Group Dynamics in the Language Classroom (Cambridge Language Teaching Library)

The study of 'group dynamics' is a vibrant academic field, overlapping diverse disciplines. It is also highly relevant to language education because the success of classroom learning is very much dependent on how students relate to each other, what the classroom climate is like, what roles the teacher and the learners play and, more generally, how well students can co-operate and communicate with each other. This innovative book addresses these issues and offers practical advice on how to manage language learner groups in a way that they develop into cohesive and productive teams. Through the words of more than a hundred practising language teachers The Experience of Language Teaching provides a detailed picture of teaching and learning in communicative classrooms, and provides a framework for understanding why experienced teachers behave in the ways that they do. It covers a range of aspects of classroom life: how teachers create environments suitable for language practice, how they get students 'on-side'. how they manage tricky students, how they vitalise the learning experience, how they develop a spirit of community and so on. The book demonstrates how paying attention to both the learning and the social-needs of their class groups enables language teachers to behave in flexible ways that promote learning. This book will be of interest to teachers, teacher educators, researchers, and to anyone interested in finding out what it is like to be a language teacher at the present time. This Innovative Book Addresses These Issues And Offers Practical Advice On How To Manage Language Learner Groups In Such A Way That They Develop Into Cohesive And Productive Teams. Educators Interested In Communicative Language Teaching Will Particularly Welcome This Book As A Useful Guide In Their Day-to-day Teaching Practice.--jacket. Becoming A Group -- Managing The Class : Rules, Norms, And Discipline -- How Groups Develop -- The Cohesive Group : Relationships And Achievement -- The Classroom Environment's Contribution To Group Dynamics -- The Teacher As Group Leader -- Student Roles And Role Modelling -- Trouble-shooting : Conflicts And Apathy Happen! -- The Las Classes : Affirming And Closing -- Conclusion : Wrapping It Up. Zoltan Dörnyei And Tim Murphey. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 177-183) And Index. In the Introduction we already mentioned that class groups are powerful social units and group characteristics considerably influence the rate of learning and the quality of time spent in class.