Annotated Bibliography of Works on Second Language Instruction Related to Cooperative Learning Specifically or 
More Generally to Small Group Activities

Compiled by Sumru Akcan, (University of Arizona, USA), 
Icy Lee (Hong Kong Baptist University), Ghazi Ghaith (American University of Beirut), and George M Jacobs (JF New Paradigm Education, Singapore) 

Introduction

What is Cooperative Learning

We define cooperative learning (CL) as concepts and strategies for enhancing the value of student-student interaction. CL arose in general education. Although the use of student-student collaboration to enhance learning has a history going back thousands of years (Johnson & Johnson, 1994), the 1970s marked an great increase, that continues to this day, in efforts of a theoretical, research, and practical nature, attempting to better understand and enhance the process of student-student collaboration. Much of this work has taken place under the banner of cooperative learning and a related term, collaborative learning. For the purposes of this bibliography, the terms ‘cooperative learning’ and ‘collaborative learning’ shall be used interchangeably, but see Matthews,  Cooper, Davidson, & Hawkes (http://www2.emc.maricopa.edu/innovation/CCL/building.html, retrieved 8 August 1999) for a fuller discussion of terminology. Additionally, for us, the term "groups" means small groups, usually of four students or less, and seldom more than six. A pair is considered a group.

A variety of approaches exist within the CL tradition (see Sharan, 1994 for descriptions of some of these). Concepts integral to one or more of these approaches include:

1. Positive Interdependence is the feeling among group members that they sink or swim together. If one fails, all fail. If one succeeds, everybody succeeds. Group members realize that each member’s efforts benefit not only themself but all other group members as well. Positive interdependence provides a feeling of support within the group. 

2. Individual Accountability exists when each individual member feels responsible to learn, to demonstrate their learning, and to contribute to the learning of groupmates. In other words, no one should hitchhike or freeride on the efforts of others. The purpose of CL is to make each member a stronger individual in their own right. The success of the group is not measured by a particular group product, but by the individual progress of each group member. Individual accountability provides a feeling of pressure within the group, which, hopefully, mixes well with the feeling of support offered by positive interdependence. These first two concepts - positive interdependence and individual accountability – are common to most approaches to CL.

3. Collaborative Skills receive emphasis because to work successfully with others, students need to develop collaborative skills, such as asking for help, making suggestions, and disagreeing politely. Development of these skills often requires direct instruction and systematic follow-up.

4. Heterogeneous Grouping is a concept based on the view that often learning and other educational goals are best promoted by the teacher establishing heterogeneous groups on the basis of such factors as ethnic group, past achievement or proficiency level, sex, and on-task behaviour.

5. Equal Participation involves efforts to encourage all group members to participate to a roughly equal degree. Means of doing this include providing each member with a turn to speak or particular information that they need to contribute to the group.

6. Simultaneous Interaction contrasts with teacher-fronted instruction in which one person - often the teacher - speaks at a time, i.e., sequential interaction. When group activities are used, one person per group may be speaking, e.g., if a class of 40 students are working in groups of four, ten people may be talking simultaneously.

7. Processing Group Interaction takes place when students analyze and discuss how well their group is working together and how their group might function better in the future.

8. Classbuilding and Teambuilding involve efforts to create a feeling of respect, trust, cooperation, and understanding within classes and groups. 

9. Face-to-face Promotive Interaction is based on the idea that groups succeed only when members engage in dialogue with each other to explain, debate, encourage, and question one another. While the increased use and development of computers has made it possible for such interaction to take place without being literally face-to-face, the principle nonetheless holds that dialog is indispensable.

10. Equal Opportunity for Success entails providing each student, regardless of their past achievement level, the same chance to contribute to their group receiving a reward.

11. Cooperation as a Value means that students not only use cooperation as a tool for learning but also study about cooperation, i.e., cooperation as a theme. Students are encouraged to see cooperation as valuable in all aspects of life and to take cooperative actions where suitable rather than competitive or individualistic ones.

CL stands supported by one of the strongest research traditions in education, with many hundreds of studies conducted across a wide range of subject areas and age groups (for reviews, see Bossert, 1988-1989; Cohen, 1994b; Johnson & Johnson, 1989; Johnson, Johnson, & Stanne, 2000; Sharan, 1980; Slavin, 1995). This large body of research suggests that student-student collaboration conducted in a manner consistent with CL produces superior results on a host of variables, including achievement, thinking skills, interethnic relations, liking for school, and self-esteem.

Although CL is a term better known in general education than in second language education, much commonality exists between the CL literature and the literature of second language education, although different terminology is used for similar concepts. Indeed, we believe that, while not forgetting the particularities of second language acquisition, the second language education community would be well-served by digging deeper into the CL literature. To aid this purpose, a bibliography of print and electronic resources on CL in general education is offered at the end of this introduction. 

At the same time, for at least two reasons, the mainstream CL community could benefit from an investigation of the work done on the use of groups for the learning of second languages. First, language plays such an important role in learning, regardless of the subject, and second, many students are learning through the medium of a second language. (Note: Without attempting to gloss over differences, the term ‘second language’ is intended to encompass foreign language contexts as well.)

