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Abstract

Enabling students to speak with a high degree of fluency and spontaneity is one of the most
desired but challenging objective for teachers of EFL students. As a matter of fact, this objective
is far from being attainable in most of the secondary schools in Inhambane province, especially
at Escola Secundria 29 de Setembro da Maxixe. Even though, group work activities, recognised
to be powerful in promoting language fluency and reducing students speaking fears (Richard,
2008), are being neglected by teachers of English at that school.

We were, therefore, motivated by this fact to develop this study in order to provide teachers of
English with alternative strategies of using group work activities for an effective and successful
teaching of speaking skills.

When observing lessons we could conclude that teachers at Escola Secundria 29 de Setembro
da Maxixe are not aware of the ideals of group work, since we noticed that they only put students
working in the same place but not together as a team. This makes group work fail in English
classrooms at that school.

Thus, the alternatives we propose in this work will hopefully change that undesirable situation of
misuse of group work in either speaking lessons or others.

This research was conducted at Escola Secundria 29 de Setembro da Maxixe, where the classes
are large and so the use of group work is considered by the teachers of English to be
unproductive under these conditions. We will therefore suggest strategies of the use of group
work to teach speaking skills that are also suitable for large classes.

This study encompasses the discussion of data collected through observations, questionnaires
and interviews as well as conclusions and recommendations which we believe will help teachers
and teacher trainers improve the language teaching and learning process in their schools.

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Introduction

The teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) has always been challenging to theorists,
material designers and EFL teachers. Therefore, many approaches and methodologies to teach
EFL were developed throughout the history of English Language Teaching (ELT). One of the
approaches developed is the Communicative Language Teaching1, which emphasizes
communicative competence, that is, the ability to use the language communicatively. This
approach advocates the use of a variety of communicative activities aimed at promoting
language fluency, which can be done either in pairs or in groups. Thus, this piece of writing is
about The Use of Group Work Activities to Teach Speaking Skills at Escola Secundria 29 de
Setembro da Maxixe. With this study we intend to investigate the reasons why many teachers at
that school neglect group work speaking activities. We also intend to propose alternative
strategies for an effective and successful use of this type of activities.

We organised this study in six (6) chapters, of which the first is a brief description of the current
situation of the use of group work activities in speaking lessons at Escola Secundria 29 de
Setembro da Maxixe. In this chapter we report the strategies currently being used by teachers of
English at that school and the possible reasons that make teachers neglect the use of group work
in speaking lessons.

Chapter II is concerned with the concept and the rationale for using group work activities in a
language classroom. This chapter discusses the concepts of group work. In addition, we present
the pedagogical and psycholinguistic rationale for group work. Finally, the advantages of using
group work activities are stated. This is followed by the chapter of the teaching of speaking skills
through group work, in which we will first refer to the key stages of group work followed by the
different types of group work activities to teach speaking. After this we will give suggestions on
how teachers should position themselves in the classroom during group work. Then, we present
suggestions and alternatives for an effective and productive teaching of speaking skills through
group work. Finally we present a sample of a group work based lesson.

1
The approach currently in use and on which the designing of grade 12 syllabus (see appendix 1) was based.

2
The following chapter is concerned with the description of the study whereby we will refer to the
place of study, the subjects, the limitations, the objectives, the significance and the methods used
for data collection. Chapter V deals with presentation, analysis and discussion of the data. The
final chapter is concerned with the conclusions and recommendations for the teaching of
speaking skills through group work activities.

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Chapter I: An Overview of the Current Situation of the Use of
Group work Activities in Speaking Lessons at Escola Secundria 29
de Setembro da Maxixe

This chapter is aimed at reporting the strategies teachers of English at Escola Secundria 29 de
Setembro use when operating group work speaking activities. In addition, we will mention the
reasons that may possibly be influencing teachers to neglect group work activities throughout
speaking lessons.

1.1. Strategies Used for the Operation of Group Work

When observing lessons of English at Escola Secundria 29 de Setembro da Maxixe we sadly


noticed that the use of group work at that school is far from being the ideal because of the
following aspects observed:

It took too much time to organise the groups because teachers did not help Students
organise the groups, as a result there were groups of stronger Students and others of
weaker ones;

During the completion of the tasks students were left working on their own, i.e. teachers
were not there to manage the tasks, consequently the lessons were very noisy;

To clarify students doubts, teachers resorted to Portuguese.

However, we could also observe positive aspects relevant to refer to:

Teachers were very clear when giving instructions and their voices were audible enough
to be clearly heard by the groups seating on the back desks;

The type of activities assigned was very interesting and accounted for the students level
of English;

Teachers were able to give a positive feedback to students;


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1.2. Possible Reasons for Neglecting the Use of Group Work

As with any teaching method, there are a number of potential problems that may arise during the
process. Appropriate use of group work, careful planning, support and monitoring will reduce the
likelihood of these problems affecting the teaching and learning process. The following are
typical difficulties encountered with group work which were discovered by the studies carried
out by the University of Victoria (2004). We believe these may also be the reasons why group
work activities are neglected at most secondary schools, especially at Escola Secundria 29 de
Setembro da Maxixe:

During group work there is a poor internal group dynamics;


Individual strengths are excluded or marginalised;
The tasks assigned or the assessment criteria do not account for the students differences;
Throughout group work teachers intervene less than they desire in order to help;
Excessive amounts of group work where compared with individual work in a course or
programme;
Group work is noisy;

During group work I dont give much help or attention to individuals;

Most of the group work I assign is often done by one student instead of all the members
of the group.

In fact, we could notice most of these aspects throughout the observations of classes at that
school, firstly throughout the teaching practice and secondly when we were collecting the data
for this study. However, we believe an appropriate use of group work, careful planning, support
and monitoring will reduce the likelihood of these problems affecting the teaching and learning
process. (For further suggestions of ways to overcome the problems raised above, see chapter
III, section 3.4).

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1.3. Conclusion

In conclusion, the strategies teachers use when operating group work do not help them achieve
their goal of getting students communicating in English. For instance, students do not only need
to be given pre-task clear instructions, they also need to be monitored during the completion of
the tasks in order to check whether they are really working together as a group on the tasks
assigned or whether there is in the group enough language practice, or even to help them
whenever they need. In addition, the reasons considered to be possibly influencing the neglect of
group work activities are raised by the teachers classroom management skills, i.e., there will be
only one student doing the tasks assigned on behalf of the whole group, only if the teacher is not
there to control. The presence of the teacher in the group will also avoid noise, and most
importantly will assure that students individual strengths are being well applied on behalf of the
whole group. Moreover, other claims may be due to the fact that teachers are used to the teacher-
centred lessons in which they are the centre of attention while in learner-centred lessons the
focus is on students performance and therefore, in order to preserve their comfort, they neglect
group work activities.

Teachers of English who neglect group work activities are not probably aware of the importance
and advantages brought about by group work activities, (see chapter II section 2.2 and 2.3).

We now move to the following chapter which discusses the concept of group work, and explains
its advantages and importance to the success of the teaching of speaking skills.

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Chapter II: The Concept and the Rationale for Using Group Work
in a Language Classroom

In this chapter we will be discussing the concept of group work. We are also going to explain its
importance based on pedagogical and psycholinguistic justification for the use of group work
activities. Finally, we will state the advantages of teaching speaking skills through group work.

2.1. What is group work?

Group work is considered by Hacker (1998) to be a common task requiring interdependent work
and a successive or integrative action.

In his turn, Delarue (2003) defines group work as the work performed by more than one person,
each with their responsibilities but all with a common goal.

Agreeing with the two scholars, we believe group work consists of getting more than 1 person
working together towards the attainment of a common objective.

2.2. Why using group work?

Lately language teaching has basically been aimed at enabling learners to use the language for
communication. Therefore the language teaching process consists of giving students a chance to
become more fluent and confident, by talking to them and allowing them to talk to each other in
English, because according to Scrivener (2005) there is no point in teaching them a lot about the
language if they cannot use it. One of the effective ways to achieve this goal is to get students
working in small groups in which they will feel less controlled by the teacher and consequently
reduce the fear to talk.

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Moreover, Scrivener2 states that unlike whole class tasks, group tasks give every student (mainly
in group discussion) more chances to speak as each member of the group will make as much
effort as possible to support their groups ideas.

2.2.1. Pedagogical Rationale for Group Work

There are, according to Long and Porter (1985), at least five (5) pedagogical arguments for the
use of group work activities in SL and EFL contexts:

2.2.1.1. Argument 1

Group work increases language practice opportunities.

