Postgraduates’ Attitudes towards Group Works in Oral English Class

毕思迪

【Abstract】This study investigated four postgraduates attitudes towards group work in oral English class in Tianjin Foreign Studies University. Two sources of data were collected， including interviews and class observations.

【Key words】learning attitude； group work； oral English

This study is framed within activity theory and language socialization theory. Compared to our knowledge of oral activities performed alone， relatively limited knowledge is available about the role of group oral tasks of ESL students. To address this need， the present study explored four postgraduates attitudes towards group work in oral English class in Tianjin Foreign Studies University.

We attend oral English class once a week. All the students are first grade graduates including several majors. Four ESL postgraduate students from Tianjin Foreign Studies University volunteered to participate in the present study.

I adopted a qualitative case study design. At the same time， I observed the oral English class， adopting a role that of ‘observer as participant.

1. Class activities

There are three group works in the oral English class during this semester， including language summary and final debate.

At the beginning of the semester， each group chose an English-language TV show. It must be a show that no one in the group has watched before. All the group member watched and discussed one episode every week. Group members should write out their summary and practice it out loud before class to make sure it is under 1 minute by their turns. This group lasted the whole semester.

There are six debate topics in total therefore there are twelve debate group including Pro and Con teams. The group members should researched evidence and discussed again and again outside class. In order to beat the opposite team， all the group members should work together.

2. Students attitudes

The results of this part are mainly drawn from the interviews. Different students had different attitudes towards the group works in this oral English class.

Some students said that： “It may be compulsive for the students to watch the TV show in the language summary group work， but it cant be guaranteed that the group members watched the TV shows together. In other words， we cant make sure that such a group is real group work. I still dont do the final debate， but I think it is very good by observing the performance of other groups. It developed the knowledge that I dont know before.”

Some other students hold the opinion that： “I think these group works has a little effect on the development of students skills. Debate also presents students personal ability. How you prepared and expressed yourself have nothing to do with other students coordination and discussion. ”

Based on students attitude mentioned above， conclusions can be drew as follows：

First， this study showed that the competence or comfort of ESL students in group work may relate to their learning styles. Affectively， persons who are more predominantly field independent tend to be generally more independent （e.g. Zhao doesnt like group works， she prefers individual works）. Field dependent persons tend to be more socialized and like do group works.

Second， this study suggests that teachers should make sure that all the group members take the opportunity to speak in oral English class. Otherwise， some students who are easy to depend on others will avoid learning opportunities （e.g. Hous experience just as Excerpt 6 shows）.

Given the small-scale size of the study， the findings are suggestive and need to be interpreted cautiously. Furthermore， the times of the observation is a little because of the time. Future research needs to do as many times of observations as possible. Despite these limitations， this study does offer new insights into group works in oral English class， in addition to written courses.