Group Work and Student Engagement:

Lessons learnt from action research

Rahila Waqar
Principal, Usman Public School
rahilawaqar@gmail.com

Introduction
Learners of today will be active citizens of the world tomorrow. They will need to work
in cooperative groups to succeed in the fast paced post modern era. Therefore it seems
quite reasonable to include group work as one of the major teaching strategies practised
at schools. With this premise the study reported in this article was undertaken. The aim
was to see how the students engagement in a large class of 34 students can be positively
enhanced through the change of furniture arrangement and employing group work
techniques.

It is strange that working in groups is collaboration outside the school and is cheating
inside it [Robinson: 2007]. Sometimes students who study together for several years
remain strangers because they are never given a chance to work together in groups
although cooperation and collaboration are much needed skills in the practical life. A
paradigm shift is required in such cases with group work accepted as an interaction model
for classroom learning. The idea of learning with and from other students was first
presented by Quintilian (3595 C.E.) long before the idea of group work was formally
introduced by educationists belonging to the social school of thought [Chartock, 2000:2].

Benefits of group work

Several benefits of group work have been propounded since the conception of the idea.
Some of them are enlisted below.

1. Group work develops the ability to view ideas from different perspectives:
Students who work individually master academic skills but lack in interpersonal skills.
Students learning in groups develop social skills and visualize things or ideas from
various perspectives [Dahley: 1994]. Fox (1993) states that one of, The key cognitive
element [in group work] is the development of the ability to take another pupils
perspective. (p.177)

2. It increases group acceptance:

Marzano (1992) presented his theory of five types of thinking and one of the thinking
dimensions he mentioned is attitudes and perceptions. Positive attitudes and perceptions
develop when students feel accepted. According to him the:dynamics of cooperative
learning increase the probability of acceptance among group members (Marzano,
1992:22).

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 3. It increases achievement and retention:
When learners discuss things in groups their ideas are challenged by other group
members which creates disequilibrium, shakes the learners schemata and provides
opportunity for assimilation or accommodation (as defined by Piaget). This results in
deeper understanding of the content and better retention. The repetition of the content
also enhances retention (Fox, 1993:171).

Killen 2005:127) (citing Peterson, 1981; Swing & Peterson, 1982) reinforces this view,
thus:

Group work shifts the focus from students being passive recipients of knowledge
to being active learners. This can enhance students achievement and retention.

4. It mitigates hostility against adults:

It is a common experience that adolescents tend to group up against adults and non-
members of their intimate cliques in schools (Fox, 1993:168). When students work in
groups cooperating with one another to achieve common goals the negative, hostile and
competitive forces of such gang behaviour mitigates(op.cit.).

Preparing for group work

Change requires preparation and tilling of the soil. Before applying group work the
students and in some cases parents also need to be introduced to the idea. When they
know the benefit and the procedures to be followed during the new working scenario they
have comfort and order (Marzano, 1992:22)Moreover careful planning and monitoring
is extremely important for the success of group work. Five factors are important for the
success of the strategy.

1. Appropriateness of goals and tasks

2. Social Positivity
3. Equity
4. Communication
5. Accountability
(Sherman, 1998; Tingle & Good, 1990)

A typical group goes through four stages of development which are, forming, storming,
norming and performing (Schien, 1987 quoted by Fox, 1993:173). The groups should
stay together for enough time so that they can go through these stages and reach the
performing stage.

Limitations of Group Work:

Some of the limitations of group work listed by Killen [2007: 162] are:

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 1. Students who are used to learning individually will need to adjust to the new way
of learning.
2. Some students will not cooperate and give their fair share to the group work.
3. Some unpopular students may not be accepted as group members in the
beginning.
4. Some learners may not be able to contribute much to the group and may just copy
from others without understanding the concept or the task.
5. The difference in the pace of learning between students may hamper the learning
of students who have a slow pace of learning.
6. High ability students may lose interest when put in mixed ability groups.
7. Some learners like direct instruction and are not comfortable with self teaching.
8. There may be students who waste time discussing other matters.
9. Some teachers love control and therefore may design the group work so tightly
that there remains no room for student spontaneity, which is an important aspect
of group work.
10. Planning a group work requires more effort on the part of the teacher.

