
when performed in collaboration with small groups or peers rather than with the
teacher or in a setting of a whole class. Significantly, students almost always
initiate their questions during small-group rather than full-class activities.
According to Harmer (2001), pair work and group work increase the amount of

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