GROUPING STUDENTS

Jeremy Harmer

DIFFERENT GROUPS

Whole-class teaching:
Advantages:
It reinforces the sense of belonging. It is suitable for activities where the teacher is acting as a controller. It allows the teacher to gauge the mood of the class in general.

Disadvantages:
It favours the group rather than the individual. Many students are afraid of public failure. It favours the transmission of knowledge from teacher to student rather than having students discover things. It is no the best way to organise communicative language teaching.

Seating whole-group classes:

Orderly rows
It allows clear view of all the students It allows work with the whole class. Useful for explaining grammar, watching a video, etc.

Circle and horseshoe

It is appropriate for smaller groups. It allows for a greater feeling of equality between teacher and students. It is more intimate.

Separate tables
It allows the work in groups, pairs and as a wholeclass. It is easy to arrange group work. It is useful in mixed-ability classes.

Students on their own:

Advantages:
It allows teacher to respond to individual student differences. It is less stressful. It can develop learner autonomy. It can be a way of restoring and tranquillity.

Disadvantages:
It does not help to promote the sense of belonging. It does not encourage cooperation. It means a great deal more thought and materials preparation. It takes more time than interacting with the wholeclass.

Pairwork:
Advantages: It increases the amount of speaking time. It allows student to work and interact independently. It allows the teacher to work with one pair while the others continue working. It promotes cooperation. It is relatively easy to organise. Disadvantages: It is usually very noisy. It allows students to talk about other matters in L1. It is not always popular with students who prefer working with the teacher. It can be problematic the choice of the paired partner.

Groupwork: Advantages: It increases the number of talking opportunities. It encourages broader skills of cooperation and negotiation. It promotes learner autonomy. Disadvantages: It is likely to be noisy. It is not always popular with students who prefer working with the teacher. It is easy for students to fall into group roles that become fossilised. It can take longer to organise.