CLASS ORGANIZATION & INTERACTION PATTERNS

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Handout 1
Reading
The way in which a classroom is organized can have a significant influence on language learning
process.

The dominant view of second language classroom processes today favours a great amount of
student-centred learning instead of the traditional teacher-centred classroom. The teacher-
dominated classroom is characterized by the teacher’s speaking most of the time, leading
activities, and constantly passing judgment on student performance, whereas in highly student-
centred classroom, student will be observed working individually or in pairs and small groups,
each on distinct tasks and projects. Leaner-centred instruction has the benefits of greater
individualization of learning objectives, increased student opportunities to perform with the
target language, increased personal sense of relevance and achievement, and, in fact, a
relieving of teacher’s constant supervision of all students. Furthermore, students often will pay
more attention and learn better from one another, since their performances and processes of
negotiation of meaning are more closely adapted to one another’s level of ability. Teachers
should thus be prepared to develop fewer teacher-dominated activities and tasks, while
remaining conscious of their students’ need for guidance in setting objectives, for appropriate
models of and feedback about the target language, and for constructive and supportive
evaluation of their progress. In general, the most appropriate and effective classroom
organization is therefore pair work and group work.

Student groupings: whatever seating arrangement in a classroom. Students can be organized in

different ways: they can work as a whole class, in groups, in pairs or individually.

Whole class

There are many occasions when a teacher working with the class as a whole is the best type of
classroom organization. However, this does not always mean the class sitting in orderly rows;
whatever seating arrangement, the teacher can have the students focus on him or her and the
task in hand.

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Group work and pair work

Groupwork/ pairwork is a co-operative activity, students discussing a topic, doing a role-play or

solving a problem. In pairs or groups, students are more able to experiment and use the
language than they are in a whole-class arrangement.

Advantages of pair work and group work

1. PARTICIPATION: Every student in class has more practice time.

2. INDEPENDENCE: Students can learn from one another without the teacher always being
there.
3. CONFIDENCE: Quieter students who don’t usually like speaking in front of the whole class
may feel easier to talk with their peers in groups.
4. TEACHER’S CARE FOR INDIVIDUAL: Teacher has opportunity to work with individual
students.

Problems of using pair work or group work

1. DOMINATED STUDENTS: Strong students may dominate the weaker.

2. DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOURS: In difficult classes, group work may encourage students to be
more disruptive than they would be in a whole-class setting.
3. FIRST LANGUAGE USE: When students are not with them, students tend to use their first
language rather than English.
4. MISTAKES: When students work in pairs or groups, teacher cannot control all the
language used. Mistakes can be reduced by (1) giving enough preparation: the activity
should be done with the whole class. (2) checking afterwards: teacher asks some pairs
or groups what they said and then correct their mistakes.
5. DIFFICULT TO CONTROL: Teacher has les control over what students are doing in pair
work and group work than in a normal class. To stop getting out of control, it is important
to (1) give clear instructions (2) set time limit (3) set up a routine.

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Solowork (Individual)

It allows students to work at their own speed, allows them thinking time. For the time solo-
work takes place, students can relax their public faces and go back to considering their own
individual needs and progress.

How much teachers use group-work, pair-work or solo work depend to a large extent on
teacher style and student preferences. Do the students actually enjoy pair-work? Do the
advantages of group-work – co-operation, involvement, autonomy – outweigh the advantages
of whole class groupings – clarity, dramatic potential, teacher control? Do students work
conscientiously during solo work session?

Good teachers are able to use different class groupings for different activities. While they do
this, they will monitor which is more successful and for what, so that they can always seek to
be more effective.

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 CLASS ORGANIZATION & INTERACTION PATTERNS
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Handout 2

1. Look at the terms a-d for the ways students can be grouped together in class and
match them with the descriptions 1- 4 by putting the appropriate numbers in the boxes.

Grouping Description
a. Lockstep
b. Pair-work
c. Group-work
d. Individual study .

