Memoire Online - Exploring the impacts of group work on efl learners' speaking performance in Benin: the case study of CEG sodohome in the region of Zou

EXPLORING THE IMPACTS OF GROUP WORK ON EFL LEARNERS' SPEAKING PERFORMANCE IN BENIN: THE CASE STUDY OF CEG SODOHOME IN THE REGION OF ZOU

Dedication

I dedicate my thesis to the Almighty God, the most meciful, most gracious, the whole universe creator.

Ackowledgements

I praise Almighty God in the realization of this research work for his generous blessings. He is the only one who has given me health and looked after me spiritually and always has given me all things I need in my studies.

I would like to address my sincere acknowledgements to my supervisors Dr. Marius PédroEgounleti, who, despite his multiple preoccupations, has accepted to supervise this research work with a great success. May the Almighty God bless you and your family, and grant you whatever you need to achieve success in your daily life.

I would like to extend my special thanks to all lecturers and professors at the University of Abomey-Calavi who led me from the first year to third, through their content advice and encouragement; I would like to name: Dr. Ulrich O. SènaHindeme, the current head of English department; Dr. Ashani Michel Dossoumou; Dr. Etienne Iwikotan; Dr. EvaristeKottin; Dr. MartinienToboula; and all the lecturers whose I forgot to mention the names here.

My sincere gratitude goes to my dear parents: Aïkpe Jean and Mrs. SogloEliane, who have done their duties to send me to school to learn, to study in order to become somebody and autonomous.

I would like to express my gratitude to my dear brothers:AïkpeHodonouHénock, AdogoAnicet, DjedjiHouénoussou Serge and my dear friend AglissiSèmêvo Alexandre.

I sincerely would like to express my gratitude to all my teachers and lecturers from my first day school until now without exception for instructing me.

I address also my deepest gratitude to the headmaster of CEG Sodohomè, Mr. Thomas K. Tabé and all the English teachers of the same college, particularly Mr. David Litchégbé and Mr. GédéonMadjro.

I thank all persons who help me in my study and those who contributed to this research.

List of Acronyms

Summary

Group work is a teaching method that has impacts on students' speaking ability. The main purpose of this study is to explore the possible effects of group work on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' speaking performance in Benin. To achieve this objective, data were gathered through questionnaires to one hundred and twenty (120) EFL learners and four (04) EFL teachers of CEG Sodohomè in Zou region were involved. Not only questionnaires but I also obtained data through interviews and class observation. The results have shown that group work is one of the effective and appropriate techniques for developing and improving students' language use and encourage their oral participation in classroom which in turn affects their communicative competence. The discussion of the results has shown that group work when it is well structured has the potential to motivate, to increase and to improve students' speaking capacity. An ideal EFL teacher should motivate all the members of the group to participate well on the task in order to benefit the advantages of group work on their speaking ability.

Resumé

Le travail de groupe est une méthode d'enseignement qui a des impacts sur la production orale des apprenants. Le but principal de cette étude est d'explorer les effets possibles du travail de groupe en Anglais Langue Etrangère (ALE) sur la production orale des apprenants au Bénin. Pour atteindre cet objectif, j'ai recueilli des données à travers des questionnaires, entretien et visite de classe au Collège d'Enseignement Général de Sodohomè dans le département du Zou. Les données collectées ont révélé que le travail de groupe lorsqu'il est bien organisé et bien structuré offre beaucoup de possibilités aux apprenants d'interagir en utilisant la langue. Dans un tel groupe, chaque apprenant est motivé et exprime ses joies et ses craintes au moyen de la langue anglaise. Un bon enseignant de l'Anglais Langue Etrangère (ALE) devrait motiver tout les membres de chaque groupe à bien participer aux travail de groupe afin de bénéficier des avantages de travail de groupe sur leur production orale.

Table of Content

Introduction

The effectiveness of group work has been highlighted often in research papers, and now group work is accepted as a natural medium that fosters communication. Considerable research shows thatcooperative learning results in higher achievement and more positive relationships among students.

The teaching of foreign languages is an interactive process which involves the participation of both the teacher and the learners.Many researchers have emerged classroom communication that involves interaction. They showed the importance of interaction in bulding knowledge and improving skills.For many years, English teachers have been using a varietyof techniques to encourage interaction and participation among their learners.It is through the interaction in the class as social group that the language is used and learned, and the group is given a social identity and a social reality.It is important to keep learners active in the classroom, which means reducing teacher talking time in the classroom and increasing the learners' talking time, naturally, they will talk to each other through groups where each learner gets his time to talk.

Group work also known as Cooperative Language Learning (CLL) has emerged over the past ten years as one of the effective methods of language teaching and no one can deny that learners like to work in groups, and if they do a good job, the benefits are many. This work intends to explore the use of group work in an EFL teaching and to find out the impact of group work on EFL learners speaking performance.The main objective of learning a foreign language is to be able to use it for oral purposes. But unfortunately after many years of EFL learning in school, advanced learners in Benin are not able to use the target language appropriately in their daily communication. The problem we are confronted with here is when the students exhibit a lack of interaction which can be presented through their poor production, lack of participation in the classroom and poor student relationship-learning a foreign language and its components (pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar for intance) become extremely difficult to develop their oral proficiency. Thus, teachers have to provide learners with a method of increasing language practice opportunities. Organizing the class into groups is one of the most successful parts to provide learners with extensive oral practice. The problem investigated has not been clearlyexplained.

