SKKN the effectiveness of using pair work and group work in speaking lessons for the 11TH form students

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I. INTRODUCTION
1. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
Nowadays English has become more and more important part in Vietnam
and it is an international language. Therefore, it has been taught in Vietnam from
primary schools to high schools as a compulsory subject. In English teaching,
the main objective is to prepare students for communication in the real world
and it is very important for a learner to efficiently equip himself with four skills:
Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing, together with relatively sufficient
background knowledge. Among those skills, speaking is a crucial part of
language learning. The mastery of speaking skill in English is a priority for
many second or foreign language learners.
The goal of education is currently focused on the development of
dynamic, the creative and active of students enable them to identify and solve
problems. So the application of traditional methods - centered teachers - are not
suitable for the development of education. The innovation of teaching and
learning method is affirming the advantages in the process of receiving lessons
of students. In fact, the last aim of learning foreign language is to communicate.
So in the period of learning, students don’t speak much, there is no effect in that
period. Foreign language teachers need to take advantages all chances to suggest
students practising speaking more than other subjects. Therefore, the foreign
language period is very different from other subject periods. Students are always
willing to speak. They speak a lot and understand what other people speak, they
can reach the aims of learning foreign language.
With many years of experience in teaching English at Nguyen Quan Nho
high school, I found that most students are lazy in giving ideas and answering
the questions. If the teachers apply traditional teaching methods in the lessons,
students will be more and more passive in learning. So, through the form pairs
and groups can support forms of work or working class individual. The training
activities in pairs, two - way nature of the group, strengthening the exchange of

information over the student or give the activities of communication practiced in
class so students can communicate in confidence English. To achieve this goal,
teacher should study the content of each lesson in the textbook, study subjects
and suitable students. Besides, teacher with teaching experience of ourselves,
observe, talk to friends and colleagues in and outside of schools to choose and
organize students to work in pair and group for suitable lessons, with cognitive
abilities of the children and attract their attention, giving the atmosphere more
lively lessons, relieved stress to promote the initiative and creativity of students
in acquiring knowledge.
Therefore, I decided to choose the theme “The effectiveness of using
pair work and group work in speaking lessons for the 11 th form students” as
the topic of my research.


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2. AIMS OF THE STUDY
The study is aimed at:
- The research firstly aims to introduce pair work and group work and to
show the advantages of working in pairs and groups.
- The research secondly aims to show how to organize pair and group
work effectively and how to deal with initial problems that may arise.
- The research thirdly aims to show how pair and group work can be used
for various classroom activities.
- The research lastly aims to give teachers confidence in using pair and
group work themselves.
3. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
With this study, I put focus on investigating and discovering obstacles or
difficulties encountered by students in English speaking lessons at Nguyen Quan
Nho high school. From these findings, the internal and external causes are

analyzed to give some suggestions for tackling them in order to motivate
students and help improve students’ speaking competence by using pair work
and group work.
The study was conducted on the students of grade 11 at Nguyen Quan
Nho high school with the textbook “Tiếng Anh 11”.
4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This study is carried out to find the answer to the following questions:
1. How often are pair work and group work applied in English speaking
lessons?
2. Does using pair work and group work increase students’ interest in
English speaking lessons?
3. Does using pair work and group work increase students’ participation in
English speaking lessons?
5. METHODS OF THE STUDY
In order to get the goals of the study, I used some methods such as:
1. Observation method: The subjects performed self-exploration research
project conducted classroom visits, attended colleagues’ lessons.
2. Experimental methods: Teachers teach test conducted on each specific
purpose requires some speaking lessons.
3. Investigation method: Teachers ask questions to check understanding
content assessment of the students’ lessons.


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II. DEVELOPMENT
1. LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Previous studies
Language teaching came into its own as a profession in the last century.
The period from the 1950s to the 1980s has often been referred to as “The Age

