GROUP ACTIVITIES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING

Abstract

Contemporary teaching of foreign languages has been fundamentally and inevitably modified, enriching the structure by introducing and applying modern pedagogical technology, which included several innovative and completely different contents and forms in the teaching process. Group work is a newer form of organization of the teaching process with an extremely important function and many educational values. The goal of this paper is primarily to emphasize the relevance of group work because as such it builds more opportunities for achieving real communicative competence in the class, provides students with a sense of freedom in the process of expressing their opinions in a foreign language. It also contributes to achieving mutual communication, encourages, and develops a collective spirit and directs students toward cooperation. Our intentions are reflected in the effort to draw attention to the special place and importance of this type of work, because as such it prepares and equips the student for later collective and teamwork in performing future professional activities, builds the culture of the student's personality, encourages many qualities that the school should fosters in students as future members of society. While developing a number of qualities, such as initiative, independence, a sense of responsibility and sense of social work, respect for the opinions of others, etc. - group work occupies an increasingly important place compared to frontal work. Group work in class makes the process of acquiring knowledge easier and directs students to accuracy, precision, and achieving closer and stronger cooperation with their peers who form an interconnected group formation.
In this form of work, the student ceases to be a passive agent in the implementation of the teaching process, and the teacher organizes, supervises, directs, monitors, and controls the student's work, notices the problems and difficulties that the student is facing with, and tries to correct them properly.
In group work, the most important thing is to motivate the students. They no longer receive ready-made knowledge, but are given the means to create everything themselves and to learn "how to learn". They are initiated into activities, are given the opportunity to study independently in order to build the habit of learning from sources that they can continue after they finish school. The teacher becomes "invisible" and performs the function of advisor and organizer. Students have the freedom to choose activities. They are no longer forced to do everything at the same speed and pace, now they can express their personality, and show their abilities, tendencies, and desire for affirmation.