Using group work to improve speaking skills of the 10th grade students at Yen Phong 2 high school in Bac Ninh province

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

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LE THI DUNG

USING GROUP WORK TO IMPROVE SPEAKING

SKILLS OF THE 10TH GRADE STUDENTS AT YEN

PHONG 2 HIGH SCHOOL IN BAC NINH PROVINCE

M.A THESIS

(APPLICATION ORIENTATION)

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN - 2020

ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN

TRƯỜNG NGOẠI NGỮ

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LÊ THỊ DUNG

SỬ DỤNG HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM ĐỂ NÂNG CAO

KĨ NĂNG NÓI CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10

TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT YÊN PHONG SỐ 2 TỈNH BẮC NINH

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ

Ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh

Mã số: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN - 2020

i

DECLARATION

Le Thi Dung, hereby certify that this M.A thesis entitled “Using group work

to improve speaking skills of the 10th grade students at Yen Phong 2 High School

in Bac Ninh province” is the result of my own study in the fulfillment of the

requirement for the Degree of Master at School of Foreign Languages , Thai

Nguyen university. I commit that this thesis has not been submitted anywhere for

any degree.

Thai Nguyen, 2020

Approved by Supervisor Student

Dr. Van Thi Quynh Hoa Le Thi Dung

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to acknowledge the debt of gratitude to my

supervisor, Dr. Van Thi Quynh Hoa for her helpful suggestions, invaluable critical

feedback and encouragement in the writing of this study. Without her guidance and

help, this work would not have been completed.

My sincere thanks go to all the staff at the Department of Post-graduate

Studies, Thai Nguyen University for giving me assistance and the lecturers who

conducted the Master's course for providing me with valuable knowledge.

I would also like to express my deep sense of gratitude to my dear

students, whose participation in and dedication to the research remain invaluable

have been acknowledged. Without their precious support, the thesis would not

have taken shaped.

Finally, the support extended to me by the members of my family has been

immeasurable. I would also like to express my thanks to my parents and my

husband for their wholehearted encouragement.

Bac Ninh, October 24th 2020

Le Thi Dung

iii

ABSTRACT

Speaking skill is always considered an obstacle for most learners at Yen

Phong 2 High School. It is showed more clearly in speaking skill learning process.

Therefore, the main purpose of the thesis is to provide effective speaking activities

as well as to investigate the application of group work towards enhancing grade 10

students‟ speaking skill. The survey questionnaires for students, class observation

and T-test were used as the major instruments to collect data about the effectiveness

of group work in developing their speaking skill. The subjects involved in the study

were 42 students in class 10A1 at Yen Phong 2 High School. They participated in

the survey questionnaire, and T-test to help the researcher do better in this research.

The results of the study showed that group work has positive influence on the

development of students‟ speaking skill and has the potential to help students deal

with some challenges that they may encounter in speaking lessons. Based on the

findings, some suggestions were given to both students and teachers to cooperate to

improve grade 10 students‟ speaking skill.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION .........................................................................................................i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ii

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

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

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

LISTS OF TABLES, FIGURES AND CHARTS ................................................... viii

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

1.1. Rationale ..............................................................................................................1

1.2. Aims of the study .................................................................................................2

1.3. Significance of the study......................................................................................2

1.3.1. Theoretical aspect.....................................................................................2

1.3.2. Practical aspect .........................................................................................2

1.4. Scope of the study ................................................................................................3

1.5. Organization of the thesis.....................................................................................3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................4

2.1. Speaking skill and its related concepts ................................................................4

2.1.1. The importance of speaking skill in the classroom..................................4

2.1.2. Types of classroom speaking performance ..............................................5

2.2. Group work in a speaking lesson .........................................................................5

2.2.1. Definition and description of group work ................................................5

2.2.2. The advantages and disadvantages of using group work in the

classroom............................................................................................................6

2.2.3. Group formation .......................................................................................8

2.2.4. Group –size...............................................................................................9

2.2.5. Teacher roles in group work activities.....................................................9

2.2.6. Common oral activities for group work .................................................10

2.3. Previous study related to group work ................................................................15

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY.........................................................................18

3.1 Context and participants of the study..................................................................18

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3.1.1. The context .............................................................................................18

3.1.2. Student participants.................................................................................19

3.2 Reasons to choose action research method .........................................................19

3.3 Phases of action research ....................................................................................20

3.4 Weekly schedules and research procedures........................................................22

3.4.1 Weekly schedules....................................................................................23

3.4.2 Research procedures................................................................................27

3.5. Data collection instruments................................................................................28

3.5.1. The questionnaires for students..............................................................28

3.5.2. Class observation....................................................................................29

3.5.3. Test .........................................................................................................29

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ...................................................31

