VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES Department of Post-graduate Studies BUI THI BICH LIEN AN INVESTIGATION ON DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY THE TEACHERS AND THE 10TH FORM STUDENTS AT NAM TIEN HAI HIGH SCHOOL IN IMPLEMENTING PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK IN SPEAKING LESSONS NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN MÀ GIÁO VIÊN VÀ HỌC SINH KHỐI MƯỜI TRƯỜNG THPT NAM TIỀN HẢI GẶP PHẢI KHI TRIỂN KHAI CÁC HOẠT ĐƠNG THEO CẶP VÀ NHĨM TRONG GIỜ HỌC NÓI M.A Thesis Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 601410 Supervisor : Tran Hien Lan, M.A iii TABLE OF CONTENT INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aim of the study The research questions Scope of the study Methods of the study Design of the study DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I : LITERATURE REVIEW Communicative language teaching 1.1 What is CLT? 1.2 Features of CLT 1.3 Communicative techniques and activities Speaking skill 2.1 What is speaking 2.2 What are the characteristics of speaking Pair work and group work 3.1 What is the definition of pair work and group work 3.2 What is the organization of pair work and group work 3.3 Difficulties in organizing pair work and group work 11 3.3.1 Space 11 3.3.2 Instruction 11 3.3.3 Activity types 12 3.4 What’s the procedure of implementing pair work and group work 3.4.1 Presentation 13 3.4.2 Process 13 3.4.3 Ending 14 3.4.4 Feedback 14 3.5 What are the good points and bad points of using pair work and group work iv 3.5.1 The good points 14 3.5.2 The bad points 15 3.6 The roles of the teachers and the students in pair work and groups work 3.6.1 The role of the learners 17 3.6.2 The role of the teachers 17 Summary 18 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY Teaching context 19 Methodology 19 2.1 Participants 19 2.2 Methods of data collections 20 2.3 Research materials 20 2.3.1 The questionnaire for the teachers 20 2.3.2 The questionnaire for the students 21 2.3.3 The interviews 21 CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS The questionnaire for the teachers 22 1.1 The teachers’ attitude towards using pair work and group work 22 1.2 The procedure of implementing pair work and group work 23 1.3 The difficulties in implementing pair work and group work 25 The questionnaire for the students 29 2.1 The students’ attitude towards working in pair or in group 29 2.2 The students’ preferable ways of implementing pair work and group work 31 2.3 The difficulties encountered by the students in working in pair or in group 33 CONCLUSION Summary of the study 35 Recommendations 36 Limitations 42 Suggestion for further study 42 INTRODUCTION Rationale Nowadays, English is very important in all fields such as trade, tourist, science, technology and etc Therefore, the proficiency in English is not measured based on the knowledge of grammar but on the abilities to communicate in real life Speaking skill, therefore, plays a very important role in the communicative process According to Bygate (1995), “it is this very skill that” language learners “are most frequently judged for their language proficiency” As for its importance, speaking skill, nowadays, counts for a major and separate part in the language curriculum Realizing the importance of communicative skills in life, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has recently edited new set of English textbooks for high school students with the aim of enabling them to communicate in English In new set of textbook, pair work and group work are designed to be two main kinds of activities used in teaching and learning speaking skill However, the result of the using these techniques at Nam Tien Hai high school seems to be still under the expectation Like other schools in the country, the teachers of English at Nam Tien Hai high school are also applying pair work and group work techniques in teaching English, however, the result of this application is very low Both the teachers and the students here have a lot of difficulties in implementing them The students here often hesitate in taking part in pair work and group work activities Therefore, the teachers usually get embarrassed at designing and applying their lesson plans in speaking lessons As a result, most of speaking lessons turn into writing or reading ones Being one of the teachers of English at this school, I really want to find out what made the implementation of pair work and group work activities in speaking lessons become so boring and ineffective From the findings, some personal suggestions are hoped to be given to make the situation better That is the reason why I decided to carry out this research entitled “An investigation on difficulties encountered by the teachers and the 10th form students at Nam Tien Hai high school in implementing pair work and group work in speaking lessons." Aim of the study This study is carried out with the aim of exploring the reality of implementing pair work and group work in speaking lessons of both the teachers and the learners at Nam Tien Hai high school where the researcher is working In other words, this study attempts to find out the attitudes of the teachers and the learners towards the implementation of pair work and group work as well as the procedures of organizing these activities in the speaking lessons of the 10th form students Moreover, this study will explore the difficulties that the teachers and students often encounter when dealing with pair work and group work in large classes Finally, the study will offer the solutions from the teachers and give some suggestions based on the literature review to these difficulties so that it can help the students and the teachers in this school find the way to take advantages of pair work and group work techniques in learning and teaching English