Strategies-based Instruction In Group Work

As one of the interaction patterns, group work has been recommended and employed in language classrooms for a long time in view of its developing communicative skills and promoting target-language interaction in classroom. Since the mid of 1980s, most research on group work has been under the framework of cooperative learning, in which students work in pairs or in small groups to help one anther complete a given task, attain a goal, or learn subject matter (Johnson & Johnson, 1987). Each person in the group has a responsibility, and students depend on one another as they work to complete their task.Extensive research on group work by Johnson & Johnson (1987; 1997; 1998) suggests that this technique often produces higher achievement, promotes higher self-esteem and acceptance of differences, fosters responsibility and develops interpersonal skills. Of particular benefit to foreign language study, group work activities teach students strategies that have traditionally been neglected in the classroom, such as how to ask questions and negotiate meaning, (Honeycutt & Vernon, 1985). In addition, there is evidence to suggest that students in foreign language class are eager to learn in a cooperative setting and experience success and increased motivation (Szostek, 1994). However, in many cases group work is far less effective and desirable as it should have been. Five kinds of obstacles to successful and effective group work in practice are noted by researchers abroad: (1) dysfunctional organization; (2) use of native language; (3) reluctant speakers; (4) dominant group members; (5) non-participation individuals (Brown, 2001; Exley & RegDennick, 2004; Nunan, 2001; Reid, 2002). In the way to tackling these problems, many teaching strategies are suggested with respect to functional group organization, clear directions and task goals setting, effective implementation steps, etc (Brown, 2001; Shrum & Glisan, 2003). Furthermore, as noted by Johnson, Johsnson, & Holubec (1998), group work also provides the vehicle for teaching students to process skills that are needed to work effectively within a group. But few researches as to enhancing group interaction by strategy training have been conducted abroad and at home.At present, the domestic empirical research on group work in EFL classroom are focused on the field of middle school and the English-major education in college. Few related researches have been conducted in the college English classroom, in which the implementation of group work is so ineffective that few teachers actually carry it out in their classes. Consequently, teacher-centered instruction still dominates the college English class.In view of this current situation as well as the significance of group work, the author of the present thesis attempts to present a solution to dysfunctional group work for college English teachers as a reference to achieving the effective group work; thus, based on the group work research abroad and with the help of Cohen's (2000) suggestions for learning strategies training, an action research on strategies-based instruction in group work is launched during the period of 13 weeks (2006. 9—2006. 12) with the aim to find out the reasons for ineffective group work in the particular sample—sophomores majoring in computer in Southwest University, based on which speaking and listening strategies are selected to be trained on the subjects in order to achieve effective group work eventually.The whole thesis consists of five chapters.The first chapter gives a brief introduction of the research background, the significance of the present research and the organization of this thesis.The second chapter reviews the literature related to group work for the present research. It first introduces the concept and the previous research on group work which constructs the pedagogical and psycholinguistic rationale for the group work; then it lists the five key elements, structure and four developmental stages, and problems of dysfunctional group work, to which the present research refers; finally the concept of strategies-based instruction is introduced as a method of strategy training, and the role of teachers in strategies-based instruction is summarized in order to illustrate the theoretical framework more clearly.Chapter 3 presents the research design including the plan of the action research, the characteristics of participants, instruments of data and information collection and the arrangement of strategies-based instruction in group work in terms of general introduction, group size and composition, and training procedures.With the preparation of the first three chapters, Chapter 4 reports the whole action research, which is mainly divided into three periods, i.e. the period of problem identification and analysis, the period of implementation of procedures to solve problems and the period of the evaluation of the research. In each period the instruction procedures were recorded, related information, data and students' feedback was collected, analyzed and discussed respectively, and finally, the reflection was summarized so as to provide a revision plan for the next period.Based on the report and description of the action research, chapter 5 summarizes the research findings and discusses the limitations of the research, based on which four pieces of suggestion are given to the language teachers as to how to conduct an effective group work and similar but long-term action research in a relatively small English as Foreign Language (EFL) class is also suggested so that further analysis of the effectiveness of group work can be better conducted.