One of the main reasons for low achievement by many second language learners is simply that
they do not have enough time to practise the new language. This is especially serious in large
EFL classes in which students need to develop aural-oral skills, but it is also relevant to the ESL
context. In fact, group work cannot solve this problem entirely but it can certainly help. In a
typical Mozambican classroom where there are in each classroom about 60 to 70 students,
individual students wouldnt have enough time to practice during a 45 minute lesson, while
organizing students in groups, increases the time for students to practise the language, for within
the groups they will interact with each other hopefully using the target language.

2.2.1.2. Argument 2

Group work increases the quality of student talk.

Group work doesnt only limit the quantity of student talk but also the quality. Notably, teacher-
fronted lessons are majorly mechanical limiting students to give answers such as yes or no
or replying by short sentences that seldom prompt the students creativity and teacher confirming

2
Scrivener (op cit)

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the correctness by saying yes, right or good but natural communication rarely or never takes
place. In contrary, Group work can help a lot here. First, unlike the teacher-centred lessons, with
its single, distant initiator of talking (the teacher) and its group interlocutor (the students), face-
to-face communication in a small group is a natural setting for conversation. Second, five or six
students working together for five minutes, are not limited to producing hurried, isolated
sentences. Rather, they can engage in coherent sequences of utterances, thereby developing
discourse competence, not just (at best) a grammatical sentence. Third, students can take on roles
and adopt positions which in teacher-centred lesson are usually exclusive for the teacher and can
thus practice a range of language functions associated with those roles and positions.

2.2.1.3. Argument 3

Group work helps individualize instruction.

However efficient, it may be for some purposes, for example, the presentation of new
information needed by all students in a teacher-centred class goes over many individual
differences inevitably present in a group of students. This is especially true of the vast majority
of school children, who are typically placed in classes solely on the basis of chronological and
mental age. It can also occur in quite small classes of adults, however. Small groups of students
can work on different sets of materials suited to their needs. Moreover, they can do so
simultaneously, thereby avoiding the risk of boring other students who do not have the same
problem, perhaps because they speak a different first language, or who do have the same
problem but need less time to solve it. Group work, then, is a first step toward individualization
of instruction.

2.2.1.4. Argument 4
Group work promotes a positive affective climate.
Many students, especially the shy or linguistically insecure, experience considerable stress when
called upon in the public arena of the teacher-centred classroom. This stress is increased by the
knowledge that they must respond accurately and above all quickly. Research has shown that if
students pause longer than about one second before beginning to respond or while making a
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response, or (worse) appear not to know the answer, or make an error, teachers will tend to
interrupt, repeat, or rephrase the question, ask a different one, correct, and/or switch to another
student. In contrast, a small group of peers provides a relatively intimate setting and, usually, a
more supportive environment in which to try out the target language skills.

2.2.1.5. Argument 5
Group work motivates learners.
Several advantages have already been claimed for group work. It allows for a greater quantity
and richer variety of language practice that is better adapted to individual needs and conducted in
a more positive affective climate. Students are individually involved in lessons more often and at
a more personal level. For all these reasons and because of the variety group work inevitably
introduces into a lesson, it seems reasonable to believe that group work motivates the classroom
learner.

2.2.2. Psycholinguistic Rationale for Group Work

The use of group work in a second language learning classroom has long been supported by
pedagogical arguments. Recently, however, a psycholinguistic rationale for group work has
emerged from second language acquisition (SLA) research on inter-language talk3, (Long and
Porter)4

Researches have compared speech samples from two teacher-led class discussions to speech
from two small group discussions (five learners per group) doing the same task in order to
examine the quantity and the quality of their speeches in a given context. Quality of speech was
defined by the variety of themes, and quantity of speech was defined by the number of themes.
The amount and variety of student talk were found to be significantly greater in the small groups

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Conversation between non-native speakers

4
Long and Porter (i bid)

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than in the teacher-led discussions. In other words, students not only talked more, but also used a
wider range of speech acts in the small-group context.

2.3. Advantages of Using Group Activities to Teach Speaking

According to Wallace, et al (1993) group work activities for speaking classes help language
learners to reduce their speaking fears for the fact that they are conscious that the other members
of the same small group experience the same difficulties as theirs; therefore they speak with no
fear to be judged by the whole class or by the teacher. Actually when in small groups, learners
try to speak as much naturally as possible with the help of their group mate in order to complete
the task assigned for them.

Miles, M. (1973) and Bailey, K. and Savage, L. (1994) list the following benefits of using group
work activities to teach speaking skills:

They create a relaxing learning environment;

Help students solve tasks better and faster;

Give each student more time for speaking practice;

Give students more chances to exchange ideas with each other;

Enhance students effective use of English when talking to each other;

Students give more help to each other;

Students learn more about how to share the responsibilities when working in groups;

Help improve students fluency;

Help students feel more confident when speaking English.

In addition, the studies conducted by the Loughborough university list 5 more benefits of group
work. They enable students to:
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Share ideas and experiences;

Learn from and help each other;

Find alternative ways of solving problems;

Enhance the quality of the achievements; and

Develop essential team working skills.

2.4. Conclusion

In chapter II we have generally been looking at the importance and advantages of group work. In
short it is important to mention that, it is true that students at 29 de Setembro are not confident
enough to speak English to the whole class, so we believe small groups would really help them a
lot develop this confidence and reduce their speaking fears, causing them to become fluent
speakers of English.

Moreover, we believe the advantages mentioned above and the arguments for the use of group
work brought about by pedagogy and psycholinguistics are only true if we count on teachers
active involvement in the whole activity, which is before, during and after the activity. In fact,
the teachers role of planning and monitoring the tasks is fundamental to the success of group
work activities. Furthermore, it is important for teachers to follow the key stages of group work
(see chapter III, section 3.1) so they know exactly about their contribution to the success of the
activities they design.

Now we move on to the following chapter which is concerned with the description of the
teaching of speaking skills through group work.

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Chapter III: The Teaching of Speaking through Group Work

In this chapter we intend to describe the teaching of speaking skills through group work
activities. We will look at the key stages that teachers should follow when operating group work
speaking activities in a language classroom. In addition, we will describe the type of activities
which are suitable for group work speaking activities. Moreover, we present suggestions and
alternatives to help teachers of English improve the way they use group work speaking activities.
Finally, we will demonstrate all the suggestions we make in this work in a lesson plan based on
group work speaking activities.

3.1. Key Stages of Group Work

According to Loughborough University, group work activities are not performed randomly, they
obey some stages, as follows:

3.1.1. Setting ground rules


A team always needs to be guided by a set of common rules shared and understood by the
involved. This is to ensure that each group member knows what is expected from them, how
work will be divided and supported and how outcomes will be developed.

3.1.2. Defining objectives and planning tasks


Teachers should define right at the beginning what they wish to achieve just to avoid any
confusion when giving feedback. Furthermore, teachers should plan the activities in which
students will be involved.

3.1.3. Establishing roles


When planning activities, teachers should establish the responsibilities each student will be
taking during the activity according to their strengths in order to avoid having only one student
completing the activity.

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3.1.4. Delegating the tasks
For each activity, teachers should divide it into smaller sub-tasks and delegate each student one
sub-task according to their strengths, experiences and preferences. It is important to ensure
beforehand that every member of the group has got a specific task to complete.

3.1.5. Plan of action with deadlines


All the action during the activity should be planned and time established beforehand so that all
the students work towards the achievement of the same objectives within the time established.

3.1.6. Monitoring progress


As group work goes on teachers should keep a close eye on the students ensuring that everyone
is working on the task.

3.1.7. Evaluating performance.


It is always useful to evaluate group work in order to find out how well the objectives were met;
what three things went well and what three things need improvement.

3.1.8. Giving feedback

Teachers should always give constructive feedback on students work in order to help them
improve their work, by doing the following: listening to students reading their work; starting and
finish the comments with something positive, being as much helpful as possible; they should not
simply criticise but be always aware of how things could be improved; focus on the main issues
not on the minor issues unless the are the only things that are wrong; they should be aware that
everyone has a different way of doing things and so being flexible and not focus on how they
would have done it.

These stages appear to be more applicable and helpful in small classes, however, if teachers
allow themselves sometime to plan and structure in details all the course of the activities before
coming to the classroom, the stages above would be as much feasible and helpful in large classes
as they are in small ones. Apart from this, some of the stages suggested are not possible to obey

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in all types of activities, for instance, the stages 3.1.3 and 3.1.4 cannot be productively obeyed
when operating the activities a, d, k and l (see section 3.2 of this chapter).

