Group Work: B2+

Collins

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First edition 2013

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Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Chapter 1 Why do group work?

  understand why university students work in groups

  discover what teamwork skills involve and why you use them

  appreciate the value of working with other students

  recognize the importance of process over product in your work

Chapter 2 Preparing for group work

  learn ways of forming a group and getting to know each other

  recognize the value of team-building activities

  assign roles and responsibilities, establish rules and share contact information

  create a shared digital workspace

Chapter 3 Planning your group assignment

  understand how to interpret your assignment: what you are being asked to do

  understand the requirements of the task

  use a brainstorming technique to generate ideas

  learn techniques for scheduling your work

  recognize the importance of setting clear goals

Chapter 4 Working collaboratively

  learn how to be an effective group member and organize successful group meetings

  recognize the importance of listening to others

  develop negotiating skills

  understand how groups develop over time

Chapter 5 How different people learn and study

  understand the impact of learning styles on group work

  recognize the link between personality types and team roles

  understand the role of cultural differences

Chapter 6 Monitoring progress

  review your own performance

  review the team’s performance

  give and receive feedback on peer performance

  review your goals

Chapter 7 When things get hard

  recognize and identify problems within groups

  understand how to solve problems

  understand group dynamics

  deal with difficult group members

  understand when to seek support

Chapter 8 Presenting in a group

  assess group presentations

  plan a group presentation

  practise a group presentation

  deliver a group presentation

Chapter 9 Writing in a group

  plan your group writing task

  revise drafts and give peer feedback

  proofread the final draft

  carry out reflective writing

Chapter 10 Study groups

  understand the role of a study group

  form a study group

  identify different purposes for study groups: lectures, reading, presentations, writing, seminars and exams

Chapter 11 Online group work

  understand the nature of and reasons for online group work

  recognize the challenges and benefits of online group work

  develop strategies for online group work

Chapter 12 Learning from your experience of group work

  evaluate the group work experience

  set goals for the future

  learn from other students’ experiences

  learn from lecturers’ thoughts about group work

Appendices Appendix 1 – Useful phrases

Appendix 2 – Interviews with students about group work

Appendix 3 – Interviews with lecturers about group work

Appendix 4 – Skills, abilities and qualities for group work

Appendix 5 – Useful forms and activities

Appendix 6 – Example group presentation

Glossary

Answer key

Acknowledgements

About the Author

About the Publisher

Introduction

Collins Academic Skills Series: Group Work will give you the skills you need to take part in successful group work activities at university and college.

Designed to be used on a self-study basis to support English for Academic Purposes or study skills courses, it is intended for students on pre-sessional or Foundation courses as well as for first year undergraduate students.

The book has twelve chapters which cover the most important aspects of working with other students. You will learn:

 why group work is important

 how to prepare for group work and group assignments

 how to work collaboratively

 how different students learn and how to apply this knowledge to group work

 how to deal with difficult students

 how to write and present in groups

 how to reflect and learn from your group work experience.

At the back of the book there is:

 a list of useful phrases for group work

 transcripts of interviews with students on their experiences of group work

 transcripts of interviews with lecturers on their thoughts about group work

 a list of the skills, abilities and qualities needed for group work

 an example of a group presentation

 a glossary of key terms

 a comprehensive answer key

Chapter structure

Each chapter includes:

 Aims – These set out the skills covered in the chapter.

 A self-evaluation quiz – By doing this you are able identify what you already know on the subject of the chapter and what you need to learn.

 Information on academic expectations – These sections will help you understand university practices and expectations so you understand what is required.

 Practical exercises – These help you to develop the skills to succeed at university. You can check your answers at the back of the book.

 Tips – Key points are highlighted for easy reference and provide useful revision summaries for the busy student.

 Glossary – Difficult words are glossed in boxes next to the section where they appear in the chapter. There is also a comprehensive glossary at the back of the book.

 Remember sections – This is a summary of key points for revision and easy reference.

Glossary boxes

Where we feel that a word or phrase is difficult to understand, we have glossed this word/phrase. All definitions provided in the glossary boxes have been taken from the COBUILD Advanced Dictionary. At the end of the book there is a full alphabetical list of the most difficult words from the book for your reference.

Using Group Work

You can either work through the chapters from Chapter 1 to Chapter 12 or you can choose the chapters and topics that are most useful to you. The Contents page will help in your selection.

Study tips

 Each chapter will take between two to three hours. Take regular breaks and do not try to study for too long. Thirty to sixty minutes is a sensible study period.

 Regular study is better than occasional intensive study.

 Read the chapter through first to get an overview before you do any exercises. This will help you to see what you want to focus on.

 Try the exercises before referring to the Answer key. Be an active learner.

 After doing the exercises in the book, put what you have learned into practice when you are given real group work to do. The exercises will prepare you for group work but they are also examples of exercises you should do to make your group work successful.

 All university departments are different. Use the information in the book as a guide to understanding your own university department.

 Write questions you can ask to find out how your department expects you to work in groups.

 There is no one correct way of working with others. Use the experience you gain from doing the exercises to learn what works best for you. Adapt the suggestions in this book to suit your learning style and context.

