Group Discussions

By

Dr Alka Singh

Group Discussion is very importance practice for strengthening the ability of group
communication. In a group discussion setting 3 to 12 candidates sit in a circle or a semi-circle
and start discussion on a topic given by the moderator. They try to meet the positive end of the
discussion which mostly comes up with a solution. The moderator should create positive
situations for the participants speak naturally. It may be defined as a formal discussion which
involves 3 to 12 participants in a group. It is a method to assess a candidate’s personality traits
and skills .In the process, the group is given a topic or a situation. They think over it for a few
minutes, and then are asked to discuss the issue among themselves for 15-30 minutes.

The soft skills are required to shine in the group discussion. For a good Group Discussion, the
candidate should:

 provide light not heat with his discussion

 to participate well and moderate in case of confusion
 Change aggressiveness into assertiveness
 keep higher emotional quotient
 be an active listener
 don leadership qualities
 show team spirit
 maintain decorum

ROLE OF THE MODERATOR: In Group Discussion situation a moderator has to play

significant role. He inspires the speakers to speak out themselves to the fullest. The moderator
should:

 set clear expectations for student participation in discussion sessions

 Create different assessment rubrics for evaluating the participation of a student in
discussion both in terms of the number of times they comment and in the quality of those
comments.
 Initiate some informal talk outside of class to make everybody speak.
 Manage the classroom space strategically.
 Communicate actively because lowering the communication channel decreases the
teacher’s authoritative role
 Make appropriate eye contact.

SOME PRACTICAL TIPS FOR SPEAKING DIFFERENTLY IN GROUP

DISCUSSIONS: The following phrases and expressions are very useful in a Group Discussion:
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When you agree, you may use the expressions like :

 Absolutely
 Precisely
 Exactly.
 I totally agree.
 So do I
 Nor do I.
 I can go along with that.
 I think you’re right up to a point.

When you disagree you may use the expressions like :

 You seem to be quite wrong there.

 I’m sorry, but I don’t agree .
 That’s quite an exaggeration.
 Do you really think so?
 Do you agree with that,

When you have to ask for opinion:

 So what do you think …?

 How do you feel about this?
 How do you feel about that?
 What is your view on…?
 What is your position on…?
 Do you agree with that?

When you want to give opinions

 In my opinion …
 In my view…
 As far as I’m concerned…
 I think…
 I feel…
 As I see it…
 To my mind…
 To me…

When you have to make suggestions ;you may use the expressions like :

 How about …?

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  What about…?
 Why don't you ?
 Why don’t we…?
 You should …
 You ought to…
 If I were at your place , I would…
 I suggest …
 I propose …

When you have to react to suggestions, you may use the expressions like :

 That’s a good idea!

 Yes, let’s do that.
 Yes, why not?
 That isn’t possible
 That is not practicable
 That is never feasible.

When you need to correct the misunderstandings, you may use the following expressions:

 That’s not what I meant by…

 Don’t take me wrong. What I meant was…
 Oh! You have got the wrong end of the stick.
 See, to put it another way,…

When you need to interrupt, you may use the following expressions:

 Sorry to interrupt, but…

 May I interrupt you for a moment?
 May I just make a point?
 Mind if I just say something?

When you feel like dealing with interruptions, you may use the following expressions:

 I haven’t finished, if you don’t mind.

 If I might just finish…
 I haven’t reached my point yet.
 Let me just make my point.

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 GROUP DISCUSSION : Management of Learning

Directions: This is a tentative plan of action.The teacher/learner shall follow up the steps
mentioned herein.

Topic Preparation for Group Discussion

Student Learning Outcome After engaging in the current Language Lab session the students :
(SLO)
i-will learn the concept of Group Discussion

ii-will understand the importance of Group Discussion in their

professional life

iii-will understand the Dos and Don’t of Group Discussions

Prerequisite knowledge of (a) Fluency in spoken English

students (b) Training in active listening

Materials needed during 1. Note Book

practice 2. Assessment sheet

How to manage the situation of

Learning?
1. Warming up exercise

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 2. Task
3. Assessment Rubric
4. Homework for next class:
(a)
(b)
(c)
Estimated of time Introduction:

Activity:

Sharing:

Conclusion:

ASSESSMENT BY MODERATOR

Rubric on Analysis of Group Discussion

CRITERIA PERFORMANCE

Unsatisfact Average Good Excellent

oy
CONTENT i-No i-Greets i-Greets i-appropriate
Greetings ii-Begins ii-appropriate
greetings
ii-Little or with little or eye-contact
ii-appropriate
No Eye no eye- eye-contact
Contact contact iii-
appropriate
body
language
BODY i-Not i- i- i-
LANGUAGE dressed up Appropriately Appropriately Appropriately
suitably dressed up dressed up dressed up
ii- ii- ii-a little ii-Pleasant

