Involving Shy Students into Group Work in an Interactive EFL Classroom

*Janak Singh Negi

Abstract

Group work is one of the best tools to enhance communicative proficiency of the students. But, it is very common in an EFL context that some of the students (shy/introvert) do not take part actively in the group work. The present study attempts to investigate the causes of shyness among the students. The findings showed that shy students do not have the opportunity to express themselves in the class due to the dominance of the extrovert ones. This stops them from taking part in the classroom activities resulting into lack of interest in the lesson. I also suggest some practical solutions for involving the shy students into group work effectively in the classroom.

Keywords: English language teaching, group work, shy ttudents

Introduction

The field of English language teaching has undergone many shifts and trends over the last few decades. Many methods have come and gone in search for the effective way of teaching English. It was in 1970s, the reaction in traditional language teaching approaches (such as audio-lingualism, situational language teaching) began (Richards, 2006). As a result, ELT practitioners devoted their time in search for the new trends in this field which has brought the worldwide shift in teaching methods and techniques giving more emphasis on communication, as a result communicative language teaching methodology emerged (Cook, 2001). What has emerged from this time is a variety of communicative language teaching methodologies based on the assumption that the primary function of language use is for communication.

So far as ELT is concerned, its crucial aim is to enhance the speaker’s ability to use language appropriately rather than to have grammatical knowledge (Richards & Rodgers, 2001). It means the main purpose of language teaching is to develop communicative competency, which can be defined as the speaker’s ability to use language effectively in the real world context. It requires the participants to produce and understand unlimited, even unpredictable and unfamiliar exponents despite the limitation of their language knowledge. Basically, communicative competency is mainly concerned with:

• Knowing how to use language for a range of different purposes and functions
• Knowing how to vary our use of languages according to the setting and the participants. (e.g. knowing when to use formal and informal speech or when to use language appropriately for written as opposed to spoken communication)
• Knowing how to produce and understand different types of texts (e.g. narratives, reports, interviews, conversations)
• Knowing how to maintain communication despite having limitations to one’s language knowledge (e.g. through using different kinds of communication strategies. (Richards, 2006)

So, it is the general truth that the main purpose of communicative methodology in ELT is to enhance the communicative competence, which relies heavily on the value of interaction (Allwright, 1984). It means interactive activities linked to the real world context are very crucial in CLT to strengthen the communicative competency of the learners. These activities include “varieties of communicative tasks…which involve learners in comprehending, manipulating, and interacting in the target language” (Nunan, 1989, p.10) and the priority is placed on the completion of the tasks (Brown, 2007, Wills & Wills, 2007). These tasks are very helpful in developing learners’ communicative skills and linguistic knowledge system (Ellis, 1997), where the learners are supposed to play many progressive roles such as negotiators, group participants, monitors, risk takers of the target language and cooperators (Ellen, 2005).

It can be analyzed from the above description that language is for communication where the teachers attempt to enhance the communicative competency of their students in an interactive setting. It also indicates that developing communicative competency requires frequent interaction among the students either in pairs or in groups.

Importance of group work in CLT/TBL

learning to speak in a foreign language will be facilitated when learners are actively involved in the group work (Nunan, 1991) because group work provides opportunities for language practice, where students can work together to produce language through speaking.  They can engage themselves in the creative use of language and develop communicative competency (Meng, 2009, p.220). Furthermore, it is very common that students are more motivated when working in groups with their friends and have more ideas and information than a single individual. It is because groups have a great well of resources to tap and more information available because of the variety of backgrounds and experiences (Beebe & Masterson, 2003 as cited in Burke, 2011, p. 88). Moreover, Learners use considerably more language and exploit a greater range of language functions when working in small groups (Nunan, 2000, p 51). Specially, in group students learn from hearing the language used by other members of the group and produce a greater amount of language than they would use in teacher-fronted activities. Hence they will have the chance to develop fluency (Richards, 2006). Furthermore, students in group work with friends and get opportunity to practice language in intimate environment. It means children learn academic content and skills through their classroom involvement (Hughes & Coplan, 2010). Hence, group work is widely accepted as learner centered activity.

However, the question is: Do all students in the class participate equally in the group work? Are there any shy (introvert) students in the classroom? Do our teachers notice and take care of such students in the classroom? This is what equally important to be considered while practicing interactive teaching methodology in the classroom. Moreover, it is very essential for language teachers to recognize and take care of the shy students in the classroom.

