6 have control, that is, when students are engaged in a group discussion in class, Ettington
and Camp 2002 stress that group work is an activity that can only happen if there are grades
which trigger it. Though I concede that Ettington and Camp‟s definition works in some contexts, I agree more with Davis‟ viewpoint that group work can also happen
without the interference of grades from the teachers. Recognizing that there are various definitions coming from different perspectives,
it is important to summarize the definition of group work used in the present paper. To sum up, group work can be better defined as a learning strategy under cooperative
learning approach which requires students to work supportively with a number of peers, in order to complete a particular type of task in a certain period of time, either with or
without the presence of grades as the controller Davis, 1993; Olsen and Kagan, 1992; Slavin, 1987.
2. Meaning behind Perceptions
Up to this point, the term „perception‟ has arisen a degree of confusion among different people. It is based on the idea that some people find it difficult to distinguish the
meaning of the term „perception‟ from „attitude‟ because they are somewhat connected to each other Pickens, 2005. In other words, there are times when people tend to put the
meaning elements of „perception‟ into the whole definition of „attitude‟, and vice versa, which may cause misunderstandings.
7 Given this issue, it is very important to note that in this present paper, I will
follow the term „perception‟ proposed by Wolf 2013 that refers to “a conscious judgment on the part of the learner vis-à-
vis evaluative dimensions of discussion topics” p.54. To put it in an
other way, „perception‟ in the present study will only cover opinions that are explicitly written by the learners themselves. Hence, it should be distinguished
from „attitude‟ which also recognizes the behaviors – the way people act, and emotions – the way people express their feelings, in addition to the conscious thoughts of the learners
Pickens, 2005. Thus far, there has been also a great deal of research which reveals the importance
of conducting studies on perceptions of the students. It is basically due to the fact that teachers often predict wrongly the preferred styles of the students in learning the
materials in class Barkhuizen, 1998; Kumaravadivelu, 1991. Kumaradivelu 1991 even states that “the more we know about the learner‟s personal approaches and personal
concepts, the better and more productive our intervention will be” p. 107. Basically, Kumaradivelu is saying that to know exactly the learning styles which work well with the
students, it is crucial to ask the students about the issue directly, rather than wasting time to estimate only from the teacher‟s point of view, which in fact might fail to really meet
the students‟ needs and desires. These disparities between teachers‟ and students‟ viewpoints of an activity often take place because they have different ways in
recognizing the goal of each assigned task Block, 1994. Barkhuizen 1998 also strengthens this idea by claiming that if the teachers know closely what their students
8 prefer to do, teachers can be one step ahead in preparing various additional activities for
facilitating a good learning. Further support of the importance of perception studies can be found in a research
which has been conducted by Savignon and Wang 2003 in Taiwan. This study revealed that while the teachers estimated their students to like grammar-based classes in learning
English, the fact showed inversely that the students preferred having communication- based activities to grammar-based ones. This study adds weight to the view that the
disparity between teachers and students can really happen in the actual teaching and learning process if the teachers only accept their own viewpoints as the only contributing
factor of determining the tasks. Hence, it is worth pointing out that taking the students‟ perceptions into account when it comes to designing tasks is a very important thing to do.
3. Perceived Advantages of Group Work
Group work has long been confirmed to offer various social as well as educational benefits for the students Colbeck et al., 2000; Gillies, 2011; Slavin, 1987. Socially, the
use of group work in the classroom has been viewed as a learning strategy which capably improves the communication skills among members Johnson Johnson, 1994; Mello,
1993, the value of respecting others Slavin, 1995, as well as the solidity in friendships Walker, 2001.
Meanwhile educationally, group work has also been proven to enhance critical thinking skills, self-motivation, and learning durability of the students which result in the
