Effective Group Work in Oral English Class in Southwest University- Take a Foreign Teacher's lass as

Effective Group Work in Oral English Class in Southwest University:Take a Foreign Teacher’s lass as摘要:This study takes group work in a foreign teacher’s oral English class as an exampleto explore how to carry out effective group work in oral English class. Based on the collected data through a questionnaire survey, and classroom observation, several problems are found out and some suggestions are provided.关键词:effective group work; oral English class; foreign teacher中图分类号:H31文献标识码:A文章编号:1812-2485(2010)03-0046-0101. IntroductionAs an efficient way of organizing the class, group work has gained its present status of popularity. It demands that students work in groups to accomplish tasks, during which students have to cooperate instead of working separately. And each group member has to interact or communicate with others in the circle, so as to get the job done. And that is the very part oral English teachers want to make the best of.Group work is one of oral English teachers’favorite activities in the classroom. It stimulates more language practice, makes students feel more secure, and creates a harmonious ambience in which students help each other. By involving students in group work, oral English teachers ask English learners to talk for a specific purpose, and in this way, language learners’communicative competence is developed in a comparatively natural context.Even though group work has been widely employed in oral English teaching for years, there are still some problems and challenges in the real applied field, such asstudents’talk in mother tongue, classroom discipline, teachers’multiple roles and so on. How oral English teachers can take advantage of group work and at the same time, avoiding the disadvantages in the classroom needs to be discussed.2. Literature Review2.1 The previous researches on group workMany studies have been invoking group work in oral English teaching, either empirical or theoretical (Wen, 2001; Fan, 2001; Wang, 2001; Wang, 2007). They expose the advantages and problems of using group work in oral English teaching and also provide some suggestions such as choosing the right topics, grouping in a scientific way, choosing a group leader etc.And at the same time, the foreign teachers as a special teaching group have been paid more and more attention to. Wu (2001) carries out an empirical study on foreign teacher’s oral English teaching and finds out the positive attitudes toward the flexible and practical methods. Zhou Yuzhong, Wang Hui and Wang Yiwen (2004) find out the disputes between the foreign teachers and Chinese teachers and students. Zhang (2007) discovers the shortness of foreign teacher’s oral English teaching and provides relevant strategies.However, the study which combines foreign teacher’s oral English class and group work is rare. This study mainly deals with this specific issue and tries to figure out the model of group work adopted in foreign teacher’s oral English class and at the same time offers some improved strategies.2.2 Group work2.2.1 The definitions of group workGroup work is a kind of activity in which each member in the group work together to finish a specific task or to reach a specific goal. Group work originates from cooperative learning and it is the main and basic form to organize students. Every individual must collaborate with others in order to achieve the same goal. Group work is different form traditional individual study, which emphasizes on competition. Instead, it emphasizes on unit cooperation, and mutual help. Brown (2001, p.173) defines group work as ”a generic term covering a multiplicity of techniques in which two or more students are assigned a task that involves collaboration and self-initiated language.”2.2.2 The size of a groupPeople have different views as regards to the size of a group. The number of the people involved in group work can be as large as 8 persons, as small as 2 persons. “A group has two or more students,” Brown (2001, p.173) says, “Pair work is simply group work i n groups of two”. Byrne (1986) likes 6-8 students in a group while others (Li, Chen, & Jiang, 2006, p.248) prefer 4 to 6 members and argue that “The research shows that a group made up of 4 or 6 members can be particularly effective.”However, the size of groups is not unchanging. It can be adjustable under different circumstances. Teachers in a specific classroom of a specific class size under specific time limits for a specific purpose may have different group sizes. For example, if time is too limited, and the students only have ten minutes to discuss about a question in a group, it would be better not to have too many students in a group. If a group does have too many, say eight students, when each student has finished making their points, the discussion is ended.2.2.3 The way of groupingThere are many efficient ways of grouping students. They are classified into two categories: random grouping and purposeful grouping. By random grouping, it means neither the teacher nor the students can control the making of a group. The member of a group is decided by nobody’s will. Typical examples are grouping students by numbers or drawing lots. On the contrary, purposeful grouping is the product of teacher’s manipulation and it emphasizes the teacher’s specific purpose. For example, the teacher picks the students of different level to form a group, so that the advanced students can help the less advanced.2.2.4 The standards of effective group work for oral EnglishAny successful and effective activity, according to Wang (2006), in oral English class should fit the following characteristics: maximum foreign talk, even participation, high motivation, and right language level. In oral English class, students are weaved into groups, involving in speaking and listening. To achieve the goal, to be an effective speaking activity, it is of great importance to get the students to talk in the target language as much as possible, and as often as possible: the maximum use of target language. The three other characteristics serve the first: If the acquired language level is beyond students’language level, few students can talk, because they even do not know the words; if the motivation is low, which is probably caused by the boring topic, students are not willing to speak at all; if the participation is uneven, few of students talk a lot, the rest talk little or simply keep silent, then the language amount is not large in total.3. Research Design3.1 Research questionsThe research is designed to answer the following questions:Question 1: Are there any problems in the group work in the foreign teacher’s oral English class?Question 2: What is effective group work in oral English class?3.2 Research subjectsThe research subjects are 58 sophomores of 2 classes in the School of Foreign Languages in Southwest University and a foreign teacher who is a native English speaker from America and has been teaching oral English class in Southwest University for almost 5 semesters. The students include 50 female and 8 male. Theirmajor is English education, and their ages arrange from 19 to 22. Most of them have been learning English as a foreign language for almost 8 years.3.3 Research instruments3.3.1 QuestionnaireThe questionnaire is based on the four characteristics: maximum foreign talk, even participation, high motivation and right language level (Gu, 1999; Wang, 2006), and is designed for students of the foreign teacher to test how they understand and do group work in oral English class. The questionnaire contains 20 items, aiming to test the existing problems in group work. The questionnaire is divided into two parts. The first part is the subjects’basic information: sex, age, and the starting time of English-learning. The second part is the multiple-choice questions and the open-ended questions. The subjects mark numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 behind each of the item, which means “definitely do not agree”, “do not agree”, “not clear”, “agree”, “totally agree” respectively. And for the open-ended questions, the subjects write down their answers right after them. See Appendix One.3.3.2 Classroom observationThe focus of the classroom observation was group work in the foreign teacher’s oral English classes of 2nd-year English majors in School of Foreign Languages of Southwest University. The observation was carried out every week in two different classes. The observer acted as an outsider in the room and took notes on the prepared classroom observation sheet.Based on the four characteristics of successful speaking activities (Wang, 2006) the observation aims to examine whether the group work is effective or not. The observation sheet is designed. It includes the basic elements of group work, such as group size, grouping way and subjects’behaviors before, while and after group work. And also, in terms of the problems, comments and suggestions for both the teacher and students are provided on the right of the sheet.3.4 Procedures of the research3.4.1 Data-collection through questionnairesThe 60 questionnaires were handed out in the classroom after an oral English class. With the help of two class monitors, 58 questionnaires were collected soon and all of them were valid for the research. Later the questionnaires were numbered and sorted, and then processed with the software Excel. All the data were typed into the computer and computed.3.4.2 Classroom observation processThe researcher went to the subject’s oral English class to observe and record as an outsider every week. All together 20 periods were watched and the useful information was recorded in the Classroom Observation Sheet.4. Results and Discussion4.1 Findings through questionnaire4.1.1 Multiple choice questionsAll the percentages are rounded up or down. Two numbers are kept after the decimal point.Forty-three point eleven percent of students talk actively in group work during discussion and more than half of the students like doing group work. But at the same time, a large number of students do not like doing group work or speaking during this process and it amounts to 31.03 and 39.65 percent respectively. These numbers mean that group work does not work effectively in oral English class. And still many students need to be stimulated to take part in the discussion and talk more.Nearly as many as 47% of students think the topics for discussion in oral English class boring and unchallengeable, while less students think highly of the given topics. More than 60 percent of the students are still interested in their group members while other nearly 24 percent do not show any interests in their partners. This is the result of unsuitable students grouping and topic chosen.The number of students who prefer more time to talk surpasses those who do not. More than one third of the subjects do not actually talk in group work. They just keep silent or do something else whenever the teacher is not around. As a result they miss the chance of using the target language. Most of the student subjects do listen carefully when other group members are talking while a little over 10 percent do not. All these data prove that students do have the will to talk