1. When given time and space to work alone, learners can feel free from outside
pressure.
2. When all learners work at the same rhythm and pace directed by the teacher, this
creates a sense of security for the learners.
3. When working together, learners are able to discuss a topic in an informal setting, and
independence from the teacher is encouraged.
4. Two learners working together have more time for speaking and listening practice than
if they were working as individual members of the class as a whole

2. Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F) according to the
information given in the reading. Give reasons for your choice.
1. TTT (teacher talking time), teacher's leading activities and constant judging on students'
performance are the characteristics of a learner-centered classroom.
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2. Pair/ group-work is a good choice for reducing teacher-dominated activities and tasks.
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3. Pair/ groupwork is the most appropriate and effective classroom activities in learner-
centred instruction.
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4. Pair/ group-work are better forms of classroom organization than lockstep and solo-work.
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5. Teacher has opportunities to work with individual students in pair/ group-work

organization.
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6. Pair-work should precede whole class activities so that mistakes in students'

performance can be avoided.
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7. Short and specific tasks facilitate pair/ group-work activities.

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8. Pair/ group-work can be used at different stages of a class regardless of the language
level of learners.
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3. Match the different activities with the most suitable class organization

Class organization: A pair work

B group work
C individual work
D whole-class work

Activities:

1. Learners are practicing asking and answering about their likes and dislikes

2. Learners read the text silently

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3. Learners do a class survey “what colour do you like?”

4. Teacher uses a gold fish or a picture of fish to introduce the topic of the lesson to learners

5. Learners make a list of the animals they keep at home

6. Learners colour their pictures while listening to their teacher’s instructions.

7. The teacher is explaining a grammar point to the class.

8. Learners are helping each other to do an exercise from a workbook.

9. Learners are acting out a dialogue in front of their classmates

10. Learners are playing a teacher-directed game

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 CLASS ORGANIZATION & INTERACTION PATTERNS
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Handout 3

Interaction patterns are the different ways that learners work with each other and the teacher.
You need to think about the best way for your learners to do learning activities. Will they read
or write alone? Or speak in pairs, or small groups? Will they sit, or stand, or move? When you
have different ways of working in a lesson, you can increase learners’ understanding, provide
opportunities for sharing knowledge and improve group dynamics. Your learners won’t be
bored.
1. Match the types of interaction patterns with their descriptions:
1. Learner to learners A. Two learners work together on a task.

2. Groupwork B. Learners work on a task in small groups. The teacher usually

monitors, listening to each group and helping where needed.

3. Rotating groups/ C. The teacher talks to the whole class at once, presenting or
Jigsaw answering questions. It might also include the teacher asking
individual learners to share ideas.

4. Open pairwork D. A learner talks to the whole class at once, or to a group. This
might be to present their group’s ideas after groupwork, or check
answers.

5. Mingle E. This is for individual tasks where learners don’t need to work
together.

6. Learners work alone F. This involves the whole class moving about and speaking to as
many other classmates as possible. This usually needs a carefully
set-up task where learners can tick off the people they’ve spoken to.

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7.Teachers to learners G. Learners work in different groups. When they finish part of a task,
the group changes and they begin the next part of the task with a
new group. This needs to be set up using the classroom space, for
example by setting up workstations.

8. Close pairwork H. Two learners perform a task in front of the class as a

model/demonstration.

2. Reflection
• Which interaction patterns give the learners the most opportunities to speak?
• Which give the least opportunity?
• Which do you use most and least? Why?

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3. Look at these classrooms. What are the differences between what’s happening in each
one?
What problems could the teacher have setting up each activity? Think about how the learners
might behave during the activity. What problems might this cause for the teacher? Where do
you think more learning is happening?

1. 2.

3. 4.

