An investigation into the use of pair work and group work in speaking lessons for grade 10 students at yen lac high school

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************

TẠ THỊ DƯƠNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF
PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK IN SPEAKING LESSONS
FOR GRADE-10 STUDENTS AT YEN LAC HIGH SCHOOL
(NGHIÊN CỨU THỰC TRẠNG SỬ DỤNG HOA ̣T ĐỘNG ĐÔI VÀ NHÓM
TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NĨI CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10
TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THƠNG YÊN LẠC)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111

Hanoi – 2015


VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************

TẠ THỊ DƯƠNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF
PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK IN SPEAKING LESSONS

FOR GRADE-10 STUDENTS AT YEN LAC HIGH SCHOOL
(NGHIÊN CỨU THỰC TRẠNG SỬ DỤNG HOA ̣T ĐỘNG ĐÔI VÀ NHÓM
TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NĨI CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10
TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THƠNG YÊN LẠC)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111
Supervisor: Phạm Thị Thanh Thuỷ, Ph.D

Hanoi – 2015


DECLARATION
I hereby state that I – Tạ Thị Dương, being an M.A candidate of the
Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, ULIS, VNU, certify my authorship of the study
entitled
An Investigation into the Use of Pair Work and Group Work in Speaking
Lessons for Grade-10 Students at Yen Lac High School
I certify that this thesis is entirely my own work and that all the information in
this paper was presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct.
As required in the rules, I fully cited all the sources of the results that were not
original to this work.

Hanoi, December 2014

Tạ Thị Dương

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my
supervisor, Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Thuy, Ph.D for her guidance, comments,
enthusiasm, and especially sympathy throughout the whole research process.
Second, my thanks go to all the lecturers and staff of the Faculty of PostGraduate Studies, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies,
Vietnam National University, Hanoi, for their precious knowledge and guidance
during my two years of studying at the Faculty.
Third, I would like to thank all librarians for their helping me with the reference
materials and their efforts to create the atmosphere of reading rooms as
convenient as possible.
Specially, I wish to express my special thanks to the students and teachers
at Yen Lac high school for their full support in completing the questionnaires and
their detailed answers to questions in the interview.
I also wish to send my thanks to the teachers who will take their precious time
reading and commending on this thesis.
And finally, I wish to send my thanks to my family who always cheer me
up and support me at hard time.

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ABSTRACT
This study aims at investigating how pair and group activities were used to
teach English speaking skills by teachers for grade-10 classes at Yen Lac high
school; the benefits students gained and the difficulties they encountered when
using them; and the solutions teachers took to handle these problems. A
combination of questionnaires for students, interviews for teachers and class
observations was administered to discover the answers. The findings of this

research revealed that pair work and group work were used frequently and quite
effectively in teaching speaking skills. Furthermore, the benefits students gained
outnumbered the challenges they faced. It was found out that teachers adopted a
number of strategies to improve the effectiveness of pair work and group work.
From the findings of the study, some recommendations were given to the
students and teachers at Yen Lac high school for enhancing the effectiveness of
pair work and group work in speaking lessons.

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CLT: Communicative Language Teaching
ESL: English as a Second Language
STT: Student Talking Time

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LISTS OF FIGURES
Figure 3.1. Students' reflections on the frequency of work organizations
Figure 3.2. Students' reflections on how teachers form pairs and groups
Figure 3.3. Students' reflections on the size of a group
Figure 3.4. Students' reflections on the activities for pair/ group work
Figure 3.5.Students' reflections on teachers' activities before pair work and group
work
Figure 3.6. Students' reflections on teachers' activities during pair work and
group work
Figure 3.7. Students' reflections on their activities during pair work and group
work

Figure 3.8. Students' reflections on teachers' activities after pair work and group
work
Figure 3.9. Students' justifications of the benefits they gain from pair work and
group work
Figure 3.10. Students' reflections on the difficulties they have in pair work and
group work
Figure 3.11. Students' expectations to improve the effectiveness of pair work and
group work

