Group Work

B2+

Patrick McMahon

• Publisher: Collins
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780007507146
• eBook ISBN: 9780008101831
• Topic: Study Aids
• Subtopic: Study Guides

Work together for academic success

*The Collins Academic Skills Series - winner of the ELTon 2014 Innovation in Learner Resources Award.*

Collins Academic Skills Series: Group Work will give you the skills you need to work well with others, and help you feel confident contributing to group projects at university.

Through practical exercises and real-life case studies you will learn how to
• form effective groups
• assign roles
• establish rules
• deal with difficult group situations.

Collins Academic Skills Series: Group Work will help you to make the most of your time at university.

• Ten chapters with clear information and practical exercises
• Real-life case studies from university students
• Information on academic expectations – understand the requirements of studying at university
• Helpful tips and summaries
• Answer key and glossary

Group Work is part of a new six-book series to help international students achieve academic success at college or university. It is designed to support students who are studying, or preparing to study, at an English-speaking institution.

Suitable for students whose level of English is Upper Intermediate / CEF level B2 / IELTS 5.5 and higher.

Other titles in the Collins Academic Skills Series
• Lectures • Numbers • Presenting • Research • 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 informatio...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Why do group work?
• Chapter 2: Preparing for group work
• Chapter 3: Planning your group assignment
• Chapter 4: Working collaboratively
• Chapter 5: How different people learn and study
• Chapter 6: Monitoring progress
• Chapter 7: When things get hard
• Chapter 8: Presenting in a group
• Chapter 9: Writing in a group
• Chapter 10: Study groups
• Chapter 11: Online group work
• Chapter 12: Learning from your experience of group work
• Appendices
• Glossary
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author
• Answer key
• About the Publisher