of methods”, during which a number of quite detailed prescriptions for language
teaching were proposed and each method has in turn fallen out of favor and has
been replaced with a new one. Since the 1960s, there has been an increasing
attempt in research on teaching and learning and types and quantities of the
relative amount of participation by the teacher and students (Chaudron, 1993).
Pair work and group work started getting attention of educationist in the
1970s. In 1970s educationists were concerned about increasing teacher talking
time in language classes. During the 1980s and 1990s the development of
communicative language teaching brought an important change in the role of
students (Nunan & Lamb 1996). Working together is worthwhile as “pair and
group work immediately increase the amount of students talking time” (Harmer,
1991). Researchers are convinced that the students who take the initiative in
learning learn more things and learn better than those who sit at the feet of
teachers passively waiting to be taught (Knowles as cited in Hedge, 2000).
Researchers reported that it is a source of intrinsic motivation for students as
working in groups is fun for them. It provides the students with the opportunity
to communicate with each other to share “suggestions, insights, feedback about
successes and failures”. Researchers also claim that a teacher’s dominance in
class makes it dull and it kills the students’ interests (Kundo & Tutto, 1989).
1.2. Review of theoretical background
1.2.1. An overview of language teaching and learning
1.2.1.1. Definitions of language teaching and learning
"Teaching is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the learners to

learn, setting the conditions for learning". Foreign language learning, like other
subjects, is part of the overall development of all students. Through learning a
foreign language, the students can enrich their experience of life, broaden their
world vision, and enhance their thinking skills. Language learning is most
effective when students' interest, motivation and attitudes are taken into
consideration. Therefore, evaluation should be summative and formative and

designed and administered to encourage the learners rather to frustrate them. It
should be carried out in terms of what students can do rather than what they
cannot do.
1.2.1.2. The goal of teaching speaking
In the book Language Learning Strategies by Rebecca L. Oxford, she
writes: "A more practiced eye, a more receptive ear, a more fluent tongue, a
more involved heart, a more responsive mind are the characteristics we want to


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stimulate in students to enable them to become more proficient language
learners.". In other words, the goal of teaching speaking skills is communicative
efficiency. Learners should be able to make themselves understood, using their
current proficiency to the fullest. They should try to avoid confusion in the
message due to faulty pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, and to observe the
social and cultural rules that apply in each communication situation.
Besides, the nature of the new teaching theory is promoting a positive,
creative initiative of students, student is the subject of learning activities, teacher
organizes and guidances to students receiving new knowledge, language training
through a variety of communication forms such as personal activities, pair work,
groupwork. In the teaching process, to promote actively the activities of the
student pairs, it is a form of good group learning activities. Through this form of
learning conditions they have presented, discussed and expressed their thoughts
about the information about lessons that they understand. The information of
each student can be right or may be wrong part. Through pair and group, they
returned to their teacher. Since then teacher can know their understanding. This
process is taking place in accordance with the two-way relations. In terms of
learning theory, this is a dialectical relationship. Working in pairs and in group is
to practise the students' skills, thoughts and expression when they want to

present their ideas before a class. Through this activity, the skills of listening,
speaking, reading and writing of students are improved better.
1.2.2. An overview of speaking
1.2.2.1. Definitions of speaking
Speaking is one of the four language skills (reading, writing, listening and
speaking). It is the means through which learners can communicate with others
to achieve certain goals or to express their opinions, intentions, hopes and
viewpoints. In addition, people who know a language are referred to as speakers
of that language. Furthermore, in almost any setting, speaking is the most
frequently used language skill. As Rivers (1981) argues, speaking is used twice
as much as reading and writing in our communication.
Speaking has usually been compared to writing, both being considered
"productive skills", as opposed to the "receptive skills" of reading and listening.
Speaking also is closely related to listening as two interrelated ways of
accomplishing communication. Every speaker is simultaneously a listener and
every listener is at least potentially a speaker (Oprandy, 1994 & EL Menoufy,
1997).
Speaking has been classified to monologue and dialogue. The former
focuses on giving an interrupted oral presentation and the latter on interacting
with other speakers (Nunan, 1989). Speaking can also serve one of two main
functions: transactional (transfer of information) and interactional (maintenance
of social relationships) (Brown and Yule, 1983).


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1.2.2.2. The importance of speaking
Developing speaking skills is of vital importance in English foreign
language programs. Nunan (1999) and Burkart & Sheppard (2004) argue that
success in learning a language is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a