The present study aims at investigating the impacts of group work on EFL learners speaking performance.Moreover it will increaceteachers'understanding of the reasons for the difficulties in group work, which may relate to the dynamics of group work or to learners themselves. It draws EFL teachers' attention to the relevance of adopting group work strategy as a relevant technique in their classes to fully improve their learners' speaking skills.

In the first, theoritical framework, part of current theme, impacts of group work on EFL learners speaking performance, is examined in theoritical terms. This part comprises two chapters, the first is identification of the study which includes a general introduction, the statement of the problem and research questions and hypothesis, the purposes of the study and the significance of the study would provide reader with an overview of the whole paper. The second chapter deals with the researchers' review of literature. It shows what other researchers have said about my topic. It should also contain the definition of terms sections when appropriate.

The second part of the study, the field work, deals with pratical issues. This part comprises chapter three entitled research methology, the chapter four divided into two sections. In the first, all the detailed information is summarized. In the following section the analysis of results and their interpretation are presented. And as a final point of this research, a general conclusion of the paper and and in chapter five general recommendations are suggested. Lastly references related to the work are mentioned and the annex pages is at the end.

CHAPTER ONE: THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE STUDY

Chapter One: The Identification of the Study

This chapter includes the statement of the problem, the purpose of the study, significance of the study and the research questions and hypothesis.

The ability of students to be able to communicate naturally in English is one of the long term goals that language teachers would like to achieve in class. The problem in teaching a foreign language is to prepare students to use the language. Indeed, it is a demanding task for language teachers to provide sufficient inputs for students to be competent speakers of English. Usually, students feel insecure about their level of English and they face problems communicating as well as expressing themselves in the target language.As a result, they rather remain silent as they are in fear of making mistakes and do not show active participation in speaking lessons.

In addition, language teachers at schools do not give full on speaking activities due to some contraints. They are required to prepare materials for lesson, be involved in non-academic duties etc... Moreover, some EFL teachers prefer individual and pair work in class due to the fixed seating arrangement. Thus, emphasis should be given to address this problem as speaking is an important element in mastering the English language.

- To identify the students' perspectives with regards to their involvement in oral group activities

- To determine the potential implication of group work activities on the students' individual performance in speaking assessment.

This study helps to determine the effectiveness of group work in teaching speaking in EFL classroom. It provides language teachers to carry out oral group work activities in class to improve students' speaking skills. This study also gives suggestions to EFL teachers to develop successful oral group activities as they can identify the major problems faced by their students. Thus, teachers are conscious with the advantages of group work in teaching and learning process.

In addition, students will appreciate and with the strengths of others. This will increase, planning and discussion skills and eventually improve their speaking capabilities. Students will be involved as participants and decision- makers in oral groupactivities. Besides, the value of group work in EFL classroom will be determined. Hence, this study is helpful to provide knowledge on ways to develop natural ways in speaking activities.

1.4 Research Questions

1- What is the effect of group work technique on the development of students' speaking ability?

3- How does group work technique lead to a better achievement in communicative competence?

1.5 Hypothesis

1- Effective group work in the context of education involves making students get several opportunities to use the target language. During group work, students have more opportunities to discuss among themselves, share their ideas, practice more the language.

2- Students are aware of the positive belief towards group work language learning technique. EFL teachers promote motivational activities to encourage learners to take the floor during group work activity.

3- Group work is an effective method to motivate students,encourage active learning, and develop key critical thinking, communication, group work technique leads to a better achievement in communicative competence.

My research population for this research is restricted to EFL teachers and intermediate,and post students of CEG Sodohomè (Bohicon), Zou region. I focused on intermediate and post learners because I thought they have already experenced the group work for at least two years and could have something to say about it. Therefore, my different findings could not be generalised to a wider population within Beninese country unless similar characteristics exist. That is to say, research on the other population would probably reveal different findings. Another restriction is that my findings belong only to Benin. It could never be generalised to other EFL settings.

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter Two: Literature Review

Researchers are almost unanimouson the fact that collaborative learning technique have positive effects on learners' speaking skills. Jack C. Richards and his contributors (McCafferty, Jacobs, da Silva...) in his book `'Cooperative learning and second language teaching'' which provides a useful introduction to the field of cooperative learning for teachers wishing to better understand how its group-based learning principles can be successfully used in second and foreign language teaching, stated that the approach known as cooperative learning has long been of interest to practitioners of communicative language teaching since it offers a body of widely tested classroom procedures for implementing group-based activities in the languageclassroom.Before proceeding further, I provide some clarifications on the concept of group work.

Section One: Considerations about Group Work

Group work, according to Brown (2001, p.177), is a generic term covering a multiplicity of techniques in which two or more students are assigned a task that involves collaboration and self-initiated language. It implies small group work, thatis students in groups of perhaps six or fewer.