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ............................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................. ii
ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS......................................................................... iv
LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................... v
PART A: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 1
1. Rationale for the study.................................................................................. 1
2. Aims of the study........................................................................................... 3
3. Scope of the study ........................................................................................ 3
4. Significance of the study .............................................................................. 3
5. Methods of the study .................................................................................... 4
6. Design of the study ......................................................................................... 4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT............................................................................ 5
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................... 5
1. Theoretical backgrounds of teaching speaking skills .................................... 5
1.1. Principles for Teaching Speaking ........................................................... 5
1.2. Problems in teaching speaking skills ...................................................... 5

2. Theoretical backgrounds of pair and group work .......................................... 6
2.1. Definitions of pair and group work ......................................................... 6
2.2. The organization of pair and group work ............................................... 6
2.2.1. The frequency ............................................................................... 6
2.2.2. The formation ................................................................................ 6
2.2.3. Size ................................................................................................ 7
2.2.4. Procedures for pair and group work .............................................. 8
2.3. Pair and group activities in a speaking lesson ....................................... 8
2.4. Benefits and challenges of using pair and group work in a speaking
lesson ............................................................................................................ 10
2.4.1. Benefits of using pair and group work ........................................ 10
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2.4.2. Challenges in using pair and group work ................................... 12
2.5. Empirical studies related to pair and group work ................................. 14
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY ................................................................ 16
1. Background to the study .............................................................................. 16
2. The participants ............................................................................................ 17
3. Data collection instruments.......................................................................... 17
3.1. Questionnaires ..................................................................................... 17
3.2. Interviews ............................................................................................ 18
3.3. Classroom observations ....................................................................... 19
4. Data collection procedures ........................................................................... 19
5. Data analysis procedures .............................................................................. 20
CHAPTER 3: MAIN FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .............................. 21
1. Main findings ............................................................................................... 21
1.1. The use of pair work and group work in teaching speaking
skills for grade-10 students at Yen Lac High School ....................... 21
1.2. The benefits and challenges of the practice of speaking skills

in pairs and groups at Yen Lac High School .................................... 30
1.3. The solutions to improve the effectiveness of the practice of
speaking skills in pairs and groups at Yen Lac High School ........... 33
2. Discussion ................................................................................................... 35
PART C: CONCLUSION.............................................................................. 37
1. Conclusion.................................................................................................... 37
2. Pedagogical Implications of the Study ........................................................ 37
3. Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research ...................................... 40
References ...................................................................................................... 42
Appendices

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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the study
In recent decades, it is undeniable that English has become a primary medium of
international communication in commerce, transportation, banking, tourism,
technology, aviation, diplomacy, and scientific research. As a result, Vietnamese
Ministry of Education and Training has been adopting English as a compulsory
subject at secondary schools, colleges and universities, and even in several primary
schools since the 1990s. However, most of the students have still been confused with
the demand of communicative competence after graduation from the university, which
derives basically from the lack of the opportunities to practice, the limited exposure
to the real language, the native language interferences, and especially the lack of
suitable teaching and learning methods. They are mainly taught with the traditional
teaching method- Grammar Translation Method which focuses on academic study of
grammar; subsequently, students are discouraged from promoting their overall
communicative competence.
With regards to this situation, a new approach – Communicative Language

Teaching (CLT) has been applied instead in order to foster students‟ fluency and
accuracy of English in real communications. One of the techniques commonly used in
CLT is pair and group work, the importance of which has been long emphasized as it
can create a comfortable and low-pressure learning environment in the second
language classroom. It is commonly believed that the less anxious and more
relaxed the learner is, the better his language acquisition proceeds. Moreover,
this technique enables students to maximize their own learning and also offers
promising possibilities for promoting active learning and student-reliance in
community college classrooms (Foote, 2009). In addition, many studies have reported
that, regardless of the subject matter, students working in small groups tend to learn
more of what is taught and retain it longer than when the same content is presented in
other instructional formats.

