ERIC Number: EJ1082789
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Dec
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1916-4742
EISSN: N/A
Negotiated Interaction: A Way out of Cul-de-sac in Reading Classrooms
Amirkhiz, Seyed Yasin Yazdi; Ajideh, Parviz
English Language Teaching, v1 n2 p96-103 Dec 2008
This study aims to translate tenets of social constructivism into practice via a scaffolded modality of learning. It is hypothesized that hermeneutical nature of passage interpretation could create "affordances", Van Lier's (2000) term, or "interactional opportunities" which are psycholinguistically and developmentally valuable crucibles for "negotiated interaction" and subsequently enhancement of reading comprehension. To this end, 24 randomly-selected intermediate-level English learners, having been divided into two equal homogeneous scaffolded (experimental) and non-scaffolded (control) groups, were subjected to 15 half-an-hour reading activities. Whereas the non-scaffolded group proceeded individually, the scaffolded groups did reading tasks interactively; they read the passages for themselves, publicized their reading problems, discussed the difficulties with each other, and wrote a joint summary. On the 15th session a post-test (unseen texts) was administered. Pretest and posttest results were compared using Wilcoxon Match Pairs Signed Ranks Test, indicating that scaffolded reading enhanced the reading ability of the readers.
Descriptors: Interaction, Scaffolding (Teaching Technique), Reading Programs, Learning Activities, Control Groups, Experimental Groups, Interaction Process Analysis, Hermeneutics, Constructivism (Learning), Pretests Posttests, Classroom Environment, Classroom Techniques, Class Activities, Educational Practices, Foreign Countries, Statistical Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Iran
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A