and listen in group work, which is the aim of teaching oral English.More than half of the students are able to understand the teacher’s instruction before group work while 27.58% are not clear about the task. And more than 35%students feel difficult in expressing themselves during group work, though 43.1% percent have no problem. These data show that the teacher should make the instruction clearer in order to be more widely understood.The majority (forty-eight point twenty-four percent) students think their participation in group work is even while still 24.42 % think they do not participate evenly in the activity.4.1.2 Open-ended questionsSuggestions from the student subjects to the foreign teacher’s oral class, according to the popularity, are: introducing things that can really improve communicative competence, providing more wider and interesting topics, giving more students talk time, going outside instead of staying inside of the classroom, doing more lively activities, such as games, adding more oral English classes, giving more correction to pronunciation, opening students’thoughts of the topic, introducing cultures and more authentic and practical expressions, having more face-to-face teacher-student communication,Students’favorite topics according to the popularity are: fashion (clothes & hairstyle), food, entertainment (movie & music), wedding, western culture, the ways to improve spoken English, habits, tradition, social problems, festivals, president election and so on.4.3 Classroom observation findings4.3.1 Problems in oral English class4.3.1.1 Unclear task instructionData shows that nearly one third of the students do not understand the teacher’s instruction for the task which is part of the cause of failing to efficiently make good use of classroom time and accomplish the task. Some students who do not understand the instruction just resort to mother tongue to ask for help if it is emergent. Or else, they simply sit and wait. Unclear task instruction generates the waste of class time, resulting in reducing the student talk time.4.3.1.2 Unsuitable groupingThe teacher does not often vary the way of grouping. Most of the time, the group is formed casually. In this way the teacher gives the students freedom to choose whoever they want to talk to. However, this does not always increase students’motivation. Students are likely to choose their familiar ones, which generates the possibilities of decreasing their curiosity or interests. Another problem which may becoined by the unsuitable grouping is that the group members are so familiar that some of them may have formed the set status in the work as the talkative person or silent person. But unfamiliar group members may reestablish their roles.4.3.1.3No monitoringAs it is mentioned in the preceding section, the teacher usually sits within one group and takes part in the discussion. In this way the teacher can supervise the members to talk in English or use correct English. However at the same time, the teacher may dominate the discussion in that group which harms the discussion by grabbing the talk time.And for the other groups that talk by themselves, they are set free. Probably they also need the help from the teacher. The shrinking from the role as a helper of the teacher set the students free to do anything. As a result, the students may do not behave well. They chat in mother tongue, talking about gossip or anything unrelated to the topic.4.3.1.4 Lack of enough feedbackGenerally the teacher is likely to say something good to the performance of the students in order to encourage the students. However, they get used to that kind words like “Well done”, “Wonderful”, “Excellent” or something like that. Students need something really instructive to the English learning to help them to improve. They do not speak English well by hearing only those nice words.Sometimes time pressure hurries the teacher put an end to the class without telling the students the errors they have made in their performance and students may make the same mistakes in the future, especially the pronunciation errors. As a matter of fact, the students are aware of their pronunciation problems and they would prefer the teacher to point them out and help correct them in one way or another, even though some students find it embarrassing at that time, they do benefit from soon.4.4 Suggestions on effective group work in oral English class4.4.1 Group work strategyAccording to classroom observation, the foreign teacher does not give the students any group work strategy to ensure the group work carried out in its most efficient way. Some students may consciously or unconsciously dominate the whole discussion or just go to anther extreme not to participate or mess around. They do not ask: “What about you?” or “What is your opinion?” every time. Some students always act as a note-taker as a result he/she obviously miss the chance of talking.What the teacher should do is to allot different roles to different members within a group, telling the students when they have to listen to others’opinion instead of talking non-stop and when they can switch the role of note-taker. The teacher might as well choose a leader in every group to help so as to release him to act in some more important roles.4.4.2 Proper task designA considerable part of the students think the tasks or topics given by the teacher do not meet their appetite. They prefer more practical topics or interesting topics relevant to the daily students’life or something hot in the news. This has also been seen by Fan (2001). Some students suggest that the teacher should help enlarge the aspects