An Investigation Of Group Work Application In The English Sunshine Class Of Junior High School

Since the New English Curriculum Standards were issued by the Ministry of Education In June 2001, English teachers began to pay more attention to cultivate students’ communicative competence. The traditional grammar teaching method has been replaced gradually by other teaching methods. Group work is one of the effective classroom activities which are used widely, because it can offer more opportunities to students practicing speaking English. Shenyang North Affiliated School of Shenyang Normal University has made special innovation on the usage of group work. It is added to the school’s peculiar teaching method, which becomes the Sunshine Class.This research focuses on an investigation in the Junior High School of Shenyang North Affiliated School of Shenyang Normal University. It mainly discusses the basic situation of the group work in English Sunshine Class, students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards the group work. The data is collected through classroom observation, interview and questionnaires from both students and teachers.Through the classroom observation, the author finds that group work plays an important role in the English Sunshine Class. Students become the masters of the classroom; the time of group work is longer than the teachers’ teaching time. Group work in the English Sunshine Class needs students to make some preparations according to teachers’ requirement. The group work consists of group discussion and group presentation. Teachers will make comment on students’ group presentation and try to expand the knowledge given by the students. After interviewing some English teachers in this school, the author understands some difficulties in applying group work in English Sunshine Class.All in all, the study tries to fully understand the basic situation of group work in English Sunshine Class and hopes to give some suggestions in order to improve the effectiveness of group work in English Sunshine Class. The ultimate aim of this research is to improve students’ language competence.