The lecturer of University of Abomey Calavi, current head of English department, Ulrich O. SènaHindeme in his article published in december2018 about Group work mentioned that three important aspects should be highlighted in the definition of Brown. The first one is collaboration, in other words, cooperation. Students haveto work together for the completion of the task. All the members of the group work are like the pieces of a machine, if one does not work well, a malfunction occur. Obviously, for lazy or irresponsible students, this is not a problem because the other members will take over and will make the machine work somehow. But real cooperation in group workoccurs when everyone is aware of his/her responsibility and role and commits himself/herself to accomplish it in the best way possible. Kagan(1994,p.10) asserts :Division of labor often established by assigning task roles (Student One is to research the historical character's early life ; Student Two, his inventions ; Student Three, his married family life ; Student Four,his major inventions) or maintenance roles (Student One, you are the Materials Monitor ; Student Two, you are the Quiet Captain ; Student Three, you are the Task Master ; Student Four, you are the Recorder). Of course, all the members work together, discuss, come up with new ideas, change certain things, but if one does not play his/her role, the task cannot be completed. Also, roles are changed within the group every time a new taskis assigned ; in this way, everybody will have a different responsibility each time a new groupwork is assigned. This is what Kagan (1994,p.7) calls interdependency `'the success of every team member depends on the sucess of each member (if one fails, all do), then a very strong form of positive interdependence is created and team members are very motivated to make sure each student does well `'.

At first, roles can be assigned by the teacher, but later on, as students get more familiar with the process of group work, they can be responsible for assigning roles themselves.

The second and third aspects in Brown's definition are much related. Self-initiated language refers to students using what they know and have learned in class to communicate with others in the classroom. In order to do this, the groups have to be small, as Brown previously suggests six or fewer. In very big groups, shy or passive students tend to fall in silence and let the most talkative ones do the talking. Nunan(1999,p.157) also points out that one of the classroom variables that have had a marked effect on student participation in oral activities is group size. Students who remain silent in groups of ten or more will contribute actively to discussions when the size of the group is reduced to five or three.

Group work is considered as one of the most important factors to improve learners' communication. Different individuals have developed many approaches to group work over the last time Johnson, Johnson and Smith (1991 : 15) have defined group work as follows : `'group work, in language class, is a co-operate activity, during which students share aims and responsibilities to complete a task assigned by the teacher in groups or in pairs''.

For a smooth implementation of group work, several factors need to be in place. Those factors include: (1) the learning goals of group work, (2) the task, (3) the way the information is distributed, (4)the seating arrangement of the membersof the group, and (5) the social relationships between the members of the group. Let us look first at the learning goals of group work before seeing how the factors work together.

To understand the reasons behind the effect of group work, whether good or bad, it is essential to understand how groups are formed. Friendship is one of the factors that can be taken into consideration when forming groups. In such groups, students have excellent relationships. They repect one another, accept criticismfrom one another and listen to one another (Hendry et al., 2005). Friends work together; they work cooperatively, Groups can also be formed based on ability where strong students are mixed with weak ones.

The objective is to allow the weak students to watch and learn from high achievers, which will eventually improve their performance (Nihalani et al., 2010). Furthermore, Hassanien (2007)proposes three types of group formation strategy: randomly, where the teacher assigns students to groups, self-selection, where students choose their own groups members, or a mixture of both.He further adds that a group of four or five is more convenient as students have the chance to participate equally in group activities. Other group formation strategies were proposed by Badache (2011) who suggested that groups can be formed alphabetically, by gender, or by birth. He even proposed to form groups by mixing shy and talkative students. Another technique is to bring some pictures that form different categories and give them to students ; then, ask students to look for other students who have the same picturecategory. However, the techniques to use depend on the age of the students.

Section Two: The Use of Group Work

The following description of the goals of group work focuses on the spoken use of the language. There are several reasons for this focus. First, group work is commonly used to get learners to talk to each other. Secondly, much research on group in language learning has focused on spoken activity, partly because this is the most easily observed and recorded. Thirdly, mostteachers use speakingactivities in unprincipledways.

Judith A. Rance Roney (2010, page 21), says that language acquitision research has long supported the benefits of students' interaction, which include useful language practice (Doughty and Pica 1986, among others), student to student scaffolding during challenging tasks (Storch 2001, among others), and the formation of personal agency in academic settings (Morita 2004). Small group collaboration allows learners to follow, to practice pronunciation of words , to structure conversational efficacy in a less formal and less anxiety ridden context. It increases language practice, the ability to appropriately interact in groups.

They are many advantages attached to the use of the group work strategy in EFL classes. First of all, students' responsibility and autonomy are promoted through group work activities. All students work together , share their thoughts, and always want to reach the goal in group activities. In addition, one of their main tasks is being in charge of their group activities each learner is in charge of his own speaking performance, so there is a friendly help and high level of interdependence among them. For Doff (1998), `'Group work and pair work encourage students to share 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''. Secondly, learners' participation, talking time and oral fluency are improved through group.