of the topic, because even though the topic is attractive, students can not talk for a longer time. They find that their aspects are limited and the thoughts are constrained. For example, a lot of girls like the topic of wedding, but they restrict the topic to different wedding dress in western and eastern culture. Their horizon can not be expanded in this way.Abstract topics should be avoided (Fan, 2001), such as morality, human nature, generation gap and so on. Such topic ought to be put into a specific background so that the students will know where and how to start.The teacher’s job is to find more interesting and practical topics as well as to expand the aspects of a specific topic. And also, it must be very wise for the teacher to ask for ideal topics from the students.4.4.3 Clear task instructionAccording to the survey, a quarter of students can not understand the task instructions of the teacher. There are some possible ways to make the instruction clearer and understandable. First the teacher can slow down. It is not easy for a student to understand the foreign teacher because of the pronunciation or intonation. Sometimes, they can understand every word but still can not figure out the meaning. At this time the teacher can show the students an example directly which is the second solution. The third solution is to check the students by asking one of two of the students to explain in front of the whole class. In this way the teacher can check whether the one or two students’understanding as well as the whole class.4.4.4 Proper students groupingThe teacher often takes the convenience to group the students by their seats or favor. At first they may feel fresh, but later if they are often grouped in the same way, the group work loses its value. Some students do not want to talk to the same partner because they have already been familiar. Teacher can add in surprise by weaving thestudents in different groups, which means that the teacher varies the grouping ways from time to time. In this way the students can be highly motivated.Grouping ways are not set. The teacher can choose different ways of grouping according to the specific tasks. For example, when the students do an activity related to birthday, they can be grouped by their birth month. And if the class is going to talk about hobbies, they can be weaved into different groups of different hobbies.4.4.5 The realization of teacher’s multiple rolesA language teacher has many roles in the classroom. Wang (2006) illuminates teacher’s roles as controller, assessor, organizer, prompter, participant and resource-provider. In different stages, the teacher plays different roles. Brown (2001) lists 5 roles of an interactive teacher: controller, director, manager, facilitator, and resource. While students are doing group work, the teacher takes his multi-function (Wang, 2001). It is the worst way for the teacher to be just a participant in one group to realize the roles, even though the students may get a close talk with the teacher. However, the teacher’s attention should be equally scattered. Not only does the particular group need teacher’s help but also the other groups. The other groups’need should also be met.The best way to realize the teacher’s roles during group work is that the teacher walks around the class, listening, helping and talking. Some urgent problems should be solved at once to make sure the group discussion go on smoothly and each group should have a chance to talk to the teacher or asking for help.4.4.6More attention to students’errorsAn oral English teacher should be tolerant to the errors students make during talking because even native speaker make mistakes in one way or another. However, the teacher can not neglect the frequently made mistakes, especially pronunciation errors, because the mispronounced words will fossilize gradually. At the time when the research is done, the teacher is depressed because the students are not happy about the teacher for pointing out so many grammatical or pronunciation problems in the final. They are complaining and discouraged. Later they will feel better and really pay attention to their errors.On the other side, the teacher should point out students’errors in an artful way. The teacher should not point out every error in one time. Some are just slip of tongue. So the teacher has to judge which is necessary to be pointed out and which is not. It is certain that the frequently made errors should be paid more attention to. And they teacher needs to say something good to the students in order to comfort them, helping them to see their improvements.5. ConclusionGroup work is most frequently used in oral English class, especially by the foreign teacher. It is an activating form to encourage students to talk in the target language. Students talk more and are more willing to take part in group work than any other form. Group work seems to be prospering in language classroom. However, through the empirical study, some problems are discovered in the foreign teacher’s oral English class when group work is used, such as unclear task instruction, unsuitable grouping, lack of monitoring and feedback. Finally some possible solutions or suggestions are provided: using group work strategy, proper task design and students grouping, clearer task instructions, the realization of teacher’s multiple roles and more attention to students’errors. If the teacher pays more attention to the preceding aspects when using group work in oral English classroom, the quality of the class will be improved accordingly.Appendix One: Questionnaire关于外教口语课堂上开展的小组活动的调查问卷同学,你好!这是一份关于外教口语课堂上开展的小组活动的调查问卷。