i

ii

Declaration

I declare that this thesis entitled “ Interaction Patterns of Spoken Discourse In managing A Group Discussion Among Pre-University Students “ is the result of my own research except as cited in the references. The thesis has not been accepted for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature of any other degree.

Signature : .................................................... Name : .................................................... Date : ....................................................

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To my beloved mother and father

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to take this opportunity to express my love and appreciation to my beloved parents, family members and friends who have supported me emotionally and morally and endured my absence in family and friendly outings and gatherings throughout the two years of my studies. I also like to acknowledge my sister, Doris Ang and my brother-in-law, Albert Hor for helping me financially to pursue my master’s programme in UTM. My niece, Andrea and her husband Cheong for helping with the technical part of this thesis.

I would like to thank my fellow course members ,especially my study group members Mani a/l A.S. Sockalingam, Maizatul Bahiyah binti Mohd Ali and Faridah binti Adam Khong who have been there for me throughout my studies and the many hours we put in our group or pair assignments. The laughter and tears, the disagreements and agreements and more importantly the friendship we have made along our journey of the academia world.

In addition, a thank you to my supervisor Dr Abdul Halim Abdul Raof who guided me in my thesis writing and for his understanding and patience. Not forgetting my other lecturers who have also taught and enlightened me in this master’s programme and my course coordinator for her care and concern.

Finally, to my school administrators, teachers, and students of SMK Seri Mahkota, Umbai, Melaka for their support and understanding for the past two years.

v

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the spoken interaction patterns of

pre-university students in Malaysia. Another aim was to find out whether students of

different language proficiency when grouped together can display more interaction

patterns of their spoken discourse in managing a group discussion compared to

students with the same language proficiency. The qualitative method was applied.

The study identified the students pre-test and post-test spoken interaction patterns

while managing a group discussion. An interaction pattern frequency table was used

to identify the students’ spoken discourse during the pre-test and post-test sessions. A

written survey was carried out by the respondents after the post-test. In addition, an

observation form was used to record the participants’ progress during the pre-test and

post-test sessions while viewing the recorded video. The result of the study indicated

that during pre-test session and post-test session, the number of interaction patterns

of spoken discourse increased for both groups in the post-test session as compared to

the pre-test session. Furthermore, it was found that irrespective of language

proficiency levels, the participants from both groups showed similar number of

interaction patterns in their spoken discourse while managing a group discussion.

The principal conclusion was pre-university students displayed more interaction

patterns irrespective of their language proficiency level after they went through a

period of treatment.

vi

ABSTRAK

Tujuan kajian ini ialah untuk menyelidik pola interaksi pertuturan pelajar-

pelajar pra-universiti di Malaysia. Matlamat berikut ialah untuk mengetahui sama

ada pelajar-pelajar dengan kefasihan bahasa yang berlainan bila dikumpulkan dalam

satu kumpulan dapat mempamerkan lebih banyak pola interaksi pertuturan apabila

mengendalikan perbincangan berkumpulan berbanding dengan pelajar-pelajar yang

mempunyai kefasihan bahasa yang sama. Kaedah kualitative digunakan semasa

kajian ini dilakukan. Pengajian ini mengenalpasti sebelum ujian dan selepas ujian

pola pertuturan pelajar-pelajar semasa mengendalikan perbincangan berkumpulan.

Satu borang pola interaksi pertuturan digunakan untuk mengenalpasti pola pertuturan

sebelum ujian dan selepas ujian pelajar-pelajar pra-universiti. Satu tinjauan secara

penulisan dijawab oleh kesemua pelajar dalam dua kumpulan tersebut selepas sesi

ujian. Tambahan satu borang pemerhatian digunakan oleh pemerhati untuk

merekodkan penglibatan peserta-peserta semasa sesi sebelum ujian dan sesi selepas

ujian semasa menonton rakaman video kedua-dua kumpulan semasa sesi sebelum

ujian dan selepas ujian. Keputusan daripada kajian menunjukkan sebelum ujian dan

selepas ujian, bilangan pola interaksi pertuturan meningkat untuk kedua-dua

kumpulan bagi sesi selepas ujian berbanding dengan sebelum ujian. Lagipun, tidak

kira tahap kefasihan bahasa, kesemua peserta dalam dua kumpulan tersebut

menunjukkan bilangan pola pertuturan yang sama semasa mengendalikan

perbincangan berkumpulan. Akhir kata pelajar-pelajar pra-universiti mempamerkan

pola interaksi pertuturan yang lebih tidak mengambil kira tahap kefasihan selepas

mereka menjalani satu jangkamasa pemerhatian .