Finally, students' motivation is improved through group work activities. Group work activity can allow participants to use the language. Moreover, it is one of the most effective way to motivate participants to become more involved. Richards and Lockhart (1994) point out that, students not only play more active roles in the learning process but also get the benefits of sharing ideas with their team members through taking part in groups. Doff (1988, p.141) states that `'students feel less anxiety when they are ....privately than when they are on ...shown 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.'' By dividing the class into groups, a new social context is created whereby learners get the opportunity to share individual cognitions with their group mates and decide on a conclusion based on the sum of these cognitions.

Group work have benefits not only for the learner but also for teachers. First of all, they save time. Group work is a way for a teacher to check students' progress in learning.

Dr. Spencer Kagan (1985) asserts that group work builds an ethnic relation among students, creates mutual understanding between them, and increases one's self-esteem, social skills, and study skills. It teaches students empathy and builds social relationship. It teaches students to be more responsible, creating a sense in them that they make a difference.

In my opinion, we all know that the authors have spoken about the advantages both students and teachers gained through group work. Students practice more the language and are responsible for their learning. They learn through this strategy of learning how to live and behave in a society. Through this they become courageous to speak in front of a public.

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

Chapter Three: Methodology of the Study

3.1Methods

The purpose of carrying out this research work is to describe group work and its significance in improving learners' speaking skills in our secondary schools. To achieve my goal, I have worked on a sample of population and used some methods of investigation. Some of these are questionnaire addressed to EFL students and EFL teachers, research online and class observation.

3.2 Target Population

The target population in this study was focussed on intermediate learners and post-learners because I thought they have already experienced the group work for at least two years and could have something to say about it. I have addressed the questionnaires to learners and teachers.

3.3 Sample Population

The sample population in this study is CEG Sodohomè. In that school, I have shared my questionnaires to one hundred and twenty (120) students of intermediate learners and post learners and to four (04) EFL teachers. I have explained them how to fill in those questionnaires and at the end, I have collected all the shared questionnaires sheets.

3.4 Techniques Used for Data Collection

3.4.1 Questionnaires

The method of investigation used in this research, is based on questionnaire concerning specific points such as the implementation of group work and its strenghts. I havethen elaborated and put yes or no and multiple choicequestionnaire to EFL teachers and EFL students. They had to stick their own choice for each questions. The copy of the actual questionnaire is shown in the annex part.

3-4-2 Class Observation

The most reliable way to have information as far as language teaching is concerned is to be an eye-witness of the way language teaching and learning is conducted in classroom situation. Prior to class observation, I addressed an official letter to the school authorities. I made a negotiation with some English teachers who accepted to be visited willingly in their class. In the same way, I have elaborated with them some planning and also agree done what as to be observed. Indeed, the purpose of my class observationis to:

-Make sure that teachers use various ways to motivate students to speak English language;

My classroom observation helped me to cross check the data I have obtained from the other research instruments. At the end of each class observation, I spent a few minutes to discuss and exchange ideas on issues which were relevant to my research. I then asked them their contribution and recommendations.

3.4.3 Interviews

I have interviewed some students to know the reason why they didn't use the English language or remained silent during group work activities. I have also interviewed some EFL teachers to know their feelings about their students speaking performance. The next chapter will display the analysis and finding of the study.

CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTANTION AND ANALYSIS OF THE RESEARCH FINDINGS

Chapter Four: Presentation and Analysis of the Research Findings

This chapter presents a clear view of the results and analysis of data collected through the questionnaires, classroom observations and interviews.

4.1. Presentation and Analysis of the Results

4.1.1. Presentation and Analysis of the Results to Students' Questionnaire

Willing to know the impacts of group work on EFL learners speaking performance, one hundred and twenty (120) samples of nine (9) items have been distributed to the selected students of CEG Sodohomè. Bellow are tables of data collected from students' questionnaires.

1-Have you ever heard about Group Work Language Learning Technique?

TableA.1: Students' Familiary with Group Work

Options	Participants	Percentages%
Yes	104	87
No	16	13
Total	120	100

In response to whether or not they heard about group work, 87% of students responded positevely and 13% responded negatively. The analysis of this table shows that some of respondents are more likely to have positive belief toward group work.

2- Which strategy do you prefer during speaking activities ?

Figure A1: Students' Preference of Strategy in Oral class

Most of the participants (58%) indicated that they prefer group work to individual or pair work. (30) Respondents (25%) prefer to work individually and only twenty, I mean 17% of the participants prefer to work in pair. The results show that the participants are aware of the importance of the group work strategy.

3-Do you find it difficult to work with your classmates in gruop?

Figure A2: Difficulties encountered by students when working in group.

The majority of the respondents (63%) answered negatively indicating that they do not have any problems or difficulties when working in group with their classmates. This means that those participants like working collaboratively for communication purposes. 37% of them have found difficult to work in group and they do not benefit anything from others.

4-Do you think that Group Work Technique help to improve your oral communication skills ?

Table A2: Students' thought of group work strategy

Options	Participants	Percentages%
Yes	102	85
No	18	15
Total	120	100

The big proportion of students (102) or (85%) responded `'Yes'' whereas18 students (15%) responded `'No''. The analysis shows that a high portion of the participants recognized the importance of group work in enhancing Students' interaction skills as well as their communicative skill.

5-The most important skill that students need to improve most in the process of English learning?

