----***----

AN INVESTIGATION INTO GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES TO

INCREASE GIFTED STUDENTS’ EQUAl PARTICIPATION OF
THE 10TH GRADE IN BAC NINH GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL.

i
 Table of contents
ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................................................II
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS...................................................................................................................III
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. PROBLEM STATEMENT.....................................................................................................................1
2. AIMS OF THE STUDY...........................................................................................................................1
3. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY.......................................................................................................2
4. OUTLINE OF THE THESIS..................................................................................................................2
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.1 THE ROLE OF SPEAKING SKILL IN LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE.......................3
1.2 CONCEPT OF STUDENTS’ SPEAKING PERFORMANCE..........................................................3
1.3 GROUP WORK IN A SPEAKING LESSON.....................................................................................4
1.3.1 Definition and description of group work.............................................................................................4
1.3.2 Advantages and disadvantages of group work......................................................................................5
1.3.3 Teacher’s role in carrying out group work...........................................................................................6
1.3.4 Students’ role in-group work activities.................................................................................................7
CHAPTER 2: REAL SITUATION IN SPEAKING LESSONS IN BGHS
2.1 Teachers of English in BGHS..................................................................................................................9
2.2 Students in Bac Ninh Gifted High school...........................................................................................10
2.3 Speaking material at Bac Ninh high gifted school.................................................................................10
CHAPTER 3: ACTION PLAN
3.1. Group formation....................................................................................................................................11
3.2 Group size..............................................................................................................................................12
3.3 Procedures of group work......................................................................................................................14
3.5 Problems and solutions in utilizing group work....................................................................................16
3.6.1 Private talk to dominate students........................................................................................................20
3.6.2 Rewarding system...............................................................................................................................20
3.6.4 Assigning role to passive students......................................................................................................21
PART C: CONCLUSION
4.1 SUMMARY OF THE STUDY............................................................................................................25
4.2. LIMITATION AND RECOMMENDATION FOR FURTHER RESEARCH.............................27
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................................28
APPENDIXES............................................................................................................................................32
APENDIX 1: LESSON PLANS FOR 3 SPEAKING GROUP-WORK ACTIVITIES OF THE STUDY.
......................................................................................................................................................................32
APPENDIX 2: ORIGINAL TASKS IN SPEAKING LESSON OF UNIT 12, 13, AND 14 IN
TEXTBOOK ENGLISH 10..........................................................................................................................2

ii
iii
 ABSTRACT

In an attempt to improve the 10 th grade English gifted students’

speaking participation at Bac Ninh Gifted High School through group work
activities, the research aimed at finding out (1) What are the causes of
students’ unequal participation in group work activities in speaking
lessons? (2) How are group work activities applied in speaking lessons?
To find the answer to these questions, the study was carried out at gifted
students of Grade 10th in Bac Ninh high gifted School. They were observed
in group work activities in speaking. The real problems revealed that lack
of both teacher’s and students’ careful planning before group work were
the main factors to develop students’ performance in speaking lessons.
Based on the real situation, the hypothesis of the study was formed: “The
students’ speaking performance will increase in group work activities
in speaking lessons if vocabulary and suitable techniques are
employed”. An action plan which applied the knowledge gained from the
literature review and lessons plans was implemented. Some suggested
group work activities are presented with appropriate samples with the hope
that their teaching and learning English skill will be encouraged the quiet
members and control the dominant in group work activities in speaking
lessons. The evaluation of action showed that students’ performance
significantly increased when the action plan was in progress. At the end of
the study, some recommendations for conducting group work activities are
also given with a view that these will be of some use for both English
teachers and students.

iv
List of Abbreviations
BGHS Bac Ninh Gifted High School
LT Language Teaching
FL Foreign Language
L1 The First Language
L2 The Second Language
IGA Information Gap Activity

