Using peer interaction activities to teach english speaking skill in the tenth form class = sử dụng các hoạt động tương tác giữa học sinh lớp 10 để dạy kỹ năng nói tiếng anh

VINH UNIVERSITY
DERPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
************

NGUYỄN THỊ HÀ GIANG

USING PEER INTERACTION ACTIVITIES TO TEACH
ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL IN THE TENTH FORM CLASS
(SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG TƯƠNG TÁC GIỮA
HỌC SINH LỚP 10 ĐỂ DẠY KỸ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH)

GRADUATION THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology

VINH 2011
i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

For the completion of the study, I had been fortunate to receive invaluable
contributions from many people. First of all, I especially would like to express my
deepest thanks to my supervisor, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Van Lam, M.A for her useful
instructions, advice and comments, without which the study would not have been
completed.
My profound thanks also go to all of my teachers from the Department of
Foreign Languages at Vinh University, who have given me expert guidance and
favorable conditions for the completion of the work.
I am deeply thankful to all the English teachers and students at Nguyen Du
High School. Thanks to their help, I could finish the survey used for my study.
I am really in debt to my beloved family, sweetheart and friends for their help

and encouragement during the process of writing this research.
Though the study has been done with all my attempts, my limitation of ability
and knowledge may cause mistakes in the work. Therefore, all comments and remarks
on the study would be highly appreciated.

Vinh, May 2011
Nguyen Thi Ha Giang

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................. i
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................... ii
TABLES AND CHARTS.................................................................................................... v
PART I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1
1. Justification of the Study ................................................................................................. 1
2. Aims and Objectives of the Study ................................................................................... 2
3. Methods of the Study....................................................................................................... 2
4. Scope of the Study ........................................................................................................... 2
5. Format of the Study ......................................................................................................... 3
PART II: DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................................ 4
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ............................................................. 4
1.1. Speaking Skill in Second Language Learning ............................................................. 4
1.1.1. Speaking Skill ............................................................................................................ 4
1.1.2. Characteristics of a Successful Speaking Activity .................................................... 5
1.1.3. Problems with Speaking Activities and Solutions .................................................... 5
1.1.3.1. Problems ................................................................................................................. 5

1.1.3.2. Solutions ................................................................................................................. 6
1.2. Interactionism

.. 7

1.2.1. The Interactionist Position

.. 7

1.2.2. Interaction in Second Language Learning................................................................. 7
1.2.2.1. Roles of Interaction in Second Language Learning ............................................... 8
12.2.2. Types of Interaction ................................................................................................. 9
1.2.2.2.1. Learner-Content Interaction ................................................................................ 9
1.2.2.2.2. Learner-Instructor Interaction ........................................................................... 10
1.2.2.2.3. Learner-Learner Interaction (or Peer Interaction) ............................................. 10
1.3. Peer Interaction in English Class ................................................................................ 11
1.3.1. Communicative Language Teaching ....................................................................... 11
1.3.1.1. Types of Learning and Teaching Activities ......................................................... 12
1.3.2. Roles of Peer Interaction Activities in English Class.............................................. 12

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1.3.3. Three Suggestions for Successful Peer Interactions................................................ 14
1.3.4. Types of Peer Interaction Activities ........................................................................ 15
1.3.4.1. Pair Peer Interaction Activities ............................................................................. 15
1.3.4.2. Group Peer Interaction Activities ......................................................................... 15
1.3.4.3. Whole Class Peer Interaction Activities ............................................................... 15
CHAPTER 2: REAL SITUATION OF USING PEER INTERACTION ACTIVITIES
TO

TEACH ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL IN THE TENTH FORM CLASS .................... 17
2.1. The Survey.................................................................................................................. 17
2.1.1. Objectives of the Survey ......................................................................................... 17
2.1.2. The Informants and Setting ..................................................................................... 17
2.1.3. Questionnaire Description ....................................................................................... 17
2.1.3.1. Questionnaires for Teachers ................................................................................. 18
2.1.3.2. Questionnaires for Students .................................................................................. 18
2.1.4. The Survey Result ................................................................................................... 20
2.1.4.1. The Survey Result from Teachers ........................................................................ 20
2.1.4.2. The Survey Result from Students ......................................................................... 24
2.2. Real Situation of Using Peer Interaction Activities to Teach English Skill in the
Tenth Form Class in High School ..................................................................................... 28
CHAPTER 3: SUGGESTED PEER INTERACTION ACTIVITIES TO TEACH
ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL IN THE TENTH FORM CLASS ................................... 31
3.1. Procedures in Organizing a Peer Interaction Activity ................................................ 31
3.1.1. Pre-activity Stage..................................................................................................... 31
3.1.1.1. Engage-Instruct-Initiate Sequence........................................................................ 31
3.1.1.2. Grouping Students ................................................................................................ 32
3.1.2. During-Activity Stage ............................................................................................. 33
3.1.2.1. The Roles of the Teacher ...................................................................................... 33
3.1.2.2. Providing Feedback .............................................................................................. 34
3.1.3. Conclusion Stage ..................................................................................................... 34
3.1.3.1. Stopping the Activity ............................................................................................ 34
3.1.3.2. Feedback after the Activity .................................................................................. 35