Table A.3: Focus on the most important skill in language learning

Options	Participants	Percentages%
Speaking	78	65
Listening	18	15
Reading	14	12
Writing	10	8
Total	120	100

Most of the rspondents (65%) picked the speaking skill first while 18 students (15%) selected the listening skill, then it is followed by the reading skill (12%) and writing skill (8%).

6-Do you agree that Oral skill is very important in the process of language learning ?

TableA.4 : Importance of Oral skill in the learning of language

Options	Participants	Percentages%
Agree	112	93
Disagree	8	7
Total	120	100

The large proportion of respondents (93%) picked `'Agree'' and only 8 of the sample EFL (7%) selected `'Disagree''. This expressed that learners agree that anyone who wants to learn a language must speak it fluently. They are aware of the importance of communicative ability.

7-Which activity does your teacher use most ?

TableA.5 : Type of activities that teacher used most in EFL classes

Options	Participants	Percentages%
Discussion	84	70
Role-Play	14	12
Language Games	16	13
Others	6	5
Total	120	100

Most of the participants (70%) opted for `'Discussion'' which testifie that the majority of EFL teachers use the same activity in their classes. 16of the respondents (13%) chose `'Language Games'' activity. 14 of the learners (12%) chose `'Role-Play'' and finally 6 of the respondents (5%) opted for `'Others'' activities. So, teachers should use differnet activities to increase students intrinsic motivation..

8-How do you find English communicative ability ?

TableA.6 : Students' perception about English communicative difficulty

Options	Participants	Percentages%
Very Easy	8	7
Easy	30	25
Difficult	64	53
Very Difficult	18	15
Total	120	100

The majority of respondents (53%) found speaking English difficult. This means that those students have low language problems when they participate in the classroom activities. 25% found it easy, while 15% considered it very difficult and finally 7% found it very easy.

9-Why do you feel afraid to speak during the English classes?

Table A.7: Causes for the students inability to speak during English classes.

Options	Participants	Percentages%
For fear of making Grammatical mistakes	16	13
For fear of making pronunciation mistakes	43	36
Lack of Vocabulary	30	25
Lack of self-confidence	17	14
All of the Above	14	12
Total	120	100

36% of the participants chose one problem which is `'For fear of making pronunciation mistakes''. It means that they do not take the floor because of pronunciation mistakes. Then, 25% of the participants attributed their deficiency in vocablary to the lack of practice and added that they do not use the language enough and 14% of them based their response on the psychological problem which explains their lack of self-confidence. Furthermore,13% of the participants supported that they feared of making grammatical mistakes and finally 12% chose `'All of the Above'', which indicates that they are unable to participate because of many weaknesses at different levels : accuracy, pronunciation, vocabulary...etc and they are also affected by some psychological problems like the lack of self-confidence...etc

4.1.2 Presentation and Analysis of the Results Related to Teachers' Questionnaire

The questionnaire submitted to teachers covers eight (8) questions for which they have provided answers by ticking and expressing their opinion.

Table B.1 : Category of teachers

Options	Answers	Percentages%
Permanent teachers	00	00
Teachersundercontract	1	25
Aspirant (Former part-time teachers	3	75
Total	4	100

Table B1 shows that out of the four teachers questioned, there no permanent teacher, only one (25%) is under contract. The majority of them are aspirant(former part-time teachers).

Table B.2 : Teachers' qualification

Options	Answers	Percentages%
Licence	1	25
Maitrise	2	50
BAPES	1	25
CAPES	00	00
Total	4	100

Table B2 shows that no teacher has CAPES, one teacher (25%) has Licence and one teacher (25%) has BAPES as well. Half of the questioned teachers (50%) have Maitrise. So, it can be seen that the majority of them are not pedagogically qualified. This affects the process of teaching and learning.

Table B.3:Teaching experience

Options	Answers	Percentages%
Lessthan five years	00	00
Five years	3	75
Tenyears	00	00
Fifteenyears and more	1	25
Total	4	100

Table B3 reveals that the majority of the questioned teachers (75%) have five years of exxperience whereas on teacher (25%) has fifteen years and more in teaching.

Table B.4 : Teachers' use of group work strategy in their EFL classes

Options	Participants	Percentages%
Yes	4	100
No	00	00
Total	4	100

The results indicate that all of the respondents (100%) use group work in their classes. This testifies that all the EFL teachers are aware of the potential as well as the various benefits of group work.

2- Which of the following techniques do you use most in your classrooms ?

Table B.5: Information about the teachers'use of teaching techniques

Options	Participants	Percentages%
Group work	4	100
Role-Play	00	00
Problem	00	00
Discussion	00	00
Total	4	100

It can be seen here that all the participants (100%) use group work as technique in the process of teaching oral communication competence. It means that they may have their reasons in so far as communication is a social act in which two or more people are involved to exchangeof information, and students feel less motivated and less confident to speak or use the language for interaction.

3-How often do you use group work when teaching in your EFL classes ?

Table B.6 : The frequency of the teachers' use of group work when teaching in EFL class.

Options	Participants	Percentages%
Always	2	50
Often	2	50
Rarely	00	00
Never	00	00
Total	4	100

Two teachers out of four respondents (50%) use always group work in their classes and two respondents (50%) stated that they use often it in their classes as well. It means that all the four EFL teachers are aware of the several benefits of the group work.

