Exercise on Group
Discussion Skills
A. Structure of a group discussion
In a good group discussion, there should be
3
______________
parts: an introduction,
a ___________
and a _____________.
The
body
conclusion
approximate allocation of time is 1 minute,
_______
minutes and _________
minutes
7
2
respectively.
Discussion skills that candidates can display at
different times of the discussion are as follows:
Starting the discussion
• Introducing the topic
• Suggesting a framework
During the discussion
•
•
•
•
•
Asking for opinions
Making suggestions
Summarizing and moving on
Agreeing and disagreeing
Responding with a reason / an example
During the discussion (continued)
• Interrupting
• Clarifying
• Assisting weaker candidates
Closing the discussion
• Summing up
• Assigning responsibilities
B. Group discussion skills
Candidates are expected to display a
wide range of discussion skills in the
10-minute discussion. Complete the
following formula and give an example
for each item. For each skill, the first
letter is given as hint.
1. Asking for opinions e.g. What do you think?
aking suggestions e.g. __________________
2. M _______________
I think……
assing turns
this a good idea, Miss Chan?
3. P _______________
e.g. Is
__________________
we move on to discuss…?
oving on
4. M _______________
e.g.Shall
__________________
ummarising
So far, we’ve discussed…
5. S _______________
e.g. __________________
- I agree with you that …because
- I’m afraid I can’t agree with you
greeing and disagreeing
6. A _______________
e.g. because….
________________
What you’ve said is true but
esponding
7. R _______________
have you ever thought about…
e.g. ________________
8. C _______________
larifying
What I mean is….
e.g. ________________
9.
to interrupt, but…
e.g. Sorry
________________
nterrupting
I _______________
What’s your idea, Mr Wong?
ssisting weaker candidates e.g.Do
you agree with our ideas?
10. A _______________
________________
C.
Based on 2003 Set 14 ‘Pets: Man’s best friend’,
write out your ideas using the following sentence
structures
start
1. Shall we ______?
Today we need to ___
plan a booklet entitled ‘Pets: man’s best
________________________________
friends’.
________________________________
the vaccination
2. I think we should include ____________
procedures
___________
in our booklet because __
pet owners need to know about this
________________________________.
vaccination procedures
3. In addition to ____________________,
________________________
the advs and disadvs of keeping pets can be
included because _________________
they are good considerations
________________________________
for potential pet owners.
4. How can we gather information for the
we can surf the Internet
booklet? I think___________________
to get first-hand information.
________________________________
5. How about presenting the information in
an interesting way? In order to make the
add colourful
booklet interesting, we can __________
________________________________
photos and make the booklet pocket-sized.
the information
6. So far, we’ve discussed_____________
to be included and how to gather information.
____________________________________
.
Shall we move on to discuss _____________
the target readers ?
7. Who should be our target readers? I
we should target children and the elderly
think ________________________________
they often need a pet to accompany them
because _____________________________
8. As time is running short, let’s make a
make the
conclusion. We’ve planned how to _________
booklet. Shall we assign the responsibilities now?
______________________________________