Student perceptions of student interaction in a British EFL setting - Case Study Example

perceptions interaction in a British EFL setting The study attempts to find out the factors that affect the perception regarding student interaction with their interlocutors in a British EFL class. The sample taken for the study consists of students for whom English is a foreign language. Participants of the study belong to varying nationalities with different cultural backgrounds. Although many other studies have been done in the past to uncover student perceptions of student interaction, this study endeavors to provide a more holistic and in-depth view of the pedagogical strengths and weaknesses of the interactions between learners in the context of real-life classroom discussions. It is a qualitative research which sheds light on the feedback of participants and concludes based on the results of analysis. The fundamental objective of this research is to determine the perceptions as according to the definition adopted by Barkhuizen (1998). His definition connotes perception as an interaction of three actions; expressing one’s feelings, forming a judgment and making a prediction. Bialystok and Hakuta (1994) also call their attention on perception as the interaction of the above three processes. Hence, this concept of perception governs the results of this investigative study. The study calculates the utility or “usefulness” of interacting with a partner. Being a qualitative study, the researcher has pulled together the opinions, experiences and feelings of the individuals in order to identify the factors which affect student interactions. The by-products of the study were the gains and losses, struggles, investments, motivations and ideologies about languages of the learners/students. “Usefulness” in this study refers to whether if individuals reap the benefit of interaction in terms of improvement in grammar, lexis, pronunciation or even if they learn something new which they did not know prior to the interaction. Although some participants were of the opinion that they sought to converse with a student who had better command over English language than them, so they can receive better guidance or get a chance to be rectified improving their language skills. On the contrary, this was not observed and errors were not noticed or corrected. Some students believed that their language skills could only be improved by guidance from the teacher or material only. However, during my experience of teaching I had found that students interact with those students who had better command over English language so they get a chance to improve themselves. Lightbown and Spada (1999) have presented a highly accessible overview of second language learning with discussion of theories of learning and factors that affect second language learning. The author has also grouped the factors according to what the previous researchers claimed and divided the factors into three categories; Self-dependent factors, Context-dependent factors and Other-dependent factors. Self-dependent factors are related to the learner, his experiences in life, emotional condition at the time of speaking and how much he can relate to the topic at hand. The other-dependent factors relate to students perception about to whom should they interact for a discussion. A class-fellow might overshadow the other student and may not give him a chance to speak and thus can result in forming a negative attitude about the interaction. Such positive or negative group dynamics have profound consequences on the perception of learners. Context-dependent factors consist of those factors that are external to the learner and are not under his control. These factors might include the topic, the teacher, or the proficiency level of the class. For instance, few topics may be alien to some students as they may be related to a different culture or global setting. This will necessarily effect their participation in class and interactions. The author mentions that topics like guns and drugs can create such a scenario as only a few individuals would be cognizant of such a topic. As for the teacher, the way of his/her conducting the class may facilitate or form an impediment in the student’s interactions and participation. A ‘friendly’ and ‘interested’ teacher is more prone to entice and produce healthier discussions with the students, making them more willing to participate and contribute to class discussions in return. Rose and Kasper (2001) have heavily emphasized that teachers play an instrumental role in letting the students to acquire second language. The author highlights that a broader way of looking at things is also important. He believes that the learner’s perception within the context of his/her living and studying in the UK should also be taken into account. Since the experiences he/she has faced in the past will shape up his/her behavior in future. The author articulates that many foreigners come to UK with a ‘secret wish’ that they will learn the English Language just by living in the environment and interacting with native speakers of the language, but this wish is seldom fulfilled. This bizarre experience can affect his/her behavior in the classroom because he might believe that interaction does not bring results to improve one’s language skills. The author repeatedly emphasizes about the role of perception as he believes that the mode of perception can shape the outcome to a great extent. A learner with a negative perception about interactions in class will act according to his perception and will pursue minimal interactions in class. On the contrary, a learner with a positive perception will have a sense of fulfillment which will further augment his perceived usefulness about interactions in class. The author concludes that it is a myth that a language can be learned just by being in an environment where natives of that language are present. Hence, a classroom is an ideal way for a second language acquisition where a teacher plays a pivotal role in nurturing the students. In our cultural context (Saudi Arabia) students are not encouraged to participate actively in the class as the teacher dominates most of the discussion. Therefore, they are unable to speak fluently in English language as their communicative skills remain underdeveloped (Al Saadat & Afifi, 2005). The role of a teacher is of prime importance in identifying each student as an individual having a diverse background. As per my observations, a class room is a very useful platform that provides an opportunity to master the language. A student can easily achieve fluency in a foreign language if he has an inquisitive nature and is not hesitant to speak. The student should speak without worrying about grammatical errors, which can be corrected at a later stage where fluency is achieved. In addition to that encouraging interaction among student can also prove to be fruitful as Ellis (1999) reports on the role of interaction in second language learning. While some language learning may take place without interaction, Ellis openly supports the notion that most learners get their input from interaction, and that input from interaction will be more readily available to learners in the acquisition process. References Al-Saadat, A. and Afifi, E. 2005, Role-Playing for Inhibited Students in Paternal Communities, King Faisal University Barkhuizen, G. 1998, Discovering learners’ perceptions of ESL classroom teaching/learning activities in a South African context. TESOL Quarterly 32/1: 85–108. Bialystok, E. & Hakuta, K. (1994). In Other Words: The Science and Psychology of Second- Language Acquisition. New York: Basic Books. Ellis, R. (1999). Learning a Second Language through Interaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Lightbown, P. M. & Spada, N. (1999). How Languages are Learned (Second Edition). Oxford University Press. Rose, K. R. & Kasper, G. (eds.) (2001). Pragmatics in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Read More