v
 PART A: INTRODUCTION
This part provides the background to the study and states its aims of the study.
1. Problem statement
Bac Ninh Gifted High School is the school training students taking part
in the National Examination in Bac Ninh province. English has been
considered one of the important subjects for the English gifted students taking
part in the national examination. In this examination they have to deal with
four skills (Reading skills, Speaking skills, Listening skills and Writing skills)
and Use of language. In this study, the researcher provides group work
activities applied to develop English gifted students’ speaking performance.
Rubin (1981) claims that the strategies are not the preserve of highly capable
individuals, but could be learned by others. O’Malley et al. (1994) also states
that the learning strategies of good language learners, once identified and
successfully taught to less competent learners, could have considerable
potential for the development of learning second language; and the teachers
could play an active and valuable role by teaching students how to apply
learning strategies to varied language activities and how to extend the
strategies to new tasks. With the above reasons, I decided to do the research work
with the titled: An investigation into group work activities to enhance the
10th grade of gifted students’ speaking participation at Bac Ninh Gifted
High School” to find out the effect of group work activities on students’
English speaking skills.
2. Aims of the study
The study is aimed at describing and employing “group work activities” to
develop English gifted students’ speaking performance.
To achieve the aims above, the issue is investigated under the perspectives:
 (1) What are the causes of students’ unequal participation in group
work activities in speaking lessons?
(2) What suggested techniques of group work activities can be
applied for effective speaking lessons?
(3) How are group work activities applied in speaking lessons?
3. Significance of the study
It is hoped that the study will identify the effects group work activities in
speaking lessons and approve the seccess of using this strategy.
4. Outline of the thesis
The thesis consists of 3 parts, organized as follows:
PART A: INTRODUCTION
- Provide background to the study, states the scope, the aims, and outlines of
the study.
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter I: presents theoretical background of group work in speaking skill in
L2 learning.
Chapter II: The real situation in speaking lessons in BGHS.
Chapter III: An action plan is worked out.
PART C: CONCLUSION
- Summarize the study, the improvement of students’ speaking lessons,
limitation of the study and suggestions are given in this part.
 PART B: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: Theoretical background
This part presents a theoretical background to the study.
1.1 The role of speaking skill in learning a foreign language
Speaking is the verbal use of language and a medium through which human
beings communicate with each other (Fulcher, 2003). It is the ability to
express something in a spoken language. Speaking performance is is the most
demanding skill that people need to communicate in certain situations. And
for English gifted students taking part in the national examination it is
considered one of the important requirements.
Firstly, it is undeniable that the ability of speaking is a good source to
enhance most students in learning a language. Many students equate being
able to speak a language to know the language. Therefore, they view learning
the language as learning how to speak the language. Nunan (1991:123) also
points out; “success is measured in terms of ability to carry out conservation
in the (target) language” Thus, if students do not learn how to speak or do
not get any opportunity to speak, they may soon get de-motivated and lose
interest in learning.
Secondly, to Bac Ninh English gifted students, speaking is one of the most
important skills developed and enhanced to meet the national exam’s
requirements. Speaking skill has a great influence on listening, reading and
writing skill in learning FL. If speaking skill is practiced to be competent, the
other skills will be improved to be competent, too. That is the reason why
speaking skill should be taught and practiced in the language classroom with
proper activities.
1.2 Concept of students’ speaking performance
Students’ speaking performance referes to the interactions, teachers in the
class have found that students’ speaking performance can be identified in
terms of three kinds of interaction, namely students to their teacher; students
to students; and students to material
According to Brown (1994:74), speaking performance is the interaction
between students to their teacher, students who are considered to maintain a
good interaction with their teacher always take part in the class discussion as
well as contact the teacher by coming to see him/her outside classroom, even
sending emails. They become involved in what is happening in the classroom
by asking for more information or explanation, sharing a personal experience
in relationship to the topics or volunteering to perform an activity. They show
their desire to be active learners.
Unlike the student-teacher interaction, the interaction between students
themselves is established by their discussion in small groups. The kind of
interaction between students and material can be understood as students’
success in completing assigned reading activities. In this study, the students’
speaking performance in group work activities is the interaction between
students themselves in group work (Brown, 1994)
The students’ speaking performance depends on different interactions in
classroom such as interaction between students and teachers, students and
students, students and material. Thus, in order to involve students in
communicative activities, it is necessary to understand the factors affecting
students’ speaking performance. These factors generally come from both
learners (e.g. learning style, motivation) and teachers (e.g. teacher’s methods
and techniques). In this study, the interaction between students in group work
activities is paid much attention to.
1.3 Group work in a speaking lesson
1.3.1 Definition and description of group work
One of the main ways in which the teacher can get the students to practice and
develop speaking skill is through the use of group work. It is so much a part
our everyday teaching routine that it has been considered “one of the major
changes to the dynamics of classroom interaction wrought by student-
centered teaching.”(Nunan and Lamb, 1996:142)
According to Doff (1998:137), group work is that “the teacher divides the
class into small groups to work together (usually four or five students in each
group) and all the groups work at the same time.” And John and Smith
(199:15) defined that “Group work, in language class, is a co-operative
activity, during which students share aims, and responsibilities to complete a
task assigned by the teacher in groups or in pairs”.
In groups, students can write a group story, role-play a situation, prepare a
presentation, discuss an issue or come to decision. They can also watch, write
or perform a video sequence.
Clearly, group work is a co-operative activity, during which students share
aims and responsibilities, moreover; they have chances for greater
independence as they take some of their own learning decisions, without the
teacher controlling every move. They learn to negotiate, to listen to different
opinions and points of view. In most cases, they feel free to experiment and
use the language.
1.3.2 Advantages and disadvantages of group work
Using group work in teaching and learning languages has some advantages as
follows: More language practice: Group work gives learners far more chance
to speak English because it immediately increases the amount of learners’
practice.
Doff (1988:141) stated that students are more involved: working in groups
encourages students to be more involved and to concentrate on the task. For
the discussion, if it was conducted with the whole class together, it would
probably be dominated by a few students and the others would lose interest.
Students feel secure: Students feel less anxiety when they are working
privately than when they are on show in front of the class. Group work can
help shy students who would never say any thing in a whole-class activity
Students can help each other Group work encourages students to share ideas
and knowledge.
However, group work has some disadvantages. It is likely to be noisy. Some
teachers feel that they lose control, and the whole-class feeling may dissipate
when the class is split into smaller entities. Besides, not all students enjoy it
since they would prefer to be the focus of teacher’s attention rather than
working with their group.
Another problem of group work is that individuals may fall into group roles
that become fossilized, so that some are passive whereas others may
dominate. Group work can take longer to organize than pairs; beginning and
ending group work activities-especially where people move around the class-
can take time and be chaotic.
In conclusion, the advantages of group work far outweigh the disadvantages.
Instead of being dependent on the teacher, students get used to helping and
learning from each other in a non-threatening environment. Meanwhile, the
teacher is left free to discreetly monitor progress and give help, advice and
encouragement where and when it is needed.
1.3.3 Teacher’s role in carrying out group work.
During group work, students are more independent but the teacher still has
important roles to play while students collaborate with each other. The idea of
cooperative learning is not that the teacher can abandon the class and neglect
jobs.
Many authors show the teacher’s role in conducting group work. The teacher
plays such different roles in-group work as an organizer, a controller, an
assessor, a prompter, and a participant (Harmer, 1991:124). According to
Cross (1992:76), important teacher’s role in carrying out group work is as an
instructor, a consultant, a supervisor, a co-communicator, and a controller,
giving students instructions for the job duties, encouraging them actively to
participate in learning process and to interact with each other, helping them
with their difficulties in linguistic matters as well as background knowledge.
To be more specific, when the students work in small group, teacher should
assist students to make sure students are on task. Teacher can also work with
some students individually while others work in groups. When they get
confused, teacher helps them without disrupting the activity. Students should
be told by the teachers what to do if they finish before others (Davis,
1993:124)
Obviously, the roles of the teachers undergo fundamental changes as the
language classroom moves from teacher-centered to student-centered and
from a language- based to a needs-based approach. The primary role of the