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3.2. Suggested Peer Interaction Activities to teach English speaking skill in the 10th
Form Class ......................................................................................................................... 36

3.3. The Reality of the Students‟ Attitude towards Peer Interaction Activities after
Participating in ................................................................................................................... 51
3.3.1. The Extra Survey ..................................................................................................... 51
3.3.1.1. Objectives of the Extra Survey ............................................................................. 51
3.3.1.2. The Informants and Setting .................................................................................. 51
3.3.1.3. Questionnaire Description .................................................................................... 51
3.3.1.4. The Extra Survey Results ..................................................................................... 52
3.3.2. Findings and Discussions ........................................................................................ 53
PART III: CONCLUSION ............................................................................................. 54
1. Recapitulation ................................................................................................................ 54
2. Suggestions for Further Studies..........................................................................................54
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 55
APPENDIX

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TABLES AND CHARTS
Table 2.1. The Survey Result from Teachers .................................................................... 20
Chart 2.1. The Survey Result from Teachers for Question 7 ............................................ 21
Chart 2.2. The Survey Result from Teachers for Question 10 .......................................... 22
Chart 2.3. The Survey Result from Teachers for Question 11 .......................................... 22
Chart 2.4. The Survey Result from Teachers for Question 13 .......................................... 23
Table 2.2. The Survey Result from Students ..................................................................... 24
Chart 2.5. The Survey Result from Students for Question 2 ............................................. 24
Chart 2.6. The Survey Result from Students for Question 8 ............................................. 26
Chart 2.7. The Survey Result from Students for Question 10 ........................................... 27
Chart 2.8. The Survey Result from Students for Question 11 ........................................... 27
Table 3.1. The Survey Result from Students ..................................................................... 52
Chart 3.1. The Extra Survey Result from Students for Question 5 ................................... 52

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PART I: INTRODUCTION

I. Justification of the Study
English has been widely used all over the world and become an international
language. It is, hence, understandable why the demand on English learning is
increasing considerably day by day. The goal of the language learners has changed and
shifted from obtaining language knowledge to achieving the communicative ability in
English.
Educationalist and linguists have made great efforts to find the most appropriate
method with the view to enabling language learners to get the most desired results. To
meet the need, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is applied as the dominant
method. In CLT, the learner's role is more emphasized than in other traditional
methods. Most of the class-time is devoted to student-student interaction, not teacherstudent interaction. As a result, students can participate more actively and they can
direct and develop the classroom activities by interacting among themselves while the
teacher is a facilitator of the learning process. In other words, peer interaction becomes
the primary and powerful technique in modern language teaching.
Additionally, it is believed that like other cognitive development, language
proficiency can be obtained through interaction, including peer interaction. Peer
interaction can provide various learning opportunities. Not only do more proficient
learners assist their peer but mutual assistance among the learners of similar
proficiency also occurs. Consequently, peer interaction can promote the quality of
language learning.
Besides, speaking is a crucial part of second language learning and teaching.
Despite its importance, for many years, teaching speaking has been undervalued and
English language teachers have continued to teach speaking just as a repetition of
drills or memorization of dialogues. However, today‟s world requires that the goal of

teaching speaking should improve students‟ communicative skills, because, only in
that way, students can express themselves and learn how to follow the social and
cultural rules appropriate in each communicative circumstance.
Therefore, the author has attempted to conduct the study entitled "Using Peer
Interaction Activities to Teach English Speaking Skill in the tenth Form Class" to

1


promote an interactive process through which the students could learn from each other
through the use of a good selection of interactive class activities.

