..

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
----------  ----------

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
----------  ----------

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


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

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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

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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

vi


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Cont


:Continue

F

:Frequency

%/ P

:Percent

Ss

:Students

vii


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

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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.

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To tackle these problems, group work is taken into a careful consideration in order
to enhance students‟ speaking skills.
The question now arises as to how to find the best way to improve speaking
skills of the of 10th grade students at Yen Phong 2 High School, hence this study is
conducted.
1.2. Aims of the study
The aim of this study is to explore how group work makes a contribution
towards improving speaking skills of the 10th grade students at Yen Phong 2 High
School. In addition, the study also introduces some group work activities that can be
applied in teaching speaking skill. The ultimate goal of this study is to help students
feel confident in communicating in English.

With the above-mentioned aims, the study tries to answer the following
research questions:
1. What are students’ attitudes towards group work in speaking English?
2- To what extent does group work improve students’ speaking skill?
1.3. Significance of the study
1.3.1. Theoretical aspect
The study contributes theoretically more details, which are considered
significant about speaking, speaking activities, especially group work. As a result, it
is hoped to help students improve speaking skill.
1.3.2. Practical aspect
This study has been conducted with the expectation that the results of the
study will help teachers flexibly apply group activities to teaching, thereby
improving students' speaking skills. Basing on these, the researcher can withdraw
strategies for both teachers and students to improve students‟ speaking skill.
Certainly, once their speaking skill is enhanced, they will feel more confident and
dare to perform in class. In addition, it is expected that the thesis will better inform
the teachers of a student-centered approach to teaching speaking skills in order to
gain the highest participation of students.

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1.4. Scope of the study
The researcher intends to start with an overview of the current situations of
students‟ learning English speaking skill, then analyze the effects of group work
activities on students‟ speaking and make some recommendations on the effective
use of group work to motivate students to practice speaking English more. As an
action research project, the study was conducted with the researcher‟s own students
in her own class with the participation of 42 students in class 10A1 at Yen Phong 2
High School. They are chosen because it is assumed that the 10th grade students do

not experience more group work in the first year at a high school.
1.5. Organization of the thesis
The graduation thesis consists of five chapters, organized as follows:
Chapter 1. Introduction. This chapter mentions the background and
rationale to conduct the study, states the aims, the significances, the scope, and
organization of the graduation thesis.
Chapter 2. Literature Review. This chapter represents theoretical
background knowledge related to speaking skill, and a brief review of the previous
studies on group work and its impacts on students‟ speaking ability.
Chapter 3. Methodology. This chapter states the subjects of the study,
research instruments, and data collection procedures employed in this research.
Chapter 4. Findings and Discussions. This chapter analyzes and discusses
the results collected from survey questionnaire, class observation and tests. Besides,
the limitations of the study are introduced.
Chapter 5. Conclusions and Recommendations. This chapter summarizes
the main points discussed in the previous parts, presents the limitations of the thesis
and provides some suggestions for further research.

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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, the writer gives general knowledge about speaking skills and
its related concepts; group work method and several previous studies on using
group work in teaching English speaking skills.
2.1. Speaking skill and its related concepts
2.1.1. The importance of speaking skill in the classroom
Among the four skills in learning English, speaking and writing are the
productive skills. However, speaking is regarded as very important for language

teaching and learning. Speaking is a bridge to reach other skills. Speaking helps
learners to read better, to listen more effectively and write more accurately.
Speaking is surely the most effective means of communication (Ur, 1996).
There are two most important reasons why speaking should be taught in the
classroom. The first reason is speaking is a good source of motivation for students.
Nunan (1991) points out, “success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a
conversation in the (target) language”. For the students who have ability to speak
English eligibly, they want to speak English; they know to express themselves in
English. Thus, they always speak when possible. But for those who cannot speak
English well, they do not want to speak in groups. As a result, they may soon get
de-motivated and lose interest in learning English. In addition to this, in the English
speaking class, if the speaking activities are organized in the suitable way, speaking
can have a lot `of fun and therefore can raise motivation in the learners. If the
speaking is practiced successfully, the other skills can also be improved through
speaking.
For the second reason, nowadays, the demand for communication among
people is really important. Without it, the life does not exist. For this, speaking
always plays an important role in people‟s lives. Speaking is considered as survival
skill in real life (Ur, 1996; p 134).
For the ideas above, speaking skill also plays the key role in foreign
language learning and teaching.

