1. “GROUPING
STUDENTS”
Barrau, Natasha
Herrán, Joana
Jeremy Hermer

2. Different groups
Teachers can group students in the classroom in
differents ways...
 Whole-class teaching
 Students on their own
 Pairwork
 Groupwork

3. Whole-class teaching
It is the most common teacher-students interaction
in many cultures
 Advantages:
 It reinforces a sense of belonging among the group
members
 It creates an engaging atmosphere
 The teacher as a controller: explanations and
instructions
 General understanding of student progress
 Whole class working under teacher authority make
students feel secure

4. Whole-class teaching
 Disadvantages:
 It favours the group rather than the individual
 No chance of speaking
 Embarrassment in front of mates
 It privileges the transmission of knowledge from
teacher to student rather than having students
discover things
 Difficulties in organising communicative language
teaching or task-based sequences

5. Students on their own
 Advantages:
 Teachers can respond to individual students
 It can develop LEARNER AUTONOMY and promote
skills of self-reliance and investigation
 Peace and tranquillity rather than noise and
chaotic situation

6. Students on their own
 Disadvantages:
 Sense of belonging and cooperation are not
encouraged
 It means much more thought and materials
preparation than whole-class teaching involves
 It takes more time interacting with individual
students that with the whole group

7. Pairwork
 Advantages :
 Bigger amount of speaking time
 Students work and interact independently without
the guidance of the teacher: learner
independence
 The teacher has time to work with all the pairs
 Promotes a cooperative and friendly atmosphere
 Students share responsibility

8. Pairwork
 Disadvantages:
 Pairwork is frequently very noisy
 Students often talk about something else,
often in their L1
 Some students prefer to relate with the teacher
rather than with other learners who have the
same linguistic level
 The chioce of partners can be problematic
becuase there may be students who are not
keen on with some other student.

9. Groupwork
 Advantages:
 It increases the amount of talking
 Personal relationships are less problematic
and there are varied opinions
 It encourages cooperation and it is more
private than work in front of the whole class
 Students can choose their level of participation
 It promotes learner autonomy

10. Groupwork
 Disadvantages:
 It is likely to be noisy and some teachers feel
they lose control
 Some students prefer to be the focus of the
teacher's attention
 Group roles may become fossilised
 Groups usually demand more time and the
beginning and ending of groupwork activities
can be chaotic.

11. Deciding about grouping...
Teachers need to consider a number of factors:
 The task
 The task the teacher prepares will influence
the grouping
 Variety in a sequence
 Different student groupings help to provide
variety and thus, sustaining motivation.
 The mood
 Changing the grouping of a class can be a
good way to change its mood

12. Organising pairwork and
groupwork
 Making it work
 How students feel about working in
pair or in groups?
 What changes of method do we need
to make?

13. Creating pairs and groups
We can decide how to put individual
students into pairs or groups according to:
 Friendship
 Through observation we can see which
students get on with which of their
classmates
 Sociogram: students are asked to write
who they like (and don’t like) working with.

14.  Streaming
 According to their ability:
o Weaker and stronger students
o Students at the same level
 Chance
 Students who are sitting next or near to each other
 The “wheels” scenario
 Numbers or letters
 Changing groups during the class

15. Procedures for pairwork and
groupwork
 Before
 Students need to feel enthusiastic about
what they are going to do.
 Students should understand and agree on
what the task is
 The success of pairwork task is often
helped by giving students a time when the
activity should finish- and then sticking to
it.

16.  During
 Stand at the front or the side of the class
and keep and eye on what is happening
 To go around the class watching and
listening
 Intervene in discussions when we think it
is appropriate or necessary
 To pick up information about students’
progress

17.  After
 We need to organise feedback.
 We want to let them discuss what
occurred during the groupwork session
and add our own assessments and make
corrections when necessary.
 Constructive feedback can enhance
student’s future motivation

18. Troubleshooting
 Finishing first
 Boredom
 De-motivation
 We can give them a short little task to
complete while they are waiting
 Awkward
 We may need to change the pairs or groups.