2. Aims and Objectives of the Study
The study aims to:
 Point out the real situation of using peer interaction activities to teach English
speaking skill in the tenth form class in Nguyen Du High School.


Provide some suggested peer interaction activities applied within speaking

lesson of the new English textbook of the tenth form.
To achieve these aims, the study answers the following questions:
 What is the real situation of using peer interaction activities to teach English
speaking skill in the tenth form class?
 How can peer interaction activities be used in teaching English speaking skill to
the tenth form students?

3. Methods of the Study
This study has been conducted with qualitative and quantitative methods. It
uses the qualitative for get the in-depth knowledge which refer to peer interaction in

English teaching and learning. Furthermore, it also uses quantitative method to get
information about the real situation of English speaking skill teaching and learning in
the tenth form class.
Firstly, the study searches and reviews reference documents relating to the
topic. Next, it conducts a survey which involves in the tenth form students and
teachers at Nguyen Du High School to investigate for their attitude towards speaking
skill and their thought about peer interaction in English speaking lessons. Finally, the
study suggests some peer interaction activities applied within speaking lesson of the
English textbook of the tenth form.

4. Scope of the Study
Due to limitation of time and experience, it is impossible for the author to carry
out the study discussing all the matters concerning peer interaction and all the levels of
students. In this paper, only the most necessary knowledge about peer interaction

2


which is used in language teaching is mentioned and the study focuses on English
speaking skill of students of the tenth form in high schools.

5. Format of the Study
The study consists of three main parts: Part one entitled "Introduction" outlines
the background of the study. In this part, the author presents the reasons for choosing
the topic, the objectives, the methods, the scope and the format of the study.
Part two with the title "Development" comprises three chapters. In Chapter 1,
"Theoretical Background", general theoretical of speaking and teaching speaking skill;
the definition, the roles and some types of interaction in language learning are
provided. Moreover, in this chapter, the author focuses on the peer interaction with its
roles in English class and some types of peer interaction activities. Chapter 2 deals

with the investigation of the factual situation of using peer interaction activities in
teaching and learning English speaking skill in high schools. In Chapter 3, the author
gives some suggested peer interaction activities applied within the English textbook of
the tenth form.
Part three is the "Conclusion" in which a brief overview on the achievements of
the study is presented together with suggestions for further studies.
The study ends up with "References" providing a list of sources of materials
which are used during the process of writing the study and “Appendix” with the survey
questionnaires for teachers and students.

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PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1:
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1. Speaking Skill in Second Language Learning
1.1.1. Speaking Skill
There is no point in studying English without practicing speaking it. Through
speaking, one can express his mind, ideas and thoughts freely and spontaneously. To
most people, mastering the art of speaking is the single most important aspect of
learning a second or foreign language, and success is measured in terms of the ability
to carry out a conversation in the target language. In psycholinguistic, speaking is a
productive language skill. It is mental process (O‟Grady, 2000, p.310). Mental process
is also called as “a process of thinking”. We use words, phrases, and sentences to
convey a message to a listener. A “word” is the smallest free form (an item that may
be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content) in a language, while a
phrase is a syntactic structure that consists of more than one word but lacks the
subject-predicate organization of a clause. When we combine these words into one

group, then it becomes a sentence. Many students regard speaking ability as the
measure of knowing a language. These students define fluency as the ability to
converse with others, much more than the ability to read, write or comprehend oral
language. They regard speaking as the most important skill they can acquire, and they
assess their progress in terms of their accomplishment in spoken communication
(Burnkart, 1998).
Generally, students need to recognize that speaking involves three areas of
knowledge (Burnkart, 1998):
 Mechanics (pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary): the right words are used
in the right order with the correct pronunciation.
 Functions (transaction and interaction): when clarity of message is essential
(transaction/information exchange) and when precise understanding is not required
(interaction/relationship building)•

4


 Social and cultural rules and norms (turn-taking, rate of speech, length of
pauses between speakers, relative roles of participants): how to take into account who
is speaking to whom, in what circumstances, about what, and for what reason.