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As can be observed at Yen Lac High school, both teachers and students once did
not take speaking skills serious. Speaking skills were almost confined to the classroom
while the study of grammar was the overriding concern on the grounds that students
had to pass the exams. In the very rare speaking lessons, speaking skills were taught in
the traditional version of teacher- student interaction that is illustrated by the model of
teacher initiation, student response, and teacher‟s evaluation. Students only
demonstrated what they had learnt, not having the adequate frequency of opportunities
to interact in and out of the classroom. Consequently, students could not communicate
and express in English as the courses expected and they had many difficulties in
keeping pace with the requirements of oral English skills at universities and in future
jobs. This situation has called for a change in the teachers‟ perception of the
importance of teaching speaking skills. Before carrying out the study, the researcher
asked English teachers at this school about the importance of teaching speaking skills.
All of them agreed that speaking skills are very important and teaching spoken English

for their students should become a lifetime endeavor. They have adopted less
controlled activities in the classroom to give students more opportunities to practice,
communicate, and interact in real life situations in the form of pair work and group
work. These activities not only increase students‟ talking time (STT) but also create an
embracing affective classroom atmosphere which motivates students freely express
themselves. Furthermore, many values can be learnt during the process as solidarity,
responsibility, and team spirit. For the above benefits, all surveyed teachers say that
they use pair and group work in every English speaking lesson. Nevertheless, both
teachers and students have dealt with some challenges in applying pair and group work
in speaking lessons. Teachers, for instance, sometimes lose control of the class or lack
time to finish the lesson. Students tend to switch to their mother tongue or even talk
some outside topics given.
Noticing the above mentioned facts, the researcher would like to conduct a
study on “An Investigation into the Use of Pair Work and Group Work in Speaking
Lessons for Grade-10 Students at Yen Lac High School” in the hope of exploring how
pair and group work are used to teach English speaking skills by teachers, what are the
2


benefits students gain and what challenges they cope with when pair and group work
are adopted, and what solutions teachers take to handle these problems.
2. Aims of the study
The study is carried out with three aims. Firstly, the study is expected to investigate
how pair and group activities are used to teach English speaking skills for grade-10
classes by Yen Lac high school teachers. Added to this, it aims to explore the benefits
students gain and the difficulties they encounter when pair and group work are
adopted. Finally, the solutions teachers take to handle these problems are also
carefully identified. In brief, all the aims of this study could be summarized into the
following research questions:
(1) How are pair and group work used in teaching speaking skills by English teachers

of grade-10 classes at Yen Lac High School?
(2) What are the benefits and challenges of using pairs and groups in learning speaking
skills at Yen Lac High School?
(3) What are some suggestions to improve the effectiveness of using pairs and groups
in teaching speaking skills at Yen Lac High School?
3. Scope of the study
As its title mentions, the study focuses on the teachers‟ use of pair and group work as a
means to improve the students‟ speaking skills in their English lessons. Therefore, the
researcher makes an attempt to investigate how pair and group work are used in
teaching English speaking skills, the benefits and challenges students get, and the
solutions teachers take to handle these problems in only speaking lessons, not in the
other lessons.
In terms of participants, the study is carried out on the grade-10 students at Yen Lac
high school and the teachers in charge of these classes. These students are at preintermediate level and have just studied English for five or six years.
4. Significance of the study
The study is supposedly beneficial to not only the teachers and students of the surveyed
classes but others in the same conditions as well. The students are expected to be well
aware of the profits of pair and group work in their speaking lessons, which results in
3


their tight cooperation with their classmates to enhance their communicative
competence. As for the teachers, this study is meant to provide them with some useful
guides to make best uses of this technique in English speaking lessons. Moreover, the
findings of this study are assumed to be a reliable reference source for those who share
the same interest in this matter.
5. Methods of the study
Conducting the study, the researcher makes use of both quantitative and qualitative
methods with a wish to explore the matter thoroughly. The data will be collected from
three sources: questionnaires for students, interviews for teachers, and class observations.