 Learning to work in groups is an on-going process, which means you need to practise the same skills many times. Revise regularly.

Other titles

Also available in the Collins Academic Skills Series: Lectures, Numbers, Presenting, Research and Writing.

1

Why do group work?

Aims

  understand why university students work in groups

  discover what teamwork skills involve and why you use them

  appreciate the value of working with other students

  recognize the importance of process over product in your work

Quiz

Self-evaluation

Read the statements, then circle the word which is true for you.

1 I prefer to work on my own rather than as part of a team. agree | disagree | not sure 2 I can work as part of a team when I need to. agree | disagree | not sure 3 When I work with other students, I make sure they follow what I say. agree | disagree | not sure 4 I can learn everything I need to know from books and teachers; other students are not important. agree | disagree | not sure 5 Other students may have different ideas; these ideas can challenge mine and make me think more. agree | disagree | not sure 6 The final piece of work is the most important thing; the process of how the work is done is not. agree | disagree | not sure

Now check the key for comments on this exercise.

What is group work?

Glossary

assignment An assignment is a task or piece of work that you are given to do, especially as part of your job or studies.

Group work involves working with other students who are on the same course as you to complete a task or an assignment. You will find that lecturers in English-speaking universities often ask you to carry out work in groups.

There are different types of tasks and assignments that you can do when you work together. Some of them may be quite short, for example:

Glossary

common practice Common practice is a generally accepted way of doing something.

option An option is something that you can choose to do in preference to one or more alternatives.

random A random sample or method is one in which all the people or things involved have an equal chance of being chosen.

 holding group discussions

 checking your answers in groups.

Group discussions are usually held between small numbers of students and it is common practice for the lecturer to ask one group member to report their discussion to the whole class. Other group work activities may take more preparation, for example:

 giving a group presentation

 writing a group assignment.

These tasks will probably involve meeting your group outside class to spend time working together. Some group work assignments may even last several weeks or months. Examples of these from Business Studies are:

 setting up and running a university-based business

 designing a product and the marketing campaign for it.

When you work in groups, you sometimes have the option of choosing your own group members; this means you might decide to work with friends. Alternatively, you may be told who to work with by the lecturer. Another option is to have a random selection process. The size of groups might be small with two, three or four students, or there could be ten or more.

For more information on forming a group, see Chapter 2.

Tips

 Try not to feel nervous when working in a group with people you do not know; use it as an opportunity to meet new people and make friends.

 Use the opportunity of working with others to develop your English language speaking skills, as well as to get help when you are not sure what to do.

Reasons why university students work in groups

Glossary

participate If you participate in an activity, you take part in it.

collaborate When one person or group collaborates with another, they work together, especially on a book or on some research.

Understanding the purpose of working in groups will motivate you to participate. This is important as a high percentage of your marks at university will come from group work. If you do not understand the reasons for working with others, it is unlikely you will participate well. University lecturers generally believe that:

 you can learn more about a topic when working in a group than when working alone

 teamwork skills are very important and can only be learned through group participation

 the most important part of learning happens while you are working with other students, not when working alone

 group work is an important preparation for the world of work as you will need to collaborate with colleagues in your professional life after university.

Exercise 1

Compare what happens in group work assignments in an English-speaking university with what happens in your own country. Read the statements and tick the columns that are true for you.

University assignments English-speaking universities My country True False True False 1 Group work is a popular way of setting work for students. 2 Lecturers expect students to spend time working together outside class. 3 Lecturers encourage students to discuss ideas in groups and to learn from each other. 4 Students listen to each other and appreciate each other’s points of view. 5 Students take responsibility for finding out what they need to learn and learning it on their own.

Now check the key for answers and comments on this exercise.

What is the value of working with other students?

Glossary

background reading Background reading involves the reading of related works in order to get background (contextual information) on a topic that you are intending to study or write about.

As already stated, lecturers in English-speaking universities believe you will learn more when you work with other students than when you work alone. The following example of a group work assignment will help you to think about whether you agree or not.

For example: Identify a shopping mall in the city and carry out a survey of its customers’ shopping habits.

There will be a number of stages to this assignment. The first stage might be to do some background reading on people’s shopping habits. The information below shows how much you could do if you worked individually compared with working as part of a group.

Stage 1: Find out as much as you can about people’s shopping habits by doing some background reading.

As individual work As group work You can read a small number of articles and gain some information. Each group member can read different articles. Students can then meet and share their information with each other. Result: You have a small amount of information. Result: You have a lot of information.

The next stage might be to design a survey and write questions to ask shoppers. As before, this task will be easier to do as part of a group rather than done individually.

Stage 2: Write a list of questions to ask shoppers about their shopping habits.

As individual work As group work You write all the questions you can think of. Each group member writes a list of questions. You then work together to choose the best ones; some students have written good questions you did not think of. Result: You have a list of all the questions you could think of. Result: You have a list of the best questions from each student.

The final stage might be to carry out the survey by stopping shoppers in the shopping mall. You can see from the information on page 12 how many shoppers you can ask on your own compared to working in a group.