1.1.2. Characteristics of a Successful Speaking Activity
According to Ur (1996), there are some characteristics that a successful
speaking activity must have:
 Maximum foreign talk: In successful speaking tasks, the students talk a lot in
the foreign language. The teacher tries to avoid students‟ talking in the mother tongue,
and avoid too much Teacher Talk.
 Even participation: Whether the task takes place among the whole class or in
small groups, a successful task should encourage speaking from as many different
students as possible. The task should be designed in a way so that the outspoken

students do not dominate discussions. When necessary, the teacher may interfere to
guarantee equal opportunities for students of different levels.
 High motivation: Motivation is one of the most important variables in
successful language learning. Teachers can do a lot to increase and maintain the
motivation of students by the types of tasks that they organize in class. Students are
eager to speak, when the topic is interesting or there is a clear objective that must be
reached. Again great care should be taken to make sure the task is in line with the
students‟ ability to deal with the task.
 Right language level: In a successful speaking task, the language is at the right
level. The task must be designed so that students can complete the task successfully
with language that they have. If the students lack too much vocabulary the task will
become frustrating and the students are likely to give up or revert back to the native
language.

1.1.3. Problems with Speaking Activities and Solutions
1.1.3.1. Problems
In the process of teaching English speaking skill, teachers may meet many
problems. Ur (1996, p.121) mentions four problems with speaking activities that
teachers may encounter in their teaching:

5


 Inhibition: Unlike reading, writing and listening activities, speaking requires
some degree of real-time exposure to an audience. Learners are often inhibited about
trying to say things in a foreign language in the classroom: worried about making
mistakes, fearful of criticism or losing face, or simple shy of the attention that their
speech attracts.
 Nothing to say: Even if they are not inhibited, some learners complain that they
cannot think of anything to say: They have no motive to express themselves beyond

the guilty feeling that they should be speaking.
 Low or universe participation: Only one participant can talk at time if he or
she is to be heard, and in a large group, this means that each one will have only very
little talking time. This problem is compound by the tendency of some learners to
dominate while others speak very little or not at all.
 Mother–tongue use: In class where all or a number of the learners share the
same mother-tongue, they may tend to use it because it is easier, the learners feel
unnatural to speak to one another in a foreign language.
In many Vietnamese language classes, the situation is also similar. Vietnamese
students often sit quietly and listen rather than act. The cultural difference that causes
the students to be non-talkative is that failure is not smiled upon kindly in Vietnam.
“Learning from mistakes” is not widely of their peers or teachers.

1.1.3.2. Solutions
There are many suggestions in teaching English speaking skill that have been
presented to help teachers solve these above problems and achieve the best goal at
their teaching. In Burns and Joyce (1997), the principles for teaching are stated as
follow:
1. Provide the cultural and social purposes of spoken.
2. Provide activities which involve dialogues and functional use of the
language. In other words, teaching should focus on language use and on meaning
rather than usage and form.
3. Do not emphasize the significance of mistakes. This helps to encourage
students to speak without fear of correction.

6


4. State the purpose of the activity to the students. This provides a context or
focus to help comprehension.

5. Focus and work toward real and spontaneous speech.
6. Design activities which encourage natural interaction between speakers.
7. Place students in pairs, or small groups. Small groups and pairs are good
sources of motivation and surely help to increase the students‟ talking time. Besides, it
is easy for the teacher to access the students, to give explanations, suggestions,
assistance and encouragement to each student.
8. Provide topics of interest to the students.
9. Use the target language. This greatly increases the amount of English spoken
and reduces the temptation of students to hide in their native language.

1.2. Interactionism
1.2.1. The Interactionist Position
Interaction is a term which is widely used both in daily life and in various
sciences. In general, interaction is a kind of action that occurs as two or more objects
have an effect upon one another. An instructional interaction is an event that takes
place between a learner and the learner's environment. Its purpose is to respond to the
learner in a way intended to change his or her behavior toward and educational goal.
Instructional interactions have two purposes: to change learners and to move them
toward achieving their goals.
Many Interactionist theorists, typically Hatch, Pica and Long (cited in Nguyen
Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong in 2006), based on observation of interactions
between learners and native speakers, have argued that much second language
acquisition takes place through conversational interaction and language which is
modified to suit the capability of the learner is a crucial element in the language
acquisition process.
From this point of view, the language learners cannot acquire a language if the
native speaker does not try to modify their talk in some ways. In other words, these
interactionists consider modified interaction as necessary comprehensible input for
language acquisition.