3.2. Different Types of Group Work Activities to Teach Speaking

Scrivener5 and Kayi (2006) suggest the following types of group oral activities:

a. Picture Difference Tasks

This task consists of giving picture A to one group and picture B to another group. Each group
describes its picture to the other group in order to find the differences between the two pictures
only based on the description.

b. Group Planning Tasks

In this activity, groups of students are told to plan an activity they would like to do together in a
holiday or in a weekend, where they must all agree on where they want to go.

c. Ranking Tasks

The teacher prepares a list of items that learners can discuss and place in a particular order
according to their opinions on:

What is the most useful thing within a given list? Why?;

What are the worst programmes on TV? Why?

The most important person in the country? Why?

d. Puzzles and Problems

A problem or puzzle is presented to the whole class and some time is allocated for each student
to think on the problem and then small groups are formed so that the members of each group
solve the puzzle or problem together and afterwards in plenary, each group presents its solutions.

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Scrivener (I bid)

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e. Role - Play

For this activity, students are given information about a person or a job title (teacher, nurse, etc.).
They are given some time to prepare and then act in small groups according to the role they are
taking but using their own ideas.

f. Real - Play

This activity consists of getting students playing in the classroom roles they would play in a
place other than the classroom but not imitating anybody. E.g. arguing with siblings about
housework. One tells to his/her group how they do and then the group recreates the situation and
performs in the classroom.

This technique allows students to practice the language they need in their own life.

g. Simulation

For this activity students are given roles and then take notes of what they are going to say
throughout performance. Not much creativity is required, all they need is to rehearse and then
perform.

h. Picture Narrating

This activity is based on several sequential pictures. Students are asked to tell the story taking
place in the sequential pictures by paying attention to the criteria provided by the teacher as a
rubric. Rubrics can include the vocabulary or structures they need to use while narrating.

i. Playing Cards

In this game, students should form four groups. Each suit will represent a topic. For instance:

Diamonds: Earning money


Hearts: Love and relationships
Spades: An unforgettable memory
Clubs: Best teacher

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Each student in a group will choose a card. Then, each student will write 4-5 questions about that
topic to ask the other people in the group. For example:

If the topic "Diamonds: Earning Money" is selected, here are some possible questions:

Is money important in your life? Why?


What is the easiest way of earning money?
What do you think about lottery? Etc.

However, the teacher should state at the very beginning of the activity that students are not
allowed to prepare yes-no questions, because by saying yes or no students get little practice in
spoken language production. Rather, students ask open-ended questions to each other so that
they reply in complete sentences.

j. Reporting

Before coming to class, students are asked to read a newspaper or magazine and, in class, they
report to their friends what they find as the most interesting news. Students can also talk about
whether they have experienced anything worth telling their friends in their daily lives before
class.

For a Mozambican context (especially Maxixes), where we rarely or never find English
magazines or newspapers, T can tell students to make notes of their weekends so they report
them to their classmates, tackling aspects they had found to be appealing enough to be told in the
classroom.

k. Brainstorming

On a given topic, students can produce ideas in a limited time. Depending on the context, either
individual or group brainstorming is effective and learners generate ideas quickly and freely. The
good characteristic of brainstorming is that students are not criticized for their ideas so students
will be open to sharing new ideas.

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l. Picture Description

Another way to make use of pictures in a speaking activity is to give students just one picture
and having them describe what is in the picture. For this activity students can form groups and
each group is given a different picture. Students discuss the picture with their groups, then a
spokesperson for each group describes the picture to the whole class. This activity fosters the
creativity and imagination of the learners as well as their public speaking skills.

In short, all the activities we suggested in this section can be adapted and used in any teaching
situation, however, some of them are more productive in particular situations than others and
some require more language proficiency than others. For example, the playing cards activity,
aimed at choosing the topic of the discussion, which requires four groups so they match with the
four suits (diamonds, spades, clubs and hearts), does not apply in a context of very large classes
(up to eighty students each) like the ones we have at 29 de Setembro, instead teachers can write
on the board topics in a number that matches with the number of groups formed. Furthermore,
activities such as picture narrating, puzzle or problem solving, and reporting relatively require
more language proficiency to cope with them. Therefore, in a school like 29 de Setembro, where
the students language proficiency is too poor, teachers should help students by giving
instructions them clear instructions and ready assistance.

3.3. Teacher Positioning in the Classroom during Group Work

The position we adopt in the classroom depends on the task students are involved in and the type

of interaction required, Griffiths (2005). That is, whether it is a student student; teacher

student or it is student teacher students interaction. Therefore, depending on the cases

teachers can sit, stand or crouch as the lesson takes place.

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a. Standing

According to Griffiths6, wherever teachers stand in the class, students will see them. Therefore
standing is important when we want the attention of the whole class, for clarifying language or
giving instructions.

b. Crouching

Crouching around or behind pairs and groups has several advantages. Firstly, we are giving the
group the message that we are mobile, and not going to stay with one student, pair or group for
longer than is necessary. Secondly, we are physically at the same height as the students, making
interaction more personal and less threatening, which in turn leads to a more communicative
atmosphere.

Finally, crouching allows us to position ourselves near pairs or groups without constantly
moving furniture around with us, which can be very distracting.

c. Sitting

Some experienced teachers know how to hold the attention of a large group while seated, but
there is a greater possibility of losing some learners' attention if we are seated. Furthermore, if
we are not careful, remaining seated throughout the class can give students the impression that
we are not interested in the lesson or motivated to teach.

In addition, there is a need of using body language when explaining so that students understand
the content with ease and this is difficult to do when seated, and so standing would be the most
appropriate positioning in this situation.

However, sometimes sitting is a good idea if standing can distract students and crouching for any
length of time is physically uncomfortable, then sitting in a place which is easily accessible to all
students while they are working, which may be in the middle of the class as opposed to at the
front, with the advantage of not distracting them but being available to answer any questions.

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I bid

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During group work activities it is, according to Griffiths7, important that teachers keep a fair
distance with students so that they feel neither threatened for the teacher being so close during
studentstudent interaction nor neglected for teacher staying very far or closer to only one group
rather than moving around all the groups. Moreover it is important not to over-help the students
as a way of encouraging them to find solutions of their difficulties by their own within their
groups.

3.4. Suggestions and Alternatives for an Effective and Productive Teaching of Speaking
Skills through Group Work

After having analysed the reasons presented by teachers and students for the neglect of group
work activities, we believe the following will be suitable suggestions and alternatives for
teachers and students to overcome the difficulties they have been experiencing with this type of
activities:

In large classes, teachers of English should organise groups that are easily manageable
and which can be seated within the classroom borders. For example, in a classroom with
70 students it is good idea to form 7 groups of 10 students each. This group size can be
easily monitored as long as each student in the group has his/her own role to play on
behalf of the whole group;

During group work teachers should keep a fair distance with the groups so they feel
neither too free nor over-controlled in order to avoid both noise and discomfort
throughout the activity as well as assisting them when necessary;

Organising groups in the classroom is generally time-consuming, therefore we suggest


teachers to base on their checklist to organise groups before coming to the classroom,
assuring the rotation of the group members throughout the time; moreover, teachers
should ask students to re-arrange the tables and chairs before the speaking lessons in
order to save time;
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I bid

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Teachers of EFL always claim about students lack of fluency, which makes the
discussion in English boring for them all and therefore not participative. The alternative
to overcome this situation is to start the discussion by getting groups voting among a set
of topics teachers write on the board, and then justify their choices. The most voted topic
will be the discussion subject for all the groups because we believe such topic will be the
one that is of the students interest and so they will use the little English they have to
discuss on it with no difficulties.

Furthermore, the studies conducted by the Loughborough University suggest the following:

One of the best way to guarantee that groups complete the tasks with ease is to give them
clear instructions about how to work in groups;
Split the task into equally smaller parts and give students clear instructions about what
they are supposed to do in each part of the task;
Organize groups composed by both stronger and weaker students;
Teachers need to be able to understand how groups work;
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of individuals and use this to the success of the
group; and

Teachers must be able to plan the tasks in details and manage them during the
implementation.

Actually, to assure the success of the teaching of speaking skills through group work all these
suggestions and alternatives should be combined with teachers teaching experience and applied
according to each teaching situation. Therefore, teachers active involvement in the whole
process, from the formation of the groups to the completion of the tasks, is indispensable.