teachers in a communicative language class is to establish conditions and
develop activities so that students are able to practice the language in
meaningful context. Furthermore, it is one of the teachers’ greatest
responsibilities to develop in the students a positive attitude towards learning.
Students who feel secure are much more willing to practice the language. In
addition, the experienced teachers will discover or invent ways to encourage
students to communicate meaningfully with each other. Instead of actively
directing and controlling all activities, the teachers set up conditions for
meaningful practice and then take the role of a resource person.
In brief, the teacher plays a very important role in carrying out-group work.
Only when the teacher fulfils the role can students get all the benefits from it.
1.3.4 Students’ role in-group work activities
In order to accomplish the group goal in a productive way, the group
members must perform a variety of tasks or roles. Two kinds of roles
suggested by Ruben (1988:54) that should be taken by the students include
the task roles and the group building and maintenance roles.
Task roles which are directly related to the group’s goal to name some are to
gather information, make recommendations, solve a problem or complete a
specific task. For example, one student who tries to keep the discussion on
track, and another student who initiates shared ideas, are both assuming task-
oriented roles. More task role such as being a fascinator, a contributor, a
coordinator or recorder, etc were suggested to be performed by the students.
As, a contributor, the student organizes the group’s work, make all group
members understand the group’s job, or take the group’s questions and
concerns to the teacher after the group attempts a solution and alternatives
(Ruben, 1988). As a contributor, he proposes to the group new ideas or a
changed way of regarding the group problem goal. As an analyzer, he helps
solve the problems with a high skill, or more the group rapidly to the core of
the problem, examine the reasoning behind each contribution to the
discussion. As a coordinator, he shows or clarifies the relationship among
various ideas and suggestions, tries to pull ideas and suggestions together. As
a recorder, he writes the group’s response or data collection on a group
response sheet or writes down the product of discussion. As an encourager, he
offers support and encouragement to group members and keeps others’
feeling good about working together
Group building and maintenance roles require all the members to assume
responsibility for promoting, building and maintaining positive attitudes and a
positive group spirit. This does not mean using the “team spirit” to suppress
intimidate individuals. Maintenance roles are concerned with the feelings of
individual members and the emotional behavior of the group.
1.4 Previous studies
There are many research into group work activities in the field of language
learning. In this study, the researcher has known some studies related to using
group work in the Vietnamese contexts, such as Trinh Thi Anh Hang (2004)
conducted pair/group work activities to increase motivation of Non-English
Major Second year students at Ha Noi University of Technology. Her study
aimed at confirming the problems of the current use of the group activities in
New Headway Pre-Intermediate in teaching English for Non-English Majored
in order to find out a better way of using group work activities to motivate
students.
Hoang Thi Thu Dung (2004) conducted a study on improving the current
implementation of group work activities in speaking class of the first year
English Major student at Thang Long University. Her study aimed at
investigating the student participation into the current group work activities,
identifying the factors affecting the student participation. And in this study
she provided the teachers with theoretical background relevant to the
application of group work activities in the class. A brief discussion on
teaching techniques to implement group work activities more effectively in
speaking class was suggested afterwards based on the result of experimental
teaching.
Phan Thi Thuan Yen (2005) in her study, investigated the teachers’ and in-
service adult learners’ attitudes towards the use of pair work and group work
in developing speaking skills at Ha Noi university of Foreign Language
Studies.
In conclusion, although all those studies had investigated the best points of
using group work, their subjects of those studies were students at universities.
None of these authors studied group work at high gifted schools, So the
researcher-teacher had decided to conduct a study on using group works to
see if they increase the effectiveness in speaking lessons at the researcher’s
school.
Chapter 2: Real situation in speaking lessons in BGHS.
2.1 Teachers of English in BGHS
The study was conducted at Bac Ninh Gifted High school with 29 classes
and 12 teachers of English aged from 24 to 53. In terms of teachers’
qualification, most high school teachers graduated from Hanoi University of
Foreign Language Teachers' Training (University of Languages and
international studies). These teachers are qualified for the job.
With regard to teaching methods, as teachers of English in Bac Ninh Gifted
High school are now more communication-oriented. However, the teachers’
ways of teaching are affected by traditional custom. Some get used to speech
dominated education by a teacher-centered, book-centered. In addition, the
teachers of English at Bac Ninh Gifted High school confront of difficulties
in English speaking classes, especially organizing group work activities.
Therefore, it is very necessary for English teachers of Bac Ninh Gifted High
school to find out effective ways to minimize the difficulties in using group
work activities and from then, to develop the quality of teaching English
speaking lessons.
2.2 Students in Bac Ninh Gifted High school.
Students of Bac Ninh Gifted High school come from different parts of the
province. Most of the students are of the importance of learning English, few
students have real interest in learning English. In other words, the majority of
the students pay much attention to English. As a result, the teaching of
English Bac Ninh Gifted High school is necessary to the students in general
and to the English gifted students in particular, which requires appropriate
teaching method to meet the demand.
2.3 Speaking material at Bac Ninh high gifted school
We used textbook English 10, which focused on four skills and grammar with
a variety of different topics. The book was complied following the theme
based and task-based approaches. This was a new textbook applied at
beginning of school year 2006-2007 under the decision given by Ministry of
Education and Training.The book contains 16 teaching units and is covered
104 periods in two terms (37 weeks and 3 periods a week). Each of teaching
unit consists of five 45-minute periods using four skills for average class:
Reading skills, Speaking skills, Listening skills, Writing skills, and Language
focus.(Language focus contains words study and grammar). In each speaking
lesson usually consists of 3 or 4 tasks.
Chapter 3: An action plan.
To employ group work activities in the speaking lessons, the researcher-
teacher should carry the following requirements:
3.1. Group formation
According to I-Jung (2004:32), frequently employed grouping methods
include random, student - selected and teacher - selected groupings.
3.1.1 Random grouping
Random grouping is often used for in-class activities because of its readiness
and convenience. Teachers usually group students by their seating
arrangement or by serial numbers by the school. Depending on the time,
available and the types of activities instructors can also use games,
competitions, or any other ways that produce groups and making grouping
fun. For example, learners’ interests in the topics to be pursued can form
groups. Randomly assigned groups ignore the differences among students,
such as their language level, learning styles and abilities.
Random grouping can be set up by seating arrangement, serial numbers given
by the school, counting off, using playing cards, giving out numbered pieces
of paper, distributing cards with different categories on them and letting
students group themselves according to the category (I-Jung, 2004).
Random grouping is suitable for competitive review activities that do not take
a long time. It can help narrow the gap between the fast and slow students in
the class.
3.1.2 Student - selected grouping
Student- selected grouping is probably the most preferred option by learners.
Students often cluster with good friends. Students are more likely to
participate in activities if they feel they are among friends rather than
strangers (Davis, 1993:122), especially when they have to use a language over
which they have limited control. When engaging in group work, learners feel
more comfortable taking risks, making mistakes, and enjoying themselves
while using the target language among friends.
However, student selected groups will socialize too much and create a
situation where an “outsider” who joins this group may feel left out (Davis,
1993:45). In addition, it is possible that stronger learners would assume the
share of work for weaker ones.
3.1.3 Teacher - formed grouping
Teacher-formed grouping is acknowledged by most teachers as requiring the
most amount of careful planning (Davis, 1993; Valdez, 1999; Valentino,
2000; Feng, 2001). When forming groups teachers take into account students’
prior achievements, level of preparation, work habits, learning preferences
and so forth. Because of the complexity of grouping, teacher-formed groups
are usually used for large, long term and complex projects that require many
meetings, (even last a whole semester) and many consist of four to six
students.
Teacher-selected groups usually aim to achieve a heterogeneous mix. Such a
mix promotes peer tutoring, helps to break down barriers among different
types of students, and encourages on- task behavior.
In this study, random grouping was used for the reason that it was suitable for
the task of researcher’s situation and it did not take a long time. In addition it
could help narrow the gap between the fast and slow students in the class.
3.2 Group size
According to Chen, I-Jung group size depends on the activity and the duration
of the activity. Three basic group sizes are:
3.2.1 Whole group: Whole group activities are often used to introduce new
materials and concepts to the entire class (Valentino, 2000). It is appropriate
for warm up activities at the beginning of a lesson (Shank & Terrill,
1995:110).
3.2.2 Pairs, this work for quick, ad hoc, and temporary discussions. Students
pair-off and work on a designed task for a short period. For example, students
may conduct interview, where one questions and one answer. The smaller the
groups are, the less intimidated the students are. Pair work gives learners
greater opportunity to use the target language in a less threatening
