ORGANIZING PAIRWORK AND GROUPWORK IN THE CONTEXT OF HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOMS AT PHAM VAN NGHI UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL, NAM DINH PROVINCE: A CASE STUDY

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES -----------—o0o–------------ MAI THỊ HẰNG PHƯƠNG ORGANIZING PAIRWORK AND GROUPWORK IN THE CONTEXT OF HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOMS AT PHAM VAN NGHI UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL, NAM DINH PROVINCE: A CASE STUDY. (TỔ CHỨC HOẠT ĐỘNG TỔ VÀ HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM TRONG LỚP HỌC THPT TẠI TRƯỜNG PTTH PHẠM VĂN NGHỊ TỈNH NAM ĐỊNH: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU CÁ BIỆT) MINOR M.A THESIS Field: English Methodology Code: 601410 Hanoi, July 2008 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES -----------—o0o–------------ MAI THỊ HẰNG PHƯƠNG ORGANIZING PAIRWORK AND GROUPWORK IN THE CONTEXT OF HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOMS AT PHAM VAN NGHI UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL, NAM DINH PROVINCE: A CASE STUDY. (TỔ CHỨC HOẠT ĐỘNG TỔ VÀ HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM TRONG LỚP HỌC THPT TẠI TRƯỜNG PTTH PHẠM VĂN NGHỊ TỈNH NAM ĐỊNH: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU CÁ BIỆT) MINOR M.A THESIS Field: English Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: TRẦN THỊ THANH, M.A. Hanoi, July 2008 i CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT -----------*****----------- I hereby certify that the thesis entitled ORGANIZING PAIRWORK AND GROUPWORK IN THE CONTEXT OF HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOMS AT PHAM VAN NGHI UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL, NAM DINH PROVINCE: A CASE STUDY Is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at College of Foreign Languages, Hanoi National University, and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other upper secondary schools Signature: Date : 10/10/2008 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In completion of my thesis, I have received generous advice and help from many lecturers whose lectures are very practical and useful. Firstly, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor, M.A. TRẦN THỊ THANH from Vietnam National University, Hanoi College of Foreign Language, for her close guidance, criticism, and her generous help in the process of completing my thesis. My special thanks also go to all lecturers and the staff of the Department of Post Graduate Studies at Hanoi College of Foreign Language for their useful materials, guidance and enthusiasm during my course of study. I really wish to thank all my colleagues and my students at my school - PHAM VAN NGHI upper secondary school- for their kind cooperation in giving valuable information. Finally, I owe my deep thanks to my dear family, specially my husband, my little daughter and my friends who always stand for me with their consideration and encouragement. Mai Thị Hằng Phương ABSTRACT iii Learning language well depends on many factors such as personal characteristics, the structure of the native and target languages, opportunities for communicating with other people and with native speakers......For students at schools, these factors can only work well with the help of the teachers using different techniques, and approaches in language teaching. In communicative language teaching, students have more chances practicing in the target language through different classroom activities, among them pair work and group work appear to be the most appropriate application. In my school, PHAM VAN NGHI upper secondary school in Y YEN district, NAM DINH province, pairwork and group work are used widely in foreign language classes. However, it seems that the using of these activities in the school is not very effective. This research focuses on pointing out how to organize pair work and groupwork more effectively after investigating how these activities are used in our school by collecting data through class observation, and analyzing the questionanaire data .Some evaluation will be drawn and some suggestions for the future use of these activities will be made. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Candidate’s statement…………………………………………………….....……………....i Acknowledgement………………………………………....……………………………......ii Abstract…………………………………………………...……………….………….........iii Table of contents…………………………………………....……………………………...iv Appendix………………………………………………………...……………………........vi List of abbreviations and tables…………………………………......……………………..vii Part A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale English, nowadays, is widely taught from primary school to university, even at English centers through out the country. People learn English for their work or for their higher study. However, the results of the English courses are not very good. Vietnamese teachers of English have not known how to apply the teaching method in effective ways. They are lack of knowledge, teaching aid, time, and money to teach four language skills: listening skill, speaking skill, reading skill and writing skill. Like many teachers in the schools of Vietnam, teachers of English at PVN upper secondary school are faced with a common problem: students’ poor participation in activities in the classroom. In fact, there are a variety of reasons for this poor participation, and therefore finding appropriate techniques and methods for teaching English effectively to students at PVN upper secondary school requires a long serious research. This led me the choice of the study “organizing pair work and groupwork in the context of high school classrooms at PVN upper secondary school” with the hope of investigating into ways to organize pairwork and groupwork more effectively in English classes. My study only focuses on how to organize pairwork and groupwork more effectively for students at PVN upper secondary school in NAM DINH. 2. Aims of study The study is aimed at: Understanding the theoretical background of classroom activities: pairwork and groupwork to improve students’ language skills. Investigating the use of pair and group work in PVN upper secondary school- a school located in Y Yen district, Nam Dinh province. Helping teachers at PVN upper secondary school to find out effective technique to organize pairwork and groupwork with the hope of helping them in teaching English. 3. Scope of the study To improve four skills for students at PVN upper secondary school, the teachers can make use of various techniques and a number of things should be done. However, the researcher only intends to draw a brief overview of pairwork and groupwork in classes at PVN upper secondary school and to find out the ways to organize pairwork and groupwork more effectively. 