Focus Group 2

In the second focus group, 7 pupils participated and letters A, B, C, D, E, F and G were used to refer to these pupils. In focus group 2, I decided to include a monolingual English speaking pupil because it was my opinion at the time that given the whole school policy of using small group work as a strategy to include and support all pupils, there needed to be a representative from the body of monolingual English speaking pupils in the school. Pupils were made aware of the research and my reasons for doing it and this monolingual English speaker expressed an interested in sharing her perceptions.

During the second focus group discussion, I directly asked pupils for their perceptions about peer-peer interaction; if it is useful to their learning and if they felt they benefitted from interactive opportunities during small group work in mainstream lessons. Regarding group work, overall pupils’ perception was that it was positive for them because they had the opportunity to solicit help from their peers. The pupils’ utterances are redolent of collaboration, learning from and with each other and peer-peer

173 support. Pupils speak about pooling ideas and increasing their learning and understanding from having a peer explain or present another point of view.

As with the first focus group discussion, pupils’ were recorded using a voice-recorder and this was then transcribed. The transcriptions were read and common themes identified. I again decided to present the results in themes for presentation, analysis and discussion. The themes are “subject support”, “language support”, “socialising and making friends”.

4.13.1 Subject support

“It helps because if you do something wrong, mistake, they can correct you. They also maybe can advise you and give you some ideas.” (Pupil A)

Pupils shared the perception that interaction during group work helps them to understand the content of the lesson, learn new language and gain exposure to the opinions and views of their peers. In several of the pupil’s contributions, there is mention of “each other” and “other people” suggesting that pupils are very aware of connecting and collaborating with their peers. There is also a sense of awareness on the part of the pupils that they require support which can be supplied through interaction with their peers,

“Group work is important because they always work in team in the lessons and if maybe for finish quickly or share your opinion with others in the groups” (Pupil B)

“Interaction is very important at lesson because you can get

information from each other and they can help if you communicate with some other people.” (Pupil C)

174 “Group work is important because if you don’t know nothing the other people is helping you.” (Pupil D)

“Yes it is helpful because if everyone gives their ideas you can put your thoughts and theirs and use it in your work” (Pupil G)

“It is useful because it helps if others don’t understand or get what to do. It also helps get others point of you”. (Pupil A)

Above are several of the ways in which pupils explain why they believe that group work is beneficial and helpful. They refer to the support that can be shared amongst peers and how the understanding manifested by others can clarify misconceptions. Through their words, pupils reveal their concern about their school work and their desire for support to access the curriculum which can, as they verbalize be tendered by peers.

Pupil E commented,

“I think it is very good idea and it would be really helpful and useful talking about the work and if someone is scared or something to tell the teacher or ask the teacher something, it would be great to talk about it with the group.” (Pupil E, focus group 2)

From these words, the comfort and assurance found through working with peers is evident and pupils imply peer over teacher support. Taking interaction to mean the exchange of information in face-to-face communication through which pupils collaborate, support and learn from each other, I examined the data from pupils where they confirmed that there is an exchange of information during small group work and that this act enables them to be confident participants in their classroom learning experiences. In the words of pupils,

175 “I think interaction is useful as people help each other telling hints to them” (Pupil F)

“I think it is better to interact with people as I get help and find out better.” (Pupil B)

“I think it kind of helps when we talk in groups. It will help me because if when I get stuck someone can tell me how to do it.” (Pupil A)

“I think it is useful when we interact during the lesson so that we can understand what we are doing and ask others for help.” (Pupil C)

“I find it better when I work and speak to M or someone about the work because it gives me help.” (Pupil E)

4.13.2 Socialising and making friends

“But you work with other students you might not get on and you’ll be shy to talk to them and more and less work at the same both and you can make friends at the same time” (Pupil A)

“I think that interaction is important because you can share ideas and see other opinions of people and can even make new friends by interacting with other people in class.” (Pupil C)

The opportunity to socialise and make friends is perceived by pupils as a by- product of small group interaction. Pupils are of the view that through sharing and collaborating on learning tasks, they can initiate and strengthen friendship links and one pupil extended her thought to include preparation for working life, “Working with other people is very good because you must learn to interact with others in the future with your business.” (Pupil E)

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4.13.3 Language support

“Interaction is important because it can improve your language and the other important when we learning is precisely that is joined management of learning.” (Pupil C)

The quote above reflects the perception of one pupil who also believes that interaction with peers during classroom based learning can facilitate language learning.

“if you communicate it’s improve your language and your learning skills.” (Pupil E)

“I think interaction is important in lessons because most of the students don’t know the language and the students help each other.” (Pupil A)

Although most pupils had a positive perception about working and interacting in small groups during mainstream lessons, of those who took part in the focus group discussion, a few expressed negative perceptions regarding a small group setting and its potential to facilitate progression in learning. Pupil G’s thought is telling,

“I think you should not interact so then you can see the students independent progress and to see how much they improved and if you work in a group you have so much help and how do you know if they just copied off one person and then the child who is copying won’t learn anything.” (Pupil G)

Throughout the discussion, pupil G was quiet and this was her only point. Like pupil G, pupil A also expressed a negative sentiment though earlier on, she had identified positive perceptions of small group work showing two

177 sides to the theme of the discussion, “Sometimes we concentrate and produce better work when we are alone.” (Pupil A)