environment. When planning pair works, pairing by ability is the dominant
consideration. Similar ability pairs succeed when partners’ roles are
interchangeable and equally difficult. On the other hand, cross- ability pairs
will work when given different roles and heavier demands are placed on the
more proficient learner (Bell, 1991; Shank & Terrill, 1995)
3.2.3 Small groups: refer to groups of three or four students, no more than
five to six students maximum, work best. Group that are larger than this
decrease each member’s opportunity to perform actively and increase their
chance to “hide” in the group. The less skillful the group members are, the
smaller the groups should be (Davis, 1993:121). For larger projects that last
over several class periods, teachers should specify a team plan of operation
and goals to be achieved. It is advisable that each group member be assigned
a clearly defined role such as leader, recorder, and presenter etc. Furthermore,
teachers need to take time to explain how each role works (Damian, 1999).
Size affects various aspects of group behavior and group functioning in some
ways. The group size depends on the task type, the time available, and how
skillful the group members are. How big should group be?
The smaller the group, the more each member talks and the less chance there
is that someone will be left out. If the time is short, smaller groups can usually
do an activity more quickly. Smaller groups also require few group-
management skills. Thus, when starting with cooperative learning, groups of
two or three may be best. On the other hand, the smaller the groups, the more
groups there are, so the teacher has more monitoring to do, and the less
practical it is to have groups reporting back to the class.
Four- member group is suggested by Honey field (1991), Ngoh (1991), I-
Jung (2004). Four members in a group might lead to more interesting and
challenging tasks, with a wide range of opinions being expressed, and more
negotiation required the group members to reach agreement. Six should be the
maximum number of participants in most small groups (Honey field, 1991; I-
Jung, 2004)
3.3 Procedures of group work
When having finished forming groups, we have other matters to address the
procedures for pair work and group work. Harmer (1999:86) states that there
are three stages in implementing group work as follows:
Before: students need to understand what they are going to do and when they
will have finished the task they are going to get involved in.
During: while students are working in groups, the teacher keeps an eye on
what is happening, then decides whether to go over and helps.
After: When groups stop working together, the teacher needs to organize
feedback to enhance students’ future learning.
Another way of conducting a group activity suggested by Ngoh (1991)
introduces six main stages in implementing group work.
Practice Stage: the teacher equips the students with the necessary structures
or vocabulary to achieve the task set.
Instruction Stage: the teacher gives clear, detailed instructions for the
required task.
Organization Stage: the teacher arranges the students into groups, making
sure there is control and order
Process Stage: the students are engaged in oral interaction in group in order
to achieve the task assigned.
Presentation Stage: Group leaders present the product so that the other
students can hear or read.
Post group work Stage: the teacher assigns a related task to reinforce
learning and self- evaluates what has been done in group work, and makes
amendments to future group work.
3.4. Some oral activities for group work used in group work activities
3.4.1 Role play
Role play is an activity that the class is usually divided into groups. These
groups are given situations and roles to act out and explore. This acting is
done for the sale of the language and imaginative activity, and for exhibition.
The various groups, therefore, are activated simultaneously. Role play is a
term to describe a drama-type activity where just one student of a group or
pair takes on a new identity, transforming practice and exploitation of the text
into real performance (Cross, 1992)
Role play are simple to plan and easy to play and, along with games and other
communicative activities, are recommended to be used in the English
speaking classes
3.4.2 Information Gap Activity (IGA).
According to Underhill (1987) sometimes, IGA can be employed to change
the atmosphere in group work. This is one of the easiest and most interesting
forms of communicative activity in speaking class. In order to get the most
proficiency, the teacher can divide the class into groups. In each group, one
acts as the asker, the other the answerer, let them discuss for a few minutes
and they change the role
IGA may take three forms: (1) One student has some information and the
other has to find it by asking questions (2) One student has some information
and tells it to the other students; (3) Both students have different information
and they tell each other.
Underhill (1987) asserts that there are a variety of techniques can be used in
IGA. Firstly, they may be peer or group interview. Two students set out
questions and answer to get certain things about each other. Secondly, they
may be peer or group description and recreation information which one
describes a picture or a design to another student who has constructed the
model form the description alone without seeing the original. Thirdly, they
can be game like (Harmer, 1998) such as describing and drawing, describing
and guessing, finding the differences and completing a story, etc.
3.4.3 Problem - solving
Another oral activity for group work is suggested by Byrne (1978:231).
According to him, problem- solving has been used to group together a wide
range of activities that require students to find “solutions” to problems of
different kinds.
Many of these problems involve processes that we commonly use in real life
as follows: We frequently hypothesize links between two things (events,
actions, people, etc.). We detect differences (real or imaginary).We grade
things according to criteria (subjective or objective)
Clearly, problem solving is believed to be necessary and suited to students of
all levels. As students are put in some situations that are similar to the real
life, they actively join in the activities because of the feeling that they are
doing with their language, taking risks or experimenting what they have
learnt. Moreover, the lessons are more practical and attractive to them.
3.5 Problems and solutions in utilizing group work
(Jacobs and Hall, 1994), Some problems associated with in-class group work
can be prevented with careful preparation, specific instructions, and
appropriate facilitation.
Students are resistant to group work
When students look resistant to group work, teacher may reiterate the reasons
for using this particular small-group task. Emphasize ways in which the
resistant student(s) will benefit, and be as specific as possible (e.g., business
students will need facilitation skill in their career).
Teacher can also have students complete a brief questionnaire in which they
reveal why they are resistant to working in groups (Jacobs and Hall, 1994:57)
Students won’t want to work in groups.
Some students may object to be in group because most of their education has
been based on individual effort, and they may feel uncomfortable helping
others or seeking help. The best advice for the teacher is to explain the
rationale; design well-structured meaningful tasks give students clear
directions before group work, set expectations, for how team members are to
contribute and interact, and invite students to try it. Teacher should encourage
students in participating in discussion and should know how to minimize
monopolizers, draw out quiet students, and generally engage all students in
active participation
Assigning role and Reward-system
Most students can work well in groups if the teacher set strong expectations at
the beginning of group work. Assigning role to each member in group work is
necessary. This may help student be responsible for the task. The teacher can
implement a reward system in which each student would receive something
for his/her participation in group work (Kuramoto, 2002). According to
Williams and Burden (1997:134) there can be no doubt that in some
circumstances, for some individuals, external rewards do work, at least in the
short term and with regard to the specific situation in which they are applied.
Student talks too much or dominates the group
On many occasions, some students’ voice is heard much more than the others
when it occurs, teacher should talk to the student privately. Explain that while
you are pleased he or she has a lot to contribute, you would be like other
learners to have more opportunity to think for themselves. Sometimes the
student just needs to be made aware of the situation.
Even if the teacher had not planned to assign roles to group members, do so at
an appropriate point during the group task, either for all groups or for only the
one(s) with a dominant student. Ensure that some roles require significant
periods of silence (e.g., summarizer, detective, recorder, observer, timekeeper,
liaison to other groups). Alternately, speak privately to the dominant student and
give him or her one of these roles. (I-Jung, 2004)
During long periods of group work, teachers should call for regular
periods of reflective silence (e.g., after every fifteen to twenty minutes) in
which students think (and write) about the points that have been made,
contradictions that have surfaced, omissions that should be added, and
where the discussion should go next. When signaling for the discussion to
resume, invite students who have said little to read out what they have
written.
Students talk too little or are “freeloading”
According to I-Jung (2004:34), when students may be “freeloading”, teacher
should speak to the student privately to determine the reason for lack of
participation, e.g., introversion, fear of looking stupid, feeling unprepared,
fearing a trap, feeling unwelcome, past experiences, trying to be cool, lack of
reward. Teacher should consider using even smaller groups. Quiet students
may feel more comfortable participating in this situation, and “freeloading”
students will be less able to coast on the other’s efforts.
Teaches should ask students occasionally to hand in their group notes or their
preparation notes. As when handling dominating students, assign roles to one
or all of the group members. Some roles that require active vocal participation
are spokesperson, skeptic, organizer, facilitator, liaison to other groups (I-
Jung, 2004:34)
Another way is that the teacher can suggest go-rounds (or Circle of voices), so
that each group member has to contribute. Even if the teacher may offer a
general reminder, either to the whole class or to a group in particular, that
every student has valuable input and there is no poor question. Be sure to
respond appropriately when students have comments or questions. Besides,
