AN ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF GROUP WORK IN EFL CLASSROOMS

Abstract

Group work is one of effective methods to motivate students, to create a good learning environment and develop a key critical-thinking, communication and decision making skills. It should be implemented carefully in order to make teaching learning process effective. The purpose of this study was assessing the implementation of group work during reading comprehension in EFL classroom. This research was conducted in two secondary schools of Wolaitta zone, Sodo secondary and Tebela Gen/ secondary and Preparatory schools. From these two schools, 12 sample sections of grade 9 were used. To achieve the intended goal, this study followed descriptive study design. An assessment of group work implementation in classroom was done by using 32 structured classroom observations. Each of the selected classrooms was observed twice. In order to consolidate and validate data gathered through classroom observation, teachers‟ and students‟ questionnaire were employed. The collected data were analyzed and discussed using descriptive statistical tools. The result of the study revealed that the teachers were not fully committed to perform their roles in the implementation of group work. The students were also not fully committed to participate in group work. Their involvement in group work discussion was very low. Therefore, recommendations were forwarded to teachers to make careful planning and play their roles properly when they organize group work and assign the students in group.