in general and speaking in particular The research questions To get the main purpose, this research will aim at finding the answers to the following questions a) What are the attitudes of the teachers and students towards using pair work and group work? b) What are the procedures and activities used in pair work and group work? c) What hinders using pair work and group work? Scope of the study Pair work and group work are used in every skill; however, it is not my intention to cover all of them because of the limitation of time and the length of the study Consequently, the researcher only focuses on finding out the difficulties the teachers and the students at 10th form level in speaking lessons when they use pair work and group work by investigating the reality of implementing these techniques at NamTienHai High school Methods of the study This research will be mainly conducted as a quantitative study by mostly using observation and survey techniques through using two sets of questionnaire (one for students and the other for the teachers at Nam Tien Hai high school) Besides, other instruments such as consulting the supervisor, reading books and other references, discussing with the colleague and observing the classroom environment will be also used for this research Design of the study The thesis consists of three main parts: Introduction; Development and Conclusion In the first part, some brief information about the reasons for choosing the topic, the method, the aims, the scope as well as the design of the thesis The second part is divided into chapters such as literature review, methodology, data analysis and findings In chapter I, Literature review, it deals with the basic theoretical background knowledge from the literature on communicative language teaching (CLT), speaking skill as well as the knowledge involving pair work and group work activities Chapter II presents the methods which are used to carry out the thesis Chapter III describes and analyses the data collected from the questionnaires From the result of the analysis, the difficulties of implementing pair work and group work in teaching and learning Speaking skill at Nam Tien Hai High school are found out The last part reviews the main content of the entire thesis and gives some suggestions DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW Communicative language teaching (CLT) 1.1 What is CLT Communicative language teaching began in Britain in the 1960s as a replacement to the earlier structural method, called Situational Language Teaching This was partly in response to Chomsky's criticisms of structural theories of language and partly based on the theories of British functional linguistics, such as Firth and Halliday, as well as American sociolinguists, such as Hymes , Gumperz and Labov and the writings of Austin and Searle on speech acts Communicative language teaching makes use of real-life situations that necessitate communication The teacher sets up a situation that students are likely to encounter in real life Unlike the audio-lingual method of language teaching, which relies on repetition and drills, the communicative approach can leave students in suspense as to the outcome of a class exercise, which will vary according to their reactions and responses The real-life simulations change from day to day Students' motivation to learn comes from their desire to communicate in meaningful ways about meaningful topics Margie S Berns, an expert in the field of communicative language teaching, writes in explaining Firth's view that "language is interaction; it is interpersonal activity and has a clear relationship with society In this light, language study has to look at the use (function) of language in context, both its linguistic context (what is uttered before and after a given piece of discourse) and its social, or situational, context (who is speaking, what their social roles are, why they have come together to speak)" (Berns, 1984, p 5) Communicative language teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language It is also referred to as “communicative approach to the teaching of foreign languages” or simply the “communicative approach” 1.2 Features of CLT As an extension of the notional-functional syllabus, CLT also places great emphasis on helping students use the target language in a variety of contexts and places great emphasis on learning language functions Unlike the ALM, its primary focus is on helping learners create meaning rather than helping them develop perfectly grammatical structures or acquire native-like pronunciation This means that successfully learning a foreign language is assessed in terms of how well learners have developed their communicative competence, which can loosely be defined as their ability to apply knowledge of both formal and sociolinguistic aspects of a language with adequate proficiency to communicate CLT is usually characterized as a broad approach to teaching, rather than as a teaching method with a clearly defined set of classroom practices As such, it is most often defined as a list of general principles or features One of the most recognized of these lists is David Nunan’s (1991) five features of CLT:  An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language  The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation  The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on the Learning Management process  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 activities outside the classroom These five features are claimed by practitioners of CLT to show that they are very interested in the needs and desires of their learners as well as the connection between the language as it is taught in their class and as it used outside the classroom Under this broad umbrella definition, any teaching practice that helps students develop their