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3.5. Sample of a Group Work Based Lesson

After we have, in the previous section, suggested a number of strategies to use with group work
activities we thought it was relevant to demonstrate how these suggestions would work in the
classroom in order to help teachers of English structure their lessons. The following is a ninety-
minute lesson designed for seventy students, which can be taught in any teaching situation. The
topic was suggested by the Grade 12 syllabus of English (See Appendix I, unity 8):

Unity: 8 Length: 90 minutes


Lesson 1 and 2 Number of students: 70
Topic: Self-employment
Objectives: by the end of this lesson students will be able to:

- Name local business activities;

- Design and describe small business projects for the development of their communities;

- Explain how self-employment can contribute to the sustainability of the family,


expressing their opinions about the good and the bad brought about by self-employment;

Teaching Aids: Board and chalk; textbook; 4 copies of 3 pictures of people selling different
types of products (tomatoes, chicken and airtime); 7 small pieces of paper and glue.

Stage Activities Interaction Time

Teacher organises 7 groups of 10 Ss each and allows each group to


choose a spokesperson;

He/she tells the group that they are going to look at 3 pictures and
then collect within the groups as many ideas as possible about the
pictures (who are the people in the picture; what are they doing?
etc.);

Presents the topic, explains relating it to the pictures discussed.


Pre-speaking Group 20
Sticks the 3 pictures on the walls of the classroom; work

22
Walks around the groups to monitor the work;

Allows the spokesperson of each group to present the ideas


collected with the help of their group mates.

Groups comment on other groups presentations agreeing or


disagreeing with their points;

Before coming to class, teacher cuts 7 small pieces of paper and


writes on each 1 name of a small business project (e.g. selling
chicken; hairdressing; selling airtime; selling cakes; etc.);

When in class, teacher tells groups to change their spokesperson


and states that each spokesperson has to choose one piece of paper
While- containing the name of the business project they will have to design Group 35
and then explain to the other groups, stating the impact their
speaking work
business will have in the economy of their communities;

After this, teacher presents some grammar points and vocabulary


items that Ss will possibly need during the completion of the task;

After they have completed the tasks, groups present their projects,
first the spokesperson and after him the other members of the
group;

Teacher comments on all the presentations praising them all.

Teacher asks Ss the questions below, and gives them some time to
answer and then present them to the other groups for them to
comment:

1. Do you think self-employment can help people sustain their


family? How?

Post- 2. Is it possible that airtime street sellers become millionaires? How Group 25
speaking can that happen? work
3. Imagine that you are a chicken seller in Panda, how would you
publish your business so it becomes successful nationwide.

Students respond to the questions within their groups and present it


to the whole class for feedback;

23
Teacher gives positive feedback to all the groups and gives an
overview of the whole lesson.

3.6. Conclusion

In this chapter we have been describing the key stages of group work and the different types of
group work speaking activities. We could learn that although they are all important, these stages
cannot all be followed in every type of activity due to the simplicity of the activities. We have
also been discussing the teachers positioning in the classroom during group work, whereby we
focused on three positions, which are standing, crouching and sitting. The positioning will vary
according to the type of activity taking place in the classroom and the teachers management
skills. In addition, we presented the suggestions and alternatives for an effective and productive
teaching of speaking skills, which were focused on teachers preparation (planning),
organization, instructions, and monitoring of the groups. Finally we designed a lesson plan in
order to demonstrate the use of group work speaking activity in a language classroom. We
believe this lesson plan will work as model for teachers of English who wish to use group work
activities in their speaking lessons.

24
Chapter IV: The Study

This chapter will provide us with the description of the site where this study was conducted; the
subjects of the study; the objectives; the limitations; the significance and the methodologies used
for collecting the data of this research, which is presented, analysed and discussed in the chapter
V.

4.1. The Place of Study

Located at the cross-way of Antonio Boavida and Filipe Samuel Magaia avenue in Maxixe, the
Escola Secundria 29 de Setembro da Maxixe is limited to the south by the supermarket, to
the north by the Catholic Church, to the east by Ja shop and to the west by the city council
football field.

There are seventy-seven (77) teachers at that school; of whom sixty-five (65) are men and twelve
(12) are women. Among these teachers ten (10), all men, are teachers of English, of whom 5
teach grade 11 and the other 5 teach grade 12. 29 de Setembro is a school for grade 11 and 12
and teaches 3666 students (1624 male and 2024 female) in day and night shifts. Finally the
school has got 19 employees, non-teachers, of whom 6 are men and 13 are women.

As aids for the teaching and learning process, the school possesses 6 computers, 5 printers and 4
photocopying machines. Moreover, the school has some audio-visual equipment such as videos,
a DVD, a television and a cassette recorder. All these materials are available for teachers to use
in the classroom whenever they plan to.

4.2. Subjects of the Study

Grade 12 students were the subject selected for this study for we believed that they have enough
competence to effectively answer the questions of this study as they have been studying English
for at least five (5) years. We also included grade 12 teachers of English in the study.

25
For this research we had 49 respondents, of whom 43 are students and 6 are teachers (all
trained).

4.3. Objectives of the Study

The objective of this study was to find out:

Whether teachers at 29 de Setembro use and value group work activities;

The strategies they use;

The attitudes teachers of English and students have towards group work activities.

4.4. Significance of the Study

This study will provide teachers of English with alternative techniques of using group work
activities effectively and efficiently in order to assure productivity. In addition, the study will
feed material designers on the matter with updated information about the difficulties teachers and
students experience in the classroom throughout group work activities. Finally, we believe this
paper will clearly show teachers of English that group work activities are powerful and effective
for the reduction of students speaking fears and therefore improve their language fluency.

4.5. Critical Questions

a) Do teachers use and value group work activities?

b) Do they vary the activities according to the focus of the lesson?

c) What are students attitudes towards group work activities?

26
4.6. Hypothesis

Although group work oral activities are used, students fail to communicate in English due to the
following reasons:

a) Teachers do not monitor group work activities;

b) Teachers do not plan adequate activities for the focus of their lessons;

c) Students consider group work as an opportunity to discuss personal out class issues;

d) Students find group work boring because teachers always assign the same type of
activities;

4.7. Limitations of the Study

The first limitation for this study was the unavailability of the respondents: few students and
teachers were available to fill in the questionnaires and to attend the interviews.

Secondly, it was difficult to find printed books related to the use of group work to teach speaking
skills so we had to resort to internet in order to download PDF books on the subject.

Lastly, we experienced financial problems to print and copy the questionnaires, the observation
checklists and the interview guides.

4.8. Methodologies Used for Data Collection

The data collected and discussed in this study was collected through questionnaires, observations
and interviews.

Questionnaire 1 (see appendix 2)

This questionnaire was designed and addressed to 6 teachers of English, of whom only 3 could
hand us back. 14 questions comprised this questionnaire with the purpose of finding out the way
27
teachers of English at Escola Secundria 29 de Setembro da Maxixe operate group work
activities to teach speaking as well as their feelings towards this type of activities.

Questionnaire 2 (See appendix 3)

This was addressed to 60 students but 17 of them did not hand us back. Considering the level of
English of the students, which is very low, we translated this questionnaire into Portuguese (see
appendix 4) in order to assure that we had as much clear and precise responses as possible.

Observations (see appendix 5)

During the study we were able to observe 6 lessons of English basically to eye witness the way
speaking skills are taught as well as assessing the use of group work throughout the speaking
lessons. The observation checklist we addressed covered 12 aspects related to the use of group
work.

Interview 1 (see appendix 6)

Seven (7) questions comprised this interview guide that was designed and addressed to 3
teachers. The aim of this interview was to hear from the teachers their rationale for the way they
operated group work during the lessons we observed. We also wanted to get from them
additional subsides about the use of group work.

Interview 2 (see appendix 7)

We believed it was important to listen to what students had to say about their feelings and
experience working in groups, so we decided to design 7 questions to address to 50 students in
form of an interview.

Now we move on to the following chapter, which is concerned with the presentation, analysis
and discussion of the data collected for this study.

28
Chapter V: Data Presentation, Analysis and Discussion

After we have designed and addressed our research instruments (see appendices 2-7) to our
subjects (teachers and students), we present below the data collected and latter on we analyse and
discuss them.

5.1. Findings from Teachers Questionnaires

During the study we were able to deliver questionnaires to five (5) teachers, which make 100%
of the teachers of English who teach grade twelve (12) at Escola Secundria 29 de Setembro da
Maxixe, however, only 3 of them (60%) could fill in the questionnaires. Their answers to the
questions are presented below:

To question 1: Do you teach speaking?

