Student group work

The Student-Centered

Classroom

Leo Jones

cambridge university press

Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo

Cambridge University Press

32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, ny 10013-2473, USA

www.cambridge.org

© Cambridge University Press 2007

This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception

and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,

no reproduction of any part may take place without

the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2007

Printed in the United States of America

isbn-13 978-0-521-95368-9 paperback

Book layout services: Page Designs International

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Autonomous Learning 2

2 Classroom Management 4

3 Motivation 13

4 Fluency and Accuracy 18

5 Teacher as Facilitator 25

6 Different Kinds of Activities 28

Conclusions 40

Further reading 41

Introduction

Some students say:

J “Why do we have to do pair work and group work?”

J “When I speak English, I feel stupid because I make lots of

mistakes and don’t know enough vocabulary.”

J “I don’t want to speak English until my English is much better.”

J “I don’t want to listen to other students speaking incorrect English

because I’ll learn their mistakes.”

J “My teachers speak the best English. I want to learn from them.”

This booklet will respond to those comments.

We don’t want our students to become people who:

J Can’t communicate in the real world

J Panic when they can’t think of the right words to use

J Are tongue-tied because they’re worried about making mistakes

and losing face

J Can’t survive without a teacher to help them and guide them

J Look away in embarrassment when someone asks, “Can anyone

here speak English?”

A student-centered approach helps students to develop a “can-do”

attitude. It is effective, motivating, and enjoyable. This booklet sets out to

discuss how this approach can be implemented. It also deals with the problems

that may arise.

In the following chapters, unless otherwise specified, “we” means

“we teachers” and “working together” means “working together in pairs or

groups.”

Introduction 1

2 The Student-Centered Classroom

1

Autonomous Learning

Working together

In a student-centered class, students don’t depend on their teacher all the time,

waiting for instructions, words of approval, correction, advice, or praise. They

don’t ignore each other, but look at each other and communicate with each

other. They value each other’s contributions; they cooperate, learn from each

other, and help each other. When in difficulty or in doubt, they do ask the

teacher for help or advice but only after they have tried to solve the problem

among themselves. The emphasis is on working together, in pairs, in groups,

and as a whole class. Their teacher helps them to develop their language skills.

A student-centered classroom isn’t a place where the students decide

what they want to learn and what they want to do. It’s a place where we consider

the needs of the students, as a group and as individuals, and encourage

them to participate in the learning process all the time. The teacher’s role is

more that of a facilitator (see Chapter 6) than instructor; the students are active

participants in the learning process. The teacher (and the textbook) help to

guide the students, manage their activities, and direct their learning. Being a

teacher means helping people to learn – and, in a student-centered class, the

teacher is a member of the class as a participant in the learning process.

In a student-centered class, at different times, students may be working

alone, in pairs, or in groups:

J Working alone, preparing ideas or making notes before a

discussion, doing a listening task, doing a short written

assignment, or doing grammar or vocabulary exercises

J Working together in pairs or groups, comparing and discussing

their answers, or reading and reacting to one another’s written

work and suggesting improvements

J Working together in discussions or in role-plays, sharing ideas,

opinions, and experiences

J Interacting with the teacher and the whole class, asking questions

or brainstorming ideas

Also in a student-centered class, students may be teacher-led:

J Before students work together, their teacher will help them prepare

to work together with explanations and pronunciation practice.

Autonomous Learning 3

J While students are working together, their teacher will be available

to give advice and encouragement.

J After they’ve finished working together, and the class is

reassembled, their teacher will give them feedback, offer

suggestions and advice, make corrections, and answer questions.

When students are working together in English, they

J Talk more

J Share their ideas

J Learn from each other

J Are more involved

J Feel more secure and less anxious

J Use English in a meaningful, realistic way

J Enjoy using English to communicate

But some of them may

J Feel nervous, embarrassed, or tongue-tied

J Speak English and make a lot of mistakes

J Speak in their native language, not in English

J Not enjoy working together

In the following chapters, we’ll look at these problems and ways of

dealing with them.

4 The Student-Centered Classroom

2

Classroom Management

Large classes

The ideal size for a student-centered language class is probably 12! (The number

12 can be divided into 6 pairs, or 4 groups of 3, or 3 groups of 4, or 2

groups of 6 – and 12 students can easily hear one another in a whole-class activity.)

But, of course, we can’t choose the number of students in our classes. Most

classes are larger, many classes are far larger. Is there a maximum size beyond

which student-centered learning is inappropriate?

Actually, the larger the class, the more necessary it is to have a studentcentered

class. The only way to give all the students time to speak

...