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 Inappropria Inappropriate inappropriate manners
te body body body iii-
language language language appropriate
body
language
CONFIDENCE i- i-too soft i-Appropriate i-Excellent
Inappropria speech volume and
te ii-sometimes ii-State-of-the appropriate
vocabulary mumbles vocabulary grammar
ii-Grammar iii-poor and good ii-Requisite
difficult to grammar grammar vocabulary
understand used iii-Spoken
with a
determined
confidence
INTERPERSON i-Week Any two of Any one of Confident
AL SKILLS posture the the posture
ii-Less eye following: i- following: i- Ii Good eye
contact Week posture Week posture contact
iii-Uneasy ii-Less eye ii-Less eye iii- No
behaviour contact contact uneasy
iii-Uneasy iii-Uneasy behaviour
behaviour behaviour and
nervousness

Preparation Performanc Performance Performance Performance

e shows no shows some shows above shows great
preparation preparation average preparation
preparation

My students have expressed their opinion after practical Group Discussion classes which is

given below after slight moderation.

Model Group Discussion 1

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 MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES (MNCs): A BOON OR BANE

(Contributed by : Amol Khanna,a student of B.A.LL.B.(Hons.)student at Dr RamManohar

Lohiya National Law University,Lucknow)

Participants- Mr. Francis, Mr. LaMarts, Miss Loreto, Miss Marts, Mr. Jaipuria, Mr.

Dominic.

Mr. LaMarts: I find this topic very interesting. I am not in favour of multinationals.

Multinationals harm the local industries. We don’t need Pepsi and Coke. We can make our own

soft drinks.

Mr. Dominic: I find your point valid. MNCs are not required.

Miss Marts: According to me, plain water is sufficient.

Miss Loreto: We should discuss the topic rather than soft drinks. I would first like to define

MNCs. These are companies which operate in various countries. These may be Indian too. Also,

we have to discuss the positive and negative impacts of the MNCs on countries which host them.

Mr. Francis: MNCs serve an extremely important function of bringing in new technology and

new products in those countries which have demand for such products but cannot produce on

their own. Also, as a result of establishment of such companies, there is development of

infrastructure. According to me, they are a boon.

Mr. Jaipuria: I am of the opinion that MNCs come in with the sole intention of making profits

and take away more money than they bring in.

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Mr. LaMarts: I agree with him. According to me, we can produce everything on our own. We

don’t need MNCs.

Mr. Francis: Going by this point, even our companies must not do business abroad. This would

adversely impact the foreign exchange earnings. No nation can live in isolation. The world has

become a global village. With the MNCs, new technology, expertise, work ethics are imported.

Mr. Dominic: I agree with you. Work ethics are better as a result of MNCs.

Miss Loreto: Poor countries lack resources. They do not generate enough revenue to set up

industries requiring huge investment. MNCs help in setting up such industries. There is capital

formation.

Mr. Francis: Since there were points regarding Pepsi and Coke, I might as well mention here

that Pepsi, in some areas, has helped local farmers to set up farms having employing modern

tools and techniques in order to boost production. Similarly, many MNCs help the local people

in employing modern technology and adopt suitable expertise.

Miss Marts: All do stuff for their own benefit. I still like water more.

Mr. Jaipuria: I feel MNCs have adverse effects on the host country.

Miss Loreto: There may be some negative aspects. Everything has a downside. But, MNCs

cannot be ignored. However, in order to prevent the MNCs from resorting to malpractices, laws

must be made stringent.

[JUDGE: You have a minute left.]

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Mr. Francis: It was a good GD and I think I must summarize now. MNCs have both advantages

and disadvantages. However, during the course of the GD, it is clear that the advantages weigh

more. We can’t be in a closed economy anymore. With MNCs coming in, investment must be

directed in areas lacking technology and expertise. Laws must be implemented strictly in order to

prevent any malpractices.

Analysis: Though the discussion was initiated by Mr. La Marts, he would not gain much

benefit. He straightaway put forth his stand, but could not substantiate with sufficient reasons.

Also, during the course of the GD, he could not elaborate his stand of MNCs being a bane. It is

not a good strategy to depict your position at the very outset. The initiator must first introduce

the topic.