conversation in the language. Therefore, speaking is probably a priority for most
learners of English (Florez, 1999). Speaking instruction is important because it
helps students acquire English foreign language speaking skills thus converse
spontaneously and naturally with native speakers. Furthermore, if the right
speaking activities are taught in the classroom, speaking can raise general
learners' motivation and make the English language classroom a fun and
dynamic place to be (Nunan, 1999 & Celce-Murcia, 2001). In addition, speaking
can support other language skills. Recent research has considered oral
interaction as an important factor in the shaping of the learner's developing
language (Gass & Varionis, 1994). For instance, it was proved that leraning
speaking can help the development of reading competence (Hilferty, 2005), the
development of writing (Trachsel & Severino, 2004) as well as the development
of listening skills (Regina, 1997).
1.2.3. An overview of pair work and group work
1.2.3.1. Definition of pair work
Pair work is learners working together in pairs. One of the main
motivations to encourage pair work in the English language classroom is to
increase the opportunities for learners to use English in the class. The
teacher devides the whole class into pairs. Every student works with his or her
partner and all the pairs work at the same time. The teacher walks
around, listens and intervenes little if necessary.
Example
The learners are answering comprehension questions in pairs after
reading a text. This allows them to compare answers, and clarify problems
together using English. In the classroom, teachers can evaluate the impact
and effectiveness of pair work on their learners by using action research
tools such as asking the learners how they feel about working like this or by
actually participating in an activity in a pair and evaluating this experience
afterwards.
1.2.3.2. Definition of group work

According to Giselle Konopka: Group work as defined as “as a method
of social work which help individual to enchance their social functioning
through purposeful group experience and to cope more effectively with
their personal, group and comminity problems”.
Group work is a form of voluntary association of members benefiting
from cooperative learning, that enhances the total output of the activity
than when done individually. It aims to cater for individual differences,
develop skills (e.g. communication skills, collaborative skills, critical


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thinking skills), generic knowledge and socially acceptable attitudes or to
generate conforming standards of behavior and judgement, a "group mind".
So, students work in small groups (of four or five) on tasks that
entail interaction: conveying information, for example, or group decision
making. All the groups work at the same time. The teacher walks around
listening, intervenes little if necessary.
1.2.4. The advantages, problems and solution to the problems
For certain types of activity, pairwork and groupwork have number of
advantages over working with the whole class together. Teachers should
think what the main advantages are, and also what problems might be involved
in pairwork, groupwork and the solutions for these.
1.2.4.1. Advantages
- More language practice
- Students are more involved
- Students feel secure, confident
- Students help one another
`
- Save time

* More language practice
Pairwork and groupwork give students far more chance to speak
English. For example, students are give an exercise of making sentences
(question & answer), working in pair, each student makes as many
sentences as they can. If the exercise were done, round the class, students
would only say one sentence each, and in a large class many students would say
nothing at all.
* Student are more involved
Some activities will probably be dominated by a few students and
others would lose interest if they are conducted with the whole class
together. Working in pairs and groups encourages students to be more
involved and to concentrate on the task.
* Students feel secure
Students feel less anxiety when they are working privately than when they
are on show in front of the whole class. Pairwork and groupwork can help
shy students who would never say anything in a whole class activity.
* Students help each other
Pairwork and groupwork encourage students to share indeas and
knowledge. In a reading actictivity, students can help each other to explore
the meaning of a text, in a discussion activity, students can give each other
new ideas.
1.2.4.2. Problems and solution to the problem
- Noise


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- Students make mistakes
- Difficult to control
* Noise

Obviously pairwork and groupwork in a large class will be noisy, and this
can not be helped.
* Solution to the problem
- Usually the students themselves are not disturbed by the noise; it
is more noticeable to the teacher standing at the side or to someone in the next
room.
- The noise created by pairwork and groupwork is usualy”good” noise.
Students use English or engage in a learning task. Teacher should stop the
activity when most groups or pairs have finished or prepare a “reserve” task to
occupy members of groups who finish earlier than expected.
* Students make mistakes
During a pair and group activity, the teacher can not control all the
language used, and should not try to do so.
* Solution to the problem
When doing cotrolled language practice in pairs and groups, the number
of mistakes can be reduced by:
- Giving enough preparation, the activity can be done with the whole class
first, and pair work used for final stage.
- Checking afterwards. The teacher can ask some pairs and groups what
they said, and then correct mistakes if necessary.
* Difficult to control class
The teacher has less control over what students are doing in pairwork and
groupwork than in normal class.
* Solution to the problem
To stop activities getting out control, it is important to:
- Give clear instructions about when to start, what to do and when to stop.
- Give clearly defined tasks which don’t continue for too long.
- Set up a routine, so that students accept the idea of working in pairs and
groups, and know exactly what to do.
1.2.5. Organizing pair work and group work