Research Question:

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of employing group work strategies
for teaching English on students on-task behaviour and their engagement in learning
during the tasks. For effective group work it was considered necessary that the classroom
furniture is so arranged that the group members can easily communicate, face to face
with each other. Moreover, the space between the desks should be enough so that one
groups activity does not disturb the other groups and the teacher can comfortably move
around the room to monitor each groups progress.
The research questions were:

1. What is the impact of rearranging the furniture into group format on the students
learning and teachers teaching in class VI?
2. What is the impact of group work on students engagement?

Definition of Key Terms:

Group Work:
Group work occurs when two or more students work together [Killen: 2007: 159] for a
common purpose.
For the purpose of this study the above definition has been taken though some
cooperative learning strategies like Jigsaw reading, think-pair-share etc were also used.
Moreover activities were designed that ensured the five key elements of Cooperative-
Learning namely, face-to-face interaction, positive interdependence, social skills,
individual accountability and group processing.

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The terms group work and cooperative learning will be used interchangeably in this
article.

Engagement:

Engagement is the physical and intellectual involvement of the learners in the process of
learning. Students are said to be engaged or involved when they are actively
participating in the learning activity (Eggen, Kauchak, 2000:432).

In group work students are individually involved in lessons more often and at a
more personal level (Long & Porter 1984)

Methodology:
This action research was conducted over a period of 10 weeks beginning from January to
mid-March.The study was conducted in a local private school situated in Karachi catering
to the middle and upper middle class socio-economic strand of society. The school
management is committed to achieving high standards of teaching and learning. Any
change that enhances the quality of teaching and learning is readily approved and
appreciated. Thus the researcher had almost no constraint in implementing the desired
changes. The only constraint was the response of the colleagues as any change in the
room setting affected their instruction as well.

Thirty four students belonging to class VI of ages between 11 and 12 years were
involved.

The data was collected through the researchers reflective diary, students
response to an open-ended questionnaire (appendix 1) and colleagues feedback from a
different questionnaire (appendix 2) at the end of the 10 weeks. Commented [FS1]: Please reorder the appendices accordingly.
The methodology was qualitative in nature. The reflections of the researcher, colleagues
responses to an open-ended questionnaire and learners responses to a different open-
ended questionnaire were qualitatively analysed. Commented [FS2]: The text needs to be formatted in
paragraphs. At The moment we have many one-liners!

Cycles of action research Before the Study:

The students of class VI sat on dual desks in three rows facing the chalk
board (see appendix 3 a.). Most of the teaching was teacher fronted. Students needed to
face the board most of the time. The front remained the place where all the action took
place (Shamim, 1996:128). The setting determined the teaching strategy which was to
lead from the front.
During the Study:
First Cycle:
The first noticeable change I brought was in the furniture arrangement. I arranged
the dual desks into clusters of three desks each and two left over desks were joined
together, making six groups in all (see appendix 3.b). Each group now had six members
and one group had four members. The purpose of doing this was to change the mind set

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of students as well as the teachers. I expected the teachers to change their teaching style
because teacher fronted teaching would definitely become difficult if not impossible with
this new setting.
This was the first step of moving from the teacher centred to the student centred teaching.
For the new setting new tasks had to be planned. I started with a reading comprehension
lesson from the prescribed English textbook. I distributed different questions to different
groups. They had to read the text and answer the assigned questions collaboratively on a
single foolscap sheet provided to them. I walked around giving individual and
groupfeedback during and after the task.

Reflections:
I was overjoyed by the success of the first cooperative learning lesson. The
students satface-to face and discussed what to write; then the scribe in each group wrote
it on a single sheet. I had to mark only six sheets. Subsequently, they were required to
copy the final drafts of all answers in their notebooks. It took three class periods, each of
40 minutes, to finish the task. The beginning task required discussion so the positive
interdependence (Bennett, 1991:33) was well structured. But in the later sessions they
just had to copy the final drafts from the single sheetmarked by the teacher.. There was
almost no intellectual engagement that I was looking for. I felt extremely uneasy as
student engagement was one of my main targets for the study.
Another problem was that one student, a high achiever, didnt feel comfortable in
this new setting. It was noticed that he did his work alone and was not willing to work
with his group members. He wanted to sit with his friend who was also a high achiever. I
talked to him outside the class to convince him to work cooperatively in his present
group. I noticed after a few days that he remained in his own group but chose a place
which put him in close proximity to his friend. He was happy with this seating so I did
not intervene anymore.