the teacher should recognize that quantity is not quality. There is a place for
silence in discussion.
If the students are shy, the teacher may consider incorporating an electronic
discussion into the course. By that way students may find it easier to
contribute on a class bulletin board, or chat room.
The teacher should remind students that the content of the group work will be
tested on a quiz or test. The teacher could design a test question in which
students must summarize their group’s results.
Students are not listening to fellow group members.
When students are not listening to the fellow group member, the teacher can
gives comment on the issue in the general class setting and then tell students that
in the plenary session, you will call on one member of each group (your choice)
to summarize the group’s discussion or answer. The teacher should call a time
out, and restructure the activity so that all students must connect what they say to
what the previous person just said (I-Jung, 2004)
Students lack the social skills needed to work with others.
When students lack the social skills the teacher should encourage students
who prefer to work alone to stay in-group work and at the same time assist the
group by assigning them a task that would give them some sort of isolation.
The teacher can explain and ask students to get familiar with active and
tolerant listening. The teacher shows the students the way to give and receive
constructive criticism. The teacher tell students the way to refuse, disagree,
argue politely in English. The teacher should use pair work and group work
frequently so that students will become more skillful. (I-Jung, 2004:35)
The problems given above usually happen when group work activities in
speaking lessons in progress at the researcher’ school. So the researcher
desired to employing group work activities at Bac Ninh High gifted students to
make speaking class more effectively.
In the researcher’s situation, those problems usually occur and from those
suggestions, four solutions such as private talking, reward system,
brainstorming and assigning role, were employed to increase the students’
performance in group work.
To sum up, this part has reviewed necessary consideration when
implementing group work in speaking activities. Small groups can be a highly
effective method of teaching and learning. Student groups can also waste
teachers’ and students’ time if poorly organized and managed. In order to be
effective, the size, duration, and composition of the group work must match
the task. In addition, the group work activity must be carefully planned and
communicated to the students. Students must be taught the skills necessary to
work effectively in groups. Group must be properly directed and supervised
during learning activities. Teachers play a vital role in the successful
implementation of small group instruction.
3.6 The action plan
In the light of the identified causes of the problems and the knowledge gained
from the literature review on group work in general and group work in
speaking lessons in particular, an action plan specified by lessons and were
carried out. (Appendix 1) Such lessons plans were designed in three stages
and applied the following techniques:
3.6.1 Private talk to dominate students
The teacher met seven better students in class 10 English 2 at Bac Ninh
Gifted High School outside the class at the short rest (after three speaking
lessons 9, 10 and 11 were conducted as usual way) talked to them about the
passive students and unequal students’ participation in group work in
speaking lessons and highly appreciated their active participation in group
work activities, but the teacher also would like them to help the quieter
students to talk more. The teacher assigned them the roles of leaders to
keep the group on task, to collect materials from the teacher and to make
sure all the group members have their turns, or the roles of secretaries to
write down group responses
3.6.2 Rewarding system
A reward system was implemented during group work activities. 25 blue
cards “English practice cards” were given to each group. Each student
picked up one when he/she gave one idea or even an utterance in English to
each other. The students got marks or rewards like a pen or a pencil basing on
the number of cards they got. Basing on the number of cards after each
activity, students were awarded with good marks or real things like pens or
pencils. Two groups were given marks for the most participation in group
work activities, and others groups were given some pens or some pencils.
3.6.3 Leading in
Before each group work activity the whole class was given leading in. This
made students easier, more confident of participating in group work activities.
Some new words or phrases related to the topic were conducted by playing a
game called “Word Web”. The researcher wrote a word on the blackboard
then some students were asked to speak out the word related to the word
written on the blackboard. Another way is that students were requested to
individually write down any idea on the topics on paper A4 Then the teacher
collected these pieces of paper and stuck them on the board, then selected the
best ones and teacher might contribute to the list as well. In that way the
students were provided with ideas and related vocabulary. In each lesson there
were frequently-used structures so the teacher wrote them on the board then
asked students to read in chorus
3.6.4 Assigning role to passive students
To help the passive students in the groups have more opportunities to speak,
assigning role was conducted to limit the opportunity for the dominant
students to talk and on the other hand, give more opportunity for the quiet
students to practice speaking in the group work. Each of the students was
given a definite role in different situations which were all described in details
on the card. Each passive student in each group was assigned the role of
interviewer. He/she asked other students in group turn by turn basing on the
cues on the pink card given by teacher. Each student in the groups also was
given a yellow card with some cues on it. This way made them feel more
confident of doing the task. In one interview, students were talking about
music (Unit 12, English textbook 10, page 127.). The quieter student was
required to ask questions while the other better students gave answers. As the
results, the quieter student had more opportunities to speak when he/ she
practiced asking each student in group at least one question. On the other
hand, each dominant student had less chance to speak because he/ she only
answered the questions. In that way not everyone in the group spoke more
than he/she was expected to speak.
In task 2-Unit 12 English 10, page 127, students were requested to ask their
partners about their favorite kinds of music then give their reason after that
they had to complete the table given in task 2 of speaking lesson.
* Intervention task 2
 Pre-speaking activity: (5 minutes)
First, the students were asked to play a game called “word web”. Teacher
wrote the word “music” on the board, students had to find out some word
related to music. Students gave some kinds of music: pop music, folk music,
classical music, jazz and so on, which attracted a lot of attention because
these kinds of music are popular especially among the young. Through this
activity, some new adjectives: rousing/ lyrical/ serene/ peaceful/ pleasant
were presented. A brief introduction to the topic was then given to the
students to arouse more interest in the speaking topic.
Next, the frequently-used structures in the short dialogue were written on the
blackboard. What kind of + N(s)…. do you like best? Why do you like it?
Because it is + adj…… The students were made to read in chorus. For more
details, see the lesson plan in Appendix 1
Finally, the teacher gave clear, detailed instruction for the task and set the
time.
 While activity: (10 minutes)
After having divided students into groups randomly, one passive student in
each group was assigned the role of an interviewer. One dominant was
assigned the role of a secretary to complete the table (Appendix 8). Six role-
cards (1 for interviewer, and 5 for interviewees) were given to one group.
There were 6 groups in this task. There were 6 students in group 1, 2, 3, 4.
Group 5, 6. A reward system was implemented at this stage too. Following is
the list of passive students in each group assigned the roles of the interviewers
Group 1 2 3 4 5 6
The students’ 2 8 13 21 27 33
codes (female) (female) (male) (male) (female) (male)
Each group was also given 25 Practice cards and the students were instructed
to pick up 1 card when they spoke, even a word or a phrase in English to each
other. While the activity was in process, the teacher walked around and
helped the students to implement the task and took notes of common
mistakes. In addition, the teacher reminded the secretary to complete the table
copied from the textbook and other students to pick up the cards when they
contributed to the activity.
Example of pink card for each interviewer in the group
1. What / music / like? 5. What / your/ song?
2. Why/ like / it? 6. What /your/ piece /music?
3. Who / musician? 7. When / listen / music?
4. What/ your / band?
Example of yellow card for each interviewee
1. Pop music.
2. Popular with young people
3. After having done homework
 Post Activity: (7 minutes)
At the end of the task, one student in group 3 and one student in group 5 were
asked to present their group work result to the whole class. They are average
students who were neither the best nor the worst in the groups. After the
students had finished reporting, the teacher gave constructive comments, and
encouraged them. All the students seemed to be happy after the activity.
3.7 Action evaluation
From the observation, the increasing of taking part in the group work
activities between before the implementation and after the implementation of
the action plan is significant.
Briefly, it is clear that after the intervention of the action plan with a new set
of teaching techniques applied in a three-stage approach, students’
participation was significantly equality increased when the teacher had an
excellent response from the implementation of reward system.
To shorten up, the researcher has described and discussed all the stages of the
Action plan. The initial stage was aimed at establishing the baseline of
students’ participation as well as identifying the effects group work activities
in speaking lessons. Observation shows that the causes of the problem were
identified as the inappropriateness of teacher’s techniques and the students’
unreadiness in participating in group work activities. Thus, students should be
provided with relevant vocabulary and structures before group work activities
and some different techniques applied in group work activities. An action
plan was carried out and then the evaluation revealed that students’
participation significantly increased when relevant vocabulary structures and
a new set of techniques were applied during group work activities.

