Groupwork is an essential component of English classes. However, despite its obvious advantages, collaboration doesn’t always work as well as expected. The following beliefs about group work may need a closer look.
Belief 1: Combining higher with lower level students works best.
Common thinking is that higher level students will help the lower level students and bring the whole class closer into synch. However, in some instances, stronger students “help” the weaker ones by doing the work.
Grouping weaker learners often has advantages. The teacher can give the stronger students more autonomy while spending more time with the lower group. Alternatively, weaker students working at their pace and level may make more progress.
Grouping weaker learners often has advantages.
Belief 2: Students understand the benefits of group work.
English learners have a variety of expectations about what activities will help them learn best. Some enjoy being paired for practice, but others resist. They prefer to interact only with the teacher.
Consider that many students focus on preparing for tests. Try including a role play or pair component in the evaluation. Students who are anticipating an authentic test of this type may invest more in pair practice.
Belief 3: Pair and Group work should only happen at the end of class.
Students do need controlled individual practice before working with each other, but this should happen multiple times during a lesson. Look for a book like Grammar and Beyond, which includes several opportunities for interaction throughout each unit.
Thank you for your interesting insights on group work. I do a lot of paired and group work. I often mix the groups during a class. I also sometimes pair two weaker students with a stronger one so that there is more peer pressure for the two to do the work. I absolutely agree with you. Sometimes the stronger student will do most of the work, leaving the weaker student at the gate. Also, stronger students sometimes resent being paired with very weak people in oral activities. I work mostly with beginners and low intermediate students, so I am very eager to read more about this interesting topic. Thanks a lot!
I teach intermediate ESL in Houston TX and am blessed with students who come from many different countries with different first languages. The seating arrangement in my classroom has to follow the rule that they must sit next to someone with a different first language. That way they are already sitting next to a “legal” partner or in a mixed group. This makes it easier when it’s time for partner or group work, and it usually works out well.
Interesting! I love to mix nationalities with activities in which they share about their backgrounds such as describing a childhood home.
Pairing students for the group work in the English teaching session is fraught with may unforeseen risks and hazards. The pairing is done with the best of intentions on the part of the teacher,who thinks that the ” stronger” students will help the “weaker” one. Theoretically, yes ,it should pan out like that., but in actual
practice, it may lead to psychological problems of inferiority and superiority. If the stronger one is a bully, it may cause great damage to the confidence level of the weaker ones. A close watch should be kept by the teacher and he should rotate the groups. . At the same time it has to be conceded that the teacher cannot attend to each and every student, though he is duty-bound to do that.My only concern has been that “weaker ” students should be helped by the stronger ones ,under my supervsion.
I have been teaching with the “Cooperative Learning” method for over 30 years now and it works like a charm to eliminate the “group” idea that only one good student does the work. If you make each and every one of your students accountable it will work beautifully. You do this by forming TEAMS, no GROUPS. Each team has a name and they are all responsible for the task you give them. You can insure accountability by giving each student on the team a number which you will call when you want to check the results of the task. They then stand and have a public performance of what they did. You can ask them questions and if they do not know or look uncomfortable their own TEAMMATES have to help them out. It is wonderful to see the cooperation in class and they all know the material because they ALL participate. Granted that in some cultures this dynamic approach may not be as accepted but it worked wonderfully well with my Latin American students.
I bet once they are trained, they get into cooperative mode quickly!
Hello!
I take the organic approach and let them decide the groups or pair they want to join. However, I do make suggestions if someone seems left out and occasionally I make suggestions that they change groups. Sometimes they take me up on it and sometimes they don’t. I want them to feel happy in class and work with people they like. I always move slowly about the classroom as they are in groups and invariably, I’ll be asked questions as I roam.
Thanks for introducing this topic!
Susan at Northwest Vista College, San Antonio, TX
I bet that once students get the pattern, you save a lot of time in getting into a cooperative mode.
I’ve also done that. Sometimes students prefer to work alone, and that’s okay too for certain types of activities.