4. Research questions of the study This study was aimed to answer the following research questions: 1. How do the teachers in PVN high school use pair and group work? And how often? 2. Is that a suitable way of teaching in PVN school? Why? 3.How to organize pairwork and groupwork in English class more effectively for improving four skills to students at PVN upper secondary school? 5. Methods of study To realize the aims of the study, a case study was used.The theoretical background of the study comes from many published books written by different authors on language teaching and language acquisition. The data collected for the study came from two sources: the students and the English teachers at PVN upper secondary school (8 English teachers and 120 students) by making survey questionnaires and observation. In this research, quantitative method is used, too. All comments, remarks, recommendations assumption and conclusion provided in the study based on the analysis of the statistics from the survey questionnaires conducted with students and teachers of PVN upper secondary school. The study is also based on a qualitative method with the author’s own experience and observation during 6 years of teaching English. 6. Design of study This study consists of 3 parts: Part A: Introduction which presents the rationale, the aims, scope, the method and design of the study. The research questions are also mentioned in this part. Part B: Development which consists of 3 chapters: Chapter 1: Literature Review - reviews the theory about CLT, and pairwork and groupwork. Chapter 2: Practical Research –provides an analysis on the current situation of using pairwork and groupwork in teaching and learning English at PVN upper secondary school. Data collection and analysis are also presented in this chapter. Chapter 3: Findings and Suggestions - focuses on how the teachers at PVN upper secondary school organized pairwork and groupwork and difficulties facing them and their students in carrying out these activities and some suggestions for the teachers to organize pair work and groupwork more effectively. Part C: Conclusion summarizes all the key issues as well as the limitations of the study and some suggestions for further study. Part B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter briefly covers the theories related to the study : Communicative approach to language teaching, and pairwork and groupwork in language teaching and learning. 1.1. Communicative approach to language teaching 1.1.1. What is meant by Communication? In Thompson’s book (2003: 9) “Communication and Language”, he considers that “Communication is such a well-integrated part of our day- to- day existence that we tend to take it for granted rarely pausing to consider what it involves or just how important it is to us”. Before he expressed to his own ideas about communication, he mentioned some of Fiske’s ideas: “Communication is one of those human activities that everyone recognizes but few can definite satisfactorily” (Fiske 1990:1) “Communication is too often taken for granted when it should be taken to pieces” (Fiske 1994:8) Thompson noticed “I quickly recognized that communication is used in a number of senses and at a number of levels to indicate the transmission of information or even, as in the transport networks example, the transmission of goods and people” (Thompson, N.2003:10). However he completely agreed with Fiske’s ideas that “the most relevant definition of communication for present purposes is social interaction through messages” (Thompson, N.2003:10). There are two related aspects that we should consider when talking about definition of communication is “social” and “interaction”. According to Dwyer (2000:8), communication is very important in daily life: “For those working in our changing social and economic environment, effective communication is as important as it has always been. Now, however, we must grasp the fact that we are dealing with more layers of communication than ever before. The exchange of information and ideas becomes more complex daily, as management structures flatten, work teams emerge and interact with other teams and as globalization requires us to link up with individuals and organizations at regional, national and international levels. Increasingly sophisticated technology enables us to achieve a scope and range of communication unimaginable even 20 years ago”. 1.1.2. Communicative Language Teaching 1.1.2.1. Nature of Communicative Language Teaching Communicative Language Teaching means little more than an integration of grammatical and functional teaching. Littlewood (1981:1) states, “One of the most characteristic features of communicative language teaching is that it pays systematic attention to functional as well as structural aspects of language”. Communicative Language Teaching means using procedures where the learners mainly work in pairs or groups employing available language resources in problem- solving tasks. CLT stresses the importance of providing the learners with opportunities to use English for communicative purposes and attempts to integrate such activities in to a wider program of language teaching 1.1.2.2. The Techniques of Communicative Language Teaching The techniques of Communicative Language Teaching are described by features. Nunan (1991a:279) gives five features to characterize CLT: + An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language. + The introduction of authentic texts in to the learning situation + The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on the learning process itself. + An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning. + An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the classroom. According to Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers (1986:170), because communicative principles can be applied to the teaching of any skill, at any level, and because of the wide variety of classroom activities and exercise types discussed in the literature on Communicative Language Teaching, description of typical classroom procedures used in a lesson based on CLT principle is not feasible. Savignon (1983) discusses techniques and class management procedures associated with a number of CLT classroom procedure (e.g., group activities, language games, role plays), but neither these activities nor the ways in which they are used are exclusive to CLT classrooms. Johnson and Johnson (1998) offer five core characteristics that underlie current applications of communicative methodology: + Appropriateness: Language use reflects the situations of its use and must be appropriate to that situation