Integrating Group Cohesiveness Activities in the Syllabus

Meng Tian, Ester D. Jimena, and Herwindy Maria Tedjaatmadja

Assumption University of Thailand

Abstract: Group cohesiveness among students in the second

language classroom is an aspiration for most teachers. However
between conducting the lesson and bonding the students
together, the latter takes the back seat due to limited class time
and the need to fulfill the syllabus. This workshop will integrate
the principles of group cohesiveness (Hadfield, 1992; Dörnyei and
Murphey, 2003; Senior, 1997; Johnson and Johnson, 2003) into
textbook activities used by teachers. Two interesting activities will
be demonstrated for participants to consider and adapt in their
own teaching context.

I Introduction
Language class needs a supportive environment to ensure a smooth learning
process and maximize learning results. However, it seems not easy for
teachers to manage the class owing to various students’ behaviors and
discipline problems. The necessity and importance of studying language class
as a social group has been realized (Brumfit, 1984; Hadfield, 1992;Senior,
1997; Dörnyei and Murphey, 2003).

II Group cohesiveness and language class

1 Definition
We belong to different groups no matter what we do (Johnson and Johnson
2003). To make the group work efficiently, group cohesiveness needs to be
established. Group cohesiveness is “the degree of closeness, or members’

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feelings of esprit de corps and group identity (Wood, 2003: 279)”. It involves
at least three components:
1 Interpersonal attraction: Desire to belong to the group because of liking the
other members
2 Commitment to task: Desire to belong to the group because of the interest
in the task
3 Group pride: Desire to belong to the group because of the prestige of its
membership
(Mullen and Copper 1994, cited in Dörnyei & Murphey 2003: 62)

Members in cohesive groups see themselves as indispensable parts in the

group and work together for the same goals. Great satisfaction is shared by
all members (Wood, 2003: 279).

3 Language class as a social group

Christopher Brumfit (1984) advocates that language class should be built as a

“psychological group” to ensure small group work and achieve active
interaction among students.

Dörnyei & Murphey (2003) claim that language class should also be studied
as a group because—in a “good” group, teachers and students enjoy the
learning process and feel satisfied with the pleasant, inspiring and supportive
environment. Both of them are motivated.

As for language teachers, Jill Hadfield (1992) found that they were more
concerned about the atmosphere in the classroom and the chemistry of the
group than problems of how to teach the language.

Rosemary Senior (1997:3) reported in her study “experienced language

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teachers perceive that it is important to develop and maintain a positive
whole-group feeling among their students. Such teachers …reveal an intuitive
knowledge of how to foster and maintain a spirit of cohesion in their classes.

4 Main features of a cohesive class group

Dörnyei & Murphey (2003) and Hadfield (1992) assert that the main positive
features of a cohesive group means students:
1 Are tolerant of and accept each other, and make each have a positive self-
image, which is reinforced by the group.
2 Are willing and happy to cooperate in the performing of tasks and able to
work productively for the same goals.
3 Are willing to observe group norms and monitor each other to abide by
them.
4 Are satisfied with the group experience.

Rosemary Senior (1997) reported in her study the main properties of good
language class described by teacher subjects: a feeling of respect and trust;
acceptance of each others’ abilities and limitations; a feeling of cooperation
and mutual support; a feeling of relaxation and comfort; a safe environment.

As for teachers’ position in the cohesive group, “teachers are both an integral
part of their class groups, and in a sense set apart-just as a parent who bonds
with a child is both a blood relation and an authority figure (Senior 1997:4 )”.

5 Reasons to build a cohesive class group

A cohesive group is desirable because (Dörnyei & Malderez 1999: 169):
- it means established acceptive relationships between all members, which
allows for unselfconscious, tolerant and safe L2 practice;
- It allows each member to feel comfortable in the sense of knowing the rules

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of the game, which shifts the burden of “discipline” from the teacher alone, to
the group as a whole;
- It encourages positive feelings as group goals and individual goals are
simultaneously achieved and success is experienced;
- It acknowledges the resources each member brings, which can provide the
content for an infinite number of L2 practice activities of the information,
opinion, or perception-gap variety.