PART C: CONCLUSION
4.1 Summary of the study
The action plan was carried out in the time frame of eight weeks. It started
when the issue of students’ unequal participation in group work activities in
speaking lessons was perceived within the first two weeks. The initial stage
was generated to confirm the problem and explore the causes in the next three
weeks with the observation.
An action plan was then formulated with the purpose of attacking the
problems to increase students’ participation in group work activities in
speaking lessons. During the three weeks of action plan implementation, data
of students’ participation was compared to evaluate the effectiveness of the
action plan. The evaluation showed that the action plan was successful in
generating students’ participation.
The action research has drawn useful lessons for the researcher. It should be
acknowledged that participation is linked to many factors, which were
impossible to control within the scope of this study. However, it could be
suggested that to more equally increase students in group work activities in
speaking lessons for grade 10 the following suggestions should be considered
in order to make group work activities in speaking lessons more effectively.
The teacher should put a great deal of thought into the preparation of group
work activities in speaking lessons. He/she should carefully read the task and
have well-prepared lessons plans. On this basis, the teacher must think twice
about how she will introduce new language items, what question she will ask
her students to guess the new words from the context, etc.
Working in group is quite different from working individually. One of the
main reasons why students find it difficult is that they are not prepared
carefully to perform effectively in group work. Teachers can help by
designing group work activities in such as a way that can increase the
students’ participation and therefore, they have a positive experience. There
are several useful produces teachers should follow in order to prepare students
well for the group work. Firstly, introduction should be short, direct to the
task. The rule of the task should be set at the beginning of group work
activities.
After the introduction, assigning the role to each member in the groups is very
necessary. The cues on the pieces of paper given to each student in group
work may help students participate more equally. In the study, the slow
students could fulfill their task without much difficulty due to this. By this
way students may feel much more confident of speaking in group work
activities.
In addition, the teacher should consider which teaching steps are necessary for
the students to do the task in group work activities in speaking lessons. For
instance; the teacher must give clear rules for group work activities. The rules
for group work should be set up at the very beginning of using group work in
class. The teacher’s control of the class during group work will be much more
effective if students are aware that, they will be to obey the rules.
The time allocation for stage should be planned appropriately for each group
work activity. Simultaneously, the students’ activities should be controlled. If
the time lasts too long, students will feel bored, tired and distracted from their
attention. If the time do not last enough, they will not participate equally.
Besides, it is suggested in books that group role should be rotate. In fact,
some important roles such as secretaries or leaders can not be given to any
person. Only good students can take the role. The role of group member is not
necessary as it is considered in books. This role is more suitable for long-term
group or outside classroom activities.
Moreover, a reward system should be established at the beginning of group
work activities. This will make students compete with each other in
participating in group work activities
The result of this study may trigger the further thinking of teachers of English
at Bac Ninh Gifted High School. More and more efforts should be made to
find the right approaches to make group work activities more effectively in
teaching English in general and in speaking lessons particular.
However, the researcher’s own class and the above recommendations are not
entirely comprehensive. The researcher would highly appreciate any
contribution to this study with a view to fostering discussion and in the long
run bringing greater benefits to the students at Bac Ninh Gifted High School.
4.2. Limitation and recommendation for further research
The study has attained some remarkable results in increasing students’
participation in group work activities in speaking lessons for Grade 10 at Bac
Ninh Gifted High School. However, limitations are inevitable.
Firstly, limit of time, the study will be better if it is recycled.
Secondly, the study was conducted in class of 34 students aiming to solve
their problems only, so the study can not represent a large population of
students in general.
Thirdly, when observed by other teachers, the students might have changed
their ordinary way of working in groups.
As no single research design is flawless, all-inclusive and complete. This
study cannot cover everything. Some other problems which should be solved
were that the classroom was too noisy during group work. Students did not
listen to each other attentively and group work is used not only in speaking
lessons but also in other skills (reading, listening and writing). Therefore,
further research on this aspect should be done.