Second Cycle:
Analysing the outcomes of the first cycle I planned a jigsaw reading lesson on a
topic related to the next reading text that they had to study from the textbook. I divided
the text into four parts. For each part I prepared a worksheet which would be the
scaffolding for the students) (Woolfolk, 1998:47). As this was the first time that the
students were going to experience jigsaw reading therefore I thought that the worksheet
would help the learners to share their information easily. This lesson was also video-
taped.
Reflection:
In this particular lesson I forgot to introduce the social skills at the beginning of
the lesson. Though I remembered later, during the lesson, I let them work without
interfering the flow of the lesson.
I also noticed that sharing of the work sheet was a problem for the groups because
of the distance between them. The cluster of three tables and six students seemed to be a
large group. The smaller groups that had only four students sitting on two tables joined
together seemed to work more comfortably with each other.

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 The noise level increased which worried me. Moreover getting their attention
during group work also posed a problem. I planned to search for a strategy that would
solve this problem.
Third Cycle:
Learning from this experience, the classroom setting was once again changed with
the help of the class teacher this time. We arranged two desks together, making 8 groups
of four students each (appendix 3.c 3)1. Two students left the school as their parents
shifted abroad. I expected the noise level to diminish with the change in furniture
arrangement.
In the next lessons I introduced and practised the voice meter (appendix 4) to
involve the students in solving the problem of increased voice level. I would move the
needle of the meter to indicate the level of noise allowed for a particular class task. The
other strategy I used to get their attention was the signal Give me all Five (appendix 5).
I would raise my hand to indicate that I needed full attention. In response to my signal the
students would raise their hands as well and begin to pay full attention.
The next reading lesson I planned was based on a unit in the textbook titled
Cyclones.. I prepared while-reading tasks that students had to solve in groups. The post
reading task was to complete a graphic organizer; following that, the students wrote a
summary in groups using the graphic organizer.
During this lesson we utilized two more strategies:
SOS: We developed this signal of raising the hand and saying SOS to seek help
from other groups when required.
2B4me: We established this rule so that the students first asked their friends for
help and would ask the teacher only when two of their friends were unable to solve their
problem.
Reflections:
The students enjoyed the new strategies and willingly applied all of them. The
noise level reduced when I pointed at the needle of the voice metre though increased after
a while. I felt that conscious and consistent practise will be required on regular basis to
achieve their benefits fully.
The students seemed more engaged in the task than previously. The increase in
the voice level was a manifestation of their excitement and involvement in the group
tasks.
I continued to follow the above mentioned procedure for ten weeks from January
till mid-March.

Data Analysis:

Students Response:
Students were informed about the questionnaire and were told to gather in
a specified room if interested. A group of 22 students gathered voluntarily. They were
handed out the questionnaire which they filled independently. They had to write
responses to the given questions. Their responses were later classified as strong,

1
The class had 32 students now as two students had left the school shifting abroad with their parents.

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medium and low indicating their opinion regarding the impact of the new setting and
cooperative learning on the categories listed in the first column (see Table 1). Commented [FS3]: You need to explain more about how you
arrived at these categories?

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 How did the Number of First Term Second Term
setting impact Responses
you in the 1st 2nd Strong Medium Low None Strong Medium Low None
following areas? Term Term
Friendship 19 22 57.9% 5.3% 36.8% 0% 77.5% 9% 4.5 % 9%
Learning 21 21 42.9% 19.1% 38% 0% 90.5% 4.8% 4.7% 0%
Confidence 20 22 43 % 24 % 29 % 0% 82 % 9% 4.5% 4.5%
Teachers 22 20 54.5% 18.2% 27.3% 0% 85% 0% 15% 0%
Attention
Adjusting with 20 19 40% 30% 30% 0% 70 % 10 % 15 % 5%
new people
Retention/memory 21 21 71.5% 9.5% 19% 0% 90.5% 0% 9.5 % 0%
Willingness to 19 21 52.6% 10.6% 36.8% 0 % 47.6% 47.6% 4.8 % 0%
come to school
Likeness for the 19 19 52.6% 31.6% 15.8% 0 % 52.6% 31.6% 10.5% 5.3
teacher/school %
Knowing that 16 16 37.5% 18.8% 43.7% 0 % 75% 6.2 % 18.8% 0 %
different people
think differently

Table 1: Students responses indicating their perceived benefits of Cooperative Learning.