100% of the teachers who answered the questionnaires said yes. The following chart better

illustrates their answers.

To question 2: In your opinion, what factors may decide the success of a speaking lesson?

To this question, all the three respondents were able to answer. The number of teachers

according to their feelings towards the factors presented is shown below:

a. Interesting tasks: 1 teacher


29
b. Students level:____

c. Organizing students in groups: ______

d. Teachers preparation: 2 teachers

To question 3: Do you assign group work activities in your speaking classes?

To this question, 100% of the teachers who answered the questionnaires answered yes and 0%

said no.

To question 4: How often do you assign group work in your speaking classes?

All the three teachers (100%) were able to answer this question. Their answers are represented in

the chart below:

30
To question 5: How much time does group work usually take out of the total time of your

speaking class?

To question 6: Do you think your students like to work in groups in your speaking classes?

All the three (3) teachers who responded to the questionnaire said yes as shown in the following

chart:

31
To question 7: Are most of the activities for group work in your speaking classes designed

by yourself or taken from textbooks?

To this question, 100% of the respondents said the activities are designed by themselves.

To question 8: Do you give group activities as homework?

As response to this question the 3 respondents (100%) said they do.

To question 9: Are most of your speaking activities controlled, less controlled, or free?

The chart below better represents the answers of the respondents:

32
To question 10: Which of the following tasks you often assign to groups in your speaking
classes?

The number of the respondents according to the tasks each of them assigns is illustrated in the
table below:

Tasks Always Usually Sometimes Rarely Never No answer

a. Role play 0 1 2 0 0 0

b. Discussions 2 1 0 0 0 0

c. Dialogues 0 2 1 0 0 0

d. Interviews 0 0 2 0 0 1

e. Information-gap 0 2 0 1 0 0

To question 11: In your opinion, what are the barriers in the implementation of group
work activities in your speaking classes?

All the respondents (three teachers) could answer this question. Their answers are shown in the
table below:

Obstacles Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly


agree disagree

a. The seating arrangement is not suitable 3 0 0 0


for group work.

b. The amount of time suggested in the 0 2 1 0


syllabus is not sufficient for the
implementation of group work.

c. Students are not familiar with working in 0 1 2 0


groups.

33
d. Students dont know how to share equal 1 0 2 0
responsibilities among members in
groups.

e. Students lack fluency and accuracy when 0 1 2 0


talking to each other in English.

f. Students are still shy when talking to 0 1 2 0


each other in English.

To question 12: In your opinion, what are the benefits of having students work in groups?

100% of the respondents were able to respond to this question and their responses are shown in
the table below:

Strongly Disagree Agree Strongly No answer


Benefits
disagree agree

a. It creates a relaxing learning environment. 0 0 1 1 1

b. It helps students solve tasks better and faster. 0 0 2 1 0

c. It gives each student more time for speaking 0 0 2 1 0


practice.

d. It gives students more chances to exchange 0 1 0 2 0


ideas with each other.

e. It enhances students effective use of English 0 0 1 2 0


when talking to each other.

f. Students give more help to each other. 0 0 1 2 0

34
g. Students learn more about how to share the 0 0 1 2 0
responsibilities when working in groups.

h. It helps students to improve their fluency. 0 0 0 3 0

i. It helps students feel more confident when 0 0 3 0 0


speaking English.

To question 13: In your opinion, what kind of problems group work can cause?

All the three respondents (100%) could answer this question. The following chart better
represents their opinions:

Problems Strongly Disagree Agree Strongly


disagree agree

a. Noise 0 0 0 3

b. Teachers less help and attention given to 0 1 2 0


individuals

c. Teachers little control of the whole class 0 3 0 0

d. Having only one student doing the task 0 0 2 1


instead of all the members of the group

To question 14: What do you think can be the solutions to the problems and barriers

mentioned above?

35
The respondents were required to choose from the list as many options as possible. Their choices

are shown below:

a. Ask students to re-arrange the tables and chairs before the speaking lessons (3 teachers).

b. Give students clear instructions about how to work in groups (3 teachers).

c. Split the task into equally smaller parts and give students clear instructions about what they are

supposed to do in each part (3 teachers).

d. Organize groups composed by both stronger and weaker students (3 teachers).

e. Go around the class more often when the students are working in pairs or groups to check their

work and give help if necessary (3 teachers).

5.2. Findings from Students Questionnaires

Throughout the study we were able to distribute questionnaires to seventy (70) grade 12 students
at Escola Secundria 29 de Setembro da Maxixe, however only forty three of them (61.4%)
managed to fill in and hand us back the questionnaires. Their responses to the questions are
presented below:

To question 1: Do you have speaking lessons?

90.7% of the respondents said yes and the rest (9.3) said no, as shown in the chart below:

36
To question 2: Does your English teacher assign group work activities in your speaking
lessons?

As response, 43 students, which makes 100% of the respondents said yes.

3. How often do you work in groups in your speaking classes?

The students responses to this question are shown in the chart below:

To question 4: Do group work activities influence on your speaking ability? How much?

97.7% of the respondents could respond to this question and 2.3% did not. The following chart
clearly illustrates their answers:
Number of
Students

15 16
7 4 1
Very much Much Little Very little No answer

Students' Answers

37
To question 5: Do you like to work in groups in your speaking lessons?

All our respondents were able to answer to this question and their answers are shown on the
following chart:

Number of Students

14 16

7
5
Very
much Much 1
Little
Very little
No
answer

Students' Answers

To question 6: How often do you use Portuguese or mother tongue while working in groups
in your speaking lessons?

100% of the respondents replied to this question, and their responses varied according to whether
teacher is observing the group or not, as shown in the charts below:

38
- Under teachers observation:

- Not under teachers observation:

39
To question 7: In your opinion, the reasons why many students still like to use Portuguese,
instead of English, to communicate while working in groups in speaking classes are:

All the forty three (43) students who responded to the questionnaires were able to answer this
question and their responses are better illustrated in the following table:

Reasons Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly agree

a. Lack of vocabulary 10 20 10 3

b. Habit of using Portuguese 8 21 8 6

c. Lack of confidence 8 28 5 2

d. Time saving 3 7 20 12

e. Scare of making mistakes and 6 19 13 5


being made fun by classmates

f. Others: lack of ability: 10; lack of knowledge about the topics: 14; laziness: 17;
not answered: 2

To question 8: Are most of the activities for group work in your speaking lessons designed
by your teacher or taken from textbooks?

100% of the respondents replied to this question and their answers are represented in the chart
bellow:

40
Source of the activities assigned to students

Percentage of the Respondents


50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
44.20%
20.00%
10.00% 30.20%
0.00%
2.30%
Taken from the
textbook Don't know
Not answered

Respondents' Answers

To question 9: Does your teacher give group work activities as homework?

The forty three respondents (100%) could respond to this question and their responses are shown
on the chart below:

41
To question 10: Which of the following tasks are often assigned to groups in your speaking
lessons?

This question was answered by all the respondents (43 students) as demonstrated below:

a. Debates: 17 students

b. dialogues: 3 students

c. Interview: 1 student

d. Giving and asking for information: 3 students

e. Simulation: 1 student

f. Role play: 2 students

g. Description of objects: 2 students

h. Problem solving: 10 students

i. Reporting: 1 student

j. All: 2 students

k. None: 1 student

To question 11: Why do or dont you like to work in groups in speaking lessons?
Thirty (30) students said they do not like to work in groups and presented the following reasons:
Group work creates mental laziness as many students often relax when others do the job;
Sometimes strong students do not help the weak ones;
Group work is boring;
When working in groups most times we argue endlessly without getting to any solution;
Some students are impatient to listen to partners when stating their opinions, which make
them jeopardize one another when speaking.

Thirteen (13) said they like to work in groups and provided us with the following rationale:
Group work is a good strategy to get us working together;
42
When working in groups we cooperate in order to complete the tasks assigned by the
teacher;
During group work strong students help the weak ones and together they exchange
opinions and experiences;
When working in groups we do not feel the strong presence of the teacher and so we try
more to speak English.

To question 12: In your opinion, what are the benefits of working in groups?
10 % of the respondents did not answer this question and 90% of them replied the following:

Group mates help one another resolve the tasks;


Encourages us to participate in the lesson;
Enables us to share the knowledge each member of the group has;
Partners help one another understand issues left behind during the lesson;
During group work we speak without fear.