Shy students

Zimbardo (1977) mentions that shy students are reluctant to volunteer, tend to speak softly, do not initiate interactions with the teachers, spend more time at their seat and less time wandering around then other students. It means they do not want social relation, or participate in social activities. Crozier (2000) is of the opinion that shyness is a state of discomfort or inhibition in interpersonal situations that interferes with pursuing one’s interpersonal or professional goals. It can be further elaborated that shy students prefer social isolation; it means they do not take part in group work effectively. Moreover, Jones (2009, as cited in Butt et.al. 2011) reported that shy children probably even see themselves in a more negative than positive light. They keep away from appropriate participation in social situations (Pilkonis, 1977a).

It can be concluded that shy students are a bit less active in the classroom; they rarely speak or respond their friends and teachers in the classroom, especially for those activities that require interaction among students; which is very essential to enhance their language proficiency. So, it is very important to find out the causes of their shyness or feeling of discomfort while speaking with others.

Causes of shyness

If children experience high level of family stress during a young age, they are more likely to experience shyness during the middle childhood years and beyond (Findlay & Coplan, 2009). Some students feel shy because of the fear of making mistake- the primary reason of fear of mistake is that students are afraid of looking foolish of other people and they are concerned about how others will see them. (Kurtus, 2001, as cited in Juhana, 2012). However, some researchers claim that lack of student’s self-motivation in learning causes students’ hesitation to speak in the classroom. Manzoor (2016) states that many shy adolescents develop low self-esteem and lack self-confidence. Lack of confidence usually occurs when students realize that their conversation partners have not understood them or when they do not understand them or when they do not understand other speakers. In this situation, they would rather keep silent; while others do talking showing that the students have lack of confidence to communicate (Juhana, 2012). Furthermore, they constantly think that others are slighting them, insulting them, or attacking them in some way (Butt et.al. 2011) Moreover, family environment, parental relations and the way children are treated at home may cause the shyness among students at school. Such activities may include over protective behavior of the parents, Strict discipline at home, children not allowed playing with other children, family row between parents, child violence, divorced parents, children worried about seeming stupid, no freedom at home etc.

As it is mentioned above, most of the causes behind shyness are associated with psychological aspects of the students such as hesitation, fear of making mistakes, lack of confidence, etc. and parental behavior with their children. Although these causes have great impact on their social relation, the root cause of shyness in the classroom is still a matter of investigation.

Review of related literature

Some of the recently carried out research in this field include D’souza (2008) who carried out the research to find out the extent of shyness and related guidance needs if any among adolescent students. The result showed that shyness had the direct relationship with two areas of guidance needs- social and educational. As the shyness level increased guidance level also increased. Simalarly, Balda & Duhan (2010) identified 13.3 per cent school children as socially inhibited. To cope with inhibited behavior of the children, most of the mothers encouraged children to make friends and to interact with them. Likewise, Butt et.al. (2011) carried out the research on effects of shyness on the self-esteem of female students. The finding indicated that shyness affected the self-esteem of female students. The result also explored the variation in the level of shyness among the students i.e. some students suffer from occasional shyness while others experienced adequate shyness, which obstructed the development of students. In the same way, Juhana (2012) reached at the finding that psychological factors such as fear of making mistake, shyness, anxiety, lack of confidence and motivation hinder students from speaking in English classroom, fear of being laughed at by their friends. Furthermore, Manzoor (2010) reported that shy adolescents are less likely to participate in communication and classroom activities or ask questions when they need help with school work. They gradually suffer from social anxiety. The present study attempts to find out the causes of shyness among the students in an EFL context in Nepal.

Objectives

The objects of the present study were as follows:

1. To investigate the causes of shyness among the students in an interactive classroom.
2. To finds out the practical solutions for involving the shy students into group work effectively in the classroom

Methodology

The data of the study was collected from 16 students studying in a government school located in Baitadi district of the Far Western part of Nepal. These students were selected among 55 students of grade 10.

To select the shy students, group participation observation sheet (see Appendix: ‘A’) was used containing components of students’ participation in the group work. Students who did not participate in the group work were selected for the study. To select the shy students, I taught the students of grade 10 for a week. Then, only selected (16) students were taught separately giving special time to them. The study was carried out in a month period. The students were divided in to four groups and given reading/writing/and speaking assignments (See Appendix: ‘B’, Appendix: ‘C’, Appendix: ‘D’ and Appendix: ‘E’) during the whole month. To find out the practical solution of the shyness during the teaching, students’ participation in the group was closely observed focusing mainly on: When they did and did not participate in the group activities and why they did and did not participate in it. Whenever students had problems in completing the assignments their problems were detected and solved immediately. Questionnaire (see Appendix ‘F’) was used to find out the feelings of the students that cause the shyness among them. Data obtained from the questionnaire was analyzed using the simple mathematical tool percentage. Finding was derived on the basis of the students’ participation in the group work during the experiment and their responses on the questionnaire.