III Promote group cohesiveness between the teacher and students

1 Awareness
It is teachers’ responsibility to promote group cohesiveness. Some teachers
may think their main job is to teach but “such a view is shortsighted and naïve.
It oversimplifies the social-psychological realities of teaching and ignores the
psychodynamics that are integrally a part of most academic learning.”
(Schmuck and Schmuck 2001, cited in Dörnyei & Murphey 2003: 66).

2 Appropriate teachers’ behaviors

Teachers as group leaders can be very influential, their appropriate
behaviours can be good models for students. Be commited in sutdnets’
learning and building rapport with them.

IV Promoting cohesiveness among students

Student are social beings with social needs such as acceptance, belonging
and power to be met in the context of groups (Sausage1991: 110). If their
social needs are satisfied, they can form a cohesive group.

1 Promoting acceptance among the students

Teachers can organize activities to let them know each other better and feel
the force of group and acceptance of each other. Activities range from writing

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group legend to intra-group competition to parties.

Some teachers worry about their limited time or rigid syllabus or exam-
oriented teaching system. Jill Hadfield (1992: 21) recommends that teachers
can “integrate activities into the syllabus”. She has designed many to build
classroom dynamics but most of them have “a dual function, differ only from
other language practice activities in that they have an affective purpose
tucked inside the language learning purpose” (Hadfield 1992: 21).

Rosemary Senior (2002) shares the same idea and reported in her study that
teachers use learning tasks to accommodate social and pedagogic priorities.
For example, those peer-information-gathering tasks are used for pedagogic
purpose (eg, to practice a new language form such as ‘how often do you…?”)
and at the same time teachers use them to make students interact freely with
one another and focus on the information rather than just the form. They will
accept and respect one another as people.

2 Promoting cooperation among students

Teachers can Implement cooperative learning activities to enhance
cooperation among students. Cooperative learning can lead to “higher
achievement, greater interpersonal attraction among students, more positive
attitudes toward the subject studied, and a stronger belief that one is liked and
supported by other students. (Johnson & Johnson 1985, cited in
Sausage1991: 117). Combining cooperative learning in language class can be
very beneficial to building group cohesiveness: “reducing anxiety; promoting
interaction; increasing self-confidence and self-esteem; increasing motivation;
opportunities for learners to develop cross-cultural understanding, respect and
friendships as well as positive social skills for respecting alternative opinions
and achieve consensus; greater learner-centeredness and learner direction in

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the classroom” (Crandall 1999: 233-9).

3 Establishing group goals and constructive group norms

Group goals and group norms can tell the students what to do and how to do.
“It is fundamental to the successful working of a group to have a sense of
direction and a common purpose (Hadfield 1992: 134). Language class
members share at least one same goal: to learn the L2. In doing other
avtivitie, they can have temporary group goals such as win the football match.

Real group norms can be very subtle and important. Norms made by the
members together can be internalized and exert great influence. Cohen
(1994, cited in Dörnyei & Malderez 1999: 161) summarizes the significance
as:” Much of the work that teachers usually do is taken by the students
themselves; the group makes sure that everyone understands what to do ; the
group helps to keep everyone on task; group members assist one another.
Instead of the teacher having to control everyone’s behavior, the students
take charge of themselves and others.”

4 Identifying, inviting and assigning student roles

As a group, there will be different roles for students, two roles can be basic:
leader and followers (Sausage 1991: 114). These formal roles can emerge
naturally. “Experienced language teachers are aware of the potential of
individual students within their classes to play group-building roles (Senior
2004: 50).” So teachers not only identify students roles also invite and assign
student roles that are likely to contribute positively to the development of class
cohesion. (Senior 2004: 50; Dörnyei & Murphey 2003: 117).

VI Challenges for teachers to build a cohesive group

1 Competitive goal structure

Competitive goal structure encourages students to compete with each other,

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“so the success of any one individual is based on the performance of others in
the group” (Sausage1991: 112). The result can be very negative, “students
believe they will reach their goal if and only if other students do not reach the
goal” (Woolfolk 1993:376). What’s worse, competitive goal structure is the
most common goal structure in classrooms (Sausage1991: 112). So it’s not
easy for teachers to let students cooperate together and negotiate group
goals.

