The purpose of this study was to explore collaborative English language learning beyond formal classrooms. On the basis of Vygotsky¡¦s socio-cultural perspective, specific focus was placed on English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners¡¦ collective scaffolding and tension they experienced during the collaboration. The researcher utilized case study to design this research. Participants were eleven EFL learners who were non-English majors in a university and who joined the same English self-access community together. The period of data collection was from middle-March to early-October, 2009, during which the researcher conducted observation, interview, and document collection. Constant comparison method was used at the early stage of data analysis. Further analysis was influenced by the concepts of tension (Kramer, 2004; Montgomery, 1993; Spielmann & Radnofsky, 2001) and collaborative strategies, such as problematizing move (Ming & Law, 2006; Reiser, 2004).
Three findings of this study were reported. First, these learners practiced collective scaffolding by co-shaping norms and co-constructing English knowledge. Second, during collective scaffolding, these learners experienced two kinds of tension. One of the tensions was their shared difficulties in developing English knowledge and maintaining English activities. When these learners could not overcome these difficulties, they terminated their English activities, which was negative for their collective scaffolding. The other tension was their conflictive voices deriving from different perceptions of English learning. When these learners were able to show their empathy toward conflictive voices among peers, they were more likely to handle these conflicts to practice collective scaffolding. Although this study centered on how these EFL learners assisted one another¡¦s learning, it also discovered that most EFL learners in this study highlighted the tutor¡¦s role in helping peer collaboration.
Discussions of this study are as follows: 1) these learners¡¦ practice of collective scaffolding echoes Wenger¡¦s (1998) community of practice; 2) tension these learners experienced shows the importance of developing regular and predictable learning
routines and maintaining the balance between product-orientation and process-orientation for learning; 3) these learners¡¦ concern about peers¡¦ English proficiency reflects their investment in distributing group resources and cultivating English knowledge.
This study provides three implications for English learning and teaching. First, it is suggested that English language learners who participate in English self-access communities respect others¡¦ perceptions of English learning, so that peer collaboration for English learning can be enhanced. Second, English language learners are encouraged to cultivate their autonomous and active learning through developing and joining an English self-access community. Third, English teachers or tutors are encouraged to gain understanding about how to assist peer interaction appropriately in order to support collaborative learning.
Finally, four directions for further studies are offered: 1) further studies can compare different English self-access communities to offer multiple perspectives on collaborative learning beyond classrooms; 2) further studies can investigate the assistance of tutors to understand the importance of expert scaffolding in peer collaboration; 3) further studies can analyze the role of a leader in different contexts of an English self-access community to examine how the leader can influence and enhance the practice of collective scaffolding; 4) further studies can examine the influences of distinct genders, majors, and media on collective scaffolding.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0125111-152641 |
| Date | 25 January 2011 |
| Creators | Wang, Wen-fang |
| Contributors | Heng-Tsung, Huang, Yu-Feng Yang, Hsiu-Ting Hung |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0125111-152641 |
| Rights | not_available, Copyright information available at source archive |
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