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First edition 2013
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
Chapter 1 Why do group work?
understand why university students work in groups
discover what teamwork skills involve and why you use them
appreciate the value of working with other students
recognize the importance of process over product in your work
Chapter 2 Preparing for group work
learn ways of forming a group and getting to know each other
recognize the value of team-building activities
assign roles and responsibilities, establish rules and share contact information
create a shared digital workspace
Chapter 3 Planning your group assignment
understand how to interpret your assignment: what you are being asked to do
understand the requirements of the task
use a brainstorming technique to generate ideas
learn techniques for scheduling your work
recognize the importance of setting clear goals
Chapter 4 Working collaboratively
learn how to be an effective group member and organize successful group meetings
recognize the importance of listening to others
develop negotiating skills
understand how groups develop over time
Chapter 5 How different people learn and study
understand the impact of learning styles on group work
recognize the link between personality types and team roles
understand the role of cultural differences
Chapter 6 Monitoring progress
review your own performance
review the teamâs performance
give and receive feedback on peer performance
review your goals
Chapter 7 When things get hard
recognize and identify problems within groups
understand how to solve problems
understand group dynamics
deal with difficult group members
understand when to seek support
Chapter 8 Presenting in a group
assess group presentations
plan a group presentation
practise a group presentation
deliver a group presentation
Chapter 9 Writing in a group
plan your group writing task
revise drafts and give peer feedback
proofread the final draft
carry out reflective writing
Chapter 10 Study groups
understand the role of a study group
form a study group
identify different purposes for study groups: lectures, reading, presentations, writing, seminars and exams
Chapter 11 Online group work
understand the nature of and reasons for online group work
recognize the challenges and benefits of online group work
develop strategies for online group work
Chapter 12 Learning from your experience of group work
evaluate the group work experience
set goals for the future
learn from other studentsâ experiences
learn from lecturersâ thoughts about group work
Appendices Appendix 1 â Useful phrases
Appendix 2 â Interviews with students about group work
Appendix 3 â Interviews with lecturers about group work
Appendix 4 â Skills, abilities and qualities for group work
Appendix 5 â Useful forms and activities
Appendix 6 â Example group presentation
Glossary 
Answer key
Acknowledgements
About the Author
About the Publisher
Introduction
Collins Academic Skills Series: Group Work will give you the skills you need to take part in successful group work activities at university and college.
Designed to be used on a self-study basis to support English for Academic Purposes or study skills courses, it is intended for students on pre-sessional or Foundation courses as well as for first year undergraduate students.
The book has twelve chapters which cover the most important aspects of working with other students. You will learn:
why group work is important
how to prepare for group work and group assignments
how to work collaboratively
how different students learn and how to apply this knowledge to group work
how to deal with difficult students
how to write and present in groups
how to reflect and learn from your group work experience.
At the back of the book there is:
a list of useful phrases for group work
transcripts of interviews with students on their experiences of group work
transcripts of interviews with lecturers on their thoughts about group work
a list of the skills, abilities and qualities needed for group work
an example of a group presentation
a glossary of key terms
a comprehensive answer key
Chapter structure
Each chapter includes:
Aims â These set out the skills covered in the chapter.
A self-evaluation quiz â By doing this you are able identify what you already know on the subject of the chapter and what you need to learn.
Information on academic expectations â These sections will help you understand university practices and expectations so you understand what is required.
Practical exercises â These help you to develop the skills to succeed at university. You can check your answers at the back of the book.
Tips â Key points are highlighted for easy reference and provide useful revision summaries for the busy student.
Glossary â Difficult words are glossed in boxes next to the section where they appear in the chapter. There is also a comprehensive glossary at the back of the book.
Remember sections â This is a summary of key points for revision and easy reference.
Glossary boxes
Where we feel that a word or phrase is difficult to understand, we have glossed this word/phrase. All definitions provided in the glossary boxes have been taken from the COBUILD Advanced Dictionary. At the end of the book there is a full alphabetical list of the most difficult words from the book for your reference.
Using Group Work
You can either work through the chapters from Chapter 1 to Chapter 12 or you can choose the chapters and topics that are most useful to you. The Contents page will help in your selection.
Study tips
Each chapter will take between two to three hours. Take regular breaks and do not try to study for too long. Thirty to sixty minutes is a sensible study period.
Regular study is better than occasional intensive study.
Read the chapter through first to get an overview before you do any exercises. This will help you to see what you want to focus on.
Try the exercises before referring to the Answer key. Be an active learner.
After doing the exercises in the book, put what you have learned into practice when you are given real group work to do. The exercises will prepare you for group work but they are also examples of exercises you should do to make your group work successful.
All university departments are different. Use the information in the book as a guide to understanding your own university department.
Write questions you can ask to find out how your department expects you to work in groups.
There is no one correct way of working with others. Use the experience you gain from doing the exercises to learn what works best for you. Adapt the suggestions in this book to suit your learning style and context.
Learning to work in groups is an on-going process, which means you need to practise the same skills many times. Revise regularly.
Other titles
Also available in the Collins Academic Skills Series: Lectures, Numbers, Presenting, Research and Writing.
1 
Why do group work?
Aims
understand why university students work in groups
discover what teamwork skills involve and why you use them
appreciate the value of working with other students
recognize the importance of process over product in your work
Quiz
Self-evaluation
Read the statements, then circle the word which is true for you.
| 1 I prefer to work on my own rather than as part of a team. | agree | disagree | not sure |
| 2 I can work as part of a team when I need to. | agree | disagree | not sure |
| 3 When I work with other students, I make sure they follow what I say. | agree | disagree | not sure |
| 4 I can learn everything I need to know from books and teachers; other students are not important. | agree | disagree | not sure |
| 5 Other students may have different ideas; these ideas can challenge mine and make me think more. | agree | disagree | not sure |
| 6 The final piece of work is the most important thing; the process of how the work is done is not. | agree | disagree | not sure |
Now check the key for comments on this exercise.