2 Individual diversity
Each member can be a member of many different groups and each group
bring a different set of influences. Major groups that individuals belong to are:
social class, nationality, race, ethnic group, abilities and disabilities, religion,
geographic region, gender. (Woolfolk 1993:160).

VII Conclusion
Both teachers and students in language class need group cohesiveness to
create the supportive teaching and learning environment. It’s teachers’
responsibility to promote it. Teacher should make their own judgment of how
they could approach the problem and to what extent should the teacher’s goal
be achieved. However due to many external factors, it’s a tough job for
teachers to control the flow of class group cohesiveness.

Activity 1
Lesson plan 3
Enhancing group rules
Step 2 Functional expressions (15 minutes)
1 Background knowledge of making apology and functional expressions are
introduced. At the same time the teacher can ask the students how they
apologize in local culture. Handout 1 helps students understand the teacher
better.

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For the teacher’s reference:
There are many different situations that an apology but they all share the fact
that something undesirable or unpleasant has happened. In most cases, the
person who has made a mistake apologizes and offers an excuse when
necessary. In the following situations, people need to apologize: 1) hurting
someone’s feeling or causing a misunderstanding; 2) being late for or missing
a meeting, class, or appointment; 3) damaging another person’s property; 4)
committing a terrible mistake….The usual way to react to an apology is to
accept it. When you accept an apology, you are showing that everything is all
right and that you had no hard feelings toward that person.

2 The following are the phrases and expressions that people usually use to
express apology, offer forgiveness, and make an excuse.

1) Expressing apology
I’m so / very sorry, (but) I’ve lost the pen you lent me.
I’m sorry about what happened yesterday.
I’m sorry for being late.
I’m sorry to give you so much trouble.
I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.
I apologize for what I have done.
Please excuse my behaviour this morning.

2) Offering forgiveness
That’s all right.
It doesn’t matter.
Don’t worry about it.
Oh, never mind.
Think nothing of it.
I quite understand.

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3) Explanation on what has happened
I didn’t mean to, really.
I had no intention of breaking it, really.
It wasn’t my fault, you see…

3 Sample dialogue

James: I’m sorry I broke your window, Mrs. Smith.

Mrs. Smith: Young man, you should be more careful when playing football on
the street.
James: Yes, madam. I will not do that again. I’ll ask my father to help you
replace a new one.
Mrs. Smith: Yes, well. Get your father to phone me before he comes. Anyway,
I believe you, good boy.
Step 3 Apology for being late (10 minutes)
1 The teacher expresses her anger with those students who are always late.
The lesson is a good chance for the teacher to help students realize that only
apology is not enough for one’s mistake. One must apologize sincerely, give
an excuse, and do something to take on the consequence. For example, if
one student is late, he must fill in the lateness form, and if he is late for three
times, the record will transform the three-time lateness to once absence.

2 The following lateness form will be shown to students. And from Tuesday
(June 21st) students who are late must fill in this form as evidence.
Lateness Form
Date
Name
ID No.
Faculty
Apology:

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Reason(s) for being late

Student’s signature
Teacher’s signature
Supervisor’s signature

For the teacher’s reference:

Apology I’m sorry for being so late.
Reason(s) for being late My dog is ill. I feel so sorry for him that I forgot the
class.

Lesson plan 5
Promoting acceptance and confidence
Step 1 Introduction of simile and metaphor (15 minutes)
1 Write down simple examples on the blackboard and ask students whether
they know which is simile or metaphor. Invite students who knows to give the
Thai translation to the whole class.
2 Simple explanation:
A simile is a comparison between two different categories and the comparison
is shown by the word as or like.
Eg 1: O my love’s like a red, red rose.
Eg. 2: The old man’s hair is as white as snow.
In the above two examples people and things which are obviously different
are compared: a woman and a rose, and hair and snow. But each pair have
one similarity: loveliness and whiteness.