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APPENDIXES
APENDIX 1: Lesson plans for 3 speaking group-work Activities of the study.
Three lesson Plans for Speaking Group Work Activities in the Intervention Stage
* Unit 12: Music (speaking lesson Task 2, page 127)
Date: April 2015
Level of the students: Grade 10
Organization: 6 groups with 5-6 students in each
Time: 20 minutes
Speaking group work activity: Interview
I. Objectives:
By the end of this lesson Ss will be able to talk about their favorite kinds of music,
the reason why they liked those kinds of music and the time when they listen to
those music or singers whom they liked
II. Material:
Textbook: “English 10”. Education Publishing House
III Teaching Aids: Board, chalk, 6 cards for each group (1 pink card for
interviewer and 5 yellow cards for interviewees) 25 blue practice cards for each
group.
IV. Procedure
Stage Time Teacher’s activity Students’
activity
- Play a game: Word web. T writes a word Ss speak some kinds
Pre- 6’ “MUSIC” on the board. Teacher copies of music like pop
activity down the word the students speak music, classical
Folk Rock music, folk music,
rock’n ‘roll, jazz and
Music
Classical so on.
Jazz Ss are asked to read
Pop
in chorus

- T writes down some suggested words on

the board and asks Ss to read in chorus e.g.
rousing/ lyrical/serene/peaceful/ pleasant /
help (smb)forget troubles / make
(smb)excited /make (smb) feel relaxed and
give them the translation
Purpose: To draw students’ interest in the
lesson.
To expand Ss' vocabulary of music. Ss listen to the
T gives clear, detailed instructions for the teacher carefully
required task.
 - T divides Ss into 6 groups randomly and Ss work in groups
While- 8’ assigns the passive Ss the role of One passive student
activity interviewer and gives him/ her one pink role of each group is
card and each student a yellow role card assigned a role of
containing one kind of music and some interviewer and
adjectives relating to music (Appendix 10). he/she could ask
Each student will implement his/ her role members of the
using the guided words/ phrase on the cards. group one by one
T gives each of the group 25 “English about music basing
Practice” Cards. on suggested words
While Ss are speaking T walks round the on the pink role card
class to see how well Ss work and whether given by the teacher.
they need some help and notes the common Other students
mistakes Ss have answer the
interviewer’s
questions basing on
the cues on the cards
(Each student is
given a yellow role
card) Then the
secretary will
complete the table
copied from the
textbook (see below)
Ss work in groups.
After giving an
utterance or an idea,
each student will
pick up a blue
“English Practice”
card
 Post- 6’ T asks Ss to stop speaking. All students are Ss stop speaking.
activity invited to look at the blackboard. The 2 or 3 assigned
teacher asks two or three Ss to present their students from some
ideas of their groups in front of the class. groups stand up and
Teacher then gives feedback and correct present the group’s
common mistakes if there are and then idea orally.
enhance them for future group work Members of group
may help if he/ she
fails to speak

Handout for interviewers

Partne Partne Partne Partne Partner
Kind of music r1 r2 r3 r4 5
Reason for listening to music
Favorite band/musician
Favorite song/piece of music
When listen to music

