VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* NÔNG THỊ THANH HUYỀN PROMOTING STUDENTS’ INTEREST IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS BY USING GROUP WORK FOR 11TH GRADE STUDENTS AT DUONG TU MINH HIGH SCHOOL Tăng cường hứng thú học sinh nói Tiếng Anh sử dụng hoạt động nhóm học sinh lớp 11 trường THPT Dương Tự Minh M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 Hanoi, 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* NÔNG THỊ THANH HUYỀN PROMOTING STUDENTS’ INTEREST IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS BY USING GROUP WORK FOR 11TH GRADE STUDENTS AT DUONG TU MINH HIGH SCHOOL Tăng cường hứng thú học sinh nói Tiếng Anh sử dụng hoạt động nhóm học sinh lớp 11 trường THPT Dương Tự Minh M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: HÀ CẨM TÂM, PhD Hanoi, 2014 DECLARATION I certify that this thesis is entirely my own work I have provided fully documented references to the work of others The material in this research has not been submitted for assessment in any other formal course of study i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor Dr Ha Cam Tam for her generous assistance, enthusiastic guidance and constructive supervision throughout my research Dr Ha Cam Tam‟s enlightening suggestions and comments have shaped to a very large extent Without her help, this study would not have been completed I would also like to send my sincere thanks to all teachers at Post graduate Studies Department, ULIS – VNU who gave me interesting lessons and comprehensive knowledge I am most thankful to students of class 11A4, Duong Tu Minh high school for their enthusiastic participation in the study I am grateful to colleagues at Duong Tu Minh High School, my friends, my classmates for their continued help and encouragement Last but not least, I would like to thank my husband, my parents who always encourage me while the work was in process Ha Noi, August 2014 Nong Thi Thanh Huyen ii ABSTRACT This thesis was carried out to investigate the benefits of using group work in English speaking lessons and seek the answers to the hypothesis that “Group work does promote students‟ interest in English speaking lessons to students at 11th grade at Duong Tu Minh High School.” The researcher carried out some group work activities on students to investigate whether group work techniques promote students‟ interest Observation method was used to find the answer to the hypothesis The findings of the research revealed that group work was an effective teaching method that should be used in communicative language teaching The reason was that it strongly enhanced students‟ interest in class activities The students found working in groups interesting, which made them participate more in the lesson However, there were some problems the teachers should take into consideration when conducting these activities such as group size, the way of grouping, students‟ level of proficiency, and so on It is hoped that this thesis will help other teachers of English be aware of the effectiveness of group work and apply it in their teaching iii TABLE OF CONTENS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OFCONTENT iv Part A: INTRODUCTION 1.Rationale Aims of the study Scope of the study Hypothesis Methods of the study Organization of the study Part B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1The importance of teaching speaking skills 1.2 Characteristics of a successful speaking lesson 1.3 Learners’ interest in learning languages 1.3.1 Concept of interest 1.3.2.Factors affecting students’ interest 1.4 Group work 1.4.1 Definition of group work 1.4.2 Types of group work 10 1.4.3 Group work activities … 11 1.4.4 The benefits of teaching and learning speaking English by group work 14 1.5 Organization of group work 15 1.5.1 Preparation for group work 15 iv 1.5.2 Steps of organizing group work 17 Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 19 2.1 Hypothesis 19 2.2 Setting of the study 19 2.3 Participants of the study 19 2.4 Data collection instruments 19 2.5 Data collection procedure 21 Chapter 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 25 3.1 Students’ participation 25 3.2 “Learners talk a lot” 27 3.3 Students’ attitude in speaking lessons 33 Part C: CONCLUSION Major finding 36 Limitations of the study 36 Recommendation for further study 32 4.Implications 37 REFERENCES: …38 APPENDIXES I v PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale English has become one of the most popular languages in the world today It is used widely in every field of society such as politics, business, international conference, education and everyday communication As a result, teaching and learning English play an important role in the development of the society However, it cannot be denied that teaching and learning English appear not to be really effective Students have difficulty using English in their work as well as in their daily life, which results in limitations in their work To improve students‟ speaking skills, promoting their interests is really important in teaching and learning As we may know, teaching and learning are complex activities; the quality and effectiveness belong to the learners, and this also belongs to many factors such as awareness capacity, purposes of study, determination and other objective factors such as learning atmosphere, teachers and interests of the learners Among them, student interests play an important part in effectiveness of learning process When students are interested in learning, especially in speaking lessons, they will become more active and learn more effectively As a result, their speaking skills will improve There are many ways to promote students‟ interest in English speaking classes, among them, group work, key features of learner- centered orientation- has received more emphasis because of a number of advantages it brings about Group work creates more opportunities for students to work with each other by exchanging their ideas and, therefore, learning so many things from their partners Participating in group work makes students confident and creative in learning English Group work also helps students overcome shyness and make students are more interested in English speaking lessons as well as other English lessons Being a teacher of English at Duong Tu Minh High School, the researcher is well aware of the importance of using group work to promote students‟ interest in English speaking lessons This led me to the choice of the study “Promoting students’ interest in English Speaking lessons by using group work” in the hope of finding the ways teachers organize group work to promote students‟ interest in English lessons, especially in speaking lessons so that we will achieve successfulness in teaching and learning It is also hoped that this study may offer the teachers of English at Duong Tu Minh High School ways on how to use group work in teaching more effectively Aims of the study The aim of the study is to investigate whether the use of group work in English speaking lessons promotes students‟ interest and the difficulties that teachers and students face with when conducting this technique Scope of the study The study focuses on group work to promote students‟ interest in English speaking lessons, especially group work that was appropriate to 11th grade students in mountainous areas Group work in this study was tested with the participation of these students Hypothesis This study was set up to test the following hypothesis: “Group work helps promote students‟ interest in English speaking lessons.” Methods of the study Group work activities were designed and conducted on the students of grade 11 Data was collected through group work implemented by the students Data was also collected by photos and notes taking Organization of the study This study consists of three parts: Part A, Introduction, presents rationale, aims, scope, hypothesis, methods and design of the study Part B, Development, consists of three chapters Chapter discusses the theoretical background relevant to issues of the study The first section presents teaching speaking skills in general, the second section discusses the learners‟ interest in learning languages and the last section is the discussion of group work activity Chapter discusses the methodology of the study In this chapter, the hypothesis, data collection instrument and data collection procedure are presented Chapter presents data analysis and findings show the results of the research In this chapter, the author tried to find out the answers to the hypothesis Part C, Conclusion, summarizes the key issues as well as the limitations of the study and makes suggestions for further research ... THANH HUYỀN PROMOTING STUDENTS’ INTEREST IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS BY USING GROUP WORK FOR 11TH GRADE STUDENTS AT DUONG TU MINH HIGH SCHOOL Tăng cường hứng thú học sinh nói Tiếng Anh sử dụng. .. học sinh nói Tiếng Anh sử dụng hoạt động nhóm học sinh lớp 11 trường THPT Dương Tự Minh M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 6014 0111 SUPERVISOR: HÀ CẨM TÂM, PhD... most thankful to students of class 11A4, Duong Tu Minh high school for their enthusiastic participation in the study I am grateful to colleagues at Duong Tu Minh High School, my friends, my classmates