GROUP WORK - created from Mind Map

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Group and pair work are one of the pillars of modern English language classroom.

Advantages of group and pair work

Disadvantages of group or pair work

Individualisation

Mixed ability

Classroom managament plays a key roloe during these kind of activities.

The instructions at the beginning are crucial

During the activity the teacher's job is to monitor

Feedback session

Classroom goal structures

They should be as clear as possible.

Either he/she contributes or keep him/herself out of the way.

This usually takes places after the end of group work.

Individual work

Competitive goal structure

Collaborative goal structure

These goals lead to cooperative learning.

Learners work alone on tasks at the own pace.

Learners work against each other in order to succeed.

Learners work together in small groups towards a common goal.

Students have the opportunity to use the target language freely.

Group work fosters learner responsibility and independence.

Students feel more comfortable using the target language with their classmates, enhancing motivation.

Can contribute to learners' L2 acquisition through processes such as scaffolding.

Teachers can freely monitor their students using the language in groups.

Student's might only use their mother tongue.

The discipline may be a problem as well.

The classroom may turn into a noisy eviroment

Students may do the task badly or not at all.

Stronger students may dominate while weaker students may do nothing.

Learners have a certain degree of freedom to choose how and what they learn.

The teacher has less control or supervision.

Factors that lead to achieving a degree of individualization

Speed

Level

Topic

Language skill or teaching point

How fast or slowly the individual work on a task.

The level of competence that he/she has in relation to the rest of the class.

If this is interesting or relevant to the individual.

Each learner may choose to work on a different aspect of language.

Students are taught together in the same class, even though their abilities are different

CLASSROOM IMPLICATIONS

Advantages of teaching mixed ability groups.

More varied opinions, interests and ideas, due to classroom interaction.

There is educational value in the actual interaction.

Students help themselves and others (peer teaching).

Provides a greater opportunity for creativity.

Techniques that the teachers can use in their classes

Group work.

Use the same material, but with a range of different levels of proficiency.

Remedial work: recycling activities that review and consolidate linguistic elements.

Self-access, allowing learners to choose their own activities, the motinor.

Open-ended activity types that have a range of possible answers.