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The table shows that the key benefits that existing research proposes for group work were
realized by the students.
The students responses show that they improved academically as well as socially. They
feltthat their friendships improved as they were able to understand others perspectives
better. This in turn enabled them to make suitable adjustments to get along with students
who were different.
Majority, i.e., 90% of students felt that they could retain the learnt material when they
worked in groups.
When asked the reason for this comment one of the students said, When we discuss our
understandings the group members present their views in different words. This gives us a
variety of perspectives and so we remember the content more.
The students responses also show that with the furniture set differently to facilitate
students working in groups, the teacher could also move around and attend to their needs
more. This ensured more teacher attention for each student.
The group work did not seem to have anyaffect on their willingness to come to school
and likeness for the teacher or school.

Open-ended responses:
Seventy five percent of the students liked the new setting while 25 % did
not like it. Most of the reasons listed by students for liking the setting were
social (affective). Some of the academic reasons mentioned by students
were:
During group work I can:
work easily
discuss problems
acquire more knowledge
learn a lot more
complete all my work
The students responses reinforce earlier findings that, we foster both
cognitive and moral development when we give students the opportunity
to share their ideas and perspectives with one another. [Ormrod, 1998:
611]

The perceptions about the increase or decrease of noise were mixed. Some of the
students thought that the noise level increased during group work because
everyone was talking while others thought that it decreased because we had strict
rules for it.

Fifty percent of the students wanted to have the same setting in the next class.
Some students (17.6 %) wanted the same setting with some changes; they wanted
the students to be quieter and the teacher to be stricter.

A few students (5 %) students did not like working in groups at all.

Colleagues Response:

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Seven teachers taught the same classthat I did. Thus they had to face the challenges of the
changed setting along with me. Their feedback was taken on an open ended questionnaire
at the end of ten weeks. They raised two major issues in their responses.

a. Increase in noise level

b. Difficulty in getting the students attention

Four teachers thought that the noise level increased, one thought that it decreased while
two did not comment on it at all.

One of the teachers pointed out that [in a teacher-centred class], as the students sat face to
face the chances of their interaction increased and getting their attention definitely
became a little harder than a class where everyone faces the teacher. Three teachers said
it took them longer to get the students attention at the beginning of the class. Moreover,
sustaining their attention during the lesson was also harder as compared to the previous
classroom setting.

Some of the positive changes the teachers noticed were that the students helped each
other in classroom tasks. In other words theybecame more cooperative.

Also, due to the new setting students became more accessible and the teachers could
easily take rounds and interact with individual students during the course of the regular
class. One of the teacher pointed out that students liked the one to one interaction with
the teacher.

One of the teacher said that this setting was ideal for group work only.

The teachers took several steps to reduce some of the problems faced in teaching inthe
new classroom setting. For example, they went around the class more often than before
so that the students stayed on task, they kept changing the students seats and planned
more group work. One teacher devised a non-verbal signal to get their attention. She
would stand silently at a particular spot indicating that she needed the students full
attention.

Some of the suggestions that they gave for future are:

smaller groups should be made
groups should be changed after a month
students should sit in a way that all are visible to the teacher, for easy eye
contact

Conclusion:

The findings of the above study indicate that the learners achieved all the social benefits
proposed by the proponents of group work and cooperative learning.

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The change in the furniture setting helped the students interact better with each other.
This interaction increased their involvement in the task, thereby increasingtheir overall
engagement in the tasks..

If the two main issues put forward by the teachers, i.e. increase in noise level and
problems in getting students attention, are resolved, group work can be an effective
method foruse in the class.

Reducing the size of the group, as proposed by the teachers, would also solve some of the
issues of classroom management.

Use of nonverbal signals for different routine tasks proved to be a useful strategy. In the
above study teachers used them mostly for getting the students attention and to control
the noise level but they can be used for other management tasks.

One important lesson that is learnt from the study is that before changing the class setting
an orientation or discussion session should bearranged with the teachers who share the
same classroom so that they also realise the worth of the changed classroom setting and
plan group tasks to capitalize on the new setting.

