TASK-BASED LANGUAGE LEARNING: INVESTIGATING THE DYNAMICS OF LEARNERS’ ORAL INTERACTION

Hazleena Baharun,Mohd Muzhafar Mohd Idrus,Noor Saazai Mat Saad,Harison Mohd Sidek

doi:10.18769/ijasos.03906

Hazleena Baharun, Mohd Muzhafar Mohd Idrus + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.18769/ijasos.03906

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Abstract

For learning to occur, interaction among learners is vital. Interaction is crucial as a channel for exchanging knowledge that would promote both development and learning. In second language learning, interaction has always been regarded as important in the language classroom as it is believed that language is best learned and taught through interaction. Interaction is important due to its contribution to gains in second language (L2) acquisition. One possibility of providing interaction opportunities to learners is through the use of tasks. The aim of this study was to investigate how learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) interacted during task completion. The investigation focused on the dynamics of learner interaction and the kind of oral interactions generated by the participants. Two different communication task types were used in this study i.e. jigsaw and decision-making. The data for the study comprised transcribed recordings of learner interaction working on both given task types. They were analyzed focusing on the social processing. Findings revealed that the participants attempted task completion collaboratively for both task types. The collaborative interaction was characterized by argumentative episodes. However, close examination showed that the participants engaged in more intensive argumentative negotiations which were highly collaborative during decision-making task completion than during task completion of the jigsaw task type. The results suggest that communication task types can be used to elicit collaborative interaction episodes with argumentative negotiations and these kinds of interactions are believed to be important particularly for learners at the tertiary level. The findings are discussed in relation to their pedagogical implications in the EFL classrooms. Keywords : oral interaction, collaborative interaction, argumentative episodes, communication tasks

Highlights

According to Gerlach (1994), learning occurs through interaction with others
The social processing provided an understanding on how the participants interacted as they engaged in task completion which included whether there was evidence of collaboration in their learner interaction and the kind of oral discourse they generated
For this paper, the investigation focused on the social processing aspect which was how the participants interacted as they engaged in task completion and the kinds of oral discourse they generated

Summary

Introduction

Linguists and psychologists concur that interaction is crucial as a means of exchanging knowledge that would promote both development and learning (Franco, 1996). From the SCT perspective, language in the form of interaction is used by learners collaboratively to construct shared meanings. The whole process of collaborative talk allows meaning to be made, negotiated, argued and shared. This suggests that interaction and context are not separated from one another or from the learning situation. The underlying assumption is that knowledge is created through interaction and not transferred. It is internalised (Vygotsky, 1978)

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