communicative competence in an authentic context is deemed an acceptable and beneficial form of instruction Thus, in the classroom CLT often takes the form of pair and group work requiring negotiation and cooperation between learners, fluency-based activities that encourage learners to develop their confidence, role-plays in which students practice and develop language functions, as well as judicious use of grammar and pronunciation focused activities 1.3 Communicative techniques and activities A communicative activity, which was defined by Littlewood (1981), is those that provide whole task practice, improve students’ motivation, allow natural learning and create a situation and sets an activity in notion, but it is the learners themselves who are responsible for conducting the interaction to its conclusion (Littlewood, 1981: 18) In addition, Littlewood divided communicative activities into two main types called "functional communication activities and social interaction activities" The main purpose of the former is that learners should use the language they know in order to get meanings across as effectively as possible Functional communication activities such as: identifying pictures, discovering identical pairs, discovering differences, following directions and so on The later activities are those that emphasize on social as well as functional aspects of communication Learners, therefore, not only convey meanings effectively, but also, pay greater attention to the social context in which the interaction takes place Simulation and role-playing are important techniques for creating a variety of social relationships and situations Example activities  Role play  Interviews  Information gap  Games  Language exchange  Surveys  Pair work  Learning by teaching However, not all courses that utilize the communicative language approach will restrict their activities solely to these Some courses will have the students take occasional grammar quizzes, or prepare at home using non-communicative drills, for instance Speaking skill 2.1 What is speaking? Speaking is the productive skill in the oral mode It, like the other skills, is more complicated than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words According to Bygate (1987: 3), speaking is a skill which deserves attention very bit as much literacy, in both first and second language 2.1 What are the characteristics of speaking? In most cases, speaking is the interaction between at least two people and in that course of interaction; the listener can give immediate reaction to what is spoken The reaction can be positive or negative attitude toward the content of speaking or can be the revealing of comprehension or incomprehension Bygate M ( 1987; 12) said “ in most of speaking, the person to whom we are talking to is in front of us and able to put us right if we make mistakes” In speaking, speakers also interact in term of exchanging the turn to speak Listeners often signal verbally or visibly if they want to change the turn to speak and the signals will be recognized by efficient speaker Because of the complexity of spoken interaction, many researchers gave different features of speaking skill The followings are some of them: Speaking is spontaneous o This feature is drawn by Nunan, D 1999: 227 when he said that “we all have routines, set of phrases and other expressions that we use to assist us when speaking spontaneously.” o Speaking is a reciprocal activity 36 students, only a small number of the teachers chose games in their speaking lessons Other activities were applied reluctantly and mechanically according to readily-designed tasks in the textbook Moreover, the students and the teachers did not share the same opinion on the ways of grouping Almost the teachers often grouped the students at the same table or sitting near each other or random grouping but a lot of the students wanted to work with the students they liked or the students with the same English level For the third question: “what hinders using pair work and group work?” it is clear that as for the teachers at Nam Tien Hai high school, the biggest problems in implementing pair work or group work in speaking lessons were the over numbered class size and the students’ lack of cooperation as well as the students’ low English level It is the first element which made the class too noisy and became uncontrolled The second one even made the teacher more embarrassed Other elements were difficult topic and especially the general attitudes of the students here towards English in general and speaking English in particular According to them, English was very difficult and bored to study Moreover, it did not help them to enter their dreamt universities which required other subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry etc As for the students, the most difficult element when working in pair or in group in speaking lessons was that they lacked necessary words even very basic words, therefore, they could not say anything as well as not get any idea from the given topics Moreover, the lack of motivation also makes them depressed in learning English They did not feel like or even hated and felt afraid of learning English This came from their learning style and their background knowledge Therefore, very few of them chose English as a subject which they would focus on the entrance university examination They themselves found learning English very pressuring and uninteresting Recommendations From the findings of the study, a number of suggestions were given to teachers and the 10th form students at Nam Tien Hai high school as follows: 37 However, there are some difficulties which are really beyond the teachers’ and the students’ ability to solve such as the large class size or the poor facilities For the teachers Ways of organizing and activities should be used