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

DECLARATION ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv

ABSTRACT v

ABSTRAK vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

LIST OF TABLES ix

LIST OF APPENDICES x

1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Background of the Study 3 1.3 Statement of Problem 5 1.4 Purpose of Study 6 1.5 Objectives of Study 6 1.6 Research Questions 7 1.7 Significant of Study 7 1.8 Scope of Study 9 1.9 Definition of Key Terms 9

1.9.1 Interaction 9 1.9.2 Spoken Discourse 10 1.9.3 Discourse Analysis 10 1.9.4 Pre-university students 11 1.9.5 Group Discussion 11 1.9.6 Language proficiency 11 1.9.7 Treatment 12

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction 13 2.2 Development of Speaking Research 13

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2.3 Critical Review of Related Study 17 2.3.1 Speech Acts 17 2.3.2 Cooperative Language Learning 18 2.3.3 Routinised Lexical Phrases 19 2.3.4 Grouping in language classroom 20 2.3.5 Interaction Strategy Training 20

2.4 Summary of findings of Previous Studies 21 2.5 Conclusion 21

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction 22 3.2 Research Context 22 3.3 Participants of the Study 23 3.4 Research Instrument 24 3.5 Data Collection Procedure 25 3.6 Data Transcription 27 3.7 Data Analysis 27

4 RESULTS AND FINDINGS 4.1 Introduction 29 4.2 Existing interaction patterns of group for

pre-test session and post-test session 29 4.2.1 Summary 33

4.3 Relationship between language proficiency and interaction patterns 34

4.3.1 Summary 35 4.4 Participants’ feedback from written survey 36

4.4.1 Summary 39 4.5 Conclusion 40

5 CONCLUSION

5.1 Introduction 41 5.2 Summary of Study 41 5.3 Summary of Findings 42

5.3.1 Existing interaction patterns 42 5.3.2 Relationship between language proficiency

and interaction patterns 43 5.3.3 Participants’ feedback 44

5.4 Implication of Study 45 5.5 Limitation of Study 46 5.6 Future Research 46 5.7 Conclusion 47

REFERENCE 48

ix

LIST OF TABLES

NO. TITLE PAGE

4.1 Pre-test session of Group 1: Frequency of Interaction Pattern 30

4.2 Pre-test session of Group 2: Frequency of Interaction Pattern 31

4.3 Post-test session of Group 1: Frequency of Interaction Pattern 32

4.4 Post-test session of Group 2: Frequency of Interaction Pattern 33

4.5 Comparison of pre-test session between Group 1 and Group 2

Frequency of Interaction Pattern 34

4.6 Comparison of post-test session between Group 1 and Group 2

Frequency of Interaction Pattern 35

4.7 Survey responses with frequency and recurrent idea or theme 37

x

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX TITLE PAGE

A Interaction Pattern Frequency Table 51

B Survey Question 52

C How Are The Participants Doing? 53

D Transcript of Group 1: Pre-test Session 54

E Transcript of Group 1: Post-test Session 58

F Transcript of Group 2: Pre-test Session 61

G Transcript of Group 2: Post-test Session 63

1

INTERACTION PATTERNS OF SPOKEN DISCOURSE IN MANAGING A

GROUP

DISCUSSION AMONG PRE-UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

ANG LEE HOCK

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

2

INTERACTION PATTERNS OF SPOKEN DISCOURSE IN MANAGING A

GROUP

DISCUSSION AMONG PRE-UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

ANG LEE HOCK

A project report submitted in partial fulfilment of the

requirements for the award of the degree of

Master of Education (TESL)

Faculty of Education

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

JANUARY 2013

3

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

In 1999 the Malaysian University English Test( MUET) was

introduced to measure pre-university students’ language

proficiency. One objective of the test is to prepare these students to

face various academic challenges through the development of critical

thinking and the competent use of the four main language skills. It

also seeks to enhance students’ communicative competence to a level

appropriate for tertiary education. The aim of the test seeks to

consolidate and enhance the English language ability of pre-university

students to enable them to perform effectively in their academic

pursuit at tertiary level, which is in line with the aspirations of the

National Education philosophy (Curriculum Specification,1999).