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2.1.2. Types of classroom speaking performance
According to Brown (1994), there are six categories relating of oral
production:
- Imitative: which accounts for very small portion of speaking time in the
speaking time when learners are practicing an intonation contour trying to pinpoint

a certain vowel sound, etc…
- Intensive: includes any speaking performance that is designed to practice
some phonological or grammar aspect of language.
- Responsive: is short replies to teacher or student initiated questions or
comments. These replies are usually sufficient and do not extend into dialogue.
- Transactional (dialogue): is carried out for the purpose of conveying or
exchanging specific information. Conversations, for example, may have more of a
negative nature to them than merely responsive speech. Such conversation could
readily be the part of group work activities as well.
- Interpersonal (dialogue): carries out more for the purpose of maintaining
social relationship than the transmission of facts and information. These
conversations are a little trickier for learners because they can involve some or all
the following factors: a casual register, colloquial language, emotionally changed
language, and slang etc.
- Extensive (monologue): Finally, students at intermediate or advanced levels
are called on to give extended monologues in the form of oral report, summaries, or
perhaps short speeches. Here the register is more formal and deliberative.
2.2. Group work in a speaking lesson
2.2.1. Definition and description of group work
Student-based group work (also known as team work) has become an
integral part of studying at a high school. This mode of teaching has primarily
arisen in an attempt to capture many of the benefits associated with collaborative
activities (namely peer learning and graduate attribute development). What is really
group work?

5


According to Adrian Doff (1988: 137), group work is a process that “the
teacher divides the class into small groups to work together (usually four or five

students in each group), as in pair work, all the groups work at the same time.”
When working in small groups, the students can be assigned with many
kinds of tasks such as discussion, role-play, and presentations which help the
speaking activities successful, varied and motivated.
It can be clearly seen that group work is a cooperative activity in which the
students work at the same time, sharing ideas and responsibility and independently
have their own ideas which contribute to the group work‟s success without every
minute observation from the teacher and other students.
2.2.2. The advantages and disadvantages of using group work in the classroom
Advantages
Clearly, group work can increase the student talking time, which increases
the speaking skill. In other word, group work helps improved communication. The
students who have little chance to talk to each other now can share ideas, become
close in the short time and above all solve the common problem assigned by the
teacher.
Besides, working in groups helps students to produce greater output. Simply
because of the number of people involved, each with different experience,
knowledge, points of view and values, a larger number and variety of ideas can be
given.

Moreover, the exchange of the ideas in the group can act as a stimulus

which will encourage individuals to give more ideas, more opinions and therefore
contribute more to group work.
In addition to this, group work helps reduce bias. The shared responsibility in
a group in coming to decisions can encourage individuals to explore seemingly
realistic ideas and to challenge accepted ways of doing things. Individual biases and
prejudices can be challenged by the group, forcing the individual to recognize them.
Group pressure can also encourage individuals to accept that change is need.
Finally, students‟ group work is free the teacher from the usual role of “an

expert who always lectures” and allows him/her to walk to each group, to guide, to

6


answer questions from students or to encourage students to work actively (Harmer,
1999:116).
Disadvantages
One obvious disadvantage is the noise made by the groups who have a big
argument on the problem or by the groups who are so excited about working with
one another. It is hard for the teacher to control these kinds of groups. This can
distract the other groups.
The very bad effect of working in groups is that many passive students or
lazy students let their friends do everything provided that they still have their names
in the group‟s result.
Working in groups can cause competitions. Most students working in a
group unconsciously perceive the situations as a competition. This generates a
destructive behavior and drains the creative energy of the group. For example, we
often perceive disagreement with our ideas as a put-down. The natural reaction is to
regain our self-esteem, often by trying to sabotage the ideas of those who disagreed
with us. Instead of looking for ways to improve their ideas we chose to destroy
them. Eager to express our own ideas, we may totally ignore what others suggest.
Power-seekers may use ploys such as highlighting flaws in others' arguments,
barbed questions and displays of expertise to show their supremacy. These types of
behavior create an atmosphere which is incompatible with effective problem
solving.
Another disadvantage is that working in group is a relatively slow process
compared with working alone. It requires individuals to come together at an
assigned time, usually for about a long time, and this can cause organizational
problems. It is really time -consuming. It is not only time-consuming for the

students in groups but also for the teacher. The teacher needs more time to organize
the group work and control all the members in the groups let alone the unsuitable
students in groups which makes the class in disorder.
To conclude, although there are some disadvantages of group work, the
advantages still outweighs. Learning from each other in small groups is much more
effective than from the teacher alone (Harmer, 1999:116).