in pair work or group work From the collected data, we can see that the teachers’ ways of organizing pair work and group work as well as the activities they used is one of the key factors to make a good speaking lesson The followings are some recommendations for the teachers to this step more effective and to attract the students’ concentration on the lessons *Choosing appropriate activities when selecting activities for pair work or group work, the teachers are suggested to choose the ones not only interesting but communicative and suitable for the students’ English level Moreover, the chosen activities must be suitable with the students’ interest as well Followings are some efficient activities: Games: this activity is highly communicative and exciting so that it is often recommended to be used in warm-up part of each speaking lesson This activity can attract the students’ attention right from the beginning and help the teachers lead them in the main topic of the lesson easily To make this activity successful, the teachers need prepare suitable visual aids such as pictures, videos or projectors Role-plays: as the matter of the fact that role-plays promote the learners’ tight cooperation and foster their use of English With this activity, the students have more time to practice speaking English As a result, it should be used in speaking lessons However, this activities sometimes makes the students tired and bored because it is repeated and can become boring Moreover, this activity can also take much time to prepare and rehearse In order to save time, the teachers should give each group an assignment in advance so that they can have suitable time to prepare the performance in class In order for the role-play not to become boring, the teacher asks the students themselves to create their own situation based on the given topic and get involved in their real act However, the script of the conversation must be checked in advance by the teachers before being performed in the class Interviews: quite like role-plays, interviews can consist of two or more than two participants, however, they occur between two participants more often in which one will 38 act as an interviewer, the other will act as interviewee To make advantage of this activity, the teachers should provide the students with a recording or a video of a sample interview which can get from internet or sold disc or tapes so that the students can follow it to a similar one Discussions: although this activity is not highly appreciated by the students at Nam Tien Hai high school, it really deserves to be put into learning activity list because if it is well- planned by the teachers, it can help the students a lot To make it more interesting and efficient, the teachers should provide the students with enough and clear suggestions by giving them some facts which are illustrated by pictures or videos to get the students involved in the lesson and have idea about the topic Problem-solving: like discussions, this one is often out of the students’ attention but it can help to develop the students’ critical thinking effectively However, this may be very difficult for the students to if the teacher can not modify or choose a really suitable problem for them With the unfamiliar problems, the teachers should make them simple and easier by giving them necessary new words and hints or changing it completely into another one which is easily understood and can be done by the students themselves Story-telling: this activity can be difficult for the students to if they have to tell their own story or make up a story This requires enough vocabulary and ideas In order to make this activity easier and more interesting, the teachers should provide their students with a series of pictures or some episodes and necessary words so that they can invent a story by working in pair or in group and the most interesting factor of this activity is that each group can have a different story from the other’s although they have the same suggestions In this aspect, story-telling can develop and sharpen their critical and logical thinking * Grouping the students flexibly Although the students at Nam Tien Hai high school mostly want to work with the students they like, it is strongly suggested that the teachers should group them flexibly It means that each activity has a different ways of organizing Only by this way the students not feel bored and they can have different experience with different partners They can learn from the others or share their own knowledge with the others Both of these ways are useful for learning English 39 Time; noise and narrow space can be major hindrances for organizing pairs or groups To avoid this teachers should arrange the group or pair in advance and ask them to form before the class and their position will not be changed during one lesson and in another class, another map of seats will be applied *Solving problems of pair work or group work It is undeniable that using pair work or group work in speaking lessons can bring a lot of benefits to the students; however, it can cause some problems wanting the teachers’ good solutions The first problem of working in pair or in group is noise Except from good noise which happens when all the students speak English at the same time, but it can distract the others from the lesson or the teacher’s instruction Working in pair or in group gives the students chances to talk freely about things which are not required in the lessons In this situation, the teachers need appoint the group leaders who will have charge to control the noise within their group Moreover, the group leaders can also supervise; give guidance and valuate the other members’ job in group The second problem is uneven level among different groups It means that there will be a few groups or pairs who finish the task