4-How many students do you often put in each group ?

Table B.7: The number of students teachers use to form a group.

	Participants	Percentages%
Pairs	00	00
03 - 04	3	75
05 - 06	1	25
More than 06	00	00
Total	4	100

Only one teacher (25%) use group of 05-06 students among those who use group work, and the highest percentage (75%) use small group of 03-04 students.As reported by the rspondents, the reason for using small groups of 03-04 students would be that both types of groups are manageable and can be controlled in terms of students' participation and oral exchange among the members and at the same time they are respecting the preventive measures of corona virus because that dreadful disease has negative impacts on group work.

5-On which basis do you set up the groups in your classes ?

Table B8: Group work formation strategies

Options	Participants	Percentages%
Gender	00	00
Proficiency	00	00
Others	4	100
Total	4	100

All of the selected teachers (100%) declared that they do not consider sex and proficiency factors while setting up groups. It testifies that their students are free to choose their group and no restriction was imposed on them. The objective of teachers in forming groups is to establish an anxiety free or a relaxed atmosphere so that members or mates would feel free and comfortable, thus more ready to learn together.

6-Do you think that group work technique improves learners' oral proficiency ?

FigureB.1 : Teachers' perception about the significance of group work on the improvement of students' oral proficiency.

It revealed that while three respondents out of four (75%) stated that group work improves students' oral proficiency. Only one EFL teacher (25%) responded negatively.

7-Where do you find difficult in the teaching of the speaking skill ?

Table B.9: The most difficult elements needed in the teaching of speaking ability.

Options	Participants	Percentages%
Grammar	00	00
Pronunciation	3	75
Vocabulary	1	25
Sentence Structures	00	00
Total	4	100

The results indicated that three respondents (75%) stated that they have difficult in teaching of `'Pronunciation'' and only one (25%) among them stated that he has difficult in teaching of `'Vocabulary''. No one of them stated `'Grammar'' and `'Sentence Structures''.

8-How do you motivate your students to communicate orally in language class ?

Students' lack of motivation for developing communicative competence was also referred to as a significant constraint for the effective use of English in groups. It is necessary for teachers to motivate their learners so as to bring them to use the target language. All of the participants have differents opinions on the motivation of the students to communicate orally in language class.

The first teacher mentioned that he motivates students through songs, encouragements and congratulations. The second one stated that he motivates them through discussions, role-play, brainstorming activities, story telling and picture descriptions. The third one argued that he motivates his students by learning them how to sing English songs. He rewards those who speak English fluently and orally. After that, he makes them role play dialogues and finally he helps them to discuss on an important and interesting topic in order to bring them to improve their speaking capicity. The last one revealed that he demonstrates to learners that English language is nowadays the Langua-Franca : a language spoken all over the world. Consequently a person who can not speak English language will find difficult to travel abroad, to do business with foreigners...etc. He often hand over sweets or piece of chalk to the learners who try their best in English speaking. Finally, he tries to find ways to make them use only English language to communicate or exchange during group work activity.

4.2 The Analysis of Class Observations and Interviews

4.2.1 Results from Class Observations

During my research, I have chosen class observation as one of my data collection techniques. For the first time that I have entered in the EFL class of CEG Sodohomè, I noticed that students are not sitting in group but they are sitting down in pair. During the course, after individual work, the teacher invited the learners to work in pair. At the end of the lecture, I asked him the reason why he chose pair work instead of group work. He told me that he used it because of coronavirus. This dreadful disease has negative impact on group work activities. After explaining him my topic, he told me that from now on he will tell them to work in the group of four students in facing themselves without forgetting the preventive measures of coronavirus in order to help me to collect the data.

While I observed the group work activity, my general observation is the use of french language and their native language which is fongbé. Some students were silent and even some among them spoke of others things which were not related to the task given by the teacher. There is a lot of noise in the class. Some learners take the time of group work as distraction moment and didn't respect the time given by the teacher. Very few of them are really worked in the group and used the target language.

I have asked to teachers who I followed to allow me to explain to the learners my research work topic. After allowing me, I took my time to explain them how important group work is, the way it can help them to use the English language. I told them that group work can improve their speaking ability if all of them participate it well. I used to add that: It is strictly forbidden to speak french and native language in an EFL class during group work activity.

After my explanation, I noticed that some students tried to used the target language particulary in post learners classes but very few of intermediate learners used the English language during group work activity. Most of them spoke both french and fongbé languages during group work activity.

Despite the efforts of the teachers to remind them the useful of group work on their speaking capacity, some learners remain silent or speak others languages during group work activity.

4.2.2 Results from Interviews

Apart from the above methods the system of interview which is face to face dialogue with learners was used. My first question with learners that interviewed was about the using of group work in their class and the second question dealt with their preference among individual work, pair work and group work. All of them told me that their teachers told them to work in group and most of them prefer to work in group. My third question was to know if group work can impact students' speaking ability. Most of them believe that working in group improves their speaking performance. My fourth question was to know if group work is necessary in language learning. By answering they recognize that group work is necessary in the process of language learning. My last question to the students was to know the reasons why they do not speak English during the English class. The majority of the learners indicates that they are unable to participate because of many weaknesses at different levels: accuracy, pronunciation, vocabulary... and they are also affected by some psychological problems like the lack of self-confidence.