7


As indicated by Long (cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong in
2006), the relationship between language acquisition and interactional modification
can be summarized as follows:
 Interactional modification makes input comprehensible.
 Comprehensible input promotes acquisition.
Therefore,
 Interactional modification promotes acquisition.
Modified interaction includes linguistic simplification and conversational
adjustments such as elaboration, slower speech rate and gesture. Some examples of
these conversational modifications are:
 Comprehension checks - efforts by the native speaker to ensure that the learner
has understood.
 Clarification requests - efforts by the learners to get the native speaker to
clarify something which has been understood.
 Self-repetition or paraphrase - the native speaker repeats his or her sentence
either partially or in its entirety.
In short, interactional modification, including linguistic simplification and
conversational adjustments provides learners with the linguistic raw material which
they will process internally and visibly, therefore, can facilitate and better language
acquisition.

1.2.2. Interaction in Second Language Learning
1.2.2.1. Roles of Interaction in Second Language Learning
Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of human mental processing (cited in Nguyen
Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong in 2006) is a perspective on the role of interaction
in second language learning. Vygotsky's theory assumes that all cognitive
development, including language development, arises as a result of social interactions

between individuals. He concluded that language develops entirely via social
interaction. The learners' knowledge and performance can be advanced thanks to
assistance from the more capable speakers of second language in a supportive
interactive environment. He stated that the learners could do in an interaction with the
help from the interlocutor as the zone of proximal development.

8


The zone of proximal development, according to Vygotsky (1978, p.86), is "the
distance between the actual level of development as determined by independent
problem solving (without guided instruction) and the level of potential development
as determined by problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more
capable peers." In other words, the zone of proximal development is the distance
between the learner's individual capacity and the capacity to perform with assistance.
Extending Vygotskyan theory to second language acquisition, other theorists
claim that language acquisition entirely takes place in the interaction of the learner and
the interlocutor. Second language learners can advance to higher levels of linguistic
knowledge when they collaborate and interact with speakers of the second language
who are more knowledgeable than they are, for example, a teacher or a more advanced
learner. More advanced speakers, in an interaction, will try to create supportive
conditions for the second language learner to comprehend and produce language (for
example: repetition, simplification, and modeling).

12.2.2. Types of Interaction
Moore (1989) identified three types of interaction: learner-content, learnerinstructor, and learner-learner.
1.2.2.2.1. Learner-Content Interaction
The first type is interaction between the learner and the content or subject of
study. This is a defining characteristic of education. There cannot be education without
it, because it is the process of intellectually interacting with content that results in

changes in the learner's understanding, the learner's perspective, or the cognitive
structures of the learner's mind. It is the type of interaction that the author believes is at
least partly involved in what Holmberg (1986) calls the "internal didactic
conversation" when learners "talk to themselves" about the information and ideas they
encounter in a text, television program, lecture, or elsewhere.
Some learning programs are solely content-interactive in nature. They are oneway communications with a subject expert (sometimes assisted by an instructional
designer), intended to help distant learners in their study of the subject. No other
professional teaching expertise is provided, and learning is largely self-directed.

9


1.2.2.2.2. Learner-Instructor Interaction
The second type is interaction between the learner and the expert who prepares
the subject material, or some other experts acting as instructors. It is regarded as
essential by many educators, and as highly desirable by many learners. In this
interaction, distance instructors attempt to achieve aims held in common with all other
educators. First having planned or been given a curriculum, a program of content to be
taught, they seek to stimulate or at least maintain the students‟ interest in what is to be
taught, to motivate students to learn, to enhance and maintain the learner's interest,
including self-direction and self-motivation. Then instructors make presentations or
cause them to be made. These may be presentations of information, demonstrations of
skill, or modelling of certain attitudes and values. Next instructors try to organize
students' application of what is being learned, either the practice of skills that have
been demonstrated, or manipulation of information and ideas that have been presented.
Instructors organize evaluation to ascertain if learners are making progress, and to help
decide whether to change strategies. Finally, instructors provide counsel, support, and
encouragement to each learner, though the extent and nature of this support varies
according to educational level of the learners, the teacher's personality and philosophy,
and other factors.

The instructor is especially valuable in responding to the learners' application of
new knowledge. Whatever self-directed learners can do alone for self-motivation and
interaction with content presented, they are vulnerable at the point of application. They
do not know enough about the subject to be sure that they are applying it correctly, as
intensively or extensively as possible or desirable, or aware of all the potential areas of
application. It is for reality testing and feedback that interaction with an instructor is
likely to be most valuable.

1.2.2.2.3. Learner-Learner Interaction (or Peer Interaction)
The third form of interaction, a new dimension of distance education that will
be a challenge to our thinking and practice in the 1990s is learner-learner interaction or
peer interaction. This is interaction between one learner and other learners, with or
without the real-time presence of an instructor.