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A metaphor is the use of word which originally denotes one thing to refer to
another with a similar quality. It is also a comparison, but the comparison is
not directly expressed with the word as or like. If the sentence ‘O my love’s a
red, red rose’ with the word like omitted, a metaphor is used here. In the
changed sentence, ‘my love’ is also compared to a red rose, but there is no
word to indicate the comparison; thus rose is a metaphor.
Eg. 1 My sweetheart is my sunshine.
Eg. 2 She is a quiet cat.
3 Tell the students the simplest form of metaphor is after the verb be. The
other forms will be taught later.

Step 2 Strike the iron while it’s hot (20 minutes)

Name poem (10 minutes)
1 Show the students to write a name poem. Each line starts with a word of
which the first letter is from the name.
2 Use the teacher’s name as an example. At the same time the teacher
should ask the students to brainstorm some related words.
Tian
Terrific
Intelligent
Active
Nice
3 Let the students to write their own name poem.
For the teacher’s reference:
A active, attractive B beautiful, brave C cute, cool D diligent E
enthusiastic, energetic F famous, free G grate H happy, honest I intelligent,
important J joyful K kind L lovely, lonely M modest, modern N nice,
naughty O optimistic P pretty, poor Q quiet R romantic, rich S smart,
stupid T tall, thin U unique V valuable W wise, warm-hearted Y young Z
zestful

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1 Show the students what I have written for my TP group and me:
Prof. Day is as diligent as the bees;
Teacher Yuan is as young as spring glass;
Teacher Dolly’s skin is as delicate as silk;
Teacher Thin is as tall as a column;
Teacher Tian is as thin as a chopstick.

2 Ask students to work individually to write at least one simile and one
metaphor for people they love or hate such as their mum, good friends,
teachers and so on. Ask everyone to write down at least one nice or
interesting thing about or related with the person shown on the paper they
have got.
4 When they have finished, ask them to read their descriptions
out. They can choose an object, a fruit, or animal etc to describe that person:
for his or her physical appearance, personality and your feelings towards him
or her.
3Ask students to work in pairs to discuss what they have written down.
4 Invite at least six students to read their similes and metaphors.
5 Encourage students to write what they have written down in the form of a
poem.

References

Crandall, J. 1999. Cooperative Language Learning and Affective Factors. In

Arnold, J. (ed.). Affect in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press

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Brumfit, C. 1984. Communicative Methodology in Language Teaching: The
Roles of Fluency and Accuracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Dörnyei, Z. & Malderez, A. 1999. The Role of Group Dynamics in Foreign

Language Learning and Teaching. In Arnold, J. (ed.). Affect in Language
Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Dörnyei, Z. 2001. Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Dörnyei, Z. & Murphey, T. 2003. Group Dynamics in the Language

Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Hadfield, J. 1992. Classroom Dynamics. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press

Johnson, D. W. and Johnson, R. T. 2003. Joining Together: Group Theory

and Group Skills (8th ed.). Ma: Allyn and Bacon

Nakamura, R. M. 2000. Healthy Classroom Management. Belmont:

Wadsworth

Sausage, T. V. 1991. Discipline for Self-Control. New Jersey: Prentice hall

Senior, R. 1997. Transforming Language Classes into Bonded Groups. ELT

Journal, 51/1: 3-11

Senior, R. 2002. A Class-Centred Approach to Language Teaching. ELT

Journal, 56/4: 397-403

Senior, R. 2004. A Spirit of Cohesion. English Teaching Prefessional, 35:48-

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Wood, J. T. 2003. Communication in Our Lives (3rd ed.). Ca: Wadsworth

Woolfolk, A. E. 1993. Educational Psychology (5th ed.). Ma: Allyn and Bacon

Biographical Statements:

Meng Tian is an English lecturer at Foreign Languages Faculty in Shanxi

Teachers University, China. Her main research interests are group dynamics,
fluency and creative writing.

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Ester D. Jimena is an English lecturer at Central Philippine University,
Philippines. Her research interests are error analysis, reflective teaching,
motivation, and learners autonomy in language teaching.

Herwindy Maria Tedjaatmadja is an English lecturer at Petra Christian

University, Indonesia. Her present research interests are language learning
strategies, EFL writing and language teaching methodology.

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