Effect of Group Work on EFL Students’ Attitudes and Learning in Higher Education

Abstract

The use of group work in classroom activities is a method used for motivating learning and increasing the idea of pleasure through learning. The current study investigates the advantages of group work in exams in the English department, in the College of Basic Education. 40 students in two classes of "The Introduction of Phonetics and Phonology" participated in the study. They performed six tasks; two prior to group work, two done in group work (by one group only) and two after group work. The tasks were all practical, and they were based on phonetic transcription. One of the groups participated in group work while the other did not. This was done enable to compare the results. In addition to exam results, a five-open-questions questionnaire on the students' perception of group work was distributed to the participants. Throughout the application of the study, the instructor took notes of her observation of the formation of and participation in group work. It was found that the students who worked in groups did not improve. However, most students reported that they enjoyed the tasks and would like to work in a group more often. The method of forming a group also seemed to affect learning. It was found that social and academic variables of age and GPA affected the formation, engagement and results of group work.

Inter and Intra-Culture-Based Group Discussion to Promote Learning Autonomy in A Bicultural Class

“…Hence, it is necessary to make the classroom learning atmosphere be conducive by reducing the gap between two different groups of EFL students and creating fun learning atmosphere for all students in a bicultural class in order to achieve their EFL learning objective. This is in line with Taqi and Al-Nouh (2014) who found that group work increases the idea of pleasure through learning.…”

“…Since this study is concerned with EFL students of a bicultural class encountering some cultural differences which further causes learning challenges between those coming from two different cultural backgrounds, cooperative learning by which they can improve motivation (Pan & Wu, 2013;Ning & Hornby, 2014), and promote high level of achievement (Tran, 2014), and widen their social interaction (Laguador, 2014) among themselves is considerably implemented. This means that it is necessary for them to have Group Discussion as part of cooperative learning (Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1998) which was proved to be beneficial to be implemented in EFL classroom (Taqi and Al-Nouh, 2014), working in groups, students get the chance to expand their thought processes and simultaneously maximize communication with their peers (Othman and Murad, 2015). In order to come to the fluidity of the EFL students coming from two different cultural backgrounds, the discussion should be in the format of an inter and intra-culture based group discussion.…”

“…As a result, classroom barriers can be gradually reduced. Research reveals that group work in classroom activities can be benefited for motivating learning and increasing the idea of pleasure through learning (Taqi & Al-Nouh, 2014).…”

“…Many studies reported that group discussion brought about better learning and improved level of understanding, while others found group work to be useful in teaching communicative skills and build better debate characteristics group work improved learning with certain social and academic groups only Taqi and Al-Nouh (2014). A discussion can bring out your students' interests and motivate them; it's a chance for them to talk about the things they really care about and this can be a good fun for students.…”

Tracing Back the Issue of Speaking Anxiety among EFL Learners: From Possible Causes to Practical Implications

“…Although some researchers have expressed their perspectives to the fact that working in groups can affect positively on lower students" feeling in classrooms, some other researchers believe that working together in groups can inhibit their motivation (see Taqi & Al-Nouh, 2014). For instance, the dominance of certain group members can be the main drawback of working in a group (Taqi & Al-Nouh, 2014). Therefore, teachers should be aware that group work will not become a practical solution to address the anxiety issue if it is not conducted correctly and monitored carefully.…”