10


Peer interaction among members of a class or a group is an extremely valuable
resource for learning. This type of interaction, as a way to generate knowledge, is a
successful learning strategy in which students are divided into small groups. Each
group has students at different levels of ability. They use many different learning
activities to improve their understanding of a subject by sharing with one another.
Each group member is responsible for not only learning the material presented, but for
ensuring that everyone in the group knows the material as well. Peer interaction is not
a new concept but it is becoming an increasingly popular strategy.
According to Johnson and Roger (1991), peer interaction is described as "the
organization of students into small groups that have varying abilities in which all
students can participate to achieve a common goal" or as "a teaching strategy that
motivates students to set higher goals and become intrinsically motivated." Kagan
(1994) believes that "peer interaction benefits students in many ways, mainly in their

level of confidence, motivation and sense of achievement."
In conclusion, peer interaction can be either a progress of co-constructing
knowledge and social relationship through interaction among learners or a learning
activity in which peer interact with each other in a cooperative manner to accomplish a
learning task.

1.3. Peer Interaction in English Class
According to Richards and Rodgers (2001), there are many methods and
approaches in second language teaching. Each of them has contributed new elements
and has attempted to deal with some issues of language learning. However, they
derived in different historical context, stressed different social and educational needs
and have different theoretical considerations. It is no doubt that the communicative
method developed quite fast, it dominates language teaching in many countries
because it not only makes language learning more interesting, but helps learners
develop linguistic competence as well as communicative competence.
1.3.1. Communicative Language Teaching
Since the late 1960‟s, Communicative Language Teaching has been the centre
of language teaching discussions. Over the years it has become ever clearer that
mastering grammatical forms and structures does not prepare the learners well enough

11


to use the language they are learning effectively when communicating with others. It is
seen as an approach that pursues two main goals. The first one is “to make
communicative competence the goal of language teaching” and the second one, “to
develop procedures for the teaching of the four language skills that acknowledge the
interdependence of language and communication” (Richards and Rodgers, 2001,
p.155).
Basing on Communicative Language Teaching, the teacher sets up a situation

that students are likely to encounter in real-life. This approach can leave students in
suspense as to the outcome of a class exercise, which will vary according to their
reactions and responses. The real-life simulations change from day to day. Students'
motivation to learn comes from their desire to communicate in meaningful ways about
interesting topics.

1.3.1.1. Types of Learning and Teaching Activities
Littlewood (cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong in 2006)
states that there are two major activity types in Communicative Language Teaching:
"functional communicative activities" and "social interaction activities".
Functional communicative activities include such tasks as learners comparing
sets of pictures and noting similarities and differences, working out a likely sequence
of events in a set of pictures; discovering missing features in a map or picture, one
learner communicating behind a screen to another learner and giving instructions on
how to draw a picture or shape, how to complete a map, following directions, and
solving problems from shared clues.
Social interaction activities include conversation and discussion sections,
dialogues and role plays, simulations, skits, improvisation, and debates.

1.3.2. Roles of Peer Interaction Activities in English Class
In Allwright (1984), it is beneficial in learning and teaching process when using
peer interaction activities in the language classrooms.
First of all, peer interaction is good for all students. Thanks to the more
proficient students, the less proficient can learn from their partners, can improve their
language learning. The way the better students use language is bound to have positive

12


effects on others. Moreover, the more proficient students can also further their ability

of language use when they help their classmates. The more proficient learners can
receive benefits through the monitoring of peers and their own linguistic behavior. By
doing so, more proficient learners might gain more confidence with their proficiency,
and become more responsible not only for their own learning but also for their peers.
The second role of peer interaction in language teaching is increasing learners'
participation. In a teacher-dominated class, few students have chance to interact with
the teacher and their peers and the rest of the class seem to do nothing than keep silent.
In contrast, in a learner-centered class, most of time is devoted to student-student
interaction in which students work together and learn from each other by participating
as an important part of interaction. Students are often asked to work in a group or a
pair and make presentation in front of the whole class. Furthermore, in an interactive
activity; each participant has to play a role, which forces the students who are often
shy of talking in front of the whole class or teacher to speak, because there is no other
way for them to complete their roles besides saying something to exchange
information, express their attitude toward the problem and protect their views. It
means that peer interaction increases the amount of the students' talking time.
Another role is that peer interaction increases learners' motivation. We cannot
deny the crucial relationship between motivation and language proficiency. Peer
interaction can be regarded as a good way to motivate students into communicating in
the target language. To some extent, peer interaction may decrease the inhibition and
fear of failure in learners because interaction itself is a natural and social activity.
One more important benefit is that peer interaction offers free and natural use of
language. The classroom is a formal and unnatural setting for practicing language.
Peer interaction helps learners properly use English more naturally and less
consciously. Their concentration will be on solving the problem posed by their roles,
not on the language they use to solve problems. Thus, peer interaction provides
learners with opportunities to improve their fluent and natural speech like in normal
social activities in daily life. For instance, in a role play by a group peer interaction,
speaking is more than just reading dialogue aloud or answering some controlled
questions. It is a spontaneous conversation among students who are imagining they are

