THE PERCEPTIONS OF LIBYAN EFL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TOWARDS THE USE OF GROUP WORK IN THEIR SPEAKING CLASSES

Abstract

Group work is believed to be one of the possible solutions to the problem of dealing with large number of students within one speaking class. However, how students perceive group work in their EFL speaking classes is an area that needs to be researched. This study looks at how students perceive group work in their speaking classes and their preference of being given a specific role in a given speaking task that involves working in a group. A questionnaire has been distributed to 42 students to highlight their perceptions towards group work. Results from this study revealed that EFL students seem to like the idea of working in groups in their speaking classes as they reported a number of benefits that they gain when they work in groups, for example, they feel more independent, they have a chance to share ideas, and they speak English in most of the time in the class. However, a number of drawbacks have been also reported by the students, for example, the domination of one student in the group, some students find it difficult to work in a group of mixed gender, and low level students sometimes feel frustrated to work in group. Article visualizations: