CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
Chapter Two: Literature Review
Researchers are almost unanimouson the fact that collaborative
learning technique have positive effects on learners' speaking skills. Jack C.
Richards and his contributors (McCafferty, Jacobs, da Silva...) in his book
`'Cooperative learning and second language teaching'' which provides a
useful introduction to the field of cooperative learning for teachers wishing
to better understand how its group-based learning principles can be
successfully used in second and foreign language teaching, stated that the
approach known as cooperative learning has long been of interest to
practitioners of communicative language teaching since it offers a body of
widely tested classroom procedures for implementing group-based activities in
the languageclassroom.Before proceeding further, I provide some clarifications
on the concept of group work.
Section One: Considerations about Group Work
Group work, according to Brown (2001, p.177), is a
generic term covering a multiplicity of techniques in which two or more
students are assigned a task that involves collaboration and self-initiated
language. It implies small group work, thatis students in groups of
perhaps six or fewer.
The lecturer of University of Abomey Calavi, current head of
English department, Ulrich O. SènaHindeme in his article published in
december2018 about Group work mentioned that three important aspects should be
highlighted in the definition of Brown. The first one is collaboration, in
other words, cooperation. Students haveto work together for the completion of
the task. All the members of the group work are like the pieces of a machine,
if one does not work well, a malfunction occur. Obviously, for lazy or
irresponsible students, this is not a problem because the other members will
take over and will make the machine work somehow. But real cooperation in group
workoccurs when everyone is aware of his/her responsibility and role and
commits himself/herself to accomplish it in the best way possible.
Kagan(1994,p.10) asserts :Division of labor often established by
assigning task roles (Student One is to research the historical character's
early life ; Student Two, his inventions ; Student Three, his married
family life ; Student Four,his major inventions) or maintenance roles
(Student One, you are the Materials Monitor ; Student Two, you are the
Quiet Captain ; Student Three, you are the Task Master ; Student
Four, you are the Recorder). Of course, all the members work together,
discuss, come up with new ideas, change certain things, but if one does not
play his/her role, the task cannot be completed. Also, roles are changed
within the group every time a new taskis assigned ; in this way, everybody
will have a different responsibility each time a new groupwork is assigned.
This is what Kagan (1994,p.7) calls interdependency `'the success of every
team member depends on the sucess of each member (if one fails, all do), then
a very strong form of positive interdependence is created and team members are
very motivated to make sure each student does well `'.
At first, roles can be assigned by the teacher, but
later on, as students get more familiar with the process of group work, they
can be responsible for assigning roles themselves.
The second and third aspects in Brown's definition are
much related. Self-initiated language refers to students using what they know
and have learned in class to communicate with others in the classroom. In order
to do this, the groups have to be small, as Brown previously suggests six or
fewer. In very big groups, shy or passive students tend to fall in silence and
let the most talkative ones do the talking. Nunan(1999,p.157) also points out
that one of the classroom variables that have had a marked effect on student
participation in oral activities is group size. Students who remain silent in
groups of ten or more will contribute actively to discussions when the size of
the group is reduced to five or three.
Group work is considered as one of the most important factors
to improve learners' communication. Different individuals have developed many
approaches to group work over the last time Johnson, Johnson and Smith
(1991 : 15) have defined group work as follows : `'group work, in
language class, is a co-operate activity, during which students share aims and
responsibilities to complete a task assigned by the teacher in groups or in
pairs''.
1.1 The Principles of Group Work
For a smooth implementation of group work, several factors
need to be in place. Those factors include: (1) the learning goals of group
work, (2) the task, (3) the way the information is distributed, (4)the seating
arrangement of the membersof the group, and (5) the social relationships
between the members of the group. Let us look first at the learning goals of
group work before seeing how the factors work together.
1.2 Group Formation Strategy
To understand the reasons behind the effect of group work,
whether good or bad, it is essential to understand how groups are formed.
Friendship is one of the factors that can be taken into consideration when
forming groups. In such groups, students have excellent relationships. They
repect one another, accept criticismfrom one another and listen to one another
(Hendry et al., 2005). Friends work together; they work cooperatively, Groups
can also be formed based on ability where strong students are mixed with weak
ones.
The objective is to allow the weak students to watch and
learn from high achievers, which will eventually improve their performance
(Nihalani et al., 2010). Furthermore, Hassanien (2007)proposes three types of
group formation strategy: randomly, where the teacher assigns students to
groups, self-selection, where students choose their own groups members, or a
mixture of both.He further adds that a group of four or five is more convenient
as students have the chance to participate equally in group activities. Other
group formation strategies were proposed by Badache (2011) who suggested that
groups can be formed alphabetically, by gender, or by birth. He even proposed
to form groups by mixing shy and talkative students. Another technique is to
bring some pictures that form different categories and give them to
students ; then, ask students to look for other students who have the same
picturecategory. However, the techniques to use depend on the age of the
students.
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