the other people or imagining they are in a different situation.

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Additionally, peer interaction can be considered as a good way to help students
to promote higher level thinking skills and develop good communication and social
skills such as getting used to working in a group, creative problem solving skills and
fostering their responsibility and independence.
In summary, with a large number of advantages, peer interaction provides more
opportunities for intensive language practice and offers a context in which language is
used meaningfully and naturally.

1.3.3. Three Suggestions for Successful Peer Interactions
Firstly, the teacher should establish a clear purpose with students. When the
teacher provides students with a purpose statement and links it to their overall mastery
of the content, they will get on board. This is different from giving directions, which
merely list a sequence of steps. Purpose provides students with a model of
metacognition so that they recognize a path to learning. A clear purpose is the most
neglected instructional design element.
Secondly, the teacher need to remember that variety is the spice of life,
especially for adolescents. Variety is especially important when it comes to academic
vocabulary development. Students satiate quickly on any one particular vocabulary
activity, so we have found it helpful to get into the mindset of offering up a few
different types of peer activities each week. Graphic organizers are great, but not if
they are used five days a week. It is a fine balance between establishing habits of work
and allowing students to habituate to too few vocabulary activities.
Finally, it is beneficial to integrate vocabulary activities into the content flow.
The teacher should avoid as much as possible activities that isolate academic
vocabulary from the conceptual understandings of the unit of study. The goal of any

activity should center on the necessary use of the vocabulary to complete the task.
Choose the activities for peer interaction that rely on the verbal and written use of
vocabulary that is contextually bound.
Moreover, these following principles are offered when designing group work
for language learning:
 Clear and explicit instructions are provided.
 Talk is necessary for the task (i.e., there is an information gap).

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 There is a clear outcome for the group work.
 The task is cognitively appropriate to the learners.
 The task is integrated with a broader curriculum topic.
 All children in the group are involved.
 Students have enough time to complete tasks.
 Students know how to work in groups.

1.3.4. Types of Peer Interaction Activities
Peer interaction can be classified in the basic of the number of participants in it.
There are three types of peer interaction activities as follows:
1.3.4.1. Pair Peer Interaction Activities
Pair peer interaction may be the simplest type of peer interaction. In a pair peer
interaction activity, two students interact with each other to practice a language item or
complete a learning task. It is a kind of one-in-one interaction.
When forming pair interaction, the teacher should not always put to same
students together. Also, the two partners of a pair should have different level of
language proficient so that they can help each other to promote learning. What is more,
interacting between pairs is often rather simple; too much time for the pair activity
might cause boredom, hence, the teacher ought to provide enough or relevant time for

the pair peer interaction.

1.3.4.2. Group Peer Interaction Activities
Group peer interaction may be the most popular type of cooperative learning
generally and peer interaction particularly. In group peer interaction, the teacher
divides the class into small group to work together (usually four or five students in
each group). As in the pair peer interaction, all the group work at the same time.
During the activities, the group members interact with each other by using target
language and using problem-solving skills to reach the common goal.

1.3.4.3. Whole Class Peer Interaction Activities
Whole class peer interaction is a type of peer interaction in which one
student/one group of the students interacts with the rest of the class. This type of

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interaction often follows the two types above. After pair or group interaction, it is
necessary for the teacher to ask the representative of some pairs or groups to report,
present of perform what they have done. The performance of this student may have
effects upon other students in class. The way he or she speaks and pronounces as well
as the way he or she uses the language and answer the questions from the listeners is
likely to influence other students.
This type of activity can help students become good listeners and develop their
presenting skills such as the ability to respond quickly in the target language as well as
the ability to protect their view under pressure of many people.

