I have applied pair and group work activities in teaching English at secondary school, especially for 7th grade students and got satisfactory results

TABLE CONTENT
1. INTRODUCTION	1
	1.1. Reasons for choosing the topic .. 	1
1.2. Aims of the study 	1
	1.3. Objects of the study	...	1
1.4. Scope and research methodology	..	1
1.5. New points of the study .	1
1.5.1. The formation .	1
1.5.2. Some common activities for pair work and group work . 2
2. MAIN CONTENT ...	4
	2.1. Theoretical background ..	4
	2.2. Practical background	 ..	4
	2.3. Solutions and methods for implementation 	4
	2.3.1. Solutions ..	4
	2.3.2. Methods for implementation 	5
	2.3.2.1. What are pair work and group work? 	5
	2.3.2.2. Main advantages, problems and solution to the problems  6
	2.3.2.3. The ways to organize pair work and group work activities effectively 	7
	2.3.2.4. Procedures for pair and group work .	9
	2.3.2.5. Some demonstrations for pair work and group work activities..10
	2.3.2.6. Suggestion for some popular kinds of practice . 13
2.4. Result after applying the study .14
3. CONCLUSION	 15
REFERENCE BOOKS .. 16
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Reasons for choosing the topic
	As we know, in traditional classroom, the teacher controls the class with authority, there is no active role of students during teaching- learning process. Therefore, the introduction of a new English textbook at secondary school in the last few years has created some difficulties for teacher. This innovation demands a move in the direction of a more learner- centered approach to teaching. The main objective of teaching English is to have communicative lesson.
	However, in fact, the teacher- student interaction is very limited in the classroom. Many teachers have troubles adapting their teaching and the new textbook to their own students’ learning needs. These difficulties include the use of group and pair work.
	As a teacher of English at secondary school, I myself always desire to find out and apply the new methods of teaching in order to meet the educational goals. I have been a teacher of English at secondary school for 10 years. From my own experiences, I find that using pair work and group work is one of the teaching strategies of collaborative language teaching which provides chances for communication and interaction among students and between students and teacher. Language classroom is the place where teacher and learners come together for interaction and can learn in natural settings. The effective use of pair work and group work in language class can provide a value experience to students and give them the opportunity to practically experience the ideas presented and strengthen their learning.
	I have applied pair and group work activities in teaching English at secondary school, especially for 7th grade students and got satisfactory results. I, therefore, in this research, would like to share my own experience in how to use and organize pair work and group work effectively.
1.2. Aims of the study
To introduce pair work and group work and show the advantages and disadvantages of working in pairs and groups.
- To suggest how to organize pair and group work effectively and how to deal with initial problems that may arise.
- To show how pair work and group work can be used for various classroom activities.
- To help teachers be confident in using pair and group work themselves.
1.3. Objects of the study
	Students in grade 7 at Hoang Dao Secondary school.
1.4. Scope and research methodology 
- Scope: Researching in the process of teaching English at Hoang Dao secondary school.
- Research methodology: making survey, reading reference books, applying in teaching, observing and drawing out experiences.
1.5. New points of the study
1.5.1. The formation
We have to decide how to put individual students into pairs and groups. There are a number of factors we might consider when doing this. According to Harmer (1999), I can base such decision on any of the following principles, and I see they are quite effective.
	Friendship: A key consideration when putting students in pairs or groups is to make sure that we put friends with friends rather than risking the possibility of people working with others whom they find difficult or unpleasant. However, our observation may not always accurate and friendship can change from time to time.
	Streaming: Students can be streamed according to their ability.
	The first suggestion is that pairs and groups should have a mixture of weaker and stronger students. Therefore, the more able students can help their less able students.
	The second one is that we can create groups in which all the students are at the same level. This may give us the opportunity to go to a group of weaker students and give them special help they need. However, some of the values of cooperative work may be lost.
	Besides, we can stream students on the basis of participation. Students less participating in the lesson may be put together in a group. However, the teacher should observe and support them in order to make them concentrate more on the lesson.
	Chance: Students can be put in pairs and groups by chance. This is the easiest way since it demands little pre-planning. We can have students sitting next to or near each other work in pairs or groups. Also, students can be put in pairs or groups at random based on the order of their birthday, or some similar features such as wearing glasses, wearing black, or green, having the same occupation, ect.
	Changing groups: The group may change while an activity continues. Students can first work in pairs then in groups of four, then groups of eight, or even sixteen.
	Free-grouping: Students make their own decision about who to work with.
	Same proficiency level grouping: Students of the same proficiency level are grouped together.
	Mixed proficiency level grouping: Students are grouped so that each group has a mix of proficiency level.
	Random grouping: Students are located to group in some random way on the basic of who is sitting next to whom in the class.
	Grouping based on other differences: In a mixed class, students are grouped so that each group has a mix of some characteristics, e.g. sex, age, nationality, mother tongue or ethnic origin.
	In short, our paring and grouping decision is made based on a variety of factors. We can put students in pairs or in groups differently according to our own purpose or the class’s atmosphere or characteristic.