In the MUET Test Specification for speaking, the following

acts like initiating, turn-taking, interrupting, prompting, negotiating

and closing are used in managing a discussion (Curriculum

Specification 1999). As such, the ability for students to actively

participate in interactions with others is a crucial skill. In a spoken

interaction, two or more people talk to each other about things that are

mutually interesting and relevant in a situation. MUET students are

assessed on their ability to manage a group discussion on a wide

range of contemporary issues.

In a speaking task, students are required to determine the

content of the message and the manner of the discussion. According to

Brown and Yule (1983) there are two main functions of language:

transactional function and interactional function. According to

Chitravellu et al. (1995) while transactional function stresses on

2

conveying information which is message – oriented, interactional

function focuses on maintaining good social relationship.

Brown et al (1984) characterise speech events into two:

namely, chatting and informational-related talk. Here, chatting is

defined as the exchange of amicable conversational turns with another

speaker. Its primary purpose is to maintain good social contact. On the

other end of Brown et al ‘s (1984) dimension of kinds of talk is

information related talk which aims at transferring information on a

particular topic. The most important role of information-related talk

is getting the message across and confirming the listener has

understood it.

Moreover, to be able to interact effectively, the rules of

interaction like establishing common ground like topic nomination,

maintenance and termination should be observed by speakers.

Furthermore, negotiation, clarification or comprehension checks, turn-

taking help the speakers reach their aim while interacting with one

another. As such, teachers can assist these students to attain the

required skills to negotiate meaning that can enable them to provide

feedback, ask for clarification and maintain a topic. These skills can

ensure sufficient interaction and assist in speakers’ comprehension

through a continuous chain of listening and responding (Brown,

2001).

To ensure effective and efficient conversations, students are

required to make their message understood, to receive and understand

the intended message sent and assert some control over the flow of

communication (Blair,1993). But even with the latest communicative

approaches students generally still grapple with their oral

communication. Inevitably, second language teachers can come up

with practical ways to teach speaking in the classroom situation by

analysing and identifying patterns that can promote or hinder learners

to practise the target language effectively (Blair, 1993).

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1.2 Background of the Study

English has become the most essential language in the world.

Almost everyone from different parts of the world use it to

communicate be it in commerce, education or science and technology.

According to Julian Edge (2006) since British trade, followed by

colonial and imperial expansion, English spread around the world.

Then the military and economic dominance of the United States of

America has confirmed English as the international language of

present historical period. As a result, English serves for many times

many more people as a barrier between themselves and some fields

of interest, many people in their own countries will not be able to

become doctors, for example if they cannot learn enough English.

In the international arena, English speaking ability is being

able to participate in the wider world of work. The ability to carry out

a conversation in the language can be seen as having the competence

to speak in English. However, the emphasis is not only on linguistic

competence of the language but the development of their

communicative ability.

In acquiring the speaking skill, students are faced with a

paramount of problems. One perennial problem is that their native

language hinders their foreign language acquisition. Another factor is

because of the lack of practice in using the second language in their

daily conversation. They are also inhibited sometimes by their own

culture to express themselves or basically too shy or afraid to take part

in a conversation. The lack of motivation from the school

administrators, friends, non- English language teachers and parents

can also cause problems for these learners to improve their speaking

skill by practising certain communicative strategies like observing

social conventions in interacting like greetings, leave-taking and turn-

taking or even managing a discussion.

4

Pre-university students in Malaysia are required to sit for their

MUET (Malaysia University English Test) before continuing their

studies in a local university. As such, in this language proficiency

examination, speaking skill is one component that is assessed. In this

assessment, candidates are required to do two speaking tasks. The first

is the individual task while the second is the group task.

Managing a discussion is an imperative speaking skill for

these pre-university students since they will use this skill to carry out

academic conversations, discussions and presentations not only during

their pre-university period but also when they commence their

tertiary level. In doing such a task, it cannot be denied that they must

acquire various interaction patterns in their spoken discourse to carry

out effective and efficient discussions.

According to Brown and Yule (1983) there are four different

types of informational talk: descriptive, instruction, storytelling and

opinion-expressing justification. Each of the types follows its own

routines of organising information for easy comprehension, and with

practice learners can improve their control of these routines and thus

increase their language-use skills.

It is the writer’s contention to do a study on interaction patterns of pre-university students’ spoken discourse in managing a discussion in a semi-rural school.

5

1.3 Statement of Problem

For Nunan (1991) success in speaking is measured by the

ability to carry out a conversation in the (target) language.