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2.2.3. Group formation
Small groups or learning teams can be formed in three ways: randomly
(counting off or by seat proximity), teacher-selected, or student-selected. Random
group assignments avoid cliques and ensure that students interact with different
students throughout the semester. Once you know your students fairly well, teacherselected groups can be useful for pairing weak and strong students, students with
common interests or shared learning styles, etc. According to I- Jung (2004),
frequently employed grouping methods include random, student-selected and
teacher-selected groupings.
Random grouping
Random grouping is often used for in-class activities because of its
convenience and readiness that is random grouping is a way including collecting
and gathering students ignoring any differences among students in terms of their
language level, learning style, interests etc.
With the seating arrangement, fixing the numbers, using playing cards, or
distributing the card of different categories, random grouping is established.
For the class of different levels, random group can be used to narrow down
the gap between the students of different levels.
Student-selected grouping
Compared to random grouping and teacher-selected grouping, studentselected is preferred. Knowing well one another or getting on well with each other
can help the students take part in the activities assigned well. They can have more

talking, making more performances and making the group work activities very
interesting. However, student-selected grouping can result in making so much noise
because of too much socializing. This can distract the group activities.
Teacher-selected grouping
Compared to random grouping and student-selected grouping, teacherselected grouping is a more time-consuming one. The reason is that the teacher has
to take students‟ preferences into consideration, also the learning style, the
activeness etc… to help the students who are at the lower levels to keep up with the

8


better students. This kind of grouping can help peer tutoring which is really the
most effective way of learning from one another.
2.2.4. Group –size
Group size is very flexible depending on many aspects such as task type, the
time available, the class and how skillful the group members are? How big the
group should be?
The smaller the group is, the more chance each member has. The fewer
skills of managing the teacher need to have. However, when the group is small,
there will be a lot of small groups in the class. This also leads to the lack of time for
them to give report to the class. So how many members in each group is enough?
Many authors have suggested that three to five in one group can be the best
number. Four-member group is suggested by Honeyfield (1991), I-Jung (2004),
Ngoh (1991). Four members in a group might lead to more interesting and
challenging tasks, with a wide range of opinions being expressed, and more
negotiation required for the group members to reach an agreement. Six members in
a group should be the maximum number (Honeyfield, 1991; I-Jung, 2004). It can
clearly be seen that four is the optimum size to manage students learning. It allows a
good range of experiences and individual contributions.
2.2.5. Teacher roles in group work activities

In Communicative Language Teaching, the teacher has the roles of a guide,
an instructor, an organizer, an assessor, a prompter and a participant (Hammer,
1991). When carrying out group work, even though the students are more
independent, the teacher still plays an important role in conducting( designing) the
tasks, analyzing the need. The teacher will be of great help for the students as the
group members interacting with each other as well as helping them with the
difficulties.
According to Cross (1992:54), the teacher is the manager of an activity who
must plant it, organize it, start it, monitor it, time it and in the end conclude it. The
teacher in the group work activities is not the free one but the one who is active with
assisting, supervising and monitoring…the groups. The teacher is not only at the

9


beginning or the end of the learning process but from beginning to the end of it. The
teacher is activity selector. This is very important because the teacher has to create
activities that fit the students' skills and abilities, assign group tasks that allow a fair
division of energy as well as set up "competitions" among groups; He/she is an
instructor so that the students will be not misleading; He/she is a performance
controller. While the students are working in groups, this is the time for the teacher
to help, to assist them with the knowledge and may be tackling the difficulties they
have with the group; He/she is a group evaluator. In the group work, the teacher not
only evaluates the whole group work but also each member of the group. If the
teacher has good comments on each group‟s performance, this helps a lot because it
is both good for the students and the teacher himself. It is the ideas for the following
activities.
Whether group work is successful or not, they depend much on how and
where the teacher applies these roles.
2.2.6. Common oral activities for group work

