Exploring Group Work During Mandarin Classes Using Tuckman's Model

Abstract

Group work is commonly used to promote teamwork, problem-solving, and the exchange of ideas and perspectives among group members. To explore how Malaysian students perceive the various stages of group work and investigate the relationship between all stages, quantitative research was conducted on 165 university students who were taking Mandarin as a Foreign Language course. The Tuckman's Model was implemented in this study. The study indicates that learners at the forming stage are more likely to assign specific roles to team members and try to define the goal and what tasks need to be accomplished. During the storming stage where discussions take place, the finding shows that learners agree with the statement that the team leader should be the one who tries to contribute to the task at hand. The norming stage demonstrates that learners tend to achieve harmony by avoiding conflict and accepting each other as members of the team. During the performing stage, learners agree that they got a lot of work done, they appear to perceive the interactions in the group as positive and cooperative, and they fully accept each other's strengths and weaknesses. The findings also indicate that every stage is interconnected in positive ways.