According to Bennett & Smilanich (1994:25) , the proactive teachers] establish

classroom rules at the beginning of the school year so the management problems
gradually reduce in their classes, but the problems keep growing in the reactive
teachers.
We as teachers feel less stressed when we remain in our comfort zones. But the
uncomfortable truth is that we shape the future of the world and therefore cannot shun the
responsibility of using the best strategies for our students. Nothing is permanent except
change so we need to try new methodologies. Start small but aim high, as I tried to do in
my action research!

References:

Bennett, Barrie. et. al. (1991) Cooperative Learning Where Heart Meets Mind,
Professional Development Associates, Bothell, Washington

Chartock, Roselle K. (2000) Historical Perspectives in Educational Foundations an

Anthology, Prentice Hall, New Jersey

Cummings, Carol. (1992) Managing to Teach, Teaching, INC. USA

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Eggen, Paul & Don Kauchak. (2000) Educational Psychology Windows on Classrooms,
Prentice Hall, New Jersey

Fox, Mark. (1993) Psychological Perspectives in Education, Cassell Educational

Limited, New York

Killen, Roy. (2005) Effective Teaching Strategies Lessons from Research and Practice,
(4th Edition) Ligare Book Printers, Australia

Long Michael H. & Patricia A Porter. 18th Annual TESOL Convention, Houston, USA.
March 1984

Marzano, Robert J. (1992) A Different Kind of Classroom Teaching with Dimensions

of Learning, ASCD, Virginia

Ormrod, Jeanne Ellis. (1998) Educational Psychology Developing Learners, Prentice

Hall, New Jersy

Renaud, Susan. et.al. (2007) Student-Centred Teaching in Large Classes with Limited
Resources in English Teaching Forum Vol. 31 No. 3 pp 12-17

Shamim, Fauzia. (1996) In or out of the action zone: location as a feature of

interaction in large ESL classes in Pakistan in Voices From the Language Classroom.
Cambridge Language Teaching Library. Oxford University Press

http://dotsub.com/view/58707cf2-f861-46dd-95c3-62020b4ec8c8/viewTranscript/eng
Accessed on 2 - 5 12

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Appendix 1: Commented [FS4]: See if these three classroom settings can be
incorporated in the article.

Classroom setting before research

Appendix 2:

First setting after the intervention

Appendix 3:

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 Second setting after the intervention

Appendix 4:

1
0 2
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The Voice Metre:
The teacher may put up a poster with movable needle or draw it on the chalkboard and
train students to adjust the voice according to the indication on the metre.

Adapted from: Yates, Russell, (2004), Multiage-Education.com)

Appendix 5:

Give me all
five.

The teacher raises her hand to indicate that she needs the students to show the five
attending behaviours indicated on each finger.

Appendix 6:

Dear Student,

Assalamo Alaikum

As you know that we studied differently in the two terms. I made the changes because I
believed that the new setting and the way of teaching will enhance your learning but I
dont know whether it really helped you or not. Therefore I wish to have your honest

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answers to the following questions so that I can plan for the future in light of your
opinions.

Jazak Allah

Rahila Waqar
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How did the First Term Second Term

settings impact the
following?
Friendship +

Learning -

Confidence +

Teachers -
Attention

Adjusting with +
new people

Retention/memory

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 Willingness to
come to school

Likeness for the

teacher/school

Knowing that
different people
think differently

1. I liked/did not like the new setting because

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

2. The noise level of the class increased/decreased because

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. I wish to give the following suggestions for the next class/term
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
4. If you want to say anything else regarding the change kindly use the back of the paper
to pen your ideas.

Appendix 7:

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Dear Colleague,

Assalamo Alaikum

As you already know that in class VI, I made some changes in the room setting to apply
the cooperative Learning strategies in my class. But I know that it impacted your class as
well. I wish to have your honest answers to the following questions so that I can plan for
the future in light of your opinions.

Jazak Allah

Rahila Waqar
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. I liked/did not like the new setting because

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

2. The noise level of the class increased/decreased because

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. It took me more/less time to get the students attention because
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
4. I had to make the following adjustments to tackle the situation
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. I wish to give the following suggestions for the next class/term
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
6. If you want to say anything else regarding the change kindly use the back of the paper
to pen your ideas.

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