Enhancing communication through peer interaction

Setiono Sugiharto , Contributor , Jakarta | Sun, 05/11/2008 12:35 PM | Supplement

Recent trends in teaching English as a foreign language have emphasized the dominant role of the learners as the ones who will become the acquirers of the language. The trends have also de-emphasized the role of the teacher as the "sole prescriber" who dominantly leads language instruction in the classroom.

The shift from the traditional teacher-dominated classroom instruction to learner-oriented instruction is in fact concomitant with the recognition of the amalgamation of different theoretical perspectives in social sciences.

With the merging of differing outlooks, language learning in particular, which once relied on the pure linguistic standpoint, has now begun to acknowledge and eventually accommodate the importance of other theoretical insights offered by such perspectives as psychology, cross-cultural theory, and more recently, the theory of social construction of knowledge.

So much so, language learning is no longer seen as an independent field separated from other different theoretical underpinnings. The integration of these varied insights has been believed to promote effective acquisition of communicative language ability.

Inspired by the theory of social construction of knowledge, for example, applied linguists have been enthusiastic about researching the applicability and efficacy of this theory in classroom practice.

Specifically, they began to test the assumption that new knowledge, including that of language, can be constructed via social interaction.

A plethora of studies indeed exists probing the viability of socially constructed knowledge theory in language learning through a method of classroom peer interaction, a student-centered learning approach which emphasizes the cognitive benefits of social interaction among students of similar ages.

Unlike the traditional teaching approach, in which interactions took place mainly through symmetrical relationship between teacher-students and students-teacher, peer interaction stresses more on the interactive process in manipulating language, receiving and responding to an assertion or arguments, and negotiating meanings among peers.

The pedagogical appeals of this approach are manifold. It allows students to communicate in a free and open situation with their peers without fear of making mistakes; it provides students with ample opportunities for oral, aural and written input necessary for their language development; it helps maximize students' sensitivity toward detecting other students' mistakes, and thereby helps sharpen their linguistic intuition; it simulates a more natural context where the students of varying language proficiency can exchange communicative tasks in a meaningful context as well as "learn" from and "teach" one another.

More importantly, peer interaction allows a greater learning autonomy, with the students taking responsibility for what they have accomplished from their communicative exchanges.

A number of experimental studies confirm the usefulness of this approach by providing empirical evidence. It has been found, for example, that peer interaction is positively correlated to students' language achievement.

The reason is that engaging in socio-cognitive activities such as (re)organizing information, clarifying ambiguous concept, giving constructive feedback, undertaking self-correction, refuting and justifying rationales, responding to thought-provoking questions, synthesizing others' arguments, and reconciling opposing views can facilitate the construction of new knowledge, which the learners might have not had beforehand.

Depending on the degree of difficulties of tasks, which require different cognitive demands, peer interaction is applicable for primary, secondary, and beyond secondary levels. Applying this approach in the primary level, for instance, a teacher can divide the class into pairs or small groups, and then ask the students to practice simple dialogues and role plays, which require them to perform basic socio-cognitive activities like responding to questions, organizing information and giving peer-feedback.

It is necessary to mention here that by relinquishing their role as the "sole prescriber" doesn't mean that the teacher has no role to play. Once the interaction among peers starts, he/she comes from one group of students to another, monitoring and making sure that the interaction goes well and that group discussion will not come to a standstill. The teacher now becomes an assistant, a facilitator, a classroom manager and a counselor, who assists the students in achieving the learning objectives.

Thus, it is imperative that he/she maintain an informal classroom ambiance as well as an informal rapport with the students, and that he/she takes a flexible stance in dealing with the free flow of movement, which typically characterizes the peer interaction approach.

The writer is chief editor of Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching. He can be reached at setiono.sugiharto@atmajaya.ac.id.

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