ABSTRACT
Important conditions for effective peer learning include the need to structure the learning situation. This chapter presents useful principles for teachers to organise interactions in academic tasks. It discusses how teachers may group the learners in small teams and structure interdependence as well as individual accountability/personal responsibility. In peer learning, students work together in groups small enough to enable and indeed require individualised face-to-face interactions. Larger teams present problems with the identification of learners' difficulties and require greater cooperative skills in the participants. For peer tutoring, academic and social competence are the main criteria for tutor–tutee grouping. Inviting students to select their teammates involves them in decision-making. Therefore, student-selected grouping fulfils their desire for autonomy, control and responsibility. Many leading figures in cooperative learning invite teachers to form heterogeneous teams. Random grouping can meet different objectives, such as when proposing quick informal groups, introducing activities for fostering a positive class climate, or introducing the content of the learning activity.