The participation of Mr. Dominic, Miss Marts and Mr. Jaipuria wasn’t much. Mr. Dominic just

shows agreement to the points made by the previous speakers. He himself does not give any

points. One may agree with the points given by other participants but one should elaborate giving

one’s own reasons. Another drawback is that Mr. Dominic agrees with both ‘for’ and ‘against’

points. Miss Marts uses language which is very informal and therefore inappropriate for a

formal discussion. Mr. Jaipuria did make a valid point but did not further elaborate and his

interventions were far too less.

The best participation was by Mr. Francis and Miss Loreto. Both gave sufficient points and

elaborated on them to support their stand. Miss Loreto brought back the discussion on track

when it had gone beyond the topic. Mr. Francis took an opportunity to summarize the discussion,

thus he would stand to gain benefit.

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Group discussion, hence involves certain skills which can enhance the efficiency of that
discussion. Some of such skill can be derived from the above mentioned sample and analysis.
The guidelines mentioned above along with the sample shall help the candidates gain an idea of
how to go about a GD.

Model Group Discussion 2

SHOULD CAPITAL PUNISHMENT BE ABOLISHED IN INDIA?IS LIFE

IMPRISONMENT A BETTER OPTION?

(Contributed by : Rushil Chandra,a student of B.A.LL.B.(Hons.)student at Dr RamManohar

Lohiya National Law University,Lucknow)

Participants- M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6.

Time limit: - 20 minutes.

M2 – Ladies and gentlemen a very good morning to all of you. Let us begin this Group
Discussion with the hope that we may reach an amicable solution to the problem which we have
for discussion today. Let me first of all explain what we mean by capital punishment. A capital
punishment means a legal process whereby a person is put to death by the State as a punishment
for his crime. My personal opinion over this matter is that Yes, capital punishment must be
abolished. Every criminal is after all a human being and if the State cannot grant someone a life
then it also does not have the authority to take one’s life. The maximum that a State should do is
award a sentence for life imprisonment but taking someone’s life is no solution to a problem.

At this M1 interrupts the discussion and addresses M2

M1 – Sir, what you are proposing actually has a logical fallacy. We all know for what crime is a
death sentence or a capital punishment awarded ie. for crimes like murder, armed robbery and
murder, waging war against the nation and any such crime which is grave enough to take a
person’s life. You say that since the State cannot grant someone a life, it does not have the
authority to take one but you are forgetting the fact that the criminal who has been given a death
sentence must have taken someone’s life and the same logic applies to him/her as well. If that

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criminal could not grant someone a life how could he kill someone? The State is but doing
justice to the dependents of the deceased by sentencing death penalty to this criminal.

M3 interrupts and speaks in favor of M1

M3 – I strongly support M2, because I personally believe that “an eye for an eye makes the
whole world blind.” If the attitude of the State is such that it starts taking people’s lives then we
shall have a barbaric society in which the lives of the subjects shall be at the mercy of the State.
Furthermore, if a person is given a death sentence then what pain does he endure while dying? Is
that proportionate to the pain which the victim might have endured while he/she died? No, there
are very bleak chances for the same. If you talk about justice and granting the same treatment to
that criminal as he did to the victim, you must realize that death sentence does not serve your
purpose. On the other hand if you consider the case of life imprisonment, well this criminal has
to undergo 14 years of rigorous punishment day and night away from home, working among
other criminals, trapped in a prison, being treated harshly and this way he may actually be able to
realize the gravity of his sin. A person who is hanged by the neck and endures 2-3 minutes of
excruciating pain is dealt very easily. I do not think that this is an appropriate punishment for
his/her crime. One must be made to pay for his/her crimes and for such grave crimes I think life
imprisonment is the best form of punishment.

M4 in support of M3 speaks and carries the discussion further

M4 – Well I for one believe that life imprisonment is a better option than granting capital
punishment. We have an option of reformation in case of life imprisonment which totally lacks
in death sentence. A person who shall be rigorously serving at the prison shall have a chance of
reformation and no one knows how much a person may be reformed after realization of his
crime. We have the glaring example of Saint Valmiki. He was a plundered, a robber and a
murderer. He used to rob and kill people but God gave him a chance to reform, this is what our
Holy Scriptures depicts and after he realized his sins, he reformed so drastically that he became a
saint. So, we should give a chance of reformation to the criminal before resorting to such drastic
measures.

As soon as M4 finishes his speech M6 speaks while addressing M3 and M4.