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4. Here is a lesson plan from a methodology book for primary learners. For each
activity (numbered 1-8), identify the interaction pattern of each activity and its purpose
for the stage of the lesson.
Time Teacher’s activity Pupils’ activity Interaction patterns
5-10’ 1 Warmer: brief revision of Ps stand in lines behind flags of Group feedback:
colours, using a team game different colours. The teacher teachers to
says a colour. Ps behind the learners
flags of that colour put up their
hands

2 Bring in a goldfish or a Ps gather round the tank and

10’
picture of a fish to introduce the say what they know about the
topic to Ps. Discuss the fish – fish. They tell each other
what it looks like, its colour, its something about the own fish
parts. Check who has a fish at
home

3 Tell Ps you are going to tell Ps talk together to try and

them a story. In groups Ps guess what will be in the story
predict what the story will be.
Get feedback from the groups

4 Explain the activity, i.e. Group monitors give our

pupils have to colour their fish crayons and blank sheets
as the story requests. Give our
colours and photocopies of a
fish drawing

5 Tell the first part of the story Ps colour in the fish drawings
with actions and pictures. following instructions
10’ Continue the story with
instructions for colouring

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5’ 6 Get the Ps to compare Ps compare drawings in pairs
drawings

5’ 7 Class feedback. Elicit from Ps talk about the colours of the

different learners the colour of fish to the whole class, e.g His
the little fish. Use sentence face is…
prompts (e.g. His face is….)

8 Ask Ps what they thought Ps give their opinions to the

5’
about the story, in L1 if class
necessary. Ask whether the big
fish was right not to give the
little fish colour for his lips

(adapted from Children Learning English by Jayne Moon, Macmillan 2000)

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 CLASS ORGANIZATION & INTERACTION PATTERNS
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Handout 4

ORGANIZING PAIRWORK AND GROUPWORK

1. Put the following steps in the appropriate order of organizing pairwork or

groupwork. Explain your choice.
a. Giving feedback
b. Getting the timing right
c. Explaining the task
d. Extending the activity
e. Monitoring the class
f. Delivering materials (e.g. handout)
g. Seating arrangements/Grouping students

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Handout 5

Reading

MONITORING IN GROUP WORK

A. Stand back
Once you have set up the activity, allow students a short time for the students to get on with
it. This will give you a chance to see which groups seem to be working satisfactorily and which
are having problems. It’s also give all students a chance to get into the activity before you offer
help any group.

B. Quickly check
If you decide to go round the groups, it’s worth going to each one very quickly just to glance at
what they’re doing. This reminds them that you are there and allows you to check that they
are doing what you intended.

C. Don’t interrupt, unless

- The group misunderstood what it is supposed to be doing (so, put it right)
- You are ask to by the group (they may need some advice, but don’t let them to be
dependent on you)
- You are participating as a part of a group

D. Spread your attention

If you concentrate on one particular group, they will feel cramped by your presence and you
won’t get a very clear idea of how well the rest of the class is doing. The rest of the class, apart
from feeling neglected, may well start drifting away from the activity without your realizing.
Be accessible: all the groups should feel they have equal access to you and are being
supervised equally.

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Matching the following tips for monitoring with their explanations:

Tips for monitoring

1. Stand back
2 .Quickly check
3. Don’t interrupt unless…
4. Spread your attention
5. Don’t correct, unless
6. Encourage them if necessary
7. Take notes

Explanations

a. Always be positive, students need encouragement to get them going.

b. You should not stop them, unless they misunderstood what they needed to do, and
then you should put it right; or they are too slow, you need to encourage them.
c. Students ask you to correct their mistakes or they make serious mistakes in the
controlled practice stage.
d. Go around the groups, glance at what they are doing and check whether they are on
task.
e. Notice the common problems (e.g. grammatical errors) in most groups, record these
on your notes for a future lesson.
f. Allow students a short time to get on with the task before offering your help. See which
group seems to be working satisfactorily and which group are having problems.
g. Don’t concentrate on one group and ignore what the rest of the class is doing, they
may drift away from the activity.

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