before the others and this can create pressure for the weaker and slower groups In this situation, the teacher should ask the quick groups to go over the task or give them another task to so that the slow groups still have chance to finish their work without having any worry Finally, in some unexpected situations, there may be no groups or pairs which can finish the job when the allowed time is over This happens because the tasks can be too difficult or challenging for the students Therefore, they are beyond their ability In this case, the teachers should give them more time and give them necessary suggestions such as giving a sample or new words and grammar structures * Motivating the students In order for the students to feel interested in learning English in general or working in pair work and group work in speaking lessons in particular, the most important factor is that the students must find suitable ways to motivate them In fact, besides using and exploiting effectively a variety of activities suggested above, the teachers can use some other ways to foster the students’ participation in speaking lessons as followings: Using visual aids and authentic materials: although it is not easy for the teachers to find out enough suitable visual aids for every speaking lesson, it is true that visual aids 40 can bring the students a lot of interest and attention to the lectures According to Stephen (2008), clear pictures multiply the audience’s level of understanding of the material presented In other words, visual aids can help the teachers convey the message, clarify points and create excitement Visual aids can be pictures, painting, newspapers, magazines, maps, leaflets or even the things in their own class such as blackboard, desk or the teachers themselves to illustrate their points directly Giving clear instructions and simplifying the tasks: When the students work in pair or in group, it is necessary that the instructions from the teachers must be clear and easy to understand Therefore, English is used in giving instruction must be simple and basic If the students can still not catch up with it, the teachers should explain it in Vietnamese if necessary and some examples in advance to make sure that the students all understand the task requirements Another element which the teachers have to take into consideration to make pair work and group work more effective is that if the tasks are difficult and challenging for the students, they are not motivated In this case, the teachers must make these tasks simple or even design other tasks in stead Giving presents: besides complimenting and giving the students high marks, sometimes, the teachers should organize a competition and awarded the winners with a present This can be also a big encouragement to them Raising the students’ awareness of English’s importance:The last factor that can make the students interested in English is that the teachers should stir the students’ awareness of English’s importance and help them understand that English will be really a very necessary means of communication in the modern world They can give some evidences such as films in English, scientific documents in English etc… For the students: not all the students find learning English uninteresting, there are some of the students wanting to be active in pair work or group work but there are difficulties hindering them to these activities effectively In order to overcome those difficulties, the students should improve their speaking English skill and cooperative working skill some suggestions to the students as followings: * Enriching vocabulary and widening their mind: this activity is very necessary for the students and it needs a constant focus They can enrich their vocabulary not only 41 by exploiting the reading passages as well as the samples in the textbook to learn English but they can learn words by taking part in extra activities outside the classroom such as joining a speaking English club or working in group at home or listening to English songs or watching films in English or any other activities such as listening to English programs on radio or TV They can broaden their mind and increase their vocabulary by reading a variety of documents such as newspapers, magazines, novels or funny stories… even in Vietnamese *Improving pronunciation: one of the factors can prevent the students from talking in English is that they often mispronounce words This often makes their partners misunderstand their messages In order to avoid this, the students themselves must practice hard by listening to the sample conversations and talks recorded by the native English speakers or listening to the English programs on radio or TV, then imitate the sounds Intonation should also be put in their mind *Using body language: this is a very effective way to help the speakers express their ideas when they not have enough words And the students are also advised to use this way when they talk to their partners or any other ones they must keep eye contact with the listeners and use hand gestures or facial expressions to make their talk more meaningful and easy to understand *Improving teamwork skills: when students work in pairs or in groups, there will be unavoidable conflicts among the members To make the pair work or group work successful, the students have to limit or eliminate the conflicts as completely as possible by the following ways: Each group should create a set of strict rules besides the teachers’ rules such as: not make private things; not make noise The group leader will be in charge of observing and realizing the rule breakers during the group work They should remind these students of their misbehaviors and ask them to concentrate on the common work Another way to avoid conflicts in groups is that task must be equally divided among the members Then, they