Student Groupings

Student groupings

 Whatever the seating arrangement we

have in a classroom, students can be
organized in different ways:
 as a whole class
 in pairs
 in groups
 individually
Student groupings

 The kind of grouping we choose will

depend on the activity and the
interaction pattern we consider most
suitable for it.
 Although a communicative approach to
teaching seems to favour pair or
groupwork, it does not mean that all
communicative activities in the
classroom must involve them.
Whole class
Whole class
 There are many occasions when a teacher
working with the whole class is the best option.
This type of grouping seems to favour the
classical pattern of classroom interaction known
as IRF, where the teacher typically initiates an
exchange, usually a question, one of the
students answers, the teacher gives feedback
(correction, comment, assessment), initiates
the next question, and the same interaction
pattern is repeated:
 I= Initiation
 R=Response
 F= Feedback
Whole class

 IRFs limit considerably the amount of

STT (“Student Talking Time”) essential
in communication. For this reason, it is
advisable to use other types of student
groupings in addition to whole class.
 Pairwork

 Having the students work in pairs has many advantages:

 It is the most frequent and natural use of interaction in real
life: most of us talk “one to one”
 It increases the amount of student talking time (STT)
 It encourages interaction between students
 It facilitates the playing of communicative games
 Students perform differently away from the pressure of the
teacher and whole-class attention
 Taking the focus of attention away from the teacher gives
him/her a chance to monitor what is going on.
Groupwork
 Groupwork
 Group size depends on the complexity of the
task, but groups with more than four or five
students are frequently difficult to
manage. It
 Allows for several different activities to take
place at the same time
 Enhances peer teaching and sharing of
information
 Facilitates the planning and practice of roleplays
 Fosters learner responsibility and independence
 can improve motivation
 can promote a feeling of cooperation and
warmth in the class
 Groupwork
 Objections to it:
 Fear of chaos: teachers feel they may loose
control
 The noise level may be very high,disturbing
the class next door or leading to discipline
problems
 It may take too long to organize
 It may be difficult to monitor all the groups
so mistakes cannot be corrected
 The learners may be unaccustomed to
cooperate with one another in an activity if they
are used to a teacher-dominated approach
Groupwork
 Objections to it:
 They may think it is silly to carry out the
activity in English: Consequently, they may
over-use the mother tongue.
 The tasks may be done badly or not done at all
 Some students are shy or become anxious if
asked to speak in front of others;
 Certain learners use it as an excuse to be
disruptive
 Solowork
 Students also need time to be themselves in
class.
 They need to work at their own speed,
thinking and reflecting on their tasks.
 There are no rules about how much whole-class
teaching, pairwork, groupwork or solowork
teachers must use. The choice will depend on
the type of activity and the teaching objectives.
SOME TECHNIQUES
FOR FORMING
PAIRS/GROUPS AT
RANDOM
Some techniques for forming
pairs/groups at random (1)
 Give each student a number 1,2,3,4…
and ask all the numbers 1’s, 2’s… to sit
together
 Divide the class on the basis of
birthdays (months), signs of the zodiac,
likes/dislikes, colour of
eyes/shoes/clothes, favourite
singers/groups/pets, etc.
 Have as many pieces of string in the
hand as pairs. The students take an end
and find their partner.
Some techniques for forming
pairs/groups at random (2)
 Give out to each student at random a card
with a word on it. The students have to go
around and find words related or associated to
their cards: dog/cat; teacher/architect/painter.
 Cards with famous or popular pairs
(Bert/Ernie, Tom/Jerry); the students have to
find their match.
 Cards with stickers: take some cards and put
various stickers on them to form groups. For
example, if you want groups of 3 students,
stick 3 lions, 3 monkeys, etc. Shuffle the cards
and walk around the classroom, allowing the
students to pick a card. They will find the other
in their group without talking.
Some techniques for forming
pairs/groups at random (3)
 Cards with two-line dialogues, which have
to be matched: What’s the time?/5:15; What
colour is the sky?/Blue
 Cards with common expressions, including
classroom language: Happy/Birthday;
Stop/Talking; Please tidy up/the class.
 Give out a series of different pictures,with
two copies of each. The students do not show
one another their pictures. They circulate and
ask questions in order to find the person who
has the same picture.