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CHAPTER 2:
REAL SITUATION OF USING PEER INTERACTION ACTIVITIES TO
TEACH ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL IN THE TENTH FORM CLASS

2.1. The Survey
2.1.1. Objectives of the Survey
The survey is carried out with the aims of looking for the faithful facts study on
peer interaction by the tenth form students and teachers at Nguyen Du High School.
The objectives of the survey are to investigate for their attitude towards speaking skill
and their thought about peer interaction in English speaking lessons. This information
will help the author to give some suggestions and activities to improve English
speaking skill for students.

2.1.2. The Informants and Setting
The subjects of the survey are the teachers and the tenth form students at
Nguyen Du High School. This school is located in Nghi Xuan district, Ha Tinh
province where the socioeconomic is growing rapidly. Moreover, the citizens here
have a beautiful tradition of caring about the learning of youth. Thanks to the living
standard improvement and care of family and society for learning, the teachers and
students in Nghi Xuan have a rather good condition for teaching and learning.
The survey questionnaire for teachers was conducted among 10 teachers who
are teaching the tenth form at Nguyen Du High School. Most of respondent teachers
are very young and only some of them have been teaching English for more than 15
years. The teachers there have made efforts to apply new techniques in their teaching.
100 students who are involved in the survey are learning at class 10A12 and
10A13 at Nguyen Du High School. Most of them have been learning English for 5
years; only 7 students began studying English in primary school. Some of them have
chance to attend the extra courses of English at Foreign Language Centers. In general,
all the students have good command of English; they want to enrich their knowledge
of English and develop their communicative ability.

2.1.3. Questionnaire Description

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2.1.3.1. Questionnaires for Teachers
There are thirteen questions in the survey questionnaire for the teachers. The
objectives of these questions are finding out the attitudes of the teachers towards
speaking skill, peer interaction activities, and their techniques used in speaking
lessons.
 The general information about the teachers‟ teaching experience.
 The teachers‟ attitudes towards speaking skill, peer interaction activities.
 The current situation of teaching speaking skill at high school.
 The reality of using peer interaction activities in speaking lessons.
 The teachers‟ own opinion about applying peer interaction activities in teaching
speaking skill.
For the first question, the teachers have to provide information about how long
they have been teaching English. When answering question 2, they tell about their
perception of speaking skill. For the third question, the author would like to know how
long these teachers let their students practice speaking skill in a 45-minute-lesson. The
fourth and the fifth questions are concerned with the activities which they use when
teaching speaking skill, how many activities in the textbook and how many different
ones. For question 6, they tell us whether their different activities help students to only
complete the tasks or have other purposes. The seventh question is used to examine
which kind of extra activities they use. The author would like to know their perception
of peer interaction in speaking lesson by using question 8. The ninth question is
concern with frequency of the teachers‟ using peer interaction activities in class with
average number. For question 10, the teachers have to choose the type of peer
interaction they use most. Question 11 is concerned with kinds of peer interaction

activities which they use when teaching speaking skill. When answering two last
questions, the teachers tell us their own opinion about applying peer interaction in
teaching English.

2.1.2.2. Questionnaires for Students
The survey is designed with ten questions which are intended to find out
students‟ attitudes towards English in general and spoken English in particular; their
behaviors in a speaking lesson.

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The survey questionnaires focus on:
 The students‟ attitudes towards the importance of English in general and spoken
English in particular.
 The current situation of learning speaking skill at high school.
 The students‟ behaviors in a speaking lesson
 The reality of using peer interaction activities in speaking lessons.
 The students‟ expectations and preferences for using peer interaction activities
in speaking lessons.
For the first question, the students have to provide information about how long
they have been learning English. When answering question 2, they tell us their thought
about the importance of the different parts in the textbook. For the third question, the
author would like to know the frequency of the students‟ practicing speaking skill in
class. When answering question 4, they tell us whether they do practice speaking skill
besides the lessons or not. The fifth and the sixth questions are concerned with their
perception of tasks in textbook: they have various types or not, they are difficult or
easy. The seventh question is used to examine their movement in speaking class. The
author would like to know which kind of activities they participate in speaking lesson
by using question 8. To answer the question 9, the students have to compare their

teachers‟ activities and the tasks in the textbook. The tenth question is concern with
their feeling about the teachers‟ activities in class. For question 11, the author would
like to know their preferences for some types of activities.

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