6. Design of the study
The study is divided into three main parts:
Part A: Introduction- providing the basic information such as rationale, aims,
research question, methods, scope and design of the study
Part B: Development- consisting of four chapters
Chapter 1- Literature Review deals with theoretical background, presenting the
terms and related theories.
Chapter 2- Methodology gives an overview of the reality of teaching and learning
English speaking skill for the grade-10 students at Yen Lac High School and discusses
the actual procedures of the study: participants, data collection instruments, and data
analysis.
Chapter 3- Main Findings and Discussion presents the findings of the study and
analyzes the data collected.
Part C: Conclusion-giving the conclusion based on the findings of the study,
providing some recommendations for better use of pair and group work in speaking
lessons, pointing out the limitations of the study; and giving suggestions for further
studies

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Theoretical backgrounds of teaching speaking skills
1.1. Principles for Teaching Speaking Skills
According to Nunan (2003:54), there are some principles for teaching speaking skills
as described below: (i) Teachers give students the opportunities to practice speaking
with both fluency and accuracy so that students can communicate in English with very
few pauses and mistakes;
(ii) Teachers increase student talking time by letting students practice in pair work or

group work and limit teacher talking time;
(iii) Teachers design classroom activities that involve transactional and interactional
communication. The former is for social purposes such as establishing and maintaining
social relationships and the latter is for getting something done such as the exchange of
goods or services.
1.2. Problems in teaching speaking skills
Since the onset of the communicative era, speaking has been perceived as the most
fundamental skill to acquire and also the ultimate goal of language training; therefore,
its development has become the focus of attention of both teachers and students.
However, helping students to achieve proficiency in English language speaking in such
Vietnamese classroom conditions faces a number of difficulties. Firstly, classes are at
large size. Secondly, most students have low motivation to learn English. In terms of
the materials, they do not fulfill students‟ need because topics for speaking in a
language course do not relate much to students‟ lives and types of spoken discourse
hardly ever reflect the varieties of oral communication in real life situations. Added to
this, students often do not want to talk or say anything. They feel really shy about
talking in front of the class since they suffer from a fear of saying something wrong or
incomprehensible and losing face in front of their teacher and their peers. Last but not
least, students tend to make an excessive use of mother-tongue when practicing
speaking English since they find it easier to express themselves in Vietnamese or lack
appropriate English words and structures to fit into the context.
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2. Theoretical backgrounds of pair and group work
2.1. Definitions of pair and group work
Pair and group work is one of the popular ways of getting students to practice the new
language especially speaking skills on the grounds that it gives students more chances
to talk to each other.
Pair work is defined by Doff (1988:137) as an activity in which the teacher divides the

whole class into pairs, then every student works with his or her partner, and all the
pairs work at the same time. This setting offers a wide range of games and
conversations for students to try and help the lessons be productive and lively.
In group work, the teacher divides the class into small groups of four or five students to
work together and all the groups work at the same time just as in pair work (Doff
1988:137). In this setting, students are assigned a task that involves “collaboration and
self-initiated language” (Brown 2001:177), then students have opportunities to speak
and altogether take the responsibility to pursue the common goals.
2.2. The organization of pair and group work
2.2.1. The frequency
According to Steven, George, and Ana (2006:31) pair and group work should “take a
regular and significant place in teachers‟ repertoires”. However, pair and group work
should not be the exclusive teaching strategy used in a classroom; instead they should
be combined with teacher- fronted and individual learning for their important roles in
instruction. In terms of time, Byrne (1983:78) stated that teachers should provide pair
and group work at least once a week for perhaps half a class period.
2.2.2. The formation
There has been much discussion centering round how to put individual students into
pairs and groups.
Harmer (2001: 120-2) offers four principles to form pairs and groups: Friendship,
Streaming, Chance, and Changing groups. The first one means putting friends with
friends to help students avoid working with those they find unpleasant. Whereas the
streaming is putting students in the same ability or mixed ability groups so that the
6


weaker students can benefit from the help of teacher and stronger students. The third
principle is by far the quickest and it seems fair to students. Finally, changing groups
supposes students keep changing their groups while an activity continues.
Much along in the same line with one of Harmer‟s principles, Steven, George, and Ana

