An Examination of Random, Homogenous and Heterogeneous Grouping Methods

The benefits of pair work and cooperative learning have been well documented in EFL and ESL research and as a result been adopted by an ever increasing number of teachers for use in their classes (Brown, 2001). I personally am a firm believer in the use of pair work and have seen my students benefit from the interaction that the style naturally facilitates. Despite the successes though there still seem to be a few problems with the effective implementation of the method. We often see students conversing and interacting with their peers but when it comes to pair work that is to take place in and outside the classroom, for example on projects, presentations and the like, they occasionally become strangely reluctant or extremely specific on whom they will and will not work with. Sometimes students are truly incompatible with the partners that they are to work with, leading to communication breakdown, if it begins at all, the inability to produce a product of proper quality (the project or task) and subsequent motivation loss. This brings about questions as to whether we should allow students to create their own groups, create groups randomly or construct them by assigning students based on specific social, academic or other reasons and which grouping method creates better academic results