depending on the setting, the roles of the participants and the purpose of the communication, for example. Thus learners may need to be able to use formal as well as casual styles of speaking. + Message focus: Learners need to be able to create and understand messages, that is, real meanings. Hence the focus on information sharing and information transfer in CLT activities. + Psycholinguistic processing: CLT activities seek to engage learners in the use of cognitive and other processes that are important factors in second language acquisition. + Risk taking: Learners are encouraged to make guesses and learn from their errors. By going beyond what they have been taught, they are encouraged to employ a variety of communication strategies. + Free practice: CLT encourages the use of “holistic practice” involving the simultaneous use of a variety of sub-skills, rather than practising individual skills one piece at a time To sum up, Communicative Language Teaching is best considered an approach rather than a method. It refers to a diverse set of principles that reflect a communicative view of language and language learning and that can be used to support a wide variety of classroom procedures. 1.2. Definition of pair and group work There are many definitions of pairwork and group work : Students may be organized to do work in pairs or small groups in the classroom. The advantage of small group work is that it promotes maximum participation from all students. In a small group situation, ideally all students are involved in both "thinking and doing."Small group work also promotes cooperative skills, such as listening and communication skills, problem solving and sharing of tasks. Research has shown that group work enhances the learning of all group members, regardless of how skilled or unskilled individual members are. The small group approach is most commonly used with children through the ages of 12, although it has shown to be beneficial for older children as well. (Felisa Tibbitts) According to Adrian Doff (1988 :137), the whole class is divided in to pairs by the teacher. Every students works with his or her partner in pairs and all the pairs work at the same time (It is sometimes called simultaneous pair work). This is not the same as ‘public’ or ‘open’, pairwork, with pairs of students speaking in turn in front of the class. In fact, A pairwork consists of two students working together at the same time. Groupwork is a group of students working together. A class can be divided in to small groups to work together (usually four or five students in each group), as in pairwork, all the groups work at the same time. 1.3. Advantages and disadvantages of pair and group work According to Hubert Skrzynski, pair work and group work have both advantages and disadvantages. These are mentioned below : 1.3.1. The advantages of pairwork and groupwork 1.3.1.1. To increase the amount of student practice : When students work in pairs or groups they have more chance to practise. Working in pair and group, students often feel more willing to talk among themselves in a small group than with a teacher in a large group, so that it dramatically increases the amount of talking for individual students. 1.3.1.2. To increase the learner’s confidence : The students feel much more comfortable to speak foreign language with one or two other students rather than with the whole class and the teacher. Especially shy students, or ones who are not good at speaking language yet feel more relaxed and self- confident trying to put their language abilities to a test during the activity and seeing how they use them.This encourages students to cooperate with one another. 1.3.1.3. To develop students’ fluency : while working in pair or group abilities, the students can use the language freely and express their opinions and thoughts without any restrictions. It is difficult not to get the impression that fluency can be improved only during constant speaking practice in the atmosphere of independence and in the state of relaxation. 1.3.1.4. To increase students’ motivation : While working in pairs and groups the activities are available. As you know a huge variety of activities influences the course of a lesson and its success. The more different the activities the teacher uses in the lessons, the bigger their motivation is. In fact, students’ motivation increases because they are active and feel important during these activities. In keeping with this, the teacher is going to experience success in his/ her work because motivated students are usually good languages learners and they always make progress. 1.3.2. Disadvantages 1.3.2.1. To speak native language : One of the disadvantages is that students often speak in their native language. If the class is really big with too many students, it is very difficult for the teacher to listen to all pairs or groups at the same time. However, the teacher can still do something to change situation. The teacher should establish certain rules at the beginning of the school year and be very strict about them. After sometime the good habit of speaking only English may be established. 1.3.2.2. To make mistakes : Another problem is incorrectness. While students work in pairs and groups, the teacher usually do not disturb them, even if he/she notices some mistakes they have made, but we should not forget that errors or mistakes are an indissoluble element of the process of learning.Besides, students try to correct each other rather than learn the mistakes. One of the main points of having learners speak to each other is to help them increase their confidence and reduce the anxiety that is often found in a purely teacher- centered classroom. Pair work and group work activities are usually geared to fluency enhancement rather than accuracy practice. 1.3.2.3. To eliminate shy and weak students from the practice : Some shy or weak students can be eliminated from the practice, because of individuals who always tend to dominate. It is not a problem when they work in pairs, but as far as the groups are concerned, the teacher should assign roles to avoid one or two learners taking over the activity and others becoming passive observers. 1.3.2.4. To make noise and indiscipline : Working in pairs and groups in a large class makes noise and indiscipline, the teachers have more troublesome than the learners have. Participants in a pair work or group work activity are normally unaware of the noise and of what other pairs or groups are doing. The only possible problem here could be if the classroom had particularly thin walls. It seems that there are as many disadvantages as advantages of these classroom arrangements and one can not unanimously state which one is better, since each