1.2.5.1. Pair and group work depends on some extents
The success of pair and group work depends on some extents:
- The surrounding social climate.
- How habituated the class is to using it
- The selection of an interesting and stimulating task whose performance is
well within the ability of the pair and group.
More immediately, it also depends on:
- Effective and careful organization.
[


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1.2.5.2. Organization steps
* Presentation
The instructions that are given at the beginning are crucial. If the
students do not understand exactly what they have to do, there will be timewasting, confusion, lack of effective practice, possible loss of control. Select
tasks that are simple enough to describe easily and in monolingual classes,
you may find it cost - effective to explain some or all in the students “mother
tongue”. It is advisable to give the instructions before giving out materials of
dividing the class into groups and a preliminary rehearsal, dry run of a
sample of the activity with the full class can help to clarify things. If your
students have already done similar activities, you will be able to
shorten the process, giving only brief guidelines. It is mainly the first time
of doing something with a class that such care needs to be invested in
instructing.
* Process
Teacher goes from pair to pair, group to group, monitor, and either
contribute or keep out of the way whichever is likely to be more helpful. If
you do decide to intervene, your contribution may take the form of:

- Providing general approval and support
- Helping students who are having difficultly
- Keeping the students using the target language (in manycases your
mere presence will ensure this!)
- Tactfully regulating participation in a discussion where you find
some students are over dominant and others silent.
* Ending
Draw the activity to a close at a certain point. Try to finish the activity
while the sudents are still enjoying it and interested, or only just beginning
to flag.
* Feedback
A feedback session usually takes place in the context of full-class
interaction after the end of the group work. Feedback onthetasks may take
many forms:
- Giving the right solution, if there is one.
- Listening to and evaluating suggestions.
- Pooling ideas on the board.
- Displaying the meterials the pairs/groups have produced and so on.
The main objective here is to express appreciation of the effort
that has been invested and its results. Feedback on language may be
integrated into this discussion of the task, or provide the focus of a separate
class session later.
1.2.6. Some activities work in pairs and in groups effectively


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* Interview
This is a common activity, a lot of teachers apply to the lessons,
especially the section of Reading, Speaking. The teacher asks students to

work in pairs and in gruops, ask and answer for each topic of each lesson
after giving the sentence patterns. Performing this activity requires teachers
to pay attention to the bad pairs, encouraging them to participate.
* Arrange the events in order
Arrange the events in order. Teachers prepare the content of the
lesson but not the order in the post. The teacher asks students to work in
pairs and groups and rearrangethe story. Representatives of the pairs and
groups to tell the story after arrangement.
* Free Role play
Role play or real situations in class. Students work in pairs and groups
by role or character which they are assigned.
* Describing
* Imagination
* Report
* Information transmitting
2. DEMONSTRATION
Practising some periods in speaking lesson (English 11-basic)
UNIT 1: FRIENDSHIP
Period: 4

Lesson 2: Speaking

Activity 1. Teacher gives out the network and people below and asks students to
work in pair to give the questions used to ask about the information in it to
describe their physical charcteristics.
Objectives of activity: Students will be able to work in pair to describe the
physical characteristics of some people in the picture.
Face
(square,oval,
round…)

Hair
(long, shott,
black…)

Eyes
(small, big,
brown…)

Describing people’s
appearance

Build
(slim, thin,
plump…)
Appearance
(handsome,
beautiful, ...)


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Nose
(straight, small,
flat…)

Lips
(thin, full, heart
shaped…)

Height
(tall, short,
medium…)

*Suggested answers:
Eg: 1. Can you describe the boy in the picture?
2. What does the boy look like?
3. Does he have short hair?
4. Is he tall or short?
5. What colour are his eyes?
6. Does he have a round face?
7. Is he wearing a pair of glasses?
8. Is he handsome?
Activity 2. Students work in groups. Discuss and number the following
personalities in order of importance in friendship.
Objectives of activity: Students will be able to understand some adjectives in
the book to order of importance in friendship.
1

2
3

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FRIENDSHIP
8

4

11
7

- caring
- sincere
- helpful

6

- hospitable
- generous
- understanding

5

- modest
- honest
- pleasant

- Teacher divides the class into 3 groups and asks students to complete the
network.
Activity 3. Students work in pairs, one student plays the role of a journalist is
going to interview an other student to ask some questions about his/ her friend.
Using the network and the information in activity 2.
Objectives of activity: Students will be able to ask and answer some questions
to describe the physical characteristics and personalities of their friends.
*Suggested answers:
A: What’s your best friend’s name?
B: Her name is Lan.
A: When was she born? (How old is she?)