will share the ideas and build up the whole group’s final product Anyone who does not complete their task will be reported to the teacher and receive lower mark than the others In order for working in pairs or in groups to have expected results, the students themselves must be responsible for their work and cooperative with each other 42 In short, although pair work and group work are highly suggested to use in teaching and learning English in general and speaking skill in particular, it requires both the teachers’ and the students’ determination to get good results In other words, in order to implement pair work or group work effectively in speaking lessons, the teachers should spend a large amount of time and energy to prepare the lessons with appropriate activities, suitable and interesting topics as well as various visual aids Only with this preparation can they make the students interested and motivated in learning and cooperating in the lessons Besides, the students themselves must try their best to improve their English level by practicing English frequently not only at classroom but also at home and other public places Moreover, they should be aware of that the fact that English is playing a more and more role in the world and knowing English will help them a lot in their future life Finally, their team work skill and responsibility in working in pairs and in groups are very necessary Limitations of the study This study has some limitations Firstly, this study has been carried out with not all the 10 th form students and only six teachers of English at NamTien Hai In other words, the scope of this study is not of large scale, therefore, the result of the study would be only applied to the participants at Nam Tien Hai or some high schools in the same conditions in Vietnam Secondly, this thesis has only focused on speaking skill while pair work and group work are very popularly used in other skills such as reading; listening and writing skills The researcher hopes that these limitations can be improved in further studies Recommendation for further research While carrying out the thesis, the researcher found that there are some untouched issues on the same matter deserving further research such as: - Strategies for managing the students in pair work or group work - How to improve the students’ teamwork skill - Games in motivating the students in reading lessons I REFERENCES Berns M (1984, Group work management, London Brown, H.D (1994), Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy, New Jersey: Prentice hall Regents Bygate, M (1987) Speaking Oxford University Press Doff, A (1988), Teach English- A Training Course for Teachers, Cambridge University Press in Association with the British Council Duong, L (2006), An investigation into the use of pair work and group work in the speaking class of 1st year students at Hanoi Open University of Tourism, Unpublished MA Thesis Hamm, M., & Adams (1992) The collaborative dimensions of learning Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Company Hanh, P (2008), Using pair work and group work techniques to increase students’ participation and interest in communicative English classes at Hanoi University of Industry, Unpublished MA Thesis Honey field J (1991), The formation of small groups in the language classroom, Guidelines- A Periodical for classroom language Teachers, Vol.14 no.3, 28-29 1June 1991, SEMEO Regional Language Center Hoodith, A (2002) Promoting oral fluency via pair work and group work, http://www.eltnews.com/features/teaching_ideas/2002/08/promoting_oral_fluency _via_gro.html Littlewood, W (1990) Communicative Language teaching Great Britain Cambridge University Press Nunan D (1991), Language teaching mythology, Prentice Hall, London Nunan D (1992), Research methods in language teaching, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Nunan, D (1999) Second language teaching and learning Boston: Heinle and Heinle Ur, P (1996) A course in language teaching Cambridge teacher training and development II Appendix 1: QUESTIONNAIRES FOR THE TEACHERS This survey questionnaire is designed for my study on "difficulties encountered by the teachers and the 10th form students at NamTienHai high school in implementing pair work and group work in speaking lessons." Your assistance in answering the following questions is highly appreciated You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation Part 1: Personal information Your name: Your sex: Male Female _ Your age: Your years of teaching English: _years How often you use pair work and group work in your speaking lesson? A always B sometimes C rarely D never How you think pair work and group work activities can help your students in the speaking lessons? very much much Not very Not at much all A Feel more confident B Practice English a lot C Learn from their classmates D Feel more interested in the lesson Which kinds of following speaking tasks you often get your students to work in pairs or groups of or 4? A Discussion B Role play C Information- gap activities D Communicative games E Practicing grammatical structures F Interview III G Drama H problem solving I other activities:………… How you often organize pair works and group works in speaking activities? A Students at the same table work together B Students at random C Students sitting next to each other work together D Students sitting far from each other work together E Students with different English level F Students with the same English level H others: In which order you follow the following steps when you implement pair work and group work in speaking lessons?