Factors influencing group work of students in learning English as a foreign language (EFL): A case study at a Vietnamese university

Le Thi Nhan Duyen * and Nguyen Buu Huan

* Corresponding author (duyenctump@gmail.com)

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Received: 23 Aug 2016
Revised: 20 Sep 2016
Accepted: 29 Jul 2017
Published: 31 Jul 2017
DOI: 10.22144/ctu.jen.2017.021
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Le, T. N. D., & Nguyen, B. H. (2017). Factors influencing group work of students in learning English as a foreign language (EFL): A case study at a Vietnamese university. CTU Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development , (06), 9-16. https://doi.org/10.22144/ctu.jen.2017.021
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No. 06 (2017)

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Abstract

Group work has been largely used as an effective teaching strategy in English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom contexts to develop students’ communicative proficiency in English. Although several studies on group work examined  EFL teaching at universities in Viet Nam and in the world,  the question as to what factors influence EFL students’ group work in classroom in the Mekong Delta remains unanswered.  This paper therefore reports on a case study at a university in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, which explores the factors that influence EFL students’ group work in classroom contexts as well as the difficulties students encountered in group work activities. Data were collected from the questionnaire surveys and interviews. The findings showed that four factors influencing students’ group work in class include classroom context, student interactions, the role of the teacher and the tasks. Of the four factors, student interaction was ranked the most important factor. Moreover, challenges while working in groups were reported as students’ mixed abilities, difference in viewpoints, use of Vietnamese during discussion, time limitation and topic difficulty levels. 
Keywords: Communicative activities, group work, interaction, learning process, role of the teacher

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