B: She was born in 2004. (She is 17 years old)
A: What does she look like?
B: She is very beautiful. She is tall. She has big eyes and long black hair.
A: What is she like?
B: She is helpful and honest.
A: What does she usually do in her free time?
B: She usually reads book in her free time?
A: What are her hobbies?
B: They are reading and swimming.
A: What subject does she like best?
B: She likes Maths best.
A: How much time does she spend on Maths every day?
B: About an hour a day.
UNIT 3: A PARTY
Period: 15

Lesson 2: Speaking

Activity 1: Warm up: Brainstorming: Types of parties.
Objectives of activity: Students will be able to talk about some kinds of parties
and revise the vocabulary on the topic party.


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Birthday
Valentine’s day

House warming

New year

Parties

Wedding
Graduation

Farewell

Thanks-giving

Activity 2: Think of a party you have been to. Choose from the list the things
you want to talk about.
Objectives of activity: Students will be able to talk about a party.
- Whose party was it?
- What was the occasion?
- Did you take a gift for the host?
- Who did you go with?
- Where was the party?
- Were there any decorations?
- Were there a lot of people there?
- Did you know most of the people there?
- What sort of the drink and food did you have?
- What was the music like?
- Did you dance?
- Did you meet anybody nice there?
- What time did it start?
- What time did it finish?
- Did you stay to the end?

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Activity 3: Work in pairs. Tell your partner about the party.
Objectives of activity: Students will be able to ask and answer about the
party they have been to.
*Suggested answers:
A: Whose party was it?
B: It was my friend-Lan
A: What was the occasion?
B: It was Lan’s birthday party.
A: Who did you go with?
B: I went with some my friends.
A: Where was the party?
B: It was held at Lan’s house.
A: Were there any decorations?
B: Yes, there was.
A: Were there a lot of people there?
B: Yes, there were a lot of her friends at there.
A: Did you know most of the people there?
B: Yes, I did. Because most of them are my friends.
A: What sort of the drink and food did you have?
B: I ate cake and drank orange juice.
A: Did you dance?
B: No, I didn’t.
A: What time did it start?
B: It started at 7.30.
A: What time did it finish?
B: It finished at 9p.m.
A: Did you stay to the end?

B: Yes, I did.
Activity 4: Work in groups. You are going to take part in a competition to
organise the best party. Decide on the following.


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Objectives of activity: Students will be able to negotiate in order to come up
with a plan sor their parties.
When
(date and time)

Dressing codes
(formal?
informal?
costumes?)
Who
Whototoinvite
invite
(family?relative?
(family?
relative?
friends?
friends?
classmates?)
classmates?)

UNIT 7:
Period: 40

Where
(home?
restaurant?)

Entertainment
(dance? music?
game?)

Planning
a party

Budget
(How much to
spend? How
much to

Decorations
Decorations
(colored
(colored light
light
bulbs?flower?)
bulbs? flower?)

Food and drink
(cook our or
order? vegetarian
food?)

WORLD POPULATION

Lesson 2:

Speaking

Activity 1. Work in pairs. Teacher gives out the picture and asks students to
work in pair to discuss about the picture.
Objectives of activity: Students will be able to work in pair to talk about the
population.
- Work in pairs and discuss about these questions.
1. What can you see in the picture?
2. What does the picture tell you?


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*Suggested answers:
A: What can you see in the picture?
B: In the picture, the Earth looks like an old, tired man with too many people on
his head, shoulders and arms.
A. What does the picture tell you?
B: The picture tells us that the Earth may not properly accommodate too many
people. We are facing overpopulation.
Activity 2. Students work in pairs. Discuss and number the following causes of
population explosion in order of importance and explain.
Objectives of activity: Students will be able to understand some causes of
population explosion in order of importance and explain.
2

3

1
causes of population
explosion

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4

5

1. Fewer children die at birth.
2. Peopleare not aware of the problem of overpopulation.
3. People are not properly educated.
4. People believe that having many children means happiness.
5. Religion doesn’t encourage people to have fewer children.
6. Many people believe that having a large family is a form of insurance.
*Suggested answers:
A: I think the first cause of population explosion is people believe that
having many children means happiness because the more children they
have the more happiness they get.
B: Ok. The next cause of population explosion is that many people believe
that having a large family is a form of insurance because they want to be
taken care
when they get older.
A: For me, the third cause of population explosion is the religion doesn’t
encourage people to have fewer children because having many people
means power.

