Classroom Management at Tertiary Level: Handling Pair and Group Works
by Dr Sujata Rana, Associate Professor, Department of English, CRM Jat College,Hisar (India) Email: sujju69rana@yahoo.co.in
Introduction
Classroom management implies an ability to deliver all the items that the teacher has planned effectively and systematically, without any deviation from the goal, but at the same time, leaving some scope for flexibility. The conventional ‘lecturing’ mode of managing the class has lost its importance in the changed scenario of ELT as it leaves little scope for students’ interactive sessions. The new pedagogy calls for students’ involvement in interactive learning activities by pair work and group work, which makes learning enjoyable and rewarding. Working in pairs or small groups means that more students have more opportunity to talk more as they need space and opportunity to be who they are. In pair work, two students sitting next to each other ‘do’ something together which could range from discussing the answer to a comprehension question to working on a complex and well-structured task. Similarly, when the activity at some stage in the lesson calls for discussion or active collaboration among a group of students, a number of such groups are formed and each given a relevant task to work on. The college students or those getting education at tertiary level are at the age of discovering their relationships with others and the world around them. Therefore, pair and group work help them to interact with different classmates in a less, stressful, collaborative atmosphere. Thus, it is aimed at promoting interaction among learners, and hence enhancing their communicative efficiency.
This paper aims at exploring the wonderful role of the teacher as the classroom manager in an EFL class. It will elaborate the objectives of classroom management and throw light on how to manage the English language class at tertiary level with pair and group work, how to form pairs and groups and how to organize and monitor them. The paper is also intended to investigate the advantages of pair/group work and various problems/challenges faced by the teacher in supervising it and attempts to find modest solutions to them for achieving reasonable, if not complete, success.
Objectives of Classroom Management
The classroom management at tertiary level is aimed at :
a) organizing pair work and group work in the language class,
b) tapping the advantages and removing the problems of both pair work and group work,
c) exploring the value of groups with a mix of abilities and cultural backgrounds, and
d) taking the challenges faced by the teacher with the activity-oriented and learner- centred curriculum.
Forming of Pairs
In pair work two students ‘do’ something together. Since two are involved it is not easy for either of them to switch off. The formation of pairs can be of two types: a) fixed pairs and b) flexible pairs. In the former, the partners are fixed and interact with each other. In the latter the partners get changed. But for it the teacher must be sure of the sufficient space in the classroom to ensure free movement. The other alternative is that they just turn around without getting up or noisily resetting the furniture. The pairs can be formed randomly. For example, the students speak counting of numbers chronologically and 1 goes with 3, 2 goes with 4, 5 goes with 7, 6 goes with 8 and so on and so forth. Pair group is quite rewarding as two agree on a point more easily than more than two. If the teacher gives the members of the pair a letter or a composition to write, they discuss the ideas together and then write independently. Giving comprehension questions while tapping learners’ creativity also yields positive results. For example, if the teacher is doing Keats’ ode “To Autumn” with students, the pairs can be asked to first discuss and then write the names of different fruits, nuts, flowers, and vegetables, found in plenty in different seasons in Indian climatic conditions according to their understanding of the first stanza of the poem. This ensures their vocabulary enrichment and hence better learning of English language.
Forming of Groups
In group work more than two learners work together on a language task. Groups of four to six are typically used but as a general guide nature of activity should determine the size of groups. Forming of groups can be done in a number of novel and interesting ways. For example, from a large box students can pick crayon sticks of their choice (four colours of sticks – red, green, yellow and blue are set in the box, if 4 members are required in a group). The reds get together, the greens form a group and the yellow and blue crayon stick holding learners form the third and the fourth group. One of the students who is more vocal, confident and speaks English fluently can be made the group leader or the reporter; the shy and reserved one can write a report, the two others can jot down various points on a given task. For example, while doing Keats’ same poem groups can be asked to discuss among themselves, then jot down the various points and then present a report through a chart about their actual and varied experiences of agricultural activities on a rural farm during the harvesting season. As the term progresses, the more shy and inhibited students can also be motivated to become reporters or leaders.
The main purpose of group work is promotion of interaction among learners. For a group discussion to be interesting and worthwhile, the members should have different perspectives and opinion so that there is maximum interaction and negotiation. Even the weak and shy students interact as they are not ashamed of making errors while speaking or putting forth their opinions. The tasks or activities in a group should be judiciously chosen to ensure maximum collaboration and participation.
