Disadvantages of Group Work
the big class, it may have some problems, for example, the arrangement of classroom is not suitable for group work activity.
Based on the explanation above, the writer concludes that disadvantages of group work are students cannot be a good language model as a teacher, the teacher
cannot control all students, the class become noisy, students use their mother language to communicate with their friends, some students do not contribute in
doing a task, and the teacher will be difficult to arrange a big size class that consist of forty students.
Meanwhile, based on Harmer disadvantages of group work; first, the class is likely to be noisy. Then, some teachers may lose control and feel hard to build
the whole class but it is easy to dissipate and spill into smaller entities.
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It means that the class of group work may become noisy because the teacher may not
control all students. Second, not all students enjoy it because they would prefer listen to the
teacher’s explanation rather than work in group with their peers. Sometimes, students feel themselves in unsuitable groups and wish moving to the others
group.
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On the other word, some students do not like to work with group because they are not enjoying with it. Thus, they prefer like to pay attention on the
teacher’s explanation rather than work in group. Next, some students are passive whereas others may dominate because
individuals may fall into group roles that become fossilized.
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This statement means that group wok may consist of some students who passive and the others
who active. Finally, group work may take a long time to organize; beginning and
ending group work activities, moreover where students move around the class that wastes time and becomes chaotic.
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That is why group work may make the class
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Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching 4
th
Edition, New York: Longman Publishing, 2009, p. 166
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Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching ……………….., p. 166.
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Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching ………….……., p. 166.
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Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching …………….…., p. 166.
become so noisy and difficult to organize. Then, it is need more time to conduct group work.
From the Harmer’s statement, it can conclude that disadvantages of group work, the class is noisy because the teacher lose control, and sometimes students
more focus if the teacher give explanation rather than they work in group, then some students become more passive if others students dominate the class room,
and then group work activity take a long time. In addition, Brown said that disadvantages of group work are:
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1. The teacher is no longer in control of the class
2. Students will use their native language
3. Students’ error will be reinforced in small groups
4. Teachers cannot monitor all group at once
5. Some learners prefer to work alone
In sum up, group work has disadvantages, such as the class is noisy and chaotic, thus students feel difficult to focus on the teaching learning activity.
Then, teacher cannot control all groups at the same time; hence students are noisy because they
lose the teacher’s control. Next, some students use their native language when they cooperate. After that, some students prefer work alone and
become passively.