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B: The fourth cause is the low death rate in children, because the Health
Care System is good.
A: The fifth cause is people are not aware of the the problem of
overpopulation, because they are short of information.
B: And the last cause is people are not properly educated, because the
population education programme hasn’t presented properly in school.
Activity 3. Work in pairs. List the problem facing poor and overpopulated
countries.
Objectives of activity: Students will be able to ask and answer about the
problem facing poor and overpopulated countries.
Useful language:
- poor living condition
- low living standars
- not enough / expensive food
- lack / shortage of schools / hospitals / teachers / doctors and nurses
- unemployment
- social evils
- illiteracy
Activity 4. Work in groups. Work out the solutions to the problems of
overpopulation.
Objectives of activity: Students will be able to work in groups in order to give
the solutions to the problems of overpopulation then report the results to the
class.
*Suggested answers:
- Raise an awareness of the problems of overpopulation.
- Raise the people’s living standards.
- Exercise/ implement reward and punishment policies.
- Carry out population education programmes.

- Carry out family planning programmes.
- Use birth control methods.
- Educate people about the danger of overpopulation.
Activity 5. Work in groups. Talk about the problems of overpopulation and offer
solutions, using the results of activity 3 and 4.
Objectives of activity: Students will be able to work in groups in order to talk
about the problems of overpopulation and offer solutions, using the results of
activity 3 and 4.
*Suggested answers:
Nowadays poor and overpopulated countries are facing up to serious
problem. We all know that the population links to the lack of food and low living


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standars as well. And another consequence of overpopulation is poor living
conditions.
In addition, to solve these problems and to explain the dangers of
population, we should educate everybody the family planning and birth control
methods. And at the same time, we have to exercise properly reward and
punishment policies to support and promote these solutions.
Unit 10: nature in danger
Period 62:

Lesson 2:

Speaking

Activity 1. Work in pairs. Ask and answer some questions about the reasons
why nature and animals are threatened.

Objectives of activity: Students will be able to ask and answer some questions
about the reasons why nature and animals are threatened.
1. Why do we call some animalss such as tiger, bears, elephants
endangered animals ?
2. What should we do to protect and save them?
*Suggested answers:
A: Why do we call some animalss such as tiger, bears, elephants endangered
animals ?
B: Because they are hunted or killed in large number that they are in danger of
becoming extinct
A: What should we do to protect and save them?
B: As a students you should stop eating and killing wild animals
Activity 2. Work in pairs. Network

- Brainstorming

Objectives of activity: Students will be able to know and talk about some
reasons why nature is threatened, put them in the order of importance .
Ask Ss to work in pairs to complete the network about some reasons why nature
is threatened, put them in the order of importance.

Following Network
2

1

3

Reason nature
is threatened

5

6

4

7


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*Suggested answers:
1. Burning forests
2. Cutting down trees for wood
3. Discharging chemical pollutants into environment
4. Using fertilizers and pesticides for cultivation
5. Killing endangered animals for fur, skin and food
6. Hunting and capturing animals for recreation
7. Keeping animals as pets
Activity 3. Work in groups. Talk about some reasons why nature is threatened
and suggest measures to protect it.
Objectives of activity: Students will be able to talk about some reasons why
nature is threatened and suggest measures to protect it.
*Suggested answers:
Killing
endangered
animals for fur,
skin and food

- Killing endangered animals for fur, skin or food should be
banned.
- People who use products made from rare animals fur and
skin should be fined.
- Factories which are involved in using rare animals’ fur and
skin for their products should be made to find alter native
materials.
Keeping
- Keeping animals as pets should be discouraged.
animals as pets - Animals which are kept as pets should be treated kindly.
- There should be organizations to watch over pet owners to
make sure they take good care of their pets.
- Pets owners should register with the governments so that
they can be supported and assisted in how to raise and take
care of animals.
Hunting and - Animals should not be captured for recreation and
capturing
intertainment.
animals
for - People who abuse animals should be punished.
recreation
Burning
- Zoos and national parks should be established to save
forests
animals and plants.
- All kinds of animals and plants should be protected.
- Burning forests should be banned.
Cutting down - Planting trees should be encouraged.
trees for wood - People should be encouraged to use renewable fuels (eg:
solar energy) rather than non-renewable fuels like wood.