4.1. Analysis of the information collected from the survey questionnaires..............31

4.1.1. Students‟ perception on the difficulty of speaking skill.........................31

4.1.2. Students‟ interest degree in English speaking lessons in class ..............31

4.1.3. Students‟ interest degree in learning speaking English..........................32

4.1.4. Students‟ speaking English circumstances.............................................33

4.1.5. Students‟ times speaking English in a forty-five speaking class ...........34

4.1.6. The students‟ opinion on the frequency of having problems when

speaking English...............................................................................................35

4.1.7 Students‟ difficulties in speaking English...............................................35

4.1.8. Students‟ participating in speaking activities in class............................36

4.1.9. Students‟ interests in speaking activities................................................37

4.1.10. Students‟ perception on the importance of speaking skill....................38

4.2. Analysis of the information collected from class observation...........................39

4.2.1. Meeting 1: 13/ 12/2019 ..........................................................................39

4.2.2. Meeting 2: 10/3/2020 .............................................................................39

4.3. Analysis of the information collected from pretest and posttest........................40

4.3.1. Distribution of Pre-test Scores ...............................................................40

4.3.2. Distribution of Post-test Scores..............................................................41

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4.3.3. Comparison of Data on the Pre-test and Post-test Scores of the

Students ............................................................................................................42

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.......................43

5.1. Summary of major findings ...............................................................................43

5.2 Recommendations...............................................................................................44

5.3 Limitations ..........................................................................................................45

5.4 Recommendations for further research ...............................................................46

REFERENCES........................................................................................................47

APPENDIX ................................................................................................................ I

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Cont :Continue

F :Frequency

%/ P :Percent

Ss :Students

viii

LISTS OF TABLES, FIGURES AND CHARTS

TABLES

Table 3.1: The timetable of the action implementation..........................................23

Table 3.2: Analysis and Statistical tools..................................................................30

Table 4.1: Students‟ perception on the difficulty of speaking skill........................31

Table 4.2: Students‟ interest degree in learning speaking English.........................32

Table 4.3: Students‟ times speaking English in a forty-five speaking class ..........34

Table 4.4: The students‟ opinion on the frequency of having problems when

speaking English....................................................................................35

Table 4.5: Students‟ participating in speaking activities in class...........................36

Table 4.6: Students‟ perception on the importance of speaking skill.....................38

Table 4.7: Distribution of Pre-test Scores ..............................................................40

Table 4.8: Distribution of Post-test Scores.............................................................41

Table 4.9: Test of Difference between the Pre-test and Post-test Scores

of the students......................................................................................42

FIGURES

Figure 3.1: Action research spiral (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2000:564)...................21

Figure 3.2: Action research framework (adapted from Lewin, 1946).....................21

Figure 4.1: Students‟ speaking English circumstances............................................33

Figure 4.2: Students‟ difficulties in speaking English .............................................35

CHARTS

Chart 4.1: Students‟ interest degree in speaking lessons........................................32

Chart 4.2: Students‟ interests in speaking activities...............................................38

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the writer presents the rationale, aims, significance, scopes

and the organization of this study.

1.1. Rationale

Until now, English has been considered very important in every field of each

society such as: diplomacy, business, aviation, education and science and

technology. Because of its globalization, English has become the crucial medium in

communication. Therefore, teaching speaking skill is of great importance in second

language learning. Lerris (1999) asserts that teaching speaking helps learners to use

language more fluently and speaking is a chance to notice the gaps between what

they want to say and what they can say.

Group work techniques are widely accepted to be an effective way to

encourage students to use the language and to motivate them to become more

involved. Richards and Loc Khart (1994) point out that students not only play more

active roles in the learning process but also get the benefits of sharing ideas with

their team members through taking part in groups. Doff (1988) states that students

feel less anxiety when they work privately with their peers than when they are in

front of the whole class. Group work can help shy students, who never say anything

in a whole class activity. How to promote students‟ speaking skill is still a

challenging question.

At Yen Phong 2 High School, the input of the students is low, so most of

them are not good at speaking English. Fourteen years‟ experience as a teacher of

English at a high school has helped the researcher realize the fact that students are

usually reluctant to speak when they are asked in speaking lessons. They find it

difficult to express their ideas in English. In addition, their participation in speaking

classes is unequal. Therefore, the question that is always asked for each teacher is

how to improve students' ability to speak English. There have been a number of

teachers doing master thesis, but none of them related to students' speaking skills.