* Unit 13: Films and cinema (Speaking lesson Task 4 page 135)
Date: April. 2015
Time: 20 minutes
Organization: 6 groups with 5-6 students in each
Level of Ss: Grade 10 No of Ss: 34
Speaking group work activity: Information Gap Activities
I. Objectives:
By the end of this lesson Ss will be able to ask and answer about the films
they saw, tell their feeling about certain kinds of films, and tell the topic /
main idea of a film that they saw
II. Material:
Textbook: “Tieng Anh 10”. Nha Xuat Ban Giao Duc
III Teaching Aids
- Board, chalk. Some handouts of the answers for leaders and some cues for
each member of the group
IV. Procedure
Stage Time Teacher’s activity Students’ activity
T gives students a game Students are asked to give
Pre- 6’ called “who knows the adjectives related to the kind of
activity most adjectives?” the films
T writes a word of a kind
of films then asks students
to give more adjectives to
describe it. Ss listen to the teacher carefully
E.g. Cartoon films –
funny, interesting,
attractive, colorful,
Detective films- exciting,
nervous
T introduces the task
clearly
While- 8’ T divides the class into Ss are divided into groups of 5-6,
activity groups, T delivers a leader a leader will answer and other
of each group a handout of members try to work out the
the answer (see below) appropriate questions basing on
and other members some the key words on the pieces of
pieces with key words and papers
gives Ss instruction If the first turn finishes, the
T walks around the class leader will give the list of the
takes note the common answer to another student and
mistakes and gives Ss the Ss do the same as the first
 assistance with vocabulary one
and structures whenever Each group is given “ 25 English
necessary. practice” cards
Ss are asked to use the suggested
words in the book or on the
board to do the task.
Ss work in groups. the leader
keeps his/her members on task
Ss will pick up a card “English
Practice” when he/she gives an
idea
Post- 6’ T asks Ss to stop talking One member of the group will
activity and asks one of Ss to go to answer and other members make
the blackboard to answer questions.
the students’ questions
The teacher gives Ss good
marks basing on the
numbers of “English card”
to enhance students’ future
learning.
Handout for group work activities of speaking lesson 13 page 135
Here are some answers given
Handout 1
1 Yes, I have
2 I saw it at Thang Tam cinema
3 Oh, I find it really attractive
4 It is a science fiction film
5 It is about the man outside our earth
6 Jack Dawson is in it
7 Because it can make us more intelligent and imaginative
Handout 2
1 Yes, did
2 There was a film
3 I saw it with my sister
4 It was about love story
5 I found it really moving
6 Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater were in it
7 Because it is based on the true story of the Titanic disaster
Handout 3
1 Yes, I did
2 It was a detective film
3 It is about a missing woman
4 Stephen and Jack London were init
5 Oh, I found it very exciting
6 Because it can make us braver
Hand out 4
1 Yes, I did
2 I saw it at my friend’
3 It is a cartoon film
4 It is about a cat and a mouse
5 Tom and Jerry
6 I found it very funny
* Unit 14: The World Cup (Speaking lesson Task 3 page 147)
Date: May, 2015
Time: 20 minutes
Organization: 6 groups with 5-6 students in each
Level of Ss: Grade 10 No of Ss: 34
Speaking group work activity: Information Gap Activity
I Objectives:
After the lesson, students will be able to talk about the world cups which were
held. They can talk about some football teams, about the information related
to the world cups like the time and the place where the world cups were held,
the events in the world cups, etc.
II. Material:
Textbook: “English 10”. Training and Education Publisher
III Teaching Aids
- Board, chalk, some sheets of paper A4, some pictures of football teams.
Information cards which contain different pieces of information, one card per
student.
IV. Procedure
Stage Time Teacher’s activity Students’
activity
Pre- 6’ Asks Ss to close the books and Ss close the books and
activity shows the picture look at some pictures
E.g. What team is it? of several football
Have they ever taken part in teams and world cups
World Cup? then answer the
When did they take part in? questions
Did they win the world cup? Ss answer T’s
questions
While 8’ T put Ss into 6 groups of 6 and 5 Ss are divided into 6
Activity and gives instruction of the game to groups of 6 and 5. Each
Ss. student of the groups
E.g 1. The first World Cup was receives a card with an
held___________ in 1930 unfinished sentence.(as
2. The _______ match was between many information
Uruguay and Argentina. cards as there are
 3 ________ defeated Argentina by students) They have to
4 to 2. find a suitable word to
4 Argentina was_________ fill in the gap basing on
5. Uruguay became the _______ the table in the task 2
T gives secretaries of 6 groups 6 (see the table below)
sheets of paper A4 and each student then speak out their
a piece of paper on which there is own sentences.The
unfinished sentence. secretary will join
While Ss are speaking, T goes those sentences from
round the class to see how well group members to
students work and whether they write a complete
need some help and notes common passage on paper A4.
mistakes Each group is given
“25 English practice
cards”
Ss work in groups in 8
mins
Post- 6’ After Ss have finished, T calls one, Ss present their own
activity two or more presenters of some passage in front of the
group to perform their own passage class
in front of the class, then T elicits
comments from the class and
provides feedback. Good
presentation can be marked.
Handouts for each member of the groups
1. The first World Cup was held___________ in 1930
2 The sixth World Cup_________ between Sweden and ____________
2. The _______ match was between Uruguay and Argentina
3 Brazil was the winner and Sweden was_________________
3 ________ defeated Argentina by 4 to 2
4 Sweden was defeated Brazil by ________
4 Argentina was_________
5 The sixth World Cup was __________ in 1958
5. Uruguay became the ________ Argentina was runner up
6 ___________ became the champion and Sweden was runner up
Sample of handouts of lesson 12 delivered to students

Sample of pink card for each interviewer

1 What / music / like?

2 Why/like/it?

3 When / listen / music?

Sample of yellow card for each interviewee

Card 1 Card 2
 1. pop music. 1 Rock music

2. popular with young people 2 Make me excited

3. after having done homework 3 After dinner

Card 3

1 Jazz music

2 Lyrical

3 After dinner

Card 5

1 folk music

2 Lyrical

3 After doing homework

1 Classical music

2 relaxing

3 In free time

Card 4

1 Rock music

2 exciting

3 Before going to bed

Card 6
APPENDIX 2: Original tasks in speaking lesson of unit 12, 13, and 14 in
Textbook English 10
Task 2. Work in groups. Ask your partners questions to get information to
complete the table bellow.
Example: A: What kinds of music do you like?
B: I like classical music
A: Why do you like it?
B: Because it is relaxing.
Partner 1 Partner 2
Kind of music Classical music
Reasons for listening to music
Favorite band /musician
Favorite song / piece of music
When listen to music
Task 4. Work in group. Talk about a film you have seen. Use the
suggestions below
1 where did you see it?
2 What kind of film is it?
3 What is it about?
4 Who is /are the main character(s)?
5 How do you feel about it?
6 Why do you prefer it to other films?
Task 3. Work in group. Take turns to ask about the World Cup winners,
using the information in the table in Task 2,
Example:
The first World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930. The first match was
between Uruguay and Argentina. Uruguay defeated Argentina by 4 to 2. …