Using
- Decreasing the use of fertilizers and pesticides for farming
fertilizers and should be encouraged.
pesticides for - Pesticides and fertilizers should be checked carefully quality


19

cultivation

control before being sold for use.
- Farmers should strictly follow instructions about safety
when using pesticides and fertilizers.
Discharging
- Discharging chemical pollutants into environment should be
chemical
prohibited.
pollutants into - There should be good systems for treating industrial waste
environment
and chemical substances.
3. RESEARCH RESULTS
The number of students who desire speaking lessons
Classes
Time

11B4 (Frequently using 11B5 (Rarely using pair and
pair and group work in group work in speaking
speaking lessons)
lessons)

At the beginning of
the school - year
2020 - 2021

11/36
(30.55%)

13/40
(33.5%)

At the end of the
school - year
2020 - 2021

25/36
(66,44%)

25/40
(62,5%)

The data from the table shows that by using pair work and group work in
teaching speaking skills for the students, I have obtained many positive results.
Working in pairs and in groups in lessons textbook 11 really have its effects
because the students are active, enthusiastic, excited to learn. By using this
method, the students who are always afraid, shy, lazy now are active and
confident in learning, makes the speaking period more and more exciting. They
were excited in some speaking activities such as role play, interview… Besides,
the students are able to speak English in a real competitive and friendly
atmosphere, which encourages them to speak English more. From these
activities they can speak and understand English better. It is really the

motivation to all students when taking part in speaking lessons.
4. RECOMMENDATIONS
I do hope that the teaching strategy of using pair work and group work in
oral communication classrooms will much benefit my students as they have
more chances to engage in speaking activities. Students who are timid, shy and
feel less motivated when joining in speaking classes of this kind will feel more
confident. More importantly, competition among the pair and group was an
important factor to motivate students to work as a pair and group, because it is
important for them to be the best and to be recognized. Students will be aware of
their responsibility in the speaking process.They should understand that one
way to improve speaking is practicing with others, interacting with others, and


20

learning from others.
III. CONCLUSIONS AND PROPOSALS
Speaking is one of the important language skills to students, to master it
requires a lot of time and efforts. The problem for both teachers and students in
the learning process is to find teaching methods and how to practice speaking
skills effectively. The experience initiative carried out with the purposes
mentioned above have already provided several effective suggestions of using
pair work or group work for students in speaking lessons in English 11. In my
teaching English, this experience initiative motivates my colleagues and me
more creatively and actively in teaching because teaching speaking skills in
English at high schools is not a simple job that requires a lot of effort and
patience. Thanks to it, students have a positive outlook on language learning in
general and learning speaking skills in particular. The results need a relatively
long time. The scope of application of this experience initiative can be extended
to all students at different levels because speaking skills exist in all units of the

textbooks.
Although the study has accomplished the objectives set at the beginning,
it can not avoid some limitations. Due to the short time, limit of knowledge and
the scope of the study, the study can not cover all the uses of pair work and
group work in four skills and language elements. Therefore, further study can
focus on the use of language games as a motivator in reading classes, writing
classes, listening classes and language games as an effective technique to teach
vocabulary and grammar. Obviously, mistakes are unavoidable, all comments
and remarks on this research will be highly appreciated. I would like to hear the
comments of all colleagues to make my subject more complete!
What is presented on my personal opinions about additional practice
English speaking skills for students. To achieve high results in teaching
combined with having to meet the requirements and purposes of education at
hight school, I would strongly suggest some comments later:
- For school managers, it is necessary to invest more consulted documents
for teachers, to have abundant library for students to study documents.
- Sessions organized extracurricular activities, English exams or discuss
the topics in English to the students questioned, knowledge and hone their skills
to communicate his languages. English people have an idiom: “Practice makes
Perfect”
I hereby declare that this initiative is due to the experience I myself
have
written, not copy anybody’s. I sincerely thank you!
COMMENTS AND ASSESSMENT
OF THE SCIENCE COUNCIL

Thieu Hoa, May 5th, 2021
The author

21

Trần Thị Thương
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Các SKKN đã đạt giải cấp nghành
STT
1
2

Tên đề tài
Biện pháp để dạy hiệu quả
tiết: Language focus Tiếng
anh 9
Using cooperative learning
in
teaching
speaking
competence for the 11th
form students

Xếp loại

Cấp

Năm

C

Tỉnh

2010

B

Tỉnh

2018