(2006:32) state that pairs or groups can be formed on the basis of some commonality
such as native language (especially in ESL classes with varied native language
background), proficiency levels, gender, personality types, cognitive style preferences,
interests, prior learning experience, etc. In this way, students are likely to feel more
comfortable in their groups and possibly to share a similar working style.
Byrne (1991: 32-3) also suggests students should work with a neighbor or neighbors
with regards to time factor and the frequency of pair work and group work.
On the whole, pairing and grouping decisions should not be based on any fixed
principle but varied in each specific context. For example, if the atmosphere of the
whole class is concerned, it is recommended making friendship groups. Likewise, if
the activity is for fun, the grouping should be left to chance.
2.2.3. Size
According to Byrne (1983:75), “there is no magic number for groups, which should be
worked out in relation to the type of task and the total number of students in the class.”
While small groups promote students‟ greater participation in more simple tasks, larger
groups gather a wide range of skills and opinions to deal with more complex tasks.
The ideal size stated by Byrne is from five to eight students in each and not more than
five to six groups in the class. Ur (1996:232) shares this point when recommending
that “teachers working with large classes should divide them into five groups which is
the most effective organization for practicing speaking.” This optimum size is highly
supported by Harmer (1992: 246) when he claims that “groups of more than seven can
be unmanageable”. Besides, Richards and Lockhart (1994: 153) also confirm that “If
the group is too large, student interaction is affected; only a few students may
participate, the other remaining silent or passive”.
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2.2.4. Procedures for pair and group work
Researchers have suggested various ways of building the procedure for pair work and
group work. Below are some typical ones:

Harmer (2001: 122) simply states three procedures for pair work and group work as
before, during, and after respectively.
Ur (1996:234) shows four main steps for organizing pair work and group work namely
presentation, process, ending, and feedback.
Meanwhile, Brown (2001: 182) points out five practical steps to carry out successful
pair and group work in classroom- select activities carefully, work out the instructions,
model the activity, monitor the students’ performance, and debrief.
Another way offered by Ngoh (1991) indicates that the procedure of implementing pair
work and group work should consist of seven stages- planning, practice, instruction,
organization, process, presentation, and post small group work.
In my view, pair work and group work should be conducted with three main steps.
Firstly, before pair/ group activities, teachers select activities relevant to the language
the students have at their disposal; then work out the instructions and if necessary
explain in the mother tongue; and model the activity either by giving plenty of
examples or selecting one group to simulate. Secondly, while pair/ group activities,
teachers monitor the students‟ performance; give consultations or make suggestions
here and there to keep students on task; and listen to evaluate the groups‟ progress and
individuals‟ language production. Finally, after pair/ group activities, teachers ask
students to report and provide feedback after the group task is completed.
2.3. Pair and group activities in a speaking lesson
According to Brown (2001: 182), appropriate pair activities include Dialogues,
Question and answer, Drills, Quick Brainstorming. Pair work enables teachers to
engage students in interactive communication for a short period of time with minimum
of logistical problems. Typical group tasks are Games, Role- play and simulations,
Drama, Projects, Interview, Brainstorming, Information gap, Jigsaw, Problem solving
and decision making, and Opinion exchange.
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Byrne (1991: 36-102) suggests some more activities for pair and group work. In his

opinion, pair work can be used for Controlled conversation, Questionnaires and
Quizzes, Find a partner whereas group work for Discussion, Interpretation activities,
Planning activities, Invention activities, and Project activities.
Moreover, Doff (1988:211) adds Exchanging personal information activity for pair
work and Guessing games activity for group work.
Perhaps the list of activities for pair work and group work is still lengthened by many
other researchers. For the limitation of this study‟s page number, the researcher would
like to define and characterize some most popular ones.
2.3.1. Games
A game could be any activity formalizing a technique into units that can be scored. For
example, students can practice twenty questions through guessing game in which one
member secretly decides he/ she is some famous person; the rest of the group has to find out
who, within twenty yes/ no questions, with each member of the group taking turns asking
questions. The person who is “it” rotates around the group and points are scored.
2.3.2. Information gap
In this activity, students are supposed to be working in pairs. One student will have the
information that other partner does not have and the partners will share their
information. This activity serves the purposes of solving a problem, collecting
information, etc.
2.3.3. Role play
Role play involves giving a role to each member of a group and assigning an objective
that participants must accomplish. In pairs, for example, student A is an employer;
student B is a prospective employee; the objective is for A to interview B. Or a group
role- play might involve a discussion of a political issue, with each person assigned to
represent a particular political point of view.
2.3.4. Interview
Students work in pairs or in groups of three or four to conduct interviews on a list of
topics based on the theme and content in the textbook. In each pair/ group, one student
9

