Group Work: B2+ - Patrick McMahon

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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.

As individual work As group work
You ask as many shoppers as you can in the time you have. You and your group members split up and go to different parts of the shopping mall. You ask as many shoppers as you can in the time available and then share all your information.
Result: You have a small number of respondents. Result: You have a large number of respondents and your survey will be more representative.

       Glossary

      available If something you want or need is available, you can find it or obtain it.

      representative A group of people or things is representative of a larger group of people or things if it closely matches the wider group.

      refine If something such as a process, theory or machine is refined, it is improved by having small changes made to it.

      You will have seen from these examples that there are clear advantages to working in groups.

       You learn more when you can share information that you get separately; it takes time to find and read information, but it does not take long to share this information with someone else.

       You learn from the ideas of others; you will have some ideas, but you cannot think of everything on your own. Other students will usually have some ideas you did not think of.

       You will benefit from explaining your ideas and listening to the ideas of other students. They will help you to see things from different points of view and help you to refine your ideas.

      

Exercise 2

      Read the tasks below and make notes about the benefits of group work.

Task Benefits of doing task in a group
Make a poster explaining the content of your degree programme for a university open day.
Give a presentation entitled The advantages of studying abroad for your degree.
Design a new product to sell at your university shop and persuade the shop manager to stock it.

       Now check the key for comments on this exercise.

       What are teamwork skills and how do they help the process of learning?

       Glossary

      infrastructure The infrastructure of a country, society, or organization consists of the basic facilities such as transport, communications, power supplies, and buildings, which enable it to function.

      brainstorm If a group of people brainstorm, they have a meeting in which they all put forward as many ideas and suggestions as they can think of.

      negotiate If people negotiate with each other, they talk about a problem or a situation in order to solve the problem or complete the arrangement.

      As we have discussed, group work will help you to develop your teamwork skills, and teamwork skills are important for working effectively with other students. If you have good teamwork skills, you will be able to work collaboratively; your group will achieve more and your marks will be higher. Furthermore, specific marks for teamwork are often given for group assignments.

      Look at the teamwork skills involved in the following group assignment.

      For example: Set up and run a project for the design and implementation of an infrastructure project of your choice.

Task stages Teamwork skills you will practise
Deciding what infrastructure project your group will work on BrainstormingListening to othersMaking suggestionsPutting forward a point of viewNegotiatingMaking group decisions
Making a list of student roles and responsibilities needed to complete the assignment and sharing them out Problem-solvingNegotiatingPutting forward an opinion and supporting itAllocating responsibilitiesRecognizing the strengths of others
Drawing up a plan of the project Problem-solvingHelping each otherMaking suggestionsSharing ideasCollaborating

      These are just some of the teamwork skills you might use, but there are many more (see Appendix 4 for a complete list). You will need to practise and use these skills when you work with others.

       For more information on working collaboratively, see Chapter 4.

       Tips

       Recognize that whenever your lecturer asks you to do something, there is a good reason for it.

       Reflect on what you are learning every time you do a task or assignment in order to get better marks.

      

Exercise 3

      Read the assignments below. Which ones would be good for individual work, and which ones would benefit from teamwork? Write I if you think they are good for individual work and G if they would benefit from group work. What teamwork skills are needed to complete the group work assignments effectively?

Task I / G If group work, what teamwork skills are needed?
1 Make a video about student life in your university for the student union to show future students.
2 Write a personal statement to apply for a placement in a company to gain work experience.
3 Write a newspaper article explaining why students from abroad come to study at

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