An Empirical Research On Group Work In English Class

This paper reports an empirical research of group work in genuine English class mainly based on the theory of interactional hypothesis. The research investigated the effects of the task types (required information exchange task and optional information exchange task) on the interactional modification of Chinese college students. Simple statistical devices are applied to process the data collected in the research. The research also focuses on the descriptions and observations of the interactions of the students in group work. It was found from the research that both task type and the topic of the discussion play an important role in producing interactional modification and there are few interactional modifications in Chinese students. Finally, a series of methods are suggested to improve the communicative competence of the students, such as how to design tasks with a balanced development of fluency, accuracy, and complexity, how to design the topic of discussion and how to foster strategic competence in students as well.