is the interviewer and the other(s) will be the interviewee(s). Their tasks are to prepare
questions for the interview and to answer them in a given period of time. When time is
over, each pair/group will be called on to present their results to the class.
2.3.5. Problem solving
Students are requested to find out the solutions to a specified problem which might be
relatively simple (such as giving directions on a map), moderately complex (such as
working out an itinerary from train, plane, bus schedules), or quite complex (such as
solving a mystery in a crime story).
2.3.6. Discussions
In group discussions, students should always be encouraged to work into small
groups of four or five to ask questions, paraphrase ideas, express support, check for
clarification, and so on. This activity is often carried out after students have completed
a content-based lesson under teacher‟s control to gain the general knowledge of the
topic.
2.4. Benefits and challenges of using pair and group work in a speaking lesson
2.4.1. Benefits of using pair and group work
2.4.1.1. To teachers
a. Reducing workload
Firstly, teacher‟s workload is reduced because he/she does not have to pay attention to
every single student. The leader of each group will help the teacher instruct members,
coordinate the activities of the group and serve as a required as a link with teacher
(Byrne, 1983:76). The teacher now frees “from her usual role of instructor- correctorcontroller” (Ur, 1981:8) and acts as a guide or consultant. He/ she can wander around
the class, listening to the language students are producing, assessing each individual
student‟s performance, noting language mistakes for future remedial work, devoting a
little more time to slower learners.
b. Saving time
Instead of asking individual students to practice a structure or answer the questions,
he/she can get all pairs or groups to complete the task at the same time. When the time
is saved, the teacher can take his/her students through much bigger material and many

10


more activities. This will be for sure appreciated by the students who will not have
time to get bored because of the variety of activities and their own participation in the
lesson.
2.4.1.2. To students
a. Expanding Student Talking Time (STT)
First of all, pair work and group work dramatically “increase the amount of time that
learners get to speak in the target language during lesson.” according to Nunan
(2003:54). This idea is shared by many researchers on the same field. Long and Porter
(1985) estimated that in a 50 minute lesson with 30 students, if the students talked only
to the teacher, they would get 30 seconds of talking time per lesson. They calculate that
this equals “just one hour per student per year” (p. 208). On the other hand, working in
pairs and groups, students seemingly take up all the time to interact with others instead
of responding and listening to teachers.
b. Creating secure and positive classroom atmosphere
In a pair or a small group, students can actively participate in the lesson; even anxious
and reticent students become vocal participants (Brown, 2001:178) because they are
under no pressure of being called on by the teacher to answer a question “on public
display” (Brown, 2001:178). Instead, they can get involved in talking to their friends
for practicing the language items and language functions, sharing opinions to come up
with an answer.
c. Increasing peer working
Students have chances to give individual attention and assistance to one another on the
grounds that they now work one-on-one and share a “we‟re all in this together” attitude
(Slavin, 1987). During the discussion, they may help to share ideas, correct each
other‟s mistakes, suggest a needed word, and teach some knowledge as well.
d. Developing social skills
Social skills of students who participate in pair and group work are proven to rise