Experiment: Action research cycle

Planning          Act         Problem Identification         plan         Act         Observe          Reflect +…

Step one

I divided the students into groups and assigned various tasks in the first week based on the text book of grade 10. As the students were working in the groups, I observed their participation in the group work based on the observation sheet. Some students were found shy because they did not take part actively in the group work.

Step two

Selected (shy) students were taught separately. They were divided into the groups and given the reading assignment at the beginning. They were asked to read the paragraphs of the story and select the verbs. They were not active in the group work. As I asked why they did not share their ideas with their friends, they told me that they did not understand the text. However, they were writing some words on their note copy usually not only the verbs but also nouns; articles etc. individually. Then, I knew that they did not have the concept of verb. So, I stopped them copying and started to teach what the verb is giving many examples and asked them to select the verbs from the same paragraph as homework.

Step three

Next day, I asked them to open their homework but they node down their head and avoided the eye contact. As I asked, what’s the problem was, one of the student replied in his mother tongue: Hamile Bhujhenau Sir (we did not understand sir). It meant that my teaching practice with verbs in the previous class was worthless for the students. So, I repeated the same lesson using students mother tongue most of the time and giving some examples from their own language e.g. in Nepali the word verb ends in ‘nu’ ( e.g. eat: khanu, write: lekhnu, sleep: sutnu, play: khelnu, run: dagurnu, dance: nachnu, sing: gaunu etc) and assigned the same task again. However, they could not select the verbs because they did not know which words have Nepali ‘nu‘ at the end. So, I asked them to consult the dictionary and put Oxford Advance Learners Dictionary in front of them. But they neither found the word nor understood the word meaning shown to them. It indicated that they did not have dictionary learning experience.

Step four

I taught them how to find words in dictionary and provided English to Nepali dictionary and assigned the same task. The students took the whole period to read and find the verbs in the paragraphs. Then one of the students came with the list of verbs. After they had selected the verbs successfully, I asked them to write as many sentences as possible using the same verbs in the groups. As I observed the group activity, I did not see any shyness. Students were busy in making sentences (though grammatically erroneous) talking with their friends. All of the students were ready to read their sentences as well.

Step five

They were given other paragraphs of a story written in simple past and asked to select the verbs as in the previous activity. As soon as they got the assignment they turned over the pages of dictionary to find out the verbs. Surprisingly, at the end, they told me that the paragraph did not have verbs, further they explained that the paragraph was very difficult. They told me that some words were even not found in the dictionary. As I knew these strange word must be the simple past form of the verbs, I told them to list the words that they did not find in the dictionary.

Then, I distributed the list of verbs with their three different forms and asked them to circle the words in the list that they did not find in the dictionary. I asked them to read the words in the first Colum and find their meaning in the dictionary if you are unfamiliar with these words. After they had found the meaning of the verbs in the dictionary, I introduced them the simple past form of the verbs and clarified when these forms are used in everyday communication. As I was talking about the simple past form of the verb, one of the shy students raised the question ‘when do we use these other forms of the verbs? This is when the shy students started to take part voluntarily in interaction with teacher. After they got the concept of simple past form, they also wrote some sentences using the past form of the verb.

Step six

Next day, I initiated the conversation with the students. I asked one question to all students ‘ all of you tell me:

Researcher: what did you eat yesterday?

One of the students: I eat bread and milk

Researcher: Is yesterday past or present?

Most of the Students: Past.

Researcher: If so how about ‘EAT’ with yesterday?

The same student: Oh no ate.

When I asked some more questions they replied the questions using the correct form of the verb. No student was found shy, they told me at least 2/3 sentences. Using the same techniques, I taught them to express ideas using simple future. It was the way shy students were involved in interactive classroom. There was no shyness and hesitation though most of the sentences produced were erroneous.

Step seven

I told them a story using past, present and future tense using very simple language. Most of the words that I used were familiar with the students. Then, I asked them to make a similar story about themselves. I told them to ask their friends if they need any support e.g. vocabulary, suitable verbs etc. they were found very active in the group. They also told their story in the class without hesitation.

During this experiment students were also taught communicative functions for socialization e.g. greeting, attracting attention, asking politely, requesting etc.

At the end of the month, students had positive attitude to English, they could understand instruction in simple English and express themselves in English. They were also asked some questions to find out their feelings regarding their study at school.