In addition, I have also interviewed the teachers. My interviews with them were to check if they use group work strategy in their classes and to know if according to them group work can improve students' speaking performance. They answer that they use often group work strategy in their classes. They added that group work is very necessary in the process of teaching speaking activities in an EFL class because it improves students speaking ability. One of the teachers said that: «Leaners have seen that group work creates natural real-life interactions in which they have logical reasons for listening to one another, asking question, clarifying issues and helping each other.»

4.4Discussion of the Findings

At this stage, based on the analyses from the presentation of the the finding mostly the questionnaire, the classroom observation and the interview, the interpretation of the findings were made by categorizing the findings related to each research question.

4.4.1 The effectiveness of group work technique on the development of students' speaking ability

We have noticed that is necessary for EFL teachers to explain students the importance of group work activity. They should tell them how it can help them on the development of their speaking ability. Most of the students (93%) agree that group work has the potentials for helping learners to improve their speaking skills. In an interviews a teacher said: «Leaners have seen that group work creates natural real-life interactions in which they have logical reasons for listening to one another, asking question, clarifying issues and helping each other.» These interactions increase the amount of student talk and participation in the classroom. Teacher must make students on task and will give them advice to focus more on the activity because group work can improve their speaking. During group work activity, as an ideal EFL teacher has to motivate all the members of the group to take the floor. An important aim of group work is to encourage fluency in language. In language classes, group work is a strategy that enables students to discuss issues or to engage in joint activities with other students in a less threatening environment (Harmer, 1991). Particularly in EFL classrooms, grouping is said to be an effective method of teaching for several reasons; for instance, it maximizes the time that students can speak the target language. In addition, it minimizes the time that students spend listening to other students interacting with the teacher, furthermore, it avoids the anxiety that hinders some language learners from speaking and interacting with the teracher in front of the whole class; and it gives the teacher more opportunities to discuss with students the structure of the task (Foster, 1998).

4.4.2 Activities used to teach speaking in group work context

My research showed that most of EFL teacher (70%) used the same activity (discussion) in their classes to teach speaking in group work context. They recognized the benefits of using this study concerning the potentials of using group work in improving students' communicative skills are relevant. Teachers need to encourage and motivate their students to practise the language inside the classroom so as to be good English speakers. Teachers must promote group work and motivational activities. So, teachers should use different activities to increase student's motivation to work together.

Oral communication activities are conducted with group work to stimilate learners' interest and to defeat their feeling of shyness and fear, as they are helpful in giving each learner, especially for overcrowded classes, the chance to participate within the group. They are conducted by dividing the students into groups, with a leader for each group and then give them the task. After a limited period of time, all learners meet again and debate what they found as results.

Teacher organizes his learners in the classroom according to two shapes, the first one is that learners sit roundly to see each other and to ease their contributions; and the second one is that learners are put into a group of two learners, and ask them to converse between each other one asks and the other one replies. As he can help students with vocabulary and expression necessary for the exercises as well as offering students the chance to contribute orally through paying the students' attention to ask questions that need long answers, as he must correct just students' errors that cause misunderstanding among them.

Thombury (2008) suggested three different stages that learners go through when they are learning to speak. The first stage is awareness. Awareness means that students need to be aware of the characteristics of the language under study. Appropriation makes up the second stage. Appropriation is the `'integration'' of the language characteristics into the students' existing knowledge. The last stage has to do with autonomy (usually referred to as automaticity). When students are able to use the new language on their own they are said to be autonomous.

According to Thombury (2008), Theorists have designed several activities for all the stages mentioned above in order for an effective teaching to take place. All these activities urge the students to participate since they bring interest into the classroom and, thus endeavour motivation.

When implemented well, group work technique encourages achievement, student discussion, active learning, student confidence, and motivation. The skills students develop while collaborating with others are different from the skills they develop while working independently. As more business organize employees into teams and task forces, the skills necessary to be a `'team player'' (e.g., verbalizing and justifying ideads, handling conflicts, collaboring, building consensus, and disagreeing politely) are becoming more and valuable and useful. It gives authentic experiences that will help them to be successful in their future careers as well.

4.4.3 Achievement in communicative competence through group work

Results of class observation and Table A.6 reveal that group work improves students' oral proficiency. One of the major finding that I have also seen refers to the negative effects and difficulties that EFL learners perceived in group work. The Table A.7 showed the causes for the students inability to speak during English classes. These related mostly to taking floor during group work activity. They are afraid to speak during group work activity some are fear of making grammatical and pronunciation mistakes while others said that they do not have a lot of vocabulary and also lack of self-confidence.

Through my class observation and interviews, I realized that students do not really work in group today because their teachers prefer to use only individual work or pair work instead of group work. For them, coronavirus has negative impact on group work that is why with the arrival of the coronavirus there's no longer group work at school. School authorities suspended group work in our secondary school at this time of pandemic and have instructed teachers to use only individual work to be able to respect the government's measures of one-meter distancing (also known as physical or social distancing) in order to fight against the spread of the virus. All this is a problem for learners and teachers. Low-level learners can no longer benefit from the advantages of group work. Teachers make so much efforts to enable all learners to have the same understanding what is not easy.