(Slavin, 1991). Working in pair and group, students have the opportunity to find their
voice, actively listen to arguments made by peers, work through conflict, and make
compromise. This results in the encouragement of students‟ broader skills of
11


cooperation and negotiation, which are regarded as indispensable factors for success in
their lives.
2.4.2. Challenges in using pair and group work
2.4.2.1. To teachers
a. Background noise
Obviously, pair work and group work in a large class will be noisy (Doff, 1988:141).
When there is a high level of noise, the teacher finds it difficult to get the whole class‟
attention. Jacobs (1994) suggested some ways for the teacher to keep the whole class
under control. Firstly, the noise monitor of each group should be assigned (or pointed
out by the group members) in order to help urge the whole team to “collaborate
actively yet quietly”. Moreover, the teacher can have the class‟ attention by using
signals such as clapping hands, blowing a whistle, ringing a bell, etc.
b. Students’ errors
In pairs or groups, students will “simply reinforce each other‟s errors” (Brown,
2001:181) and the teacher is not always on hand to correct errors and mistakes.
However, Brown also stated that “Errors are a „necessary‟ manifestation of interlanguage development”. Added to this, research done by Long and Porter (1985)
reveals that the amount of errors students make in pair and group work is not more than
in normal class. Furthermore, other researches on errors prove that levels of accuracy
maintained in unsupervised groups are as high as those in whole class work and that
attempts by teachers to correct students‟ speech errors have little effect on students‟
subsequent performance. Instead, students often carry out peer correction within the
small group (Brown, 1994) and they are more inclined to remember them.
c. Use of the mother tongue
In pairs/ groups, students are tempted to use their native language to express their ideas

especially if they get excited. In fact, the use of mother tongue is advantageous in such
activities as “grammar explanation, checking comprehension, giving instructions,
discussing classroom methodology and checking for sense” (Atkinson 1987:242).
Nevertheless, in case of an oral fluency activity, “the use of a language other than

12


English makes the activity essentially pointless” (Harmer 2001:132). Therefore, the
teacher should encourage students to insist on the use of oral production activities.
2.4.2.2. To students
a. Awkward pairs/groups
In spite of the teacher‟s careful planning and management, it is apparent that there is
not always satisfactory combination among students. Some pairs may find it hard to
concentrate on the task and then “veer away from the point of an exercise, talking
about something else completely, often in their first language” (Harmer 2001:116). In
some groups, lazy students may keep silent during the process and defer to the oldest
or best student‟s ideas; or quicker and stronger students tend to “blurt out their ideas,
overwhelming” the weaker and slower ones (Brown, 2001: 182), which results in the
shrinking of the weak learners; or talkative students may dominate proceedings; or less
extrovert students may not participate fully enough or even their roles may become
fossilized. When such problems do occur, teacher may need to change the pairs or
groups in order that all group members gain the most from the activity. For instance,
teacher should not stream best friends for pair work; all the high- level figures should
be put in one group so that lower- level students in other groups cannot depend on
them. Besides, teacher can appoint the group leader for each group or let the students
choose their own.
b. Finishing first
In pair work and group work, there is a problem occurring frequently that some pairs/
groups finish earlier than others. The teacher needs to be ready for some ways of

dealing with such situation. Some teachers would tell students to relax while waiting
for other pairs/groups to finish. This may be helpful for tired students but also make
some students have the feeling of being ignored. Another way is to stop the activity for
the whole class, which may remove the problem of boredom; on the contrary, may be
very de-motivating for the students who have not yet finished, especially where they
are nearly there and have invested some considerable effort in the procedure. (Harmer
2001:124).The most appropriate solution to this problem is to prepare a list of spare

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activities handy for early finishing pairs/ groups to complete while they are waiting.
This will show that students are still concerned and they are not left to do nothing.
2.5. Empirical studies related to pair and group work
So far a lot of research have been done in the field of teaching and learning English
through pair work and group work and revealed how effective this teaching strategy is.
Below is a review of some international and national studies:
The study conducted by Seyed, Morteza, & Soudabeh (2003), the two first from Iran
and the third from India, investigated the effect of individual, pair, and team work on
the speaking fluency of Iranian elementary EFL learners. The results showed that pair
work and team work outperformed individual work. Therefore, it is suggested to
teachers that individual work should not be emphasized meanwhile pair work and team
work should be highly emphasized where speaking fluency is the focus of study.
Syamsuddin from Program Pascasarjana Universitas Hasanuddin carried out an
experimental research on the contribution of pair and group work activities to the
improvement of students‟ speaking performance and he proved that there was a
significant difference of the speaking performance between the students who
were taught by using pair/work group activities and those who were taught
through conventional method. The students had favorable attitude towards the use
of