To question 13: In your opinion, what kind of problems group work can cause?
60% of the respondents stated the following:
Usually not all the students in the group do the task;
Best students often despise others opinion even when they are right;
Lazy students often wait for their partners to do the job not taking any part in the job.

30% of them pointed out the following:


During group work we often talk about outclass issues and forget about the tasks;
There often is no agreement because each student defends his/her opinion and we seldom
complete the task in time to present;
Group work is very noisy.

10% of the respondents find no problem with group work.

43
5.3. Findings from Observations

Throughout this study we were able to observe six (6) lessons of English of the six teachers of
English working at Escola Secundria 29 de Setembro da Maxixe in order to find out the extent
to which group work is used and how it is used to teach speaking. Our findings are shown in
below:

To question 1: Does the teacher teach speaking skills?

All the six (6) teachers whose lessons were observed teach speaking skills.

To question 2: Does he/she provide students with pre-speaking activities? What type of
activities? Are they done in groups or individually?

Only two of the six teachers provided students with Pre-speaking activities in which students
work in groups in order to complete. The tasks consisted of asking students questions related to
the topic to be discussed and getting them reporting their answers to the whole class.

To question 3: Does he/she assign while-speaking activities? What type of activities?

In all the lessons observed we were able to see that all the teachers (100%) assign while-speaking
tasks. The activities provided are the following: listening to a text read aloud by the teacher and
then take notes; description of pictures containing features related to the topic under discussion;
discussion (for and against) on topics either suggested by the teachers or by students; and
information gap tasks.

To question 4: Does he/she give post-speaking activities? What type of activities

100% of the teachers observed assign post-speaking activities to students, such as: critical
thinking tasks like that of thinking of a statement against or for the topic under discussion;
information gap; summary of the discussion; and getting students expressing their preferences
about aspects dealt with on the topic.
44
To question 5: Do students like working in groups?

Throughout the observation we could see that most of the students like to work in groups for it
was easy to notice their active involvement during the activities.

To question 6:

Other Aspects Grade Results

Setting ground rules Good 4-3-2-1 Bad 4=33.3%; 3=0%; 2=16.7%; 1=50%

Defining objectives Good 4-3-2-1 Bad 4=83.3%; 3=16.7%; 2=0%; 1=0%

Delegating tasks Good 4-3-2-1 Bad 4=16.7%; 3=0%; 2=0%; 1=83.3%

Monitoring progress Good 4-3-2-1 Bad 4=83.3%; 3=16.7%; 2=0%; 1=0%

Evaluating performance Good 4-3-2-1 Bad 4=0%; 3=0%; 2=83.3%; 1=16.7%

Giving feedback Good 4-3-2-1 Bad 4=0%; 3=83.3%; 2=0%; 1=16.7%

Teacher positioning Good 4-3-2-1 Bad 4=16.7%; 3=50%; 2=33.3%; 1= 0%


during group work

5.4. Findings from Interview of Teachers

Throughout the interview phase we were able to interview three (3) of the five teachers of
English at 29 de Setembro. Coincidentally, they were the same teachers who filled in the
questionnaires. Their responses are presented below:

To question 1: Do you operate group work activities in your speaking classes?

100% of the respondents said yes as response to this question.

To question 2: Do your students like to work in groups?

Two (2) teachers answered that not all their students like to work in groups, and one (1) said
yes, they do.

45
To question 3: When your students are working in groups, do they often use Portuguese to
discuss with each other?

The first teacher said his students always attempt to discuss the tasks in Portuguese but he
does as much as possible to stay close to the groups in order to avoid such situations;

The second said that his students seldom use English during group work, they usually use
Portuguese and Xitswa or Bitonga, and as solution to this problem he always suggest
them to ask him for clarification whenever they find anything difficult in the task.

The last said he always give students enough hints in English so they face no problems
during group work and consequently not feel the need to resort to Portuguese or other
language than English in order to successfully complete the task.

To question 4: When doing group work, do your students gossip in Portuguese?

66.7% of the respondents said that gossiping is what their students always do as soon as they get
in the classroom. As solution to this problem, the respondents keep enough distance with the
group to control them, but even though they always attempt to gossip.

33.3% of the respondents said no because they are always there with the students and so
students have no room for gossiping.

To question 5: In your opinion, what are the benefits of group work when teaching
speaking skills?

Two respondents (66.7%) replied the following:

Group work enables students to cooperate, exchange ideas and learn from one another;

It creates a relaxing learning atmosphere;

46
Group work gives each student more time to practice the language;

With group work students gain more confidence to speak, first within their groups and
then with the whole class;

It helps students overcome speaking fear and enhance their language fluency;

One respondent (33.3%) answered the following:

Encourages students to speak as most, if not all, group work oral activities are funny and
therefore motivating for them;

With group work, students no longer depend upon teacher to participate throughout the
lesson;

With this type of activities students feel free to express their feelings, opinions and
thoughts among their group mates without fear of the teacher or the whole class;

During group work mistakes dont count because all students know they are in the
process of learning English.

To question 6: What are the problems that group work can cause?

33.3% of the teachers find no problem with group work because, according to them, the success
or failure of group work oral activities or of any classroom activity depends on the way each
teacher monitors them.

66.7% of the respondents considered the following problems:

Group work activities are noisy;

students dont discuss the tasks in English during group work;

47
Not every student participate in the activity;

Weak students are likely to be mislead by the stronger ones;

Group work is time consuming.

To question 7: In your opinion, what are the barriers faced when operating group work?

33.3% of the teachers said that no barriers are faced when implementing group work, however,
teachers have always to plan all the steps they will be taking throughout the activity.

66.7% of the respondents presented the following barriers:

Its difficult to implement group work activities in large classes because they are difficult
to monitor;

The classrooms are small but the desks are many, so its very difficult to arrange the
desks in an adequate position for group work;

Students always choose their friends or stronger students to work with;

The amount of time suggested in the syllabus is not enough for group work;

Students dont know how to share equal responsibilities during the activity.

Students lack language fluency to actively participate in the group work.

48
5.5. Findings from Interview of Students

During the study we could interview fifty (50) students selected from different grade 12
classrooms. Their answers to the questions asked are presented below:

To question 1: Does your teacher operate group work in your speaking classes? How often?

All the students interviewed stated that their teachers operate group work in speaking lessons;
however, the following chart represents the frequency of the operation of group work by
teachers, according to the students interviewed:

To question 2: Do you like to work in groups in your speaking classes?

All the respondents were able to answer this question and their answers are shown in the chart
below:

No
20%

Yes
80%

49
To question 3: Do you use Portuguese to discuss with your friends when working in
groups? If yes, can you tell us why?

94% of the respondents stated that they discuss in Portuguese during group work because they do
not master the language enough to cope with the tasks provided by the teacher. In addition they
said they were used to speak Portuguese and so it was funnier to discuss the tasks in Portuguese
than English.

To question 4: Does your teacher often switch between English and Portuguese when
talking to you? In your opinion, does this have any effect on your using of English while
doing group work?

As response, 30% of our respondents said No and praised the behaviour of their teacher stating
that it offers them English exposure enabling them to learn English with ease; 70% of the
students said Yes and argued that it was a good way for teachers to help them understand
aspects not understood when explained in English and so this helped them learn to speak
English.

To question 5: Can you tell us the advantages of working in groups?

All our interviewees (100%) mentioned the following advantages:

When working in groups we share our ideas to easily complete the tasks;

We feel free to try out our English with no fear of the whole class;

Strong students help the weak ones during group work and the two exchange
experiences;

In groups we have more opportunities to speak English than when working all together;

Group work is relaxing and interesting.

50
To question 6: In your opinion, what problems group work can cause?

The students we interviewed answered the following:

Some students do not cooperate during group work;

Sometimes during group work no English is spoken at all;

There often is too much noise where more than two people work together and this bothers
other groups;

Stronger students impose their opinions over weak ones.

To question 7: What are the barriers you face when working in groups?

20% of the interviewees do not experience any barrier when working in groups, however, 80%
of them stated the following barriers:

We are too many in the classroom and therefore it takes long to organize the groups and
start to work;

The time allocated for us to work in groups is not always enough for us to complete the
tasks;

Some students (specially the stronger) deny to work with the considered weak in the
classroom;

We lack English fluency, so we are not always able to use English to discuss the
suggested topics.

51
5.6. DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

In this section we analyse the findings presented in the previous section.

