An investigation into the use of group work to promote the speaking skill in a remedial english course

Abstract

Group work is a student centered strategy that helps students practice their speaking skill in the language classroom. This research investigated teachers and students perceptions of the effectiveness of group work for enhancing the speaking skill in a remedial English language course at a private university in North Lebanon. To conduct this research, observation, teacher interviews, and focus group student interviews were the data gathering instruments used in this study. After the data was analyzed, the findings revealed that students believe group work is a strategy that primarily helps them prepare for formal presentations. They also believe that the formal presentations are more effective in enhancing the speaking skill than the group work activities. Teachers believe that group work has its benefits that would allow students to be in a comfortable classroom atmosphere to practice using English and to help them prepare for the formal presentations. The findings also revealed that the teachers in this study were not well versed in using a variety of group work strategies and in fact, were unaware of different formalized collaborative strategies. Recommendations for further research include teacher training on the different kinds of group work that can be implemented in the language classroom, effectively incorporating the use of technology in group work to enhance the speaking skill, and using different kinds of grouping arrangements and important using different models of group work.