[shelley norton]

What are the main reasons we make use of learner interaction in the classroom i.e. pair work and group work

[musica]

Hi Shelley
It is a good question and here is a link to a great article on Cooperative Learning.
http://home.capecod.net/~tpanitz/ted...motivation.htm

It says it way better than I could hope to in this thread.

I hope you find it helpful
Pam

[emile]

In short, research has shown that learners benefit more from peer interaction. For example, they take heed of mistakes corrected by their peers more than they do of mistakes corrected by the teacher.

[simplyesl]

hehehe.

To give the teacher a break!

Sorry, I couldn't resist

[shelley norton]

Thanks to all

[Pix]

When I decide how to handle a particular lesson, I think about how I would prefer to learn the material. I think that a lot of people really dread “lecture” type lessons and classes as they are easy to zone out in (okay, maybe some kids like these so they CAN just zone out. )
Seriously, though, especially when learning a language it makes so much more sense to have hands-on learning so that the material becomes more real. If the teacher were to try to incorporate this “hands-on” experience to the students on a one-on-one basis, a large portion of the class would be doing nothing. By having them work together, the students learn by doing and by teaching their peers.
Take using games, for example. The games, which require varying forms of cooperative learning, become a vehicle to frequent exposure to the word, mechanic, concept that you’re teaching and students get to repeat that word, mechanic or concept often throughout the game because they are working together in smaller groups or teams instead of waiting for each student to complete the task in front of the class.

[livinginkorea]

Pix has made a very good point. For myself, in Korea I have seen how Korean teachers teach. They teach for about 15 or 20 minutes and then give some activity for their students to do while they do other work (reports, internet shopping etc). I totally disagree with this as I think when you give the kids some activity then you should check them by walking around and listening in on their conversations. That's how you will know that what you have taught earlier has been productive.

Constantly we are always changing our teaching ideas and styles and one of the ways that we can find out how our lesson plans are going is by "listening in on the students." You can hear common mistakes and correct them with the entire class later rather than spending individual time, depending on how many students you have in a class.

It used to always annoy me when I would do this and my co worker would go and use the computer instead of dividing the class up - I take one half and her the other but it's hard to find good Korean co teachers