摘要
The present paper reports on a small-scale project that investigates two main questions： （1） whether EFL （English as a Foreign Language） learners prefer working in pairs or small groups; and （2） what factors they take into consideration when they are free to choose their partners in pair work activities. To investigate the research questions, a questionnaire was developed and distributed among 96 Iranian intermediate EFL students who participated in the study on a voluntary basis. The findings showed that 45% of the participants preferred pair work, 26% preferred group work, and 29% reported it made no difference to them. The results also indicated that learners select their partners based on four factors： age, proficiency, familiarity and language learning motivation. Gender and popularity with the whole class were among the factors that the participants did not pay attention to when opting for a partner.