Data Obtained from the Questionnaire

S.N.	Scenario	Agree	*NAND	Disagree	Some of the responses of the students to disagreement with the statement in their own words
1.	I am sure, I will speak English fluently.	12.5%	62.5%	25%	not know English
2.	I share my ideas with my friends in the classroom/groups.	6.25%	25%	68.75%	Do not have ideas to share, friends speak most of the time, not necessary speak
3.	I often answer the questions asked by the teacher in the classroom.		37.5%	62.5%	Friends answer,  not know what to say
4.	Whenever I am in confusion, my teacher gives me clear concept.	12.5%	31.25%	56.25%	Teacher repeats the same lesson again, I not  understand English
5.	My teacher always gives me chance to speak in the classroom with my friends in pair/groups.	18.75%	56.25%	25%	Gives chance but my friends answer, when I think answers, my friend answer.
6.	I understand the text (reading/listening) clearly.		6.25%	93.75%	Difficult words, listening not practice
7.	Making mistake is harmful in language learning.	50%	37.5%	12.5%	Friends laugh, tease, joke
8.	All students complete the assigned tasks in the classroom. Then we move to the next topic.	6.25%	12.5%	81.25%	Some students answer quickly and teacher start other lesson
9.	Some students are weak in the classroom.	75%	18.75%	6.25%	They not answer, teacher say you are weak work hard
10.	Weak students in my classroom are taught with special attention.	6.25%	12.5%	81.25%	No. same attention

 

Description

The data showed that most of (62.5%) students were not sure that they would speak in English fluently. It indicates that students were less confident in learning English. Large number (68.75%) of the students did not interact or share their ideas with their friends in the classroom. The major problem that they revealed was the lack of ideas they needed to share. It indicates that students did not think they had anything worthwhile to share which results the shyness in the classroom. Students (62.5%) did not interact with their teacher or answer to his questions in the classroom because some more able students would answer before they became ready. It can be inferred from their response that they did not get chance to express themselves in the classroom. They (56.25%) also did not believe that their teacher could give the clear concept. Students (93.75%) had difficulties in understanding the text due to poor vocabulary skills. So, it can be inferred that lack of vocabulary skills also causes the shyness in the classroom. 50% students were afraid of making mistakes, its because they thought that their friends would laugh at them or tease them. So, fear of making mistake is another cause that results the shyness among the students. Although 75% students thought that some of the students (may be referring to themselves) in the classroom were weak, they (81.25%) never realized to be treated/taught differently in the classroom.

Major findings

Shy students are very passive, less confident and have negative attitude to themselves and their teacher regarding learning English. Furthermore, they do not participate in interaction, feel hesitation, node their head down, and avoid eye contact.

The study indicates that shy students do not have the opportunity to express themselves, some more able students answer before they think. They are told weak in the classroom but never taught the way they would learn English better. Furthermore, teachers do not encourage them to ask questions. If students ask the question, teachers do not give the concept. Some of the teachers even tell them ‘ it was taught in your previous class’ as a result their confusion remains the same and hesitate to ask more questions further. As a result, they even develop negative attitude to their teachers. Students are taught in English but they do not have adequate vocabulary to understand their teacher.

Shy students are neglected in the classroom, whenever students are assigned the task more able students response as soon as possible. If the teacher gets the answer, he/she moves to the next topic, as a result weak students remain shy. They do not response because they do not have the concept

As the study indicated, the main cause behind this shyness was lack of knowledge. Students did not involve in the group work because they had nothing to share i.e. they did not have the basic concepts or ideas about the task assigned to them. Furthermore, they did not understand their teachers and the assignment. This is because of poor vocabulary, lack of knowledge of meta-language. As the study indicated, at the beginning, students were very passive because none of them had the basic concept of the verb. They did not involve in interaction among friends in the group work until they got the concept. Students could not complete the assignment and participate in group discussion because they neither had the idea to discuss nor they understand their teacher. They were confused. As soon as the students got the concept they started to work in the group. They asked for help and completed the task. I talked to them friendly, diagnosed their problems and solved immediately as a result no body was found shy.

Nowadays most of the ELT practitioners give emphasis on CLT and TBLT, it means they give much emphasis on integration among students and focus more on the completion of meaningful tasks in the classroom. However, only few teachers give emphasis on teaching basic concept before assigning the task to the students in an interactive classroom. This (lack of concept) is the main reason why students become shy in an interactive classroom. If we teach our students from where they are, they can grasp the basic concept to work with.

Conclusion

In conclusion we can say that the main cause of shyness is the absence of the basic concept about the task students are assigned to accomplish in the group. To encourage students’ motivation in group work teachers should provide constant support to the students’ problems. Furthermore, teacher should make certain that each student understands the basic concept of the task they are assigned to complete in the group or individually. Teachers are supposed to know their students’ weaknesses, needs and interest and treat them accordingly. It is also very essential to investigate further the impact of family and school environment on the students’ passiveness in their study.

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(Mr. Janak Singh Negi: is a Lecturer in English Education at Manilek Campus, affiliated to Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He has been involved in teaching and teacher training for last ten years. Mr. Negi has conducted various teacher trainings and mentoring support to teachers in different parts of Nepal).