1.5.2. Some common activities for pair work and group work
	A variety of activities can be applied in communicative English classes through the use of pair work and group work. The list of some common activities is given below.
	Role – play: the class is divided into pairs or groups. Then these pairs and groups are given roles to act out.
	Information gap activities: each participant in pairs or groups has information not shared by any other but require to complete.
	Problem – solving: students are given some problems in real-life which need solving. Then they work in pairs or in groups to find out solutions to these problems.
	The lost twin: each student has a small card on which some features are printed. There are two copies for each card. Students then have to go around the class to find out who has the same card.
	Picture card activities: 
	Kim’s game: students in groups look at the items on a table for about thirty seconds. Then the items are recovered, the groups have to describe and locate them.
	Spot the differences: students are given two pictures, then they work to spot the differences.
	What is my line: students in groups have to ask questions of another member within a limited time span and discover his or her occupation.
2. MAIN CONTENT
2.1. Theoretical background
	Language teaching came into its own as a profession in the last century. Since the 1960s, there has been an increasing attempt in research on teaching and learning and types and quantities of the relative amount of participation by the teacher and students.
	Group work and pair work started getting attention of educationists in the 70s. During the 1980s and 1990s, the development of communicative language teaching brought an important change in the role of students. Working together is worthwhile as “pair and group work immediately increase the amount of students’ talking time” ( Harmer, 1991).
	Researchers are convinced that the students who take the initiative in learning learn more things and learn better than those who sit and passively wait to be taught. They also claim that a teacher’s dominance in class makes it dull and it kills the students’ interests.
	I am myself of the view that students are more motivated to engage in further communication when they have more opportunities to speak. Using pair work and group work stimulates the learners’ experience of various types of interaction and helps to generate a more relaxed and cooperative classroom atmosphere. It is during group and pair work that a lot of real learning takes place since the students can use language really to communicate with one another.
2.2. Practical background
- There is a tendency of teacher- dominated lesson and students usually get bored with teacher- centered presentation.
- Teachers at secondary schools are in the period of getting used to new English textbook. Pair work and group work didn’t use to be organized in class, so a lot of us – teachers of English at secondary school – get stuck in organizing pair work and group work effectively.
- Some teachers haven’t been clearly aware of the roles of pair work and group work in teaching and learning a foreign language.
- A few teacher reject the possibility of success of pair and group work. They give different reasons for their belief, some of the reasons are lack of resources, students use mother tongue during pair and group work , discipline problem due to noise generated during pair and group work activities and so on.
	As a result, despite being an important part of collaborative teaching and learning, pair and group work generally neglected in teaching English at secondary school.
2.3. Solutions and methods for implementation
2.3.1. Solutions
- Teacher should know well about what pair work and group work are, their both advantages and disadvantages as well as solutions to their problems.
- Main advantages, problems and solution to the problems.
- The ways to organize pair work and group work activities effectively so that we can make use of their benefits and limit their problems. In order to organize pair and group work well, teacher will need to do the followings:
1. Select the activity.
2. Presentation.
3. Prepare any physical materials for group work ahead of time.
4. Anticipate the size and the selection of groups.
5. Anticipate how students will be organized within the groups (tasks and roles).
6. Control the class well.
7. Consider the timing of the group work.
8. Give feedback
- Some demonstrations for pair work and group work activities.
- Suggestion for some popular kinds of practice.
2.3.2. Methods for implementation
2.3.2.1. What are pair work and group work? 
Pair work: 
Pair work is a procession which “the teacher divides the whole class in pair. Every student works with his of her partner in pairs, and all the pairs work at the same time (It is sometimes called “simultaneous pair work”). This is not the same as “public” or “open” pair work, with pairs of students speaking in turn in front of the class” (Doff, 1988:137)
	There are two main types of pair work: fixed pairs and flexible pairs, given by Byrne (1983). In the former, students work with the same partner to practice the target language. In the later, students keep changing their partners they like. This may make the activity more interesting but the class noisier.
	It can be seen that pair work can get students to practice the target language more and increase students’ talking time in the class.
Group work :
	Like pair work, group work also gives students more opportunities to practice the target language in the whole class. In addition, students can work independently and freely under the teacher’s control without the pressure of the whole class watching what they are doing.
2.3.2.2. Main advantages, problems and solution to the problems.
	For certain types of activity, pair work and group work have a number of advantages over working with the whole class together. Teachers should think what the main advantages are, and also what problems might be involved in pair work, group work and the solutions for these.
	Here are some main advantages and problems:
Advantages
Problems
- More language practice
- More speaking time
- Students are more involved
- Students feel secure, confident
- Students help one another
- Give students the sense of achievement when reaching a team goal.
- Noise arrangements
- Students make mistakes
- Lose control of the class
	Now, we will discuss each heading in more detail. First, let’s start with the advantages
- More language practice:
	Pair work and group work give students far more chance to speak English. For example, students are given an exercise of making sentences (question & answer), working in pair, each student makes as many sentences as they can. If the exercise were done ‘round the class’, students would only say one sentence each, and in a large class many students would say nothing at all.