CHAPTER FIVE: SUGGESTIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION

Chapter Five: Suggestion and Recommendations

This chapter aims at drawing the attention of EFL program designers, teachers and students on some solutions that can help ease group work and therefore enhance collaborative skill in our EFL students' classroom.

5.1 Suggestions

5.1.1 Suggestions toStudents

I suggest that before any group work, teachers should tell students exactly what type of behaviours is expected. They might want to consider having students sign behaviour contacts before starting group work. I wish we would sensitize students to cultivate tolerance and forgiveness. We should tell to the strong students the advantages they will gain when explaining to their mates what they understand on the activity.

5.1.2 Suggestions to Teachers

To enhance collaborative work in our secondary schools, I suggest that EFL teachers should play the role of monitor. They will circulate in the class and when they notice any conflicts or bad behaviour, he should interve. The teacher should explain the importance of listening to everyone in the group.

As far as the results of my survey are concerned, I suggest that for students' group, teachers should take a great interest in heregeneous group which consists in mixing weak and strong students so that the members with high proficiency can support the learners with lower proficiency. I wish teachers should group together learners who do not share the same native language and they will have no other choice but to use only English language to accomplish a task. Teachers should motivate their learners so as to perùit them to use the target language in the classroom and even out.

5.2. Recommendations

5.2.1 Recommendations to the government

They should organize in-service training for teachers. By so doing teachers can do well their job and improve their knowledge about group work on EFL learners' speaking performance.

5.2.2 Recommendations to the school authorities

They should encourage teachers to do well their job so as to reach the objectives of the national school programs, and provide teachers with the appropriate books for English language teaching and learning and for group work on EFL learners' speaking performance.

5.2.1Recommendations to Teachers

Findings the potential implication of group work activities on the individual performance in speaking assessment is the main objective of the current study. Thus, for the effectiveness of this task, some recommendations must be taken into account.

Teachers should be provided with the necessary resources and support structures for effective implementation, which consists of teacher training and support system such as class observation and feedback. Teachers should often practice group work sections with their students. Teachers have to let students work in group to find a solution of the given problem instead of spoon-feeding them. Much speaking opportunities should be created to learners. Teachers must create learning motivation to learners. They should always correct the students' answers positively when need be and with encouragement.Teachers have to worry about individual problem of learners and help them in a way or in another to overcome these problems. Teachers must be simple and flexible. Teachers ought to create a good learning atmosphere

5.2.4 Recommendations to Learners

Like teachers, learners have a racetrack of recommendation to follow in order to reach the common goal of pacticing group work activity. Below is a recommendation racetrack to be followed by students to reach their learning goal. They have to concentrate themselves and consider more the critical aspect of the language by knowing that the goal of teaching and learning such language is to be able to speak it.Learners should attend regularly English sections and show motivation to the subject. More emphasis must be put on speaking skill than writing.They must speak English in classroom and even out. Learners must be free while answering the given question and not be afraid of making mistakes in the process of learning the foreign language

Conclusion

The use of group work in classroom activities has shown its usefulness in many fields of education. Many studies reported better learning and improved level of understanding, while others found group work to be useful in teaching communicative skills.The present study has dealt with the relationship that exists between group work and its effect on the development of students' oral production. Its main focus was to investigate about whether the practice of group work technique in language learning classes can encourage or motivate EFL students to perform well in language classroom context.The implementation of group work' strategies and techniques on the field of language learning isvery important and useful for the promotion of students' participation in theEFL class for it creating a situation where students are expected to assist peers, to discuss and exchange ideas with each other.

Focusing on the elements analyzed, the majority of the students express their willingness to interact with peers so as to develop their communicative skill. Teachers, as for them, agreed upon the idea that group work is very motivating technique that helps the learners to develop their communicative performance. The obtained data confirmed that there is a close correlation between group work technique and the development of students' speaking ability. It was also revealed that learners must be forced to interact with peers in order to master the art of talking fluently which seems to be difficult in the process of EFL learning, since learners who keep always silent in the classroom will feel lack of words when they find themselves in situations that require talking for interaction.

Group work helps students and teachers to bridge the gap between input and output. In other words, students show what they have learned by playing and using language with peers. They also have the chance to have a small piece of reality in their classes by negotiating, turn-taking and suggesting.

REFERENCE LIST

Reference List

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Annex Pages

Question4. Do you think that Group work helps to improve your Speaking performance ?

Question5. What is the most Imortant skill that Students Need to Improve Most in the process of English Learning ?

Question6. Do you agree that Speaking performance is very important in the Process of Language Learning ?

Experience year :................................................
School :.........................................................

Question1. Have you ever used Group Work Language Learning Technique in your classes ?

Question2. Which of the Following Techniqus do you use most in your Classrooms ?

Question 6. Do you think that Group Work Technique improves Learners' Speaking performance ?

Question 8. How do you motivate your Students to Communicate Orrally in English class ?

.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

2- Which strategy do you prefer between individual work, pair work, and groipwork ?