5.6.1. Analysis and Discussion of Data from Teachers questionnaire

To question 1 all the teachers who answered to the questionnaire were unanimous in saying they
teach speaking skills. This answer was not surprising since all our respondents are trained
teachers and certainly know the importance of teaching speaking to their students.

Concerning the factors that may determine the success of a speaking lesson, we could see from
the findings that 2 teachers chose teachers preparation and 1 teacher referred to group work.
The choices of the 2 teachers may have been due to their lack of experience teaching English,
since they have only been teaching English for 2 years and so they have not yet tried to use
group work enough times to discover its strengths. On the other hand, the last respondent has
been teaching English for more than 10 years and therefore he knows the strength of group work
and its impact on the success of teaching speaking.

According to the responses to question 3, all the teachers are aware of the importance group
work has in the teaching of speaking since all of them assign group work during speaking
classes. Furthermore, we believe that these teachers have realised that group work enables them
to easily control the class and check their students involvement during any classroom activities,
as suggested by Bailey and Savage (1994).

Regarding the frequency of the use of group work activities in speaking classes we were able to
see from teachers responses that the majority (66.7%) assign group work usually. This answer
reinforces the point we stated above, that these teachers really are aware of the positive results
that group work bring about. When observing lessons we could witness that these teachers work
with very large classes, so believe this situation also justifies the high frequency of the
assignment of group work, as they may find it easier and productive to work with small groups
rather than with the whole class.

Furthermore, teachers stated that the time allocated for group work during speaking classes is
between 1 to 10 minutes. This time is not enough for group work speaking activities, because
52
agreeing with Blatchford and Baines (2007), one of the ways to improve collaborative (group)
work in the classroom so that it is successful, is to follow all its stages which range from
preparation of the work ground to the feedback. So we think the time allocated for group work is
not sufficient for teachers to cope with all the requirements needed for the success of group work
oral activities. Consequently, it is not much surprising that despite the power that group work has
to promote speaking skills, many grade 12 students (observed) are not yet able to utter complete
sentences in English.

From the responses to question 6, which show that 100% of the teachers believe that their
students like group work, and from the notes taken during lesson observations we conclude that
students really like. However, when interviewed, teachers stated that their students like to work
in groups but for wrong reasons; they maintained that group work is the opportunity students
have in the classroom to join their friends to gossip. The behaviour of these students may be
influenced by 2 reasons: 1) the tasks are not interesting enough to prompt students involvement
in the group; 2) teachers dont move around the groups to monitor the course of the work or their
positioning in the classroom is not appropriate for group work.

Being our respondents all trained it is a good justification for the fact that all of them design most
of the group work activities by themselves and do not take them from the textbook. Their
motivation to this may be due to 3 aspects: 1) the activities brought about by the textbook are not
of their students interest; 2) they want to suite the tasks to their students language level; 3)
because of the time allocated for group work and the requirement of the tasks from the textbook,
teachers prefer to design tasks that are feasible within the amount of time allocated.

Based on the answer to question 9, we can see that students are not given opportunities to
explore their thoughts and feeling to express them within their groups as 100% of the teachers
only assigns controlled activities while this type of activities consists, according to Brumfit
(1984), of getting students completing tasks with a permanent teachers help. We believe that
assigning only controlled activities is time saving and so teachers find it helpful taking into
account the short time that is allocated for group work.

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The type of activities teachers often assign students to complete in groups is chosen taking into
consideration its feasibility within the short time that is allocated for group work: activities such
as role play and interview are not frequently assigned by the majority because they require much
time. However, discussions, dialogues and information-gap, which are activities that require a
fairly short time, are the ones that are frequently assigned by the majority (see the table in 5.1
question 10).

Regarding the barriers in the implementation of group work in speaking classes, the data
presented suggests that teachers face more barriers than they would face if they had enough
experience with group work. The majority (66.7%) claimed about the time allocated for group
work, which is not enough, and about the seating arrangement, which is not suitable for group
work. The majority is composed by teachers that are not experienced enough with teaching
English, while the minority (33.3%) is of experienced teachers who claimed about students lack
of language fluency and knowledge on how to share equal responsibilities among the members
of the group. This aspect gives a clear rationale of why the 2 groups experience different barriers
in the same type of classrooms.

The teachers answers to question 12 clearly demonstrate their awareness of the good brought
about by the use of group work in speaking lessons. They believe that group work creates a
relaxed learning environment, as during group work students feel freer rather than they do in a
teacher-centred lesson. Moreover, teachers agree that group work gives each student more time
to speak, because when exchanging ideas within their groups it is an opportunity for them to
enhance their effective use of the language. They also believe that group work helps students
speak confidently and promote their fluency. Actually these answers are not surprising since all
of them are trained and certainly they have experienced all the advantages of group work.

According to question 13, 100% of the respondents consider noise as one of the major problems
raised by group work; 66.7% think that during group work teachers give less help and attention
to individuals; 100% agree that throughout group work only 1 student (mostly the stronger)
complete the tasks instead of all the members of the group. These responses reveal that teachers
do not have classroom management skills because there only is noise in a group or classroom
when the students feel abandoned by the teacher and when the tasks provided are too difficult or
54
too easy. Teachers should therefore keep a fair distance with the groups in order that students
feel neither abandoned nor over-controlled. Moreover, during group work teachers do not have
to give attention to individuals, but to the groups, because during group work the emphasis is
more on student-student than teacher-student interaction, (Miles, 1973). In addition, to avoid
situation in which only 1 student does the activity instead of the whole group, teachers should
attribute roles to each member of the group so that everyone in the group is involved in the
activity.

Based on the answers to question 14, we could see that teachers do not apply in the classroom
the methodologies they have to implement group work and guarantee its success. They have
agreed with the key solutions to overcome problems often raised by group work but they did not
apply them in the classroom throughout the lessons we observed even though we noticed cases
during the lesson that required teachers intervention. This may be due to two factors, of which
the first is the lack of interest for they only worry about seeing the tasks done no matter how, as a
way of assuring they finish the planned content in time to move to the next and so fulfil with the
syllabus, and the second is that teachers are unaware of the effects the problems raised by group
work activities or any other type of activities in the classroom can have in the students language
development or learning.

5.6.2. Analysis and Discussion of Data from Students questionnaire

Based on answers to question 1, the students at Escola Secundria 29 de Setembro da Maxixe


have speaking lessons, for 90.7% of them stated they do and the rest 9.3% stated the contrary.
The students who answered no to the question might be those who did not know what
speaking lesson entailed even though it was explained right before the questions, because
when observing classes we could witness that they really learn to speak.

When asked about how often they work in groups, 3 students replied always, 9 said usually,
29 ticked sometimes and 2 answered rarely. These answers suggest that group work is rarely
operated in the classroom. This may either be because most teachers consider it to be
unproductive due to the lower level of students language fluency, which would enable all of
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them to interact actively in the group, exchanging experiences and opinions, and therefore learn
from one another, or because teachers feel more comfortable when they are in the front of the
class delivering the content, limiting the students to listen passively.

According to question 4, 31 out of the 43 respondents stated that group work activities have
much influence on their speaking ability, whereas the rest 12 replied they have little influence.
This data reveals that even though some teachers neglect the importance of group work speaking
activities and so rarely apply them in the classroom, they are having positive outcomes on the
students language development. Moreover, when interviewed some students said were shy to
speak to the whole class and therefore in situations where they had to individually state their
opinion about anything, they maintained themselves silent, whereas during group work they at
least say something without shame as a way to contribute to the completion of the tasks assigned.

Regarding students attitude towards group work, we see from the answers to question 5 that the
majority (30 out of 43 respondents) like much to work in groups and the rest 13 have little
interest with group work. According to this data, students have positive attitudes towards group
work and this is one of the most important factors that affects the success of this and many other
types of classroom activities. The 13 students with little interest in working in groups must be of
introvert type, who generally like working individually without the interference of outside help
or appraisal, however they still can get integrated in small groups if teachers plan and take to the
classroom activities that are interesting enough to all the students.

The students responses to question 6 suggest that the teachers role during group work or any
other type of classroom activity is fundamental to the success of such activities. The two charts
in 6.2 question 6 demonstrate how students behaviour during group work can vary according
to whether the teacher monitors the work from a fair distance to the groups or is far from them.
For example, we could see that when under teachers observation (1st chart), students speak less
Portuguese rather than they do when not under teachers observation (2nd chart). That is, students
need to feel the presence of the teacher in the classroom for them to behave.