Furthermore, Swain (1985) stated that ‘we learn to speak by

speaking’. According to Nunan (1991) to be able to carry out a

speaking task, learners have to have the receptive skill of

understanding the language code or rules and have the expressive

skills to enable them to share thoughts, ideas, and feelings.

According to Theodore Huebner (1960) language is essentially

speech, and speech is basically communication by sounds. He further

adds on by stating that speaking is a skill used by someone in a daily

life communication whether at school or outside. The skill is acquired

by much repetition and it is more a neuromuscular and not an

intellectual process. It consists of competence in sending and

receiving messages. As such, it can be inferred that speaking is

expressing ideas, opinions, or feelings to others by using sounds of

articulation in order to inform for example that can be learnt using

some teaching-learning methodologies.

In the Malaysian classroom context , the majority of pre-

university students do not have the intended level of proficiency in

speaking. Many teachers at SPM level, allocate more time in reading

and writing in classroom practices. Furthermore, the culture of the

school where the first language or mother tongue is widely used

among the predominantly Malay student population has hindered the

use of English among students. Inevitably, students in lower six

indicate speaking as a predominant problem in language learning for

their MUET class since they are required to actively engage in

successful interactions with their peers during a discussion. As

interaction is concerned with spontaneous or immediate type of

communication, they cannot cope or carry out such a spoken activity

effectively. Besides, many of these students, if not all, come from

rural or semi-rural backgrounds and their exposure to spoken

6

discourse is minimal or negligible at homes or outside their MUET

classroom.

This has brought about the interest to investigate existing

interaction patterns of eight participants in a lower six classroom

using discourse analysis by analysing the interaction patterns of the

students’ spoken discourse and at the same time look at the

conversational difficulties faced by these students to offset or arrest

the problems of lexical expression used in a discussion. Therefore, for

this study, the researcher will adopt a certain teaching approach of

teaching group interaction skills after the pre-test. The researcher

would then analyse the interaction patterns of pre-university

students and the analysis would focus on the features of the spoken

discourse in managing a discussion in order to bridge the gap of the

problem of ineffective interaction among pre-university students in a

semi-rural setting.

1.4 Purpose of Study

The purpose of the study is to identify the existing pre-

university students’ interaction patterns in understanding problems

faced by students in a discussion. The understanding of the interaction

patterns would assist ESL teachers and students in the teaching and

learning of the speaking skill. It also ensures effective discussion

particularly in preparation of their MUET examination.

1.5 Objectives of Study

In this study, the researcher is primarily interested in

investigating the interaction patterns of students’ discussion in a

MUET speaking task. The study would also seek explanation as to

7

why the majority of the students fail to speak effectively in a

discussion. The study is carried out to meet the following objectives:

1. To determine the existing interaction patterns of pre-university

students’ spoken discourse in managing a group discussion.

2. To identify whether students with different language proficiency

when grouped together can display more interaction patterns of

their spoken discourse in managing a group discussions compared

to students with the same language proficiency.

1.6 Research Questions

The study attempts to seek answers to the following research

questions:

1. What are the existing patterns of interaction used by pre-university

students in managing a group discussion?

2. What is the relationship between language proficiency and

interaction patterns?

1.7 Significance of Study

This study is imperative to the educational field particularly

TESL as it can provide a dimension in the application of discourse

analysis in an ESL classroom. In the case of the Malaysian classroom

scenario, the shift of language learning has been from form to use. As

such, the target language is taught using the communicative language

8

teaching where fluency is emphasised rather than accuracy in But

structuralism. With this shift, students seemed to receive little benefit

from it in terms of speaking skill. To make matters worse, in most

Malaysian schools, English is taught as a Foreign language (EFL)

context rather than English as a Second language (ESL) context.

Students do not see the relevance of English for communication and

this has resulted in the low level of spoken English proficiency.

Spoken English was chosen for the study because it is

arguably the most important among the four language skills in an

increasing globalised world that we live in today. Its importance is

evident from the grouses that Malaysians have of the skill most

students have when they want to apply for a job. One of the grouses is

carried by a local newspaper (The Sun, July 2012, p.8) which reads,

“Dissatisfaction with the level of spoken English in Malaysia has

come to a boil, and every day a newspaper headline spotlights another

aspect of the problem.” Again this can be seen from the result of an

online vote, carried out by the BBC, asking English teachers to

indicate what they think is the most important aspect of Business

English. The result seems to support our view on the growing

importance of English today. From the total of 1151 votes, social

English obtained 9.6% votes, writing business letters 14.2% votes,

business vocabulary 15.7% votes, listening skills 25.5% votes and

finally speaking skills obtained the highest votes, i.e. 34.9% (BBC

Learning English for Teachers).

