Using group work activities to enhance student’s participation in speaking classes

Journal of Science and Technology, Vol.37, 2019

© 2019 Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City

USING GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES

TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING CLASSES

TRAN KIEU MY AN1

, LE THỊ TUYET PHUONG2

Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City;

1

trankieumyan@gmail.com, 2

tuyetphuongle0304@gmail.com

Abstract: Speaking English well is considered the final goal of any language learners. It becomes more

and more crucial for those whose majors are English. However, it is true that some students show low

participation in speaking classes and were scared of speaking in the class. Therefore, this study aims to

find out factors affecting students’ participation and to what extent the use of group work help to motivate

students’ participation in speaking lessons. In this research, questionnaire and class observation were used

to gather data. The objects were 105 first year English-majored students at Industry University of Ho Chi

Minh city. Analyzing the data from the study, the researcher found that there were lots of factors affecting

students’ participation such as lack of language skills, student traits, teaching methods, teacher’s

personality, and classroom environment and so on. More importantly, the results also show that group

work activities had such positive effects on students’ participation that it could motivate them to speak in

speaking classes. Finally, the researcher hopes this study would be useful for both teachers and students

in teaching and learning a foreign language, especially the English language.

Key words. students, group work activities, speaking

1 INTRODUCTION

There is no denying the fact that English is spoken worldwide and can be seen as the official

language in most of such areas as trade, economy, politics, education, etc. In Vietnam, English is

considered as a compulsory subject in the educational system because of its importance, which helps to

improve the international language soon. The capability of the successful communication is one of the

prime purposes in teaching and learning a foreign language, particularly in the economic integration

period. As Davies and Pearse (1998) suggests that the major goal of all English language teaching should

be to give learners the ability to communicate in English effectively and accurately.

It is apparent that the successful oral communication in English brings students much more

opportunities to gain the study abroad scholarships or to get a well-paid job after university graduation or

to work overseas, etc. However, it is true that students still feel very nervous when speaking English in

public. They are often very passive when being asked to speak in English classes to avoid bad marks and

embarrassment. The reason for their shyness could be the fact that the entrance exam to the university

was conducted under the written form, thus students paid too much attention to grammar and writing at

high school which results in the poor speaking skills. Furthermore, teachers are relatively dominant in

acting as an expert to impart the knowledge while the amount of time for students to use English to

interact with teachers and their peers becomes insufficient.

Thus, what teachers should do is to create the favorable environment which can motivate students’

participation in speaking lessons. The research is to find out factors affecting students’ participation with

the hope that teachers as well as students can see these challenges and try to overcome them to perfect

students’ speaking skill. On the other hand, students’ opinions towards group work activities in speaking

lessons are also explored. Finally, the results will be shown after analyzing the collected data from

participants so that the writer can partly prove whether using group work helps motivate students in

speaking classes or not.