The table in 6.2 question 7 illustrates the reasons why many students like using Portuguese
instead of English to communicate with others during group work: some students consider the

56
use of Portuguese as being time saving because when they try to communicate among them in
English, they take too much more time to complete the task than they do when resorting to
Portuguese; others claim about the lack of confidence when speaking English and the habit of
speaking Portuguese. The reasons given by the students reveal that students have less exposure
to English than to Portuguese, perhaps because most of their school subjects are taught in
Portuguese and it is also the Mozambican official language, the mother tongue of some of the
respondents.

The students responses to question 8 reveal their unawareness of the source of the activities
often assigned to them because the majority stated that most of the activities often assigned to
them are taken from the book while the teachers responses to the same question is contrary to
this and our notes taken from the lesson observation also reveal the contrary. This assumption by
the students must be due to the fact that students do not have student textbook which would
enable them to see whether the tasks assigned were designed by the teachers or taken from the
textbook.

Twenty-seven (27) students consider debates and problem solving activities as the most assigned
in speaking lessons; 5 stated that dialogues and description of objects were the most assigned and
the rest 10 referred to role play, simulation, asking for and giving information, and reporting.
When ranking the type of activities according to the number of answers, we realised that the
activities considered by the majority to be the most assigned are coincidentally the same that
require short time and do not require a high level of language proficiency for their
implementation in the classroom. That is, teachers only choose the type of activities that are
feasible within the time that is allocated for speaking lesson in order to assure that all the
activities are started and finished in one lesson.

According to question 11, 30 out of the 43 respondents do not like to work in groups because
they consider group work to be boring. They also think that it creates mental laziness as many
students relax when others do the job and according to them strong students do not actually help
the weak ones as they should. The other 13 students who like to work in groups consider it to
help them practice the language with no fear of the teacher and that it helps them learn to work
together as a team. This data suggests that the teachers are the ones who condition the students
57
feelings towards group work because if teachers varied and chose activities that are for the
students interest, they would not find group work boring, and if they monitored group work in
such a way that enabled to get all the students in the group working together and helping one
another, students would not think that group work creates mental laziness. However, this data is
contradictory because when observing lessons we were able to see that most of the students were
involved in the activity even though part of them not actively.

Based on the responses to question 12 we concluded that although most students said that they
do not like group work, they are aware of its benefits. This data proves that students attitudes
towards group work are really influenced by the way teachers operate it in the classroom. That is,
students will only feel the good about group work if they are presented the good of it in practice.

When asked about problems that can be caused by group work, 60% of the students referred to
the fact that not all the students participate in the group and that sometimes the strong students
despises the ideas of the weak ones; 30% said that group work is noisy because there often is no
agreement as each student tend to defend his/her ideas and neglect the others. 10% find no
problem with group work. These responses suggest that students still miss the teachers presence
during group work activities and so they obey they instincts to behave or not during the
completion of the tasks. This situation can change if teachers change their manners and start to
combine their experience teaching English with all the strategies suggested for an effective,
efficient and successful teaching and Learning Process.

We are now moving to the last chapter which presents the conclusions and recommendations
drawn based on the data analysed and discussed and on the evaluation of the whole process of
the use of group work speaking activities at Escola Secundria 29 de Setembro da Maxixe.

58
Chapter VI: Conclusion and Recommendations

6.1. Conclusion

After having analysed the current situation of the use of group work, the data collected from
teachers and students, lesson observations and interviews, and reviewed the literature on the use
of group work, we were able to draw the following conclusions:

Group work is a solution to the classic problem of large classes in which teachers claimed
not to be able to control the whole class and level individual students language learning
progress, because with group work, teachers share the classroom responsibilities with the
students, i.e., groups of students become responsible of controlling, perhaps assessing the
learning of the other students within their group;

Teachers are not creative enough to plan and assign group activities making them feasible
within the amount of time established for speaking classes and taking into account the
students interests and level of English; instead they decide not to assign this type of
activities and resort to the classic teacher-centred lessons;

The teachers classroom management skills influence directly on the success of group
work, that is, the teachers positioning in the classroom, their voices when giving
instructions, will determine whether students behave or make noise; use English or resort
to their mother tongues or official language (Portuguese) to complete the assigned tasks;

Students do not have enough language fluency to cope with most of the speaking
activities suggested by the syllabus, therefore, teachers will have to adapt the activities to
suite the students level of English;

When operating group work, teachers only put students working in the same place but not
together as a team that has the same objectives. This proves the first and the third
hypotheses we suggested which respectively postulate that students fail to communicate
within their groups because teachers do not monitor group work activities and that
students consider group work as an opportunity to discuss personal out class issues.

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6.2. Recommendations

We recommend teachers of English at Escola Secundria 29 de Setembro da Maxixe and


other schools to operate group work oral activities as much often as possible, for this type
of activities is very powerful and valuable to the learning process as among other
benefits, they provide students with more language practice, which is crucial to students
language development;

It is recommended for material designers to allocate more time for English lessons in the
school program so the four (4) integrated skills (speaking, listening, writing and reading)
are taught efficiently and effectively on behalf of a healthier and successful English
teaching and learning process;

Teachers should plan the speaking activities taking into consideration all the constraints
they face (short time, large classes, non-fluent and shy students, etc.) so they enable
students to complete the tasks successfully;

Teachers of English should talk with their students comforting them in order to raise their
self-esteem so they feel capable of learning English and become as fluent as English
native speakers;

Students should dedicate more time for practising the English they already know so they
can learn other language aspects they do not yet know and so increase gradually their
English repertoire;

Teachers of English of grade 6 and 7, the first to expose students to English in a official
language classroom, should prepare them with the basic aspects of the language in order
to enable them to cope with the language aspects they will latter be exposed to;

We recommend that teachers reduce their talking time on behalf of a more student talking
time in order to guarantee that students have more language practice opportunities;

It is recommended for teachers to monitor group work so that students work as a team,
not as different entities sharing the same place but with different objectives to attain.
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A. Bibliography

1. Bailey, K. and Savage, L. (1994) New Ways in Teaching Speaking. Alexandria: TESOL

2. Blatchford, Peter and Ed Baines (2007) Improving collaborative group work; London:

Institute of Education

3. Brumfit, C. (1984) Communicative Methodology in language teaching; Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

4. Delarue, H. (2003) Team Work and High Performance Work Organization; European

Foundation for the Improvement of Group Work and Working Conditions.

5. Griffiths, B. (October 31, 2005) Teacher positioning in the classroom; BBC British Council

Teaching English. Retrieved April 19, 2008, from

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/teacher-positioning-classroom

6. Hacker, D. (1998) Essential Power of Group Work; Singapore: Regional Language Centre

7. Harmer, J. (1998) How to teach English. Harlow: Longman.

8. Kayi, H. (2006) Teaching speaking: Activities to promote speaking in a second language.

The Internet TESL Journal, 12. Retrieved February 23, 2008, from

http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Kayi-Teaching Speaking.html

9. Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000) Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford:


Oxford University Press.

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10. Long, M. & Porter, P. (1985) Group work, Interlanguage Talk and Second Language

Acquisition. TESOL Quarterly, 19, 207-228.

11. Miles, M. (1973) Learning to Work in Groups. Columbia University: Teacher College
Press.

12. Monash University Learning effectively through Group work.

13. Richards, J. (2008) Teaching Listening and Speaking: from Theory to Practice. 1st ed.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

14. Richards, J. (1994) Teaching Speaking Theories and Methodologies. UK: Bureau of
English Language Teaching Material.

15. Scrivener, J. (2005) Learning Teaching. 2nd ed. Oxford: Macmillan Publishers

16. Smith, B. and Jean T. McGregor (1992) Collaborative Learning. Pennsylvania State
University: National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment.

17. University of Loughborough Working in Groups. http://www.lboro.ac.uk/library/skills/;


University Library

18. Victoria University (2004) Improving Teaching and Learning: Group Work and Group
Assessments. Victoria: University Teaching Development Centre.

19. Wallace, T. et al (1993) Teaching speaking, listening and writing. Houston: International
Research Institute for Educational Choice.

20. Wesley, A (2000) Teaching Speaking Skills; New York: White Plains
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B. List of Appendices

Appendix 1. Grade 12 Syllabus

Appendix 2 Questionnaire for Teachers

Appendix 3 Questionnaire for Students

Appendix 4................................ Questionnaire for Students (translated)

Appendix 5 Observation Checklist

Appendix 6Interview Guide for Teachers

Appendix 7Interview Guide for Students

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