EFL teachers' use of group work in Omani basic education schools.
Author
Al-Badi, Mohammed Ali Said.
English abstract
This study investigates the way Omani EFL teachers in Basic education schools employ group work in their classrooms, and the various problems and difficulties they
face when applying it.
The research questions are: 1-To what extent do Omani teachers apply "Group Work effectively in their classroom teaching?
2-What challenges do Omani teachers encounter while applying Group work?
3- Does the use of Group work differ due the teachers' gender and types of schools
like cycle one and cycle two?
Two types of instruments were used for data collection.
The first one is the Observation Checklist and the second one is the questionnaire.
The former is administered on 30% of the Sample Population while the latter is given to the whole population of teachers in the target schools. This sample represents all teachers from the total of eleven Basic Education Schools, five rural schools and six urban schools in Dhahirah North Region.
The statistical analysis of the data revealed the following results:
1. All of the sample taken up for the study through the observation checklist were either not using the group work at all or just placing the students in groups without adopting any effective group work strategies for effective learning.
2. All the respondents considered the problems and difficulties mentioned in the questionnaire as serious obstacles in using group work in their classrooms. In view of these findings, this study presents some suggestions and recommendations to the various departments involved in the Ministry of Education in particular and for further researches.
