Lesson transitions to group work in primary English classrooms

Lwin, S. M., Goh, C., & Doyle, P. (2012). ‘I’m going to split you all up’: Examining transitions to group/pair work in two primary English classrooms. Language and Education, 26(1), 19-33.

Background

Classroom-based research has focused extensively on teacher-pupil interaction. Less attention has been given to the study of transitions in language classrooms, particularly from whole-class teaching to small-group learning.   This topic area is however of great importance since the organisation of students into small groups does not necessarily translate to productive group learning.

Aims

The authors sought to gain insights into the nature of lesson transitions to small-group work in two primary English classrooms. The authors also hoped to investigate how teachers orchestrate conditions of entry into group or pair work.

Sample

One high-ability (HA) and one low-ability (LA) Primary 5 class were chosen for this study.

Method

The data used in the study were selected from a corpus of classroom interactions. Transcripts of twelve English lessons(i.e., six lessons from the HA class, six lessons from the LA class) were chosen and analysed for lesson transitions.

Findings

In both classrooms, the teacher’s discourse focus, while moving from whole-class teaching to small-group learning, was primarily on organising the students into groups or pairs, controlling their posture and behaviour, as well as explaining the content and requirements of the task. Little attention was paid to how students should think and respond to each other’s ideas during group work. It was also noted that lesson transitions to group work were seldom characterized by neatly demarcated chunks of discourse that led students into the given task. Rather, the transitions were often extended and recursive. Many students were left confused as to what was expected of them when then they worked in their groups and could not transit smoothly onto group work even when power and control over the task were transferred to them. As a result, some groups did not function effectively.
 
The authors suggested the need for teachers to explicitly lead students from whole-class teaching to small-group work. Apart from selecting tasks that could encourage greater inter-thinking and learning, teachers should also pay more attention to setting up ground rules that encouraged students to interact, think, and respond to each other’s ideas during small-group work.

Implications

According to the authors, the findings of the reported study challenged many assumptions made about kindergarten teachers.  The authors urged early childhood professionals and teacher educators to pay more attention to the belief systems of kindergarten teachers.

Original article retrieved from Taylor & Francis Online.