There are many activities that can be applied for group work but which one
is suitable for the each class type?
For the most common activities, the researcher has quoted three ones which
are being used mainly among the students in her class. They are: group discussion,
debating and cross grouping. The reason why the researcher makes a choice among
many other activities is that they are used in every speaking lesson in new English
10 textbook.
Group discussion
Discussion sections create great opportunity for students to use active
learning strategies to make your classroom a more interactive environment. In this
kind of activity, the students have a chance to share their ideas with their friends.
Moreover, their individuals‟ opinions are also clearly seen and highly appreciated.
In this part, the students have used a lot of discussion language to show their ideas
to their partners. According to Ur, ( 1992: 2), discussion is the “most natural and
effective way for learners to practice talking freely in English is by thinking out

10


some problem or situation together through verbal interchange of ideas; or in
simpler terms, to discuss”. He also adds some factors to the good (or successful)
discussion, that is, topic, group work activity and role play.
Sometimes in the group discussion, the group has also to find a solution to a
problem of different kind. In groups, students can summarize main points; review
problems such as for exams, compare and contrast knowledge, ideas, or theories;
solve problems; or generate comments for you on class progress or on their levels of
skill and understanding.
Debating
In the book, “Discussion that works”, (1992:105) even though Penny Ur lists
some limitations in debating, he also shows his regret if debating is completely

excluded from group work because there are many students enjoying this kind of
discussion and he also emphasized the importance of debating when he affirms the
things learned in this activity much better than any other ones. It is much more
interesting when he clearly presents some very useful steps in designing the
debating activity including the number of people in each group, the quantity of
group, the debating topics, group selection, and time limit as well as motivation
creation.
This is also called “For and against” (Ur, 1996, p134, box 9.6) that is the
whole is divided into two big group that. One group is for and the other is against.
This kind of group work activity includes 2 stages. The first is preparation, the
second is debating. In the first stage, the teacher thinks of the arguments would be
for or against. In the second stage, the teacher divides the class into 2 groups. One
has to think of the reasons which agree with the topics set by the teacher and the
other group also thinks of the reason but disagrees with that. Then, one or two main
speakers present the case for each group, and after that, the discussion is then
thrown open for free participation. Very importantly, at the end of the discussion,
the teacher has to put the issue to the vote. At this point the teacher may abandon
the view of the group he/she does not accept and vote according to his/her own
inclination.

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Cross grouping
Cross grouping is a new kind of activity that can make a lot of improvement
in speaking. It is not only the involvement of the member in each group but also the
exchange of member in each group for the new and may be more attractive
environment for speaking activity. It can be also called “Jigsaw”. First, the students
in a class are divided into some small groups. After discussing with the partners in
the experts groups, the students are mixed and they will share the opinion with other

partners in other cooperative group. For this, the ideas are exchanged and students
can learn from one another.
Problems and solutions in making the group work activities in class effective
According to Jacobs and Hall (1994), there are many problems associated
with group work which can be solved with careful preparation, clear instructions
and appropriate facilitations.
Some students talk too much or dominate the group
a. Talk to the students privately. Explain that while you are pleased that they
have a lot to contribute, you would like other learners to have more opportunities to
think for themselves. Sometimes, the students just need to be made aware of the
situation.
b. Even if you have not planned to assign roles to group members, do so at
an appropriate point during the group task, either for all groups or for only the
one(s) with a dominant students. Ensure that some roles require significant periods
of silence (e.g. summarizer, detective, recorder, observer, timekeeper, a liaison
among the groups.) Alternately, speak privately to the dominant students and give
him or her one of these roles.
c. Ask the entire group to reflect on how it is functioning with questions such
as: How well did you complete the task as a group? Did someone take the lead, and
if so, how did this come about? Whose ideas are most strongly presented in the
solution to the task? Was there anything you thought but didn‟t actually say?
d. During long period of group work , call for regulation periods of reflective
silence (e.g., after every fifteen to twenty minutes) in which students think (and

