Effects of communication strategy training on EFL students' performance in small-group discussions

• Authors: Stuart Benson , Danielle Fischer , Joe Geluso , Lucius Von Joo
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

In recent years, a number of studies have been conducted with regard to communication strategy training and performance on communicative tasks (Lam, 2009; Nakatani, 2010; Naughton, 2006). This study aims to add to the literature by examining how two strategies, clarifying/confirming and extending a conversation, and two methods of teaching the strategies, affected the interactional sequences and overall group discussion performance of EFL students at a university in Japan. Pre and posttreatment small-group discussions were recorded for assessment, and a stimulated recall interview was administered to determine the participants’ perceptions of their learning and language use. Posttest results reveal that the experimental groups that were taught predetermined phrases aimed at clarifying/confirming and extending a conversation employed such phrases more frequently than the control group. However, this employment of phrases did not lead to higher gains in group discussion skills as the control group enjoyed the largest gains from pre to posttest. The researchers consider the findings in light of previous research, and conclude with recommendations for future research on the topic with special regard to research design.

Keywords

EN

English as a foreign language; small-group discussions; communication strategies; explicit instruction; co-constructed learning

• Publisher: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
• Journal: Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching
• Year: 2013
• Volume: 3
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 245-259

Dates

cover

2013-06

Contributors

author

Stuart Benson

• Kanda University of International Studies, Japan

author

Danielle Fischer

• Kanda University of International Studies, Japan

author

Joe Geluso

• Iowa State University, USA

author

Lucius Von Joo

• Kanda University of International Studies, Japan

Identifiers

ISSN

2083-5205

DOI

10.14746/ssllt.2013.3.2.5