566 «Молодой учёный» . № 21 (259) . Май 2019 г.
Филология, лингвистика Филология, лингвистика Interview with teacher B Teacher B states that she uses group work a lot with her
students, at least a little part of each lesson is spent doing
group work in one form or another. She states that variation in
the ways students work in the classroom is very important to
keep the students interested and engaged in the lesson. When
using group work her goal is that the students cooperate with
each other and use their friends’ skills to develop their own.
Teacher B uses group work in much the same way as
teacher A, to develop the students’ communicative abilities.
She uses dialog work a lot with her students both when
teaching English and Spanish. After each “chapter” in their
textbook she has the students in pairs or small groups write
dialogs using what they have learnt in the chapter. When they
are done with the dialog they act it out in front of the class
as a presentation. The dialogs are used as short group work
activities and never go on for more than one or two lessons.
Teacher B explains that she rarely uses group work that spans
over more than two weeks as she feels that the students do not
have the necessary language skills that would be needed for an
exercise that would take several weeks to complete.
Furthermore when discussing what the result of group
work is, excluding how they show their dialogs, they always
after a slightly longer group work task give some form of
presentation. This presentation is most often oral in front of
the class, but there is usually also a written assignment to be
handed in.
According to teacher B she does not combine her subject
with other subjects as she feels that she then would not have
enough time to help all students reach the goals in the syllabus.
She feels that it would take too much time to cooperate with
another teacher and that she would not be able to teach the
students as much. Although this is how she works at the
moment she expresses a wish about in the future being able
to work with other teachers as she thinks that the students
would find it enjoyable and interesting. But at this time it is
not something she has time for.
In a time when it becomes more and more important to
be able to cooperate with other people in both your native
language, as well as in foreign languages it is important to
teach our students how this is done. This essay has focused
on how and why teachers use group work in teaching second
and third language students. Regardless of the fact that the
curriculum does not state that group work is to be used, all
teachers still use it in their lessons. The teacher is key in
making sure that group work is a success. If the teacher does
not explain explicitly to the students how and what they are
to do, it is unlikely the result will be what the teacher hoped
for.
It has been brought to my attention that although all
teachers in the study use group work with their students,
they all have the same reservations as to how the students
will behave. I find surprising how they all see the same issues
and still not come up with good ideas as how to resolve them.
There are many aspects that I would find interesting to see
further research on. How to introduce a group work project as
well as the student”s opinion of group work, whether they find
it to be a good way to learn, and if both high and low achievers
feel the same way.
To conclude, in attempting to answer my research
questions I have found that teachers use group work in similar
ways and for similar reasons and that they all have the same
problems with their students. I believe that teachers instruct
their students on how to work in groups in the same way
that they were instructed as students. The issues that were
encountered during the 90”s are the same as the ones that
occur now. As teachers obviously still believe that group
work is a good way to achieve the goals of the curriculum and
syllabus, time and effort should be put into finding a way to
make it as effective as possible.
References:
1. S. Hartman, Dewey l
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gskolan i Stockholm.
2. Cohen, E. G. (1994). Designing Groupwork. Strategies for the Hetrogenous Classroom. 2nd ed. New York: Teachers
Collage, Columbia University.
3. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2000). Research Methods in Education. London: Routledge Falmer.
4. Granstr
ö
m, K. (n. d.). Ledarskap i klassrummet. Retrieved 05 22, 2011, from www.resonemang.se: http://www.
resonemang.se/Dokument/Kombi/Litt/Moment_II/Ledarskap%20i%20klassrumm et.pdf
5. Hammar Chirac, E. (2003). Grupprocesser i utbildning. En studie av gruppers dynamik vid problembaserat l
ä
rande.
Department of Behavioural Sciences. Link
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ping: Link
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pings universitet.
6. Illingworth, V. (2007). Groupwork Survey. Bradford: Bradford university.
7. Lightbown, P. M., & Spada, N. (2006). How languages are learned (3 ed.). Oxford: Oxford university press.
8. Studies of learner discourse in the acquisition of Swedish as a second language in educational texts. Stockholm:
Stockholm University.
9. McKay, S. L. (2006). Researching Second Language Classrooms. New York/London: Routledge. S
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10. http://www.rusnauka.com/11_DN_2016/Pedagogica/5_209142.doc.htm
