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Literature Review: 1. Introduction To Term

The document discusses group discussions at university, including benefits like increased understanding and generating new ideas, as well as challenges students may face like poor communication and pressure to conform. It also notes a gap in research on strategies to improve group discussion skills for Vietnamese students.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
23 views4 pages

Literature Review: 1. Introduction To Term

The document discusses group discussions at university, including benefits like increased understanding and generating new ideas, as well as challenges students may face like poor communication and pressure to conform. It also notes a gap in research on strategies to improve group discussion skills for Vietnamese students.

Uploaded by

Linh Trang
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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LITERATURE REVIEW

To give a concise overview of the research objective, this literature review will
first introduce the term “Group Discussion”, then synthesize the benefits of
group discussion at university, and the obstacles the students may encounter
when discussing in groups.
1. Introduction to term:
The definition of Group Discussion was perfected many century ago. This
term is a combination of the words "Group" and "Discussion", thus it is not
difficult to understand. According to Marvin Shaw (1981), a Western
psychologist, a group is two or more persons who are interacting with one
another in such a manner that each person influences and is influenced by
each other person. We can understand from there that group is a team of two
or more people have the same goal, they interact with each other and support
each other. Therefore, Group Discussion or GD is a type of discussion that
involves people sharing ideas or activities. People in the group discussion are
connected with one basic idea. Based on that idea, everyone in the group
represents his/her perspective.
2. The benefits of group discussion at university
Group discussion is an important activity at university because both lecturers
and students can benefit greatly from it. Smith (2009), through his study,
admited that group discussions are valuable methods of engaging students
with material and teaching interpersonal communication skills. Not only that,
there are a lot of advantages of GD have been recognized.
Firstly, it increases your understanding of a subject or lesson. According to
Race (2009), the opportunity for students to explain course information to
each other is considered the main reason group discussions promote
understanding of the material. Indeed, GD opens avenues for you to learn
more. You come across new facts about the topic. Sometimes you might have
skipped learning some important aspects of a topic which other students may
have grasped while studying the same topic. When you discuss it with
friends, you also learn all these areas which you have omitted during your
study, but other students have covered them. Sometimes, you may face some
difficulties in learning a topic, when you discuss it with other students, it
becomes easier for you to understand the topic with clarity.
Secondly, it helps in generating more ideas about a topic. Group discussion
involves an exchange of ideas where important things are learnt from each
other. Learning only from textbooks is not always enough. You may also
need to acquire from other sources to understand a topic fully. Different
sources of learning are available to different students. Fung and Howe (2014)
suggested that interacting in groups has been found to facilitate the
development of critical thinking skills when compared to lectures alone,
specifically regarding the evaluation of new material. Hence, during group
discussion, the students come across new ideas gained from different sources
by the students. When many minds brainstorm on a topic, it helps them
generate new ideas, which are necessary for conceptual learning of a subject.
Thirdly, it lets you know about your mistakes and weaknesses. Students have
some weaknesses in their academics. It is quite natural because no one is
perfect. Group discussion provides you with an opportunity to improve
yourself it helps you identify your mistakes and weaknesses. While
discussing topic with other students, you come to know about your weak
areas in your academics which need to be improved. Participating in group
discussion points out these areas as well as give you guidelines to improve
these areas. Once you realize your weak areas, you focus on them to improve
yourself.
Finally, it helps you build confidence in yourself. Students should have
confidence in themselves as well as in their learning to perform well in their
academics. In a study by Gibbs and Jenkins (1992), they concluded that
group discussions may foster students’ independent learning skills allowing
them to be more autonomous in their education. Listening to supporting and
appreciating remarks from others in group discussions helps you build
confidence in your learning.
To sum up, group discussion is a powerful tool for developing your studying
at university.
3. Students’ common challenges when discussing in groups
According to many foreign researches, student attitudes toward active
learning techniques, such as group discussion, are often negative. It is
relatively natural because students may encounter a lot of difficulties when
discussing in groups.
Poor communication is one of the most common issues of GD. Soetanto and
MacDonald (2017) pointed out that students may have communication
problems when working in groups that they do not experience when listening
to lectures. Sometimes, your group may misunderstand each other or
communicate negatively. This can lead to group members: making
assumptions, misinterpreting what's being discussed, not understanding what
they need to do, working on the wrong task and failing to work well together.
Beebe and Masterson (2003) also listed four difficulties.
1. There may be pressure from the group to conform to the majority opinion.
Most people do not like conflict and attempt to avoid it when possible. By
readily acquiescing to the majority opinion, the individual may agree to a bad
solution just to avoid conflict.
2. An individual may dominate the discussion. This leads to members not
gaining satisfaction from the group because they feel too alienated in the
decision making process.
3. Some members may rely too heavily on others to do the work. This is one
of the most salient problems that face groups. Some members do not pitch in
and help and do not adequately contribute to the group (Freeman &
Greenacre, 2011). One solution to this problem is to make every group
member aware of the goals and objectives of the group and assign specific
tasks or responsibilities to each member.
4. It takes more time to work in a group than to work alone. It takes longer to
accomplish tasks when working with others. However, the time spent taking
and analyzing problems usually results in better solutions.
In short, learners usually face up with concerning problems when
participating in group discussions.
4. Research gaps
As can be seen from the literature, most research just focused on the benefits
of group discussion and the difficulties of students. These studies didn’t go
into the strategies that can help students improve, suggesting a gap.
Moreover, there has yet to be any research on Vietnamese students regarding
this issue.
Therefore, this research aims at exploring the perceptions of Vietnamese
students, particularly second-year English-majoring students of HUFL, on
their group discussion skills.
5. Research questions
This research is conducted with an aim to answer the following questions:
1. What are the benefits of group discussion for students at university?
2. What are the challenges that students may encounter when participating in
group discussions?
3. What strategies can help you conquer a group discussion?
7. References
Beebe, S. A., & Masterson, J. T. (2003). Communicating in small groups.
Pearson Education Inc. Boston: Massachusetts.
Biggs G and Jenkins A (1992) Conclusion: Improving teaching and learning
in large classes. In Gibbs, B and Jenkins, A (Eds). Teaching Large Classes in
Higher Education. How to Maintain Quality with Reduced Resources.
London: Kogan Page, 159-163.
Freeman, L., & Greenacre, L. (2011). An examination of socially destructive
behaviors in group work. Journal of Marketing Education, 33(1) p. 5-17.
Graduate Outlook Survey (2010). University of Canterbury.
Fung CL and Howe CJ (2014) Group work and the learning of critical
thinking in the Hong Kong secondary liberal studies curriculum. Cambridge
Journal of Education 44(2): 245-270.
Marvin Shaw (1981) Group Dynamics: The Psychology of Small Group
Behavior.
Race P (2009) In at the Deep End – Starting to Teach in Higher Education.
Leeds: Leeds Metropolitan University.
Smith MK, Wood WB, Adams WK et al (2009) Why peer discussion
improves student performance on inclass concept questions. Science
323(5910): 122-124.
Soetanto D and MacDonald M (2017) Group work and the change of
obstacles over time: The influence of learning style and group composition.
Active Learning in Higher Education 18(2): 99-113.

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