Open Conference Systems, Language and Language Teaching Conference 2023

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UNDERSTANDING GROUP WORK DYNAMICS: LOAD DIVISION AMONG STUDENTS AND THE EFFECT ON STUDENTS’ MENTAL HEALTH
Rona Lembayung, Andrea Rinjani Purwanto

Last modified: 2023-10-27

Abstract


The lingering concern in group work is the uneven task load division. While undergraduate courses have numbers of group project assignments that promote the 21st Century Skills, there are also pitfalls including disfellowship, unequal work parts, and narrowed work performances which can affect the mental health of the students in the future. Those issues usually arise when group members are formed by lecturers at random, though this case can also occur in self-selected group members. A significant concern in group work is the presence of members who are excessively passive. Such individuals are often referred to as “inferior group members”. However, there’s a possibility that these inferiors are being overshadowed by dominant individuals entitled “superiors”. This paper explores whether students are aware of their position and role in a group, how students divide or take part in tasks, and the effects of their roles to their and others mental health


Keywords


Group work roles, task distribution, inferior-superior members