Students' perceptions and practices in group work activities in project lessons at a lower secondary school = Nhận thức của học sinh và thực hành trong hoạt động nhóm của tiết học project tại trường THCS

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN NGÔ HOÀI DIỄM

STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES IN

GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES IN PROJECT

LESSONS AT A LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL

Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching

Code 8140111

Supervisor: NGUYEN QUANG NGOAN Assoc. Prof. Dr.

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN

NGUYỄN NGÔ HOÀI DIỄM

NHẬN THỨC CỦA HỌC SINH VÀ THỰC HÀNH

TRONG HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM CỦA TIẾT HỌC

PROJECT TẠI TRƢỜNG THCS

Chuyên ngành: Lý luận và phƣơng pháp dạy học bộ môn tiếng Anh

Mã số 8140111

Ngƣời hƣớng dẫn: PGS. TS. NGUYỄN QUANG NGOẠN

i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled “Students‟ Perceptions and Practices in

Group Work Activities in Project Lessons at a Lower Secondary School” is

my own work.

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this paper

does not contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part

from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or

diploma.

Binh Dinh, July 2022

NGUYEN NGO HOAI DIEM

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my appreciation and deep thank to all who have

supported and stood by me during the time I tried to finish my thesis.

First and foremost, I would like to sing out my supervisor, Assoc.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Ngoan, with my greatest gratitude for his valuable

guidance, advice, and encouragement. He has kindly guided me to get over

the most problematic period when I was stuck in finding solutions for my

thesis. Undoubtedly, without his support, this thesis is far from being

completed. Therefore, I need to emphasize that words fail me in expressing

my indebtedness to him.

Next, I would like to send my deep thank to all the lecturers, who have

laid my background knowledge in the Master‟s program at Quy Nhon

University. This background helps me to have intensive knowledge in the

scientific arena as well as improve my personal skills to conduct research

papers.

Then, my particular gratitude is sent to all of my students who have

participated in my research. They were eager to join and fill in the

questionnaires together with answering the interview questions.

Furthermore, my thanks go to my classmates, who were always willing

to help me and give their best suggestions and encouragement to me during

my course.

Last but not least, my words of appreciation are sent to my family

members for their endless love and care.

iii

ABSTRACT

This study which entitles “Students‟ Perceptions and Practices in

Group Work Activities in Project Lessons at a Lower Secondary School” was

conducted with the following objectives: (1) to find out lower secondary

school students‟ attitudes toward group work activities in Project lesson; and

(2) to examine lower secondary school students‟ practices in group work

activities in Project lessons. The study population was all 8

th grader students.

There are 213 8

th

-grade students including 101 females and 112 males. A

combination of both quantitative method and qualitative approaches was

employed to answer the research questions. A questionnaire survey, semi￾structured interview, and observation were employed as research instruments

for quantitative and qualitative data collection. The investigation revealed

results that students‟ perception of the advantages of group work activities,

such as solving the tasks more effectively, saving quite much time, motivate

in English speaking, and reducing the difficulty in learning English speaking.

Besides, the study also found students‟ strengths and weaknesses. When it

comes to difficulties while doing a project, the findings also showed three

main categories, including time constraints, members‟ responsibilities, and

teamwork conflict. It is hoped that the results of this study will partly

contribute to the teaching and learning of English at lower secondary schools

in Vietnam, especially in Project lessons.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ...................................................................i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................ii

ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.........................................................................vii

LIST OF TABLE ............................................................................................vii

LIST OF FIGURES..........................................................................................ix

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION.................................................................. 1

1.1. RATIONALE.......................................................................................... 1

1.2. AIM AND OBJECTIVES ....................................................................... 3

1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS..................................................................... 3

1.4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY........................................................................ 3

1.5. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ........................................................ 3

1.6. ORGANIZATION OF STUDY .............................................................. 4

CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW...................................................... 6

2.1. PROJECT-BASED LEARNING ............................................................ 6

2.1.1. Project-based Learning .................................................................... 6

2.1.2. Definition of Project work ................................................................ 9

2.2. GROUP WORK .................................................................................... 13

2.2.1 What is group work?........................................................................ 13

2.2.2 Benefits of group work..................................................................... 14

2.2.3 Challenges of group work activities................................................ 15

2.2.4 Organizing group work in classroom.............................................. 16

v

2.3. THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROJECT LESSONS IN

VIETNAMESE EDUCATION.................................................................... 19

2.4. REVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDIES.................................................... 21

2.5. SUMMARY .......................................................................................... 24

CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY........................................ 25

3.1. RESEARCH METHODS...................................................................... 25

3.2. PARTICIPANTS................................................................................... 25

3.2.1. Teacher ........................................................................................... 25

3.2.2. Students........................................................................................... 25

3.3. RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS AND PROCEDURE........................... 27

3.3.1. Research Instruments...................................................................... 27

3.3.2. Data-gathering Procedures............................................................ 31

3.4. DATA ANALYSIS ............................................................................... 32

3.5. SUMMARY .......................................................................................... 33

CHAPTER 4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ......................................... 34

4.1. STUDENTS‟ PERCEPTION OF AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS

GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES .................................................................... 34

4.1.1. Students‟ perception towards the benefits of group work .............. 34

4.1.2. Students‟ perception of and attitude towards project work

implementation in Project lessons............................................................ 36

4.1.3. Students‟ improvement after group work activities in Project

lessons....................................................................................................... 44

4.2. STUDENTS‟ PRACTICES IN GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES IN

PROJECT LESSONS................................................................................... 44

4.2.1. Students‟ difficulties while doing a Project.................................... 45

4.2.2. Students‟ interest in information technology skills......................... 47

4.3. DISCUSSION ....................................................................................... 48

vi

4.4. SUMMARY .......................................................................................... 49

CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS............................ 50

5.1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................. 50

5.2. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS................................................................. 50

5.3. LIMITATIONS..................................................................................... 51

5.4.IMPLICATIONSANDSUGGESTIONSFORFURTHERRESEARCH ..52

REFERENCES.............................................................................................. 54

APPENDIX