I have several regrets from college. Yes, all of those typical regrets that might come to mind, but let’s forget about those for now. I want to focus on one regret that has resurfaced ever since I began working with international students in higher education.
My college, small, liberal arts, predominantly white English L1 speaking, required a general education class called “Self in Society.” The luck of the draw placed me in an 8 am class with ten other reluctant students with a professor whom I perceived as dry, rigid, and uninspiring. One of the assignments we were asked to do was an analysis of a film through the framework of the course content (which I’ve long forgotten.) I was placed in a group with a white female from the Pacific Northwest (let’s call her Kara) and a Korean male (let’s call him Jun) who was quieter in class than the others and had learned English as a second language. From what I remember, we were given time in class to get organized, divide the labor, and set a time to meet outside of class to prepare for the presentation. We quickly chose the film “Wag the Dog” because one of us had probably recently seen it or could get our hands on it. We set the plan, Jun and Kara and I were all in agreement, all giving our consent to what we had decided.
When it came time to meet (before cell phones were prevalent), only Kara and I showed up at the meeting place. We waited for Jun and probably tried to send him an email. Kara and I went on without him, frustrated but driven by our grade, we did Jun’s work for him just in case. The day of the presentation, Jun showed up but he had not done his work, so Kara and I presented what we had prepared. The professor wanted us to evaluate the work of our teammates. Kara and I both gave Jun low scores for his contribution.
Why do I tell this story? Why does it stick with me all of these years later? Why do I retell this story to my teachers in training and my ESL students where I currently teach?
One reason is because of comments like this from John C. Bean’s Engaging Ideas under the heading “Should You Form Groups at Random or According to Some Distributive Scheme”: “I personally tend toward randomly formed groups, except that I try to make them heterogeneous by gender in order to avoid all-male or all-female groups. I also mix nonnative speakers in with the rest of the class so that native students can experience multicultural perspectives and nonnative speakers can get practice conversing with native speakers” (p. 196).
The professor in my story, intentionally or not, did just this. We had a mixed-gender mixed L1 group. The assumption that a diverse group will add benefit to where members are lacking presents a kind of deficit-model approach to group formation. The groups are based on what is “lacking” in the individual group members, and that this will be less of a lack through being required to work with someone who has what you don’t.
I think that diverse groups can have the benefits that Bean expresses, but they don’t happen automatically. Dana Ferris, in Teaching College Writing to Diverse Student Populations gives some attention to this by suggesting, “the teachers should look for opportunities to build classroom community based on celebrating differences […] and recognizing shared struggles […].” She leaves this community building up to “sensitive and creative” teachers.
I hope that we will all be sensitive and creative teachers. I hope that we all will be able to build classroom community. I’m curious about the steps that need to take to build that community where students (like myself in the story I retold) are oblivious to linguistic diversity in the classroom.
What has worked for you in building this kind of community?
I would have to say that I seldom assign groups at random. I think that when assigning groups, we have an opportunity as teachers to help our students hear other perspectives that they might not otherwise hear. So, yes, I try to assign groups that have mixed genders, ethnicity, and language capability. I remember one time that I did assign groups at random, one group ended up consisting of all my Korean students (it happened because of where they were seated) and so they started discussing the assignment in Korean! Of course, I didn’t necessarily mind that they did that, but it definitely didn’t help them practice their English or allow my L1 students to interact with them in that activity! In addition, I think that I try to put students with great writing skills in groups with my weakest students. This often provides them an opportunity to help those students, and sometimes allows that to continue to take place outside of the classroom, which is a great thing for those students who need a little more support than others! 🙂
This example point directly to the need for the instructor to set up clearer expectations in collaborative work, especially when working with undergraduates. I think this can be done easily enough when groups are first formed, by asking students to write out a contract together that spells out expectations for each member, and the consequences of not meeting those expectations.
Coming from a language learning context, this is something that is frequently on my mind. While I’d be the first one to admit how much I dislike group work, I think it is vital in the language classroom. One issue that I’ve come across when working with students in intensive English programs, particularly at the lower proficiency levels or among students who are in their first semesters studying in the United States are cultural impediments to successful collaboration. For example, (allow a few generalizations here), many times Saudi women are uncomfortable and/or unwilling to work in a group with men, particularly men from Saudi Arabia or neighboring countries. Similarly, I have run into situations where Chinese and Japanese students are reluctant to work together because of historical issues. While I think that as instructors we can begin to combat these issues by stressing the importance of a safe and open classroom environment, even with success this takes time.
One practical thing that has worked well for me, and it’s similar to what the comment above discusses is the idea of giving different members of a group a particular role to play. I find that assigning types of roles towards the beginning of the semester helps students to begin to understand my expectations for equity among group participants.