What is group work?
Glossary
assignment An assignment is a task or piece of work that you are given to do, especially as part of your job or studies.
Group work involves working with other students who are on the same course as you to complete a task or an assignment. You will find that lecturers in English-speaking universities often ask you to carry out work in groups.
There are different types of tasks and assignments that you can do when you work together. Some of them may be quite short, for example:
Glossary
common practice Common practice is a generally accepted way of doing something.
option An option is something that you can choose to do in preference to one or more alternatives.
random A random sample or method is one in which all the people or things involved have an equal chance of being chosen.
holding group discussions
checking your answers in groups.
Group discussions are usually held between small numbers of students and it is common practice for the lecturer to ask one group member to report their discussion to the whole class. Other group work activities may take more preparation, for example:
giving a group presentation
writing a group assignment.
These tasks will probably involve meeting your group outside class to spend time working together. Some group work assignments may even last several weeks or months. Examples of these from Business Studies are:
setting up and running a university-based business
designing a product and the marketing campaign for it.
When you work in groups, you sometimes have the option of choosing your own group members; this means you might decide to work with friends. Alternatively, you may be told who to work with by the lecturer. Another option is to have a random selection process. The size of groups might be small with two, three or four students, or there could be ten or more.
For more information on forming a group, see Chapter 2.
Tips
Try not to feel nervous when working in a group with people you do not know; use it as an opportunity to meet new people and make friends.
Use the opportunity of working with others to develop your English language speaking skills, as well as to get help when you are not sure what to do.
Reasons why university students work in groups
Glossary
participate If you participate in an activity, you take part in it.
collaborate When one person or group collaborates with another, they work together, especially on a book or on some research.
Understanding the purpose of working in groups will motivate you to participate. This is important as a high percentage of your marks at university will come from group work. If you do not understand the reasons for working with others, it is unlikely you will participate well. University lecturers generally believe that:
you can learn more about a topic when working in a group than when working alone
teamwork skills are very important and can only be learned through group participation
the most important part of learning happens while you are working with other students, not when working alone
group work is an important preparation for the world of work as you will need to collaborate with colleagues in your professional life after university.
Exercise 1
Compare what happens in group work assignments in an English-speaking university with what happens in your own country. Read the statements and tick the columns that are true for you.
| University assignments | English-speaking universities | My country | ||
| True | False | True | False | |
| 1 Group work is a popular way of setting work for students. | ||||
| 2 Lecturers expect students to spend time working together outside class. | ||||
| 3 Lecturers encourage students to discuss ideas in groups and to learn from each other. | ||||
| 4 Students listen to each other and appreciate each otherâs points of view. | ||||
| 5 Students take responsibility for finding out what they need to learn and learning it on their own. |
Now check the key for answers and comments on this exercise.
What is the value of working with other students?
Glossary
background reading Background reading involves the reading of related works in order to get background (contextual information) on a topic that you are intending to study or write about.
As already stated, lecturers in English-speaking universities believe you will learn more when you work with other students than when you work alone. The following example of a group work assignment will help you to think about whether you agree or not.
For example: Identify a shopping mall in the city and carry out a survey of its customersâ shopping habits.
There will be a number of stages to this assignment. The first stage might be to do some background reading on peopleâs shopping habits. The information below shows how much you could do if you worked individually compared with working as part of a group.
Stage 1: Find out as much as you can about peopleâs shopping habits by doing some background reading.
| As individual work | As group work |
| You can read a small number of articles and gain some information. | Each group member can read different articles. Students can then meet and share their information with each other. |
| Result: You have a small amount of information. | Result: You have a lot of information. |
The next stage might be to design a survey and write questions to ask shoppers. As before, this task will be easier to do as part of a group rather than done individually.
Stage 2: Write a list of questions to ask shoppers about their shopping habits.
| As individual work | As group work |
| You write all the questions you can think of. | Each group member writes a list of questions. You then work together to choose the best ones; some students have written good questions you did not think of. |
| Result: You have a list of all the questions you could think of. | Result: You have a list of the best questions from each student. |
The final stage might be to carry out the survey by stopping shoppers in the shopping mall. You can see from the information on page 12 how many shoppers you can ask on your own compared to working in a group.
Stage 3: Carry out a survey of shoppers in a shopping mall.
| As individual work | As group work |
| You ask as many shoppers as you can in the time you have. | You and your group members split up and go to different parts of the shopping mall. You ask as many shoppers as you can in the time available and then share all your information. |
| Result: You have a small number of respondents. | Result: You have a large number of respondents and your survey will be more representative. |
Glossary
available If something you want or need is available, you can find it or obtain it.
representative A group of people or things is representative of a larger group of people or things if it closely matches the wider group.
refine If something such as a process, theory or machine is refined, it is improved by having small changes made to it.
You will have seen from these examples that there are clear advantages to working in groups.
You learn more when you can share information that you get separately; it takes time to find and read information, but it does not take long to share this information with someone else.
You learn from the ideas of others; you will have some ideas, but you cannot think of everything on your own. Other students will usually have some ideas you did not think of.
You will benefit from explaining your ideas and listening to the ideas of other students. They will help you to see things from different points of view and help you to refine your ideas.
Exercise 2
Read the tasks below and make notes about the benefits of group work.
| Task | Benefits of doing task in a group | |
| Make a poster explaining the content of your degree programme for a university open day. | ||
| Give a presentation entitled The advantages of studying abroad for your degree. | ||
| Design a new product to sell at your university shop and persuade the shop manager to stock it. |
Now check the key for comments on this exercise.