- More speaking time:
	Learners in a class that is divided into 9 groups of 5 or 22 pairs get six times or fifteen times as many opportunities to talk as in full class organization. 
- Students are more involved:
	Some activities will probably be dominated by a few students and others would lose interest if they are conducted with the whole class together. Working in pairs or groups encourages students to be more involved and to concentrate on the task.
- Students feel confident:
Students feel less anxiety when they are working privately than when they are on show in front of the whole class. Pair work and group work can help shy students who would never say anything in a whole class activity.
- Students help each other:
Pair work and group work encourage students to share ideas and knowledge. In a reading activity, students can help each other to explore the meaning of a text; in a discussion activity, students can give each other new ideas.
	Now talk about the problems, and discuss the ways of recovering them:
- Noise arrangements: 
	Obviously pair work and group work in a large class will be noisy, and this can not be helped. But:
- Usually the students themselves are not disturbed by the noise; it is more noticeable to the teacher standing at the side or to someone in the next room .
- The noise created by pair work and group work is usually “good” noise. “Group work, by its nature, is designed to generate noise” (Nunan and Lamb p.14, 1996). Students use English or engage in a learning task. Teacher should stop the activity when most groups or pairs have finished or prepare a “reserve” task to occupy members of groups who finish earlier than expected.
- Students make mistakes: 
	During a pair or group activity, the teacher can not control all the language used, and should not try to do so. When doing controlled language practice in pairs or groups, the number of mistakes can be reduced by:
- Giving enough preparation, the activity can be done with the whole class first, and pair work used for final stage.
- Checking afterwards. The teacher can ask some pairs or groups what they said , and then correct mistakes if necessary.
- Difficult to control class:
The teacher has less control over what students are doing in pair work and group work than in normal class. To stop activities getting out control, it is important to:
- Give clear instructions about when to start, what to do and when to stop.
- Give clearly defined tasks which don’t continue for too long.
- Set up a routine, so that students accept the idea of working in pairs or groups, and know exactly what to do.
2.3.2.3. The ways to organize pair work and group work activities effectively.
Steps in the classroom:
Select the activity
	An activity that is best suited for group work may meet the following criteria:
- The activity has multiple tasks that can be shared among group members or a single task, such as generating ideas, that benefit from the participation of all individuals within a group. 
- The activity involves problem solving and discussion. Examples of activities that may be suited for group work are investigations of materials (newspapers, scientific specimens) and development of ideas or arguments.
Presentation.
	It is advisable to give the instructions before giving out materials of dividing the class into groups; and a preliminary rehearsal or ‘dry run’ of a sample of the activity with the full class can help to clarify things. If your students have already done similar activities, you will be able to shorten the process, giving only brief guidelines; It is mainly the first time of doing something with a class that such care needs to be invested in instructing.
	Try to foresee what language will be needed, and have a preliminary quick review of appropriate grammar or vocabulary. Finally before giving the sign to start tell the class what the arrangements are for stopping: If there is a time limit, or a set signal for stopping, say what it is; if the groups simply stop when they have finished, then tell them what they will have to do next. It is wise to have a reserve task planned to occupy members of groups who finish earlier than expected.
Preparation of materials.
	The teacher will need to personally collect, or organize students to collect, physical specimens for investigation. For example, if the teacher anticipates doing a lesson on the role of the media, she or he might ask the students to bring into class examples of newspapers and magazines. There should be materials sufficient for each group.
Size and selection of group.
	Group size normally ranges between 3-5 students. Group size can sometimes go larger, although groups larger than 8 do not ensure that everyone will participate. 
Since groups often report their work back to the whole class, teachers also take into account the total number of groups within the class.
	Group membership can be determined in different ways. A random selection might be done by "counting off" with students (go around the room systematically having students count 1, 2, 3, etc., with each numbers representing a group) or selecting groups on the basis of birth date.
	In a nonrandom selection, groups will be selected based on the teachers' prior knowledge. Usually, groups are selected to maximize diversity within the group, since diversity enhances learning. Such groups often have a balance of girls and boys, and students with differing ability levels. Teachers can also use their best judgment about personality mixes that would enhance the work of the group.
	Sometimes groups are organized only for one activity. Other times, teachers use the same small groups for a series of activities, so that students get used to working with one another. 
	If the tables and chairs cannot be moved for group work, then students can form groups by turning around in seats to face the children behind.
Organize students within the group.
	A laissez-faire approach to group work would be that the teacher give a general assignment to the group -- like organize a research project on 'qualities of good leaders' -- and the students are left to organize themselves.
	A highly structured approach would be that the teacher assigns a specific role to each group member. Depending upon the task, the roles might include 'materials handler', 'scribe', 'reporter to the large group' and so on. A semi-structured approach might be that the teacher recommend certain roles, but leaves it to the group to assign roles.
	A more structured approach, with rotation of tasks within a group, is oft