ERIC Number: EJ1251279
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0965-8416
EISSN: N/A
Willingness to Engage: The Importance of What Learners Bring to Pair Work
Kim, Youn-hee
Language Awareness, v29 n2 p134-154 2020
This study draws on Sociocultural Theory to explore how 12 adult EFL learners engaged in pair work, how their willingness to engage was demonstrated in pair activities, and what other factors influenced that willingness. Six pairs engaged in seven different activities and were interviewed after all activities were completed. Each pair's type of interaction and each learner's perception of the interactions were analysed. Five distinct types of pair interactions were found from the pair work data, and most pairs showed more than two types of interactions when performing activities with the same partner. The interview data revealed that learners' willingness to engage with each other in pair work influences the nature of pair work and that willingness is influenced by the perceived difficulty of the activity and social considerations such as the partner's attitude and proficiency level. These findings suggest that what influences learner engagement is not the pair work per se but what learners bring to the pair work.
Descriptors: Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, English (Second Language), Sociocultural Patterns, Student Attitudes, Cooperative Learning, Peer Relationship, Tourism, Foreign Countries, Teaching Methods, Learning Activities, Language Proficiency, Task Analysis, Communicative Competence (Languages), Management Systems, Cloze Procedure, Reading Comprehension, Story Telling, Adult Students, Difficulty Level, Vocabulary Development, Discourse Analysis, Learner Engagement
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Adult Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: South Korea
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A