As a result, it is significant to the researcher to investigate

reasons why pre-university students are weak in speaking and why

these students fail to apply the communicative skills effectively in

their speech performance in discussions. In addition, the study will

provide a better understanding of pre-university students’ interaction

patterns as a form of spoken discourse. The findings will be able to

give insights and useful input for the MUET teacher in helping these

students be better while managing a group discussion.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The coverage of this study would include two groups of Lower

Six students of a semi-rural school. Each group would comprise four

candidates. The first group would have four candidates of the same

grade in their SPM 1119 English language result while the other

group would have two candidates of the same grade like the previous

group and two other candidates with a lower grade in their SPM

1119 English language. The SPM1119 English language result is

taken as a standard yardstick since this is an indication of a Malaysian

student’s English language proficiency. These students will do a pre-

test on a MUET speaking question. After a one-month duration of

teaching them the interaction patterns of spoken discourse in

managing a discussion, the same batch of students will be tested

again using the same speaking question. The teaching of interaction

patterns would be done in classroom during MUET classes and the

speaking activity (pre and post) would be video-taped.

1.9 Definition of Key Terms

1.9.1 Interaction

Interactions are defined by Brown (2001) as the collaborative

exchange of thoughts, feelings or ideas between two or more people

resulting in a reciprocal effect on one another. For this study, there is

a need to develop effective interaction in managing a discussion

among pre-university students. By analysing the existing patterns of

interactions, the teachers can help students in achieving the task of

communicating more effectively.

10

1.9.2 Spoken Discourse

Discourse can be defined as a pattern of verbal behaviour but,

at the same time, it can be viewed as a verbal form of social

behaviour, an instance communicative language use, and the process

of unfolding an idea into a text (Brown & Yule, 1983; Cook, 1989;

Nunan, 1993).

1.9.3 Discourse Analysis

Discourse analysis is the study of language that is in use and in

context (McCarthy,1991). It sets the linguistic event in a

communicative context with the aim of explaining and understanding

the production and reception of texts. Another definition is it is the

study of how sentences in spoken and written language form larger

meaningful units such as paragraphs, conversations, interviews and

the like.(Richard, Platt, and Weber, 1985). It is concerned with

linguistic analysis beyond the sentence. In Discourse Analysis ,

Sinclair and Coulthard (1975) described it as a very frequent

‘exchange’ which consists of three ‘moves’, the opening move or

initiation, the answering move or response and the follow-up move.

For this study, the analysis of the students’ discussion will take

into account the following aspects such as existing interaction

patterns found in their spoken discourse and the relationship between

language proficiency and interaction patterns before and after

students have undergone a treatment.

11

1.9.4 Pre-university students

Pre-university students in Malaysia are students pursuing their

studies in form six to sit for their STPM (Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan

Malaysia) before pursuing their first degree in a university. These

students would also be sitting for their MUET as a criteria to enter a

local university. In this English test, students would be required to do

two speaking tasks. One of the tasks is managing a group discussion.

1.9.5 Group Discussion

Based on MUET perspective, one of the two speaking tasks is

group discussion. In a group of four candidates, a group discussion

would commence after individual presentation has taken place. The

candidates would have to agree or disagree with the four options

given and come to a conclusion as to which of the four options is the

best.

1.9.6 Language proficiency

Language proficiency is a measurement of how well an

individual has mastered a language. Proficiency is measured in terms

of receptive and expressive language skills, syntax, vocabulary,

semantics, and other areas that demonstrate language abilities. There

are four domains to language proficiency: reading, writing, speaking,

and listening.

For this study the 1119 English language result would be the

language proficiency of the students participating in the study be used

12

as a yardstick to group them into two groups, namely Group 1 of same

language proficiency and Group 2 with different language proficiency.

1.9.7 Treatment

The act, practice, or manner of treating the participants in this

study after they have set for their pre-test. During the 21 hours of

treatment, the students were exposed to routinized lexical phrases and

they used them in their group discussion .Some of the activities

carried out to help these students by the teacher were games in the

form of detective game and role play in the form of presenter of the

speaking task or even the use of a MUET textbook for drilling and

practising the lexical items.