12


write) about the points that have been made, contradictions that have surfaced,
omissions that should be added, and where the discussion should go next. When
signaling for the discussion to resume, invite students who have said little to read

out what they have written.
Some students speak too little or are “freeloading”
a. Speak to the students privately to determine the reason for lack of
participation, e.g., introversion, fear of looking stupid, feeling unprepared, fearing a
trap, feeling unwelcome, past experiences, trying to be cool, lack of reward.
b. Consider using even smaller groups. Quiet students may feel more
comfortable participating in this situation, and “freeloading” students will be less
able to coast on the other‟s efforts.
c. Ask students occasionally to hand in their group notes or their
preparation notes.
d. As when handling dominating students, assign ones to one or all of the
group members. Some roles that require active vocal participation are spokesperson,
skeptic, organizer, facilitator, liaison to other group.
e. Suggest go round (or Circle of voices), so that each group member has to
contribute.
f. Offer a general reminder, either to the whole class or to a group in
particular, that every student has valuable input and that there is no poor question.
Be sure to respond appropriately, then, when students have comments or questions.
g. Recognize that quantity is not quality. There is a place for silence in
discussion.
h. If the students are shy, consider incorporating an electric discussion
into the course. Students may find it easier to contribute on a class bulletin
board, chat room.
i. Remind students that the content of the group work will be tested on a quiz
or test. You could design a test question in which students must summarize their
group‟s result.

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Students are not listening to fellow group members
a. Comment on the issue in the general class setting.
b. Tell the students that in the plenary session, you will call on one member
of each group (your choice) to summarize the group‟s discussion or answers.
c. Call a time-out, and restructure the activity so that all students must
connect what they say to what the previous person just said.
Students lack the social skills needed to work with others
a. Encourage students who prefer to work alone to stay in group work and at
the same time assist the group by assigning them a task that would give them some
sort of isolation.
b. Explain and ask students to get familiar with active and tolerant listening.
c. Show students the way to give and receive constructive criticism.
d. Tell the students how to negotiate, manage disagreements.
e. Pre-teach students the way to refuse, disagree, argue………..politely in
English.
f. Use pair work and group work frequently so that students will become
more skillful.
Students overuse mother-tongue
a. At the beginning of the activity, teachers should emphasize that students
must use the target language in group work
b. During the group work, teachers move around the classroom to remind
learners of this rule and provide them with language assistance.
c. Make the work task oriented.
d. Join the group briefly to encourage and facilitate the learner‟s
participation.
e. Set rules, agreed to by the class, for disciplining frequent offenders.
f. Limit the time available. It is better to have a shorter time than is strictly
necessary for full practice of the language because students tend to use mother
tongue of spare time at the end of the group.
g. Pre -teach some words or phrase necessary for group work activities.

h. Give someone in the group the role of language monitor.

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2.3. Previous study related to group work
To achieve fluent speaking ability may entail a number of hardships, so
effective group work seems to be remarkably involved in the process of speaking
practice. It is the reason why many researchers concern about investigating issues
related to second or foreign language learners‟ speaking and components around
communicative competence. To support this research, there are some previous
studies consulted by the researcher.
The research conducted by Meng (2009) found that the teacher‟s role will
change from a lecturer to a guide leading learners. Learners also assume new roles
in the group work. They are collaborators and active participants rather than only
passive knowledge receivers. The class mode changes from teacher-centered to
learner-centered.
The research conducted by Hamzah and Ting (2010) showed the students‟
positive responses towards the group work activities in class. This contributed to a
significant increase in students‟ participation in their groups. Hence, group work
could have significant pedagogical implications and could be a practical technique
if they are carefully planned to teach speaking skills amongst the students.
Divya John‟s research, carried out in 2017 was a reflective study using a
sample activity conducted in the English class for engineering students. These
students were in an English class where all of them were well aware of the
importance of making improvement in their English speaking skill, because this
helped them to convey a complete and successful message to communicate.
Evaluations of both students and the researcher were carried out and analyzed.
Focusing on the factors analyzed, he came up with guidelines and recommendations
for ideal group work and he suggested a 5D procedure which is:

1. Direct: the teacher directs the students how to go about the group work.
2. Discuss: the students discuss among themselves.
3. Develop: the students develop the content for presentation.
4. Deliver: the students deliver the content in front of the class.
5. Document: the teacher documents the feedback

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