(please number them)  select suitable activities  state objective of activities  give instructions  provide new words  organize pairs or groups  go round monitoring students’ performance and giving support  praise and encourage students What you think can hinder implementing pair work or group work successfully in speaking lessons? A students lack proficiency in English B the students' levels are not even C the topics are difficult or not interesting D the class is very noisy and crowded E students not want to co-operate G others: What you often to make the implementation of pair work and group work activities in speaking lessons easier and better? A asking the students to prepare the lesson before the class IV B giving clear instructions C providing necessary vocabulary and suggestions D creating a supportive atmosphere E varying the interaction and repeating tasks F giving different levels of task G providing a reason to interact H Simplifying the activities I Motivating the students K Giving strict rules in working process L others: Which kinds of extra activities you often suggest your students to improve their speaking skill? A joining a speaking English club B reading or watching in English (newspapers, stories, films ) C Meeting and Talking to English speaking foreigners D Learning English on line E Listening to English songs F Practicing speaking English in pair or group at home G Others: What you often use in speaking lessons? A Textbook B Newspapers and Magazines C Visual aids D Tapes recorded in English E others… 10 What you to control the noise in the speaking lessons? A Using group leaders B Giving punishment C Giving low marks D others V Appendix 2: QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS This survey questionnaire is designed for my study on "difficulties encountered by the teachers and the 10th form students at NamTienHai high school in implementing pair work and group work in speaking lessons." Your assistance in answering the following questions is highly appreciated You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation Part 1: Personal information Please fill in the blanks or put a tick (V) next to your choice Your class: Your sex: Male _Female Your age: _ Your years of learning English: _ years Part 2: Multiple choices In which way you like to speak English? A to yourself B with a partner in pair work C with more than one partners in group work D with the teacher How often you work in pair or group in speaking lessons? A always B sometimes C rarely D never How you feel when you work in pairs or in groups in your speaking lesson? A very interested B interested C bored D very bored How pair work and group work activities help you in your speaking lesson? A Feel more confident B Practice speak English C Learn from your classmates D Feel more interested in the lesson E None of the above E others: VI What you often when you are asked to work in pairs or in groups? A work with great interest B work with reluctance C remain silent all the time D Chat with other members about another topic E discuss with your partners in Vietnamese F your private work G others: Which activities are interesting when you work in pair or in group? A Games B Discussions C Role-plays D Interviews E Story-telling F Problem solving G others:…………………………………………………………… Which materials you like your teacher use in speaking lessons? A Textbook B Newspapers and Magazines C Visual aids D Tapes recorded in English E others:…………………………………………………………… Which kinds of the following extra activities you often go in for to improve your English speaking? A Joining an English speaking club B Voice chatting with the foreigners C learning at the library D listening to English songs E reading and watching in English F None of them G others: Who you want to work with in pair work and group work? A Students at the same table B Students you like C Students with different English level D Students with the same English level E Random grouping VII 10 What hinders you when working in pairs or in groups? A Lack of vocabulary and ideas B passive learning style C difficult or not interesting topics D unclear instructions from the teacher E lack of the partners' cooperation F unsuitable time G unsuitable activities H lack of motivation I others: 11 What you want your teacher to help you work in pairs and in groups? A give clear instructions B provide necessary vocabulary and cues C give preparation time D Provide supportive atmosphere E vary the interaction and repeating tasks F give different levels of tasks G Provide a situation H Simplify activities I ask you to prepare the lessons before the class K give you enough motivation L others: 12 What you like your teacher to encourage you to work in pair and group? A using interesting games B giving you gifts C Giving you high marks D Giving you congratulations and good comments E Using visual aids F Organizing competitions G others: VIII KEY QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEWS How often are pair work and group used in the speaking lessons? What activities are used in the speaking lessons? What activities are you interested in most? What materials are used to supplement pair work and group work activities How are pair work and group work implemented in the speaking lessons? What you think can make using pair work and group work become difficult? Do you have any suggestions to improve the result of using pair work and group work in the speaking lessons? (if yes) What are theys? ... of the using these techniques at Nam Tien Hai high school seems to be still under the expectation Like other schools in the country, the teachers of English at Nam Tien Hai high school are also... Teaching This was partly in response to Chomsky''s criticisms of structural theories of language and partly based on the theories of British functional linguistics, such as Firth and Halliday, as... for the students to chat with each other in Vietnamese or other private things Table 2: The effectiveness of working in pairs or in groups at Nam Tien Hai very much A Feel more confident much