Longman Dictionary of

PE2379 ch03.qxd 24/1/02 16:05 Page 234
group discussion
group discussion n
a teaching activity which has the following characteristics:
1A small number of students (four to twelve) meet together.
2 They choose, or are given, a common topic or problem and a goal or
objective.
3 They exchange and evaluate information or ideas about the topic.
see also CO-OPERATIVE LEARNING
group dynamics n
the interactions which take place within a group and the study of how
such factors as leadership, interaction and decision-making affect the
structure of a group. Group dynamics is an important consideration in
forming classroom groups (see CO-OPERATIVE LEARNING) and in designing
learning tasks and classroom materials.
see also SMALL-GROUP INTERACTION
group work n
(in language teaching) a learning activity which involves a small group of
learners working together. The group may work on a single task, or on
different parts of a larger task. Tasks for group members are often selected
by the members of the group.
see also PAIR WORK
grouping n
(in teaching) arranging students into groups to help them learn better.
Choosing suitable grouping arrangements which match different kinds of
learning tasks is an important dimension of teaching. Different group
arrangements for teaching include:
1 Whole-group instruction: The class is taught as a whole.
2 Small-group discussion: A group of between six and eight students
working on a discussion topic.
3 Tutorial discussion group: A small group of usually less than five students
focusing on a narrow range of materials, often to help remedy a
learning difficulty.
Important issues in grouping are group size (a factor which influences
learner participation in group work) and whether students learn better
in mixed-ability groups or in groups of about the same proficiency
level. Use of small groups is a characteristic of Communicative
Language Teaching and Collaborative Language Learning since group
work is said to facilitate real communication and naturalistic language
use.
see also CO-OPERATIVE LEARNING, SMALL-GROUP INTERACTION
234