The Strengths And Weaknesses Of Speaking Skills In Learning English As A Foreign Language

As I sit here to this day group work is still not my favorite thing it makes me angry when professors mention it. I feel as if we are now in college not in high school. We should be treated as one person when doing an assignment. So you could see each potential of each

The push for group work is founded on the goal of preparing students for their adult

Thus the role of group work can be seen as one which places emphasis on sharing of thoughts, ideas, problems and activities.

In my opinion, group work is a type of cooperative learning that helps people to accomplish a certain task in a faster and more effective manner. Team working also helps to achieve the tasks that are impossible to finish by one individual. However, if people in a group have a lot of conflicts, group work will not be able to achieve as much as we expected. There are many reasons which lead to dissatisfaction in group work such as individualism as well as conflicts in opinion and time.

One of the things that worked well in our group was the willingness of those in the group to listen to each other and entertain various viewpoints. I think that mutual respect is the key when working with groups. Each of us played different roles in the group: some of us were listeners, some of us were leaders, and some who were initially listeners became leaders as the group went on. Within our group we had different personality types and communication styles.

Generally group learning is cost effective for employers, employees/learners and providers. Enabling continued and multi use of materials, resources and facilities. Group learning also ensures a consistent, common message and programme.

Groups may be defined in many ways, indeed providing an absolute definition of a group, as with much of the theory around group work, is highly problematic and contestable. However for the purposes of discussing groupwork within a context of working with young people we may define a group as a small gathering of young people. Group work may simplistically be described as the study and application of the processes and outcomes experienced when a small group comes together.

In my opinion, I agree that students should go through a group setting in training to become a group worker. Only in this setting, can students truly learn what it is like to be in the group member’s position and to learn how to best handle situations. Students will be able to know exactly how their future members will feel and how they resolved those unwanted feelings.

Speaking is a much broader form of communication allowing for easier and more convenient way of sharing information with another, For example, if my sister wants to share with me her plans for today and where she’ll be in a certain time period, she’ll most likely speak to me directly and give me all the necessary information needed to fully understand her. By speaking it to me, I am able to pose questions to gain even more clarification should I miss some details and not totally understand what it is she said. Speaking doesn’t follow a specific genre as other forms of communication might, the specifics of a conversation are geared toward that particular conversation and rarely overlap into other discussions which we may have between one another. Something of note to point out with speaking is the higher chance of conflict between members of a discourse community. Being that I talk to my sister more than any other form of communication, our conflicts are always verbal

Since much of our time is spend in groups, it is helpful to work in groups because it will give an opportunity to improve their human functioning. Group work helps to develop individual skills in communication, relationship building and asserting oneself

Working in a group was a great way to get to know my classmates. Despite our differences, we worked together and completed the assignment. I like working in a group, but sometimes I would rather do the assignment on my own. Group work has its good and bad effects.

This change is important, and valuable for me because I did not used to work as a team. I preferred to work alone because I thought that working, as a team is waste time. However, I was wrong, and I was missing out on the benefits of teamwork, such as active learning, key critical thinking, communication, and decision-making skills. All those factors are essential for the development of student learning. Now everything changed, I like to work in a group because I can share my ideas, and discuss one subject about it. In addition, teamwork has brought me many benefits in my life as a student. One of that benefits is I am more responsible. For instance, if I have to research one subject, I have to read many books or find the right information on the Internet, and deliver my investigation on time to discuss the information as

The second “best practice” for group work is to look for the best in people. Refrain from going into the project with negative expectations of the assignment or members of the group. In addition, bar yourself from masking your own insecurities by pointing out faults in others. Look for and expect the best from every member of the group, including yourself. Ask yourself how what each person’s strengths are and what makes them a valuable contribution to the group (Hunter,

In order for successful group work to be achieved, there are a number of aspects that need to be considered. In the first lecture we were told to expect conflict, this threw me at first, I usually run away from conflicting situations (I will get into why a little later). Although I did not like the concept of having to face and deal with conflict, the value did show, as we were told it would. McDermott (2002) suggests that conflict signals the group has begun to matter to participants, and groups are often more productive after the resolution of conflict. The second aspect that really stuck with me was group processes and development. Most of the groups I have been involved in so far throughout my degree,

“Group work is a form of voluntary association of members benefiting from cooperative learning that enhances the total output of the activity than when done individually”.