pair/work

group

activities

in learning English to increase their speaking

performance because they could directly practice their English with their friends
and they had self confidence in speaking English. Based on these conclusions, the
researcher recommended English teachers had better apply pair/group work
activities to develop their students‟ speaking performance and encourage students to
speak English frequently both in and out of the class.
Najma Raja (2012) - a research scholar in Hamdard Institute of Education and Social
Sciences, Hamdard University Karachi, Pakistan explored the effectiveness of group
work and pair work for students of English at undergraduate level in public and private
sector colleges. It was concluded that group work and pair work was best used when it
was not the only classroom interaction pattern, but when it was combined with other
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strategies. Teachers could plan their lessons to include teachers-centered work;
individual work and pair work as well as group work. Moreover, the teachers need
encourage students to participate or give suggestions about how students might
proceed in an activity especially when there was a silence or when they were confused
about what to do next. The teacher might need to prompt the students with information
they had forgotten.
As in Vietnam, Mi and Thanh (2008) examined the feasibility and the effectiveness of
the implementation of pair work and group work in teaching speaking for 10th graders

of Ho Chi Minh‟s public high schools. The conclusion was drawn that the use of pair
work and group work was favored and welcomed by the majority of the 10th form
students and teachers for its merits such as creating a relaxing learning environment,
helping students learn how to share their responsibilities to solve tasks better and
faster. Besides, there were some pitfalls as well. The study also implied a number of
suggestions about how to make the implementation of pair and group work into
teaching speaking successful.
Phuong (2010) had an investigation into the effectiveness of using group work to teach
English grammar lessons in the college of Technologies and Economics in Trade. It
was pointed out that the use of group work to teach English grammar was effective as
it changed students‟ attitudes towards grammar learning positively. Students no longer
felt bored and frustrated but relaxed and comfortable. Additionally, some remarkable
suggestions were stated for teachers to better the use of group work to teach grammar.
In conclusion, the matter pair work and group work in language teaching has received
great concern and the list of related studies is still going on. However, at Yen Lac high
school- the site of this minor thesis, there has never been any research on the use of
pair work and group work in English teaching. As a result, the study was carried out in
the hope that it can be beneficial to the teaching and learning English at the school.

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
1. Background to the study
1.1. Research context
The study was conducted at Yen Lac High School- a small school in rural area of Vinh
Phuc province. The school has been developed for 49 years and obtained remarkable
achievements. This school year, there are 32 classes with a population of more than
1400 students and 9 teachers take part in teaching English, most of whom are highly
responsible for their work.

Each class takes three 45- minute English lessons per week. Many of students lack of
the background knowledge of English subject; consequently, they show little interest in
English. it is a hard job for teachers at Yen Lac high school to promote students‟
motivation of learning English.
Moreover, the class size is quite large, usually consisting of 40 or 45 students. Almost
all the classrooms are equipped with only blackboards, only some with projectors.
1.2. Teaching materials
The textbook “Tiế ng Anh

10” published by Educational Publishing House is the

official material to teach English for grade-10 classes. It is designed with 16 units, each
of which concerns a theme and aims at developing all skills: Reading, Speaking,
Listening, Writing, and Language Focus. The objectives of each unit are introduced in
the book map with clear descriptions of grammar points, language functions, and skills.
For speaking skills, students usually have to complete four tasks. Task 1 and 2 often
make an emphasis on language input and language functions, for example, expressing
preferences, agreements, disagreements, etc. Task 3 and 4 give opportunities for
students to reflect their opinions on a particular topic or produce a conversation of 2-3
minutes. Some tasks are practiced with individuals, some with the whole class, and
most with pairs or groups.

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