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INTRODUCTION The term “group dynamics”, as I understand it, refers to behavioural patterns of a group of individuals that would not have been present had all individuals been acting on their own. The term usually refers to positive (e.g. mutual motivation) as well as negative effects (e.g. inhibition to speak). Ideally, we want to have positive group dynamics and avoid negative group dynamics. While terms such as “student-rapport” have positive connotation, I don't mean to use any of the following terms in an evaluative manner, but on a purely descriptive basis. Size, for instance, can create both positive and negative group dynamics. I think the same holds true of almost any other factor. In this text I want to focus on what seem to me the most significant factors that create both positive and negative group dynamics: gender, size, and rapport among the group. GOOD RAPPORT AMONG STUDENTS Good rapport among students can mean many things. A general interest in their life and biographies, a sense of trust, knowledge of their fears and hopes. Most of these factors can be expected to bring about a positive group dynamic. Knowing that person x is a bit inhibited to speak about her personal relations, person y will make sure not to ask questions with regard to it (or, if so, only in a very careful manner). Being more familiar with one another people tend to be less concerned about how they are perceived by others and start acting more “naturally.” Lower concern with one's perception in others can be expected to lower fears and, thus, to enhance participation. However, while good student rapport would, on the one hand, be expected to lower the inhibition to speak it could, at the same time, also increase the inhibition to speak. This is because “getting it wrong” in front of one's trusted friends might be considered more embarrassing than in front of a group of people who “once this course is over, I won't see them again, anyway”. In general, however, it seems rather obvious that good rapport among the students tends to much more encourage participation than discourage it. GENDER A group might have a particular dynamic because it largely comprises of one gender. First of all, the “minority-gender” might feel inhibited to speak, especially when the majority is male and the class rather young. I think a good recipe to deal with this kind of dynamic is, as is the case with most negative group dynamics, to do a lot of group work. Especially with young students, one might even think about creating boys- and girls-groups, since it might be easier for them to do a mistake in front of persons of their own gender. This should, however, not be overdone, as male and female persons can also benefit a lot from each others' strengths and weaknesses. SIZE The smaller the group the smaller the likelihood that each person has both a better and a weaker student in their surrounding. Psychologically, however, this intermediate position can be expected to bring about the right mix between motivation and self-esteem since there is both “a person to look up to” and a person that makes one aware of what has already been achieved. Since big groups increase the likelihood of this being the case, bigger groups are better. At the same time, however, bigger groups tend to lower trust as well as knowledge of each others fears and hopes, simply because interaction among the same students becomes less frequent. This would tend to increase the inhibition to speak and, thus, bring about a negative group dynamic. I think what's special about group-size is that it has a direct effect on the intensity of all other factors. Many factors are likely to be monovalent, i.e. either strictly increasing or strictly decreasing with group size. For instance, I think it is plausible to assume that the bigger the group, the bigger the gender-effect. There might, however, be a few exceptions. While the inhibition to speak out of fear of “being laughed at” would be expected to increase with bigger groups, there might be a threshold where the group becomes so big that participants start to feel anonymous, and, thus, less inhibited to speak.