M6 – My worthy friend, M4 has taken this discussion to an idealistic philosophy and has not
considered any practicality whatsoever. According to me capital punishment must not be
abolished and life imprisonment causes more detriment than the benefits. Let us take the
example of Ajmal Kasab. This man waged war against out nation and due to him many innocent
lives were lost. This man is currently serving in the prison and his death sentence is yet to be
decided. A statistical data suggests that the Maharashtra government spends close to Rs 9 lakh a
day to keep this criminal 'safe' till he goes to the gallows. The government had spent Rs 31 crore
on Kasab by November 2010. The figure is close to Rs 40 crore now. Special Public Prosecutor
Ujjwal Nikam compared Kasab to a dangerous weapon and sometimes to a wild and venomous

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animal he even said in the court that Ajmal Amir Kasab “is a killing machine with no human
feelings, and the manufacturing factory is in Pakistan.”  Kasab is not the only such criminal.
There are other terrorists and serial killers who are kept alive in jails on very expensive basis just
because there are some people claiming human rights violation on the part of the State if a death
sentence is granted to such a criminal. I mean what is the point of spending so much of country’s
wealth where on one hand a poor man is dying for 1 square meal a day and on the other hand the
Government is spending crores just to keep such criminals alive for trials. It is high time that we
realize that such idealism would take us no where and its not an issue of vengeance as stated my
worthy friend, M3. The State is not there to cull out vengeance on the criminals. The point is we
should look at the bigger picture and not just focus on small issues of idealism or reformation.

M1 interrupts the discussion and invites M5 to speak who appears to be shy and hesitant.

M1 – Excuse me everybody, let us give our worthy friend M5, a chance to express his opinion a
well.

M5 gathers courage and joins the discussion.

M5 – I believe that we must not abolish capital punishment and it is a better option as compared
to life imprisonment. If we take a scenario in which a criminal has brutally raped and murdered
an innocent girl and he is granted life imprisonment for his offence. He files a mercy petition to
the President and his sentence is reduced from 14 to 12 years. Now he serves in the prison for 12
years and sets out lose for another such crime. Will that be justice? Will that serve the very
purpose of justice? The girl who was the victim suffered badly and not just she, her family
members suffered grief as well as shame in the society. If this criminal is given death sentence
then two purposes shall be served. Firstly, the family members of the aggrieved will be satisfied
that the criminal was given death sentence for killing their relative and secondly, this criminal
won’t get a chance to get out of the jail and comit any such offence again. Since the reformation
is for those who realize their sin but what is the possibility that every criminal shall realize his
sin? And can we rely on this fickle ground by just assuming that the criminal shall reform in the
said duration of his punishment? No, we must look at the practical aspect. The money that is
spent on keeping these criminals alive in prisons drains the general coffers and there is no
guarantee of their reformation even after expiry of their term in the jail. So, it is better that they
are given a capital punishment and done over with rather than risking lives of innocent citizens
and draining the general coffers.

M2 ends the discussion now.

M2- Ladies and gentlemen I think we should conclude this discussion now as we are running
short of time. Let me sum up the whole discussion. Well those who affirmed that there should be
capital punishment were M1,M6 and M5 and those who said that life imprisonment is a better
option were M3,M4 and I. Well, it looks like this discussion would go on and on so let us find a
final solution. As explained by M5, I think we should focus on the fact that these criminals are

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actually threats to the society and must be eliminated but the opinions of M3 and M4 compel me
to think that a person no matter how bad he/she is or whatever crime he/she may have
committed, must be given a chance to reform. Hence, I would conclude by saying that life
imprisonment must be granted in cases where the gravity of the offence is lesser and the conduct
of the offender in during a trail is submissive and guilty but in cases where the gravity of the
offence is huge and there is no remorse in the eyes of the criminal and his conduct shows that he
has no guilt whatsoever for his offence, the appropriate punishment would be death sentence.

The discussion ends and everyone shakes hands and leaves. In some cases the judges may even
give their feedback to the candidates after the discussion is over.

As, we see in the above simulation, in a GD it is very necessary to work as a team and to have
patience to listen to others. M2 showed exceptional leadership qualities by beginning as well as
ending the discussion while M1 exhibited a glimpse of team work by involving M5 in the
discussion. For a healthy discussion every member must be amicable and should accept other’s
opinions and in case of conflicting opinions, one must humbly submit his/her opinion without
being rude or rustic. Group Discussion is the best way to test a person’s overall personality
which includes confidence, leadership, gestures, posture, communication skills, understanding of
the topic, presence of mind, team work and patience. In order to be successful in a GD one must
always keep the previously discussed 8 points in mind.

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