In addition, Brown 2001: 177 defines that group work is a kind of technique in which two or more students work together to solve problem, do
classroom activities, and other matters due to the learning process. Group work
tends to be effective since learners are able to learn independently without much guidance from the teacher. In his definition, Brown indicates that pair work is also
a kind of group work consisting of two students. Brown 2001: 182 suggest that it is very reasonable to implement pair work for task which is short, linguistically
simple, and quite controlled in terms of the structure of the task.
2. Group Work Activities in Speaking Class
The examples of activity which can be carry out in pair work are practicing dialogue, simple question and answer exercise, performing certain meaningful
substitution or drill, quick brainstorming activity, checking written work with each other, and preparation for merging with a larger group Brown, 2001: 182.
Different from pair work, a bigger group work is usually implemented for activities which are structurally more complex or the activities need more than
two members. Several activities which need bigger groups are, communication game, role-play, drama, project, Interview, brainstorming, information gap,
jigsaw, problem solving and decision making, and opinion exchange. Furthermore, Harmer 2002: 271-274 also suggests a number of
classroom activities for group work in speaking class as follows. a.
Acting from the Script This type of activity allows the teacher to ask the students to act out scenes
from plays, course books, or dialogues written by themselves. Sometimes it can
be followed by filming the result. By giving students practice before they give their final performances, it means that acting out is both learning activity and
language producing activity. b.
Playing Communication Games This activity makes use of games which are designed to provoke
communication between students. It is frequently depends on an information gap, so that one student has to talk to a partner in order to do the required tasks.
In an information gap, for example, each student in a pair or group of 3-4 has some information that the others in the group need in order to complete a task.
The students must ask each other question to get the missing information. Information gap activities may occupy an important role in the lesson
plans of many EFL teachers, as they may be one of the clearest ways to check how well one student can transmit and understand information with another
O’Malley Valdez Pierce, 1996. In an information gap activity or assessment the designer deliberately creates a situation in which one student is
given information, while another is not. “Bridging that gap” successfully is the goal of this type of activity, to help improve and measure oral proficiency
Underhill, 1987. However, as Yearwood 2008 has noted, information learned in one context is not necessarily transferred to another context. In addition,
presenting the same information repeatedly, spaced over time, greatly enhances effective processing deWinstanley Bjork, 2002; Dempster, 1987. Therefore,
in this paper the same information is presented in three different contexts, and
similar vocabulary and structures are used across the activities to provide reinforcement.
c. Discussion
This activity need to be encouraged by the teacher in order to provide productive speaking in language classes. It can be achieved by providing activities
which force students C to reach a decision as a result of choosing between specific alternatives in the discussion.
d. Prepared Talk
The talks are not designed for an informal spontaneous conversation. This activity represents a defined and useful speaking genre and can be extremely
interesting for both speakers and listeners if it is properly organized. This activity allows students individually or in a group to make a presentation about a topic
they choose before. e.
Questionnaire This activity allows students to designed questionnaires on any appropriate
topic. The questionnaire and respondent have something to say each other using natural use of certain repetitive language patterns and thus are situated in the
middle of our communication continuum. The result obtained from the questionnaires can form the basis of written work, discussion, or prepared talks.
f. Simulation and Role Play
This type of activities can be used to encourage the general oral fluency or to train the students for specific situations by simulates a real life encounter as if
they are doing so in the real world. Simulation and role play are suitable for