The most challenging thing in relation to group work is that of fully exploiting the diversity within the groups of learners. Differences in ability go side by side with variation in social-cultural-linguistic backgrounds. It should be teacher’s responsibility to choose topics and themes in accordance with the interest and need of the students. The roles of the members of the group can be spelled out by taking into account the individual performance of the members of the group. During the feedback session the teacher should not forget to appreciate and reward the work of the members. However, the instructions are to be given and time limit should be set clearly beforehand and once the students have begun working, the teacher should get out of the way and let them function naturally. Intervention on the part of the teacher should be there only when the students require it but constant and patient supervision is a must. With group work the teacher can also use some innovative methods. For example, while doing the last stanza of Keats’ ode “To Autumn” the teacher can play the audio of the sounds of various animals, birds and insects found in the region and ask the students to identify them and jot down their names. This can make the learning session more participative and interesting.
Advantages of Pair and Group Work
Managing an English language class with pair and group work yields desirable results because of following advantages:
- More Language Practice – It leads to more interaction, which resultantly ensures more communication, more speaking and better results for language learning.
- More involvement – The students concentrate on the task assignment and get involved in the learning activity. Thus, their interest level doesn’t go down.
- Inhibition free environment – They are free of pressure or anxiety when they are working in smaller groups. Peer-assistance help the shy ones gain confidence to interact and speak.
- Creativity/imagination – Working in pairs and groups, the students explore meanings, seek parallels and contrasts. They get an opportunity to interact, discuss, role play and also simulate real life situations. Role-play activities can allow them to try to express different feelings behind non-threatening, face-saving masks. Their imagination is activated and their creativity gets an outlet. After finishing Keats’ ode the teacher can, for example, give the students pair or group assignment to write a stanza or a passage on the blessings of the summer or winter season.
Challenges
Every innovative, communicative and non-conventional teaching method poses various challenges. Managing a class at tertiary level with pair and group work is definitely a challenging job for the teacher as she is faced with problems as given below:
- Noise level is too high. To tackle this problem the teacher should not let the noise alarm or bother her, if it doesn’t disturb the class next to hers. Besides, one pair or group should not be so noisy that it disturbs the other. The teacher must clearly instruct them to use a ‘quiet signal’ – a raised hand, a clap or turned on buzzer/light.
- The students may not speak in English all the time. So the tasks or activities and topics or themes chosen should be in accordance with the average mental level of the students so that they don’t struggle with the language. Needless to say, judicious and careful selection of the task and theme should be a priority with the teacher.
- The best students do all the work while the lazy ones sit back. For this the teacher should take regular rounds and ensure that everyone participates. If some students in a group are stubborn enough not to contribute in task assignment, the teacher should join the group and try to draw them in.
- Some finish their task earlier. Such students are fast and disturb the slow ones. The teacher can use members of fast group who finish early as teacher helper for groups with difficulties.
- All students don’t understand instructions in English. If that happens, the teacher shall use simple and easy language. Even use of regional language can be resorted to, if it is absolutely unavoidable.
- Some students assert their point without listening to others. They should be clearly told that listening is as important as contradicting. They can be critical, but not criticizing and critical analysis of what one says is not possible without giving a patient hearing to the speaker.
The Role of the teacher
The teacher’s role should change from authoritative non-stop monologue to a different one. The classroom can be effectively managed by the teacher in multiple roles – that of an organizer, prompter (initiator), consultant, fellow participant and controller (monitor). But there are some ‘don’ts’ for the teacher. She should not go to the class unprepared, shouldn’t be partial, avoid shouting, making empty threats to notoriously mischievous students, shouldn’t be giving monotonous tasks to learners for pair and group works. If a few students are stubbornly non-cooperative their seats can be changed. The teacher must learn to adapt and be sensitive to the mood of the class. A heart to heart talk, explaining the anti-social behaviour and giving an opportunity the students to explain why he/she behaves the way he/she does, would prove beneficial in sorting out many issues.
Conclusion
The class can be surely managed in a much better and rewarding way with pair and group works/assignments through careful preparation and judicious selection of the tasks, clear transmission of guidelines and instructions and adequate monitoring on the part of the teacher. The greatest danger with the pedagogy is that of the class degenerating into chaos. This can be avoided if the teacher monitors the whole exercise with patience, perseverance and humility. The approach encourages learning through doing, making mistakes and correcting errors. It surely promotes independent learning and discourages cramming without understanding. This pedagogy should not be seen as a “recipe” code for managing all language learning classes at tertiary level but it may form a basis for experimenting with one’s own students. After all, being reflective, innovative and imaginative on the part of the teacher for classroom management with pair and group works is a fruitful exercise.
References:
1. Littlewood, W., 1981. Communicative Language Teaching: An introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2. Nolasio, R. and Arthur, L. Large Classes. London: Macmillan.
3. Mullick, R and Gosh, S. 1993. English Language Teaching: From Theory to Practice. Calcutta: Spectrum Inc.
4. Davanellos, Akis. “How to deal with Teenagers”. ELT News, Greece. September, 2008.