GROUP-WORK ACTIVITIES FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS TO PROMOTE SPEAKING SKILLS IN EFL CLASSROOMS AT DONG NAI TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

By Trinh Vu Thanh Tuyen, Le Thi Hong Tuyen, Nguyen Anh Thu, Tran Nhat Truong
DOI: 10.37550/tdmu.EJS/2024.03.590

English language proficiency is crucial for academic and professional success, with effective communication skills playing a pivotal role. Collaborative teaching methods, particularly group work, can significantly enhance students' creativity, evaluation, synthesis, analysis, and comparison, as well as problem-solving, essential for developing collaborative abilities. Furthermore, non-English major students often struggle to develop their speaking skills due to limited practice opportunities. This study addresses this challenge by implementing group-work activities in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. A mixed-methods approach was used to gather data including quantitative data collected through a questionnaire administered to 71 non-major students at Dong Nai Technology University and qualitative data came from semi-structured interviews. The results showed that group work significantly improved students' fluency, coherence, and confidence. Students reported increased motivation and engagement in speaking activities. These findings suggest that group-work activities effectively enhance speaking skills for non-English major students.