Purpose

Our key goal in compiling this bibliography was to encourage greater use of student-student interaction in second language education. We believe that such interaction will be more successful if educators share their insights with one another. Published works offer a primary path for such sharing. In compiling this bibliography, we were impressed by all the aspects of group work and educational contexts addressed by the works included herein. Unfortunately, even with all the advances that information technology has brought us, finding works related to one’s areas of interest can still be a difficult, time-consuming, and frustrating process. We hope this bibliography does a little to make the search easier.

This bibliography is a specialized one in that only works related to second language education are included. However, we did not confine the bibliography only to works about second language that specifically focus on CL. Instead, we attempted to bring together works from a wide range of areas within second language education that relate to the use of group activities. We used this wider focus for two reasons. First, we believe that many second language educators use concepts and strategies consistent with CL without calling what they do CL or using CL terminology. Second, our view is that anyone talking about facilitating learning via groups will have useful information and insights.

We hope that the bibliography will be used by educators for a variety of purposes related to the use of groups in second language education. These purposes include considering theoretical issues, designing research, and addressing practical questions of classroom application. We also aim to create bridges between academic communities. Often, we educators find ourselves too weighted down by the mass of information and the crush of day-to-day duties to look beyond the particular academic community in which we find ourselves. This is unfortunate, because such looking beyond may offer fresh perspectives on our work.

Organization

This bibliography is organized in two ways. 

(1) The overall theme of the bibliography is divided into various areas. After a brief explanation of the area, works related to that area are listed according to authors' surnames and date of publication. Some works are listed in more than one area.

(2) In the main section of the bibliography, all works along with their abstracts are listed in alphabetical order by authors' surnames. 

The abstracts come from six sources:

1.	When there was no abstract and we wrote one, this was noted by *. These abstracts may incorporate the authors' words.

2.	When we there was no abstract and we used the introduction to the piece, some part thereof, or something from another part of the work as the abstract, this was noted by **. 

3.	When the abstract came from ERIC, this was noted by ***. To search the ERIC Database and order ERIC Documents ERIC on the Internet visit their Website at http://edrs.com.

4.	When the author wrote an abstract especially for this bibliography, this was noted by ****. 

5.	When the abstract was taken from Wade, Abrami, Poulsen, and Chambers (1995), this was noted by *****. This book is a compilation of 926 annotated references of works on CL, mostly from 1990-1994. These 926 were drawn from a much larger work of 14,000 items found in an extensive search of works from 1966-1994 that also included works from areas related to CL, e.g., group dynamics. We did not manage to assess this larger database which was compiled at Concordia University.

6.	When an abstract accompanied the article, chapter, paper, or book, that abstract was normally used. No asterisk accompanies such abstracts.

References and Other Resources on CL (Print)

Abrami, P. C., Chambers, B., Poulsen, C., De Simone, C., d’Apollonia, S., & Howden, J. (1995). Classroom connections: Understanding and using cooperative learning. Toronto: Harcourt Brace.

Baloche, L. A. (1998). The collaborative classroom: Empowering learning. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Bossert, S. T. (1988-1989). Cooperative activities in the classroom. Review of Research in Education, 15, 225-252.

Cohen, E. G. (1994a). Designing groupwork (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.

Cohen, E. G. (1994b). Restructuring the classroom: Conditions for productive small groups. Review of Educational Research, 64, 1-35.

Davidson, N., & Worsham, T. (Eds.). (1992). Enhancing thinking through cooperative learning. New York: Teachers College Press.

Hertz-Lazarowitz, R., & Miller, N. (Eds.). (1992). Interaction in cooperative groups: The theoretical anatomy of group learning. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Kagan, S. (1994). Cooperative learning. San Clemente, CA: Kagan Cooperative Learning.

Jacobs, G. M., Power, M. A., Loh, W. I. (2002). The teacher's sourcebook for cooperative learning: Practical techniques, basic principles, and frequently asked questions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (1989). Cooperation and competition: Theory and research. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.

Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (1994). Learning together and alone (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., & Stanne, M. B. (2000). Cooperative learning methods: A meta-analysis. http://www.clcrc.com/pages/cl-methods.html.

Matthews, R. S., Cooper, J. L., Davidson, N., & Hawkes, P. Building bridges between cooperative and collaborative learning. http://www2.emc.maricopa.edu/innovation/CCL/building.html

Sapon-Shevin, M. (1999). Because we can change the world: A practical guide to building cooperative, inclusive classroom communities. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Sharan, S. (1980). Cooperative learning in small groups: Recent methods and effects on achievement, attitudes and ethnic relations. Review of Educational Research, 50, 241-271.

Sharan, S. (Ed.) (1994). Handbook of cooperative learning methods. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Sharan, Y., & Sharan, S. (1992). Expanding cooperative learning through group investigation. Colchester, VT: Teachers College Press.

Slavin, R. E. (1995). Cooperative learning: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Wade, A., Abrami, P. C., Poulsen, C., & Chambers, B. (1995). Current resources in cooperative learning. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.

List of Cooperative Learning Websites and Listservs

•	California Department of Education's COOPERATIVE LEARNING home page
http://www.cde.ca.gov/iasa/cooplrng.html
This site contains an overview of the use of CL as a response to diversity in the classroom. It contains several links to other CL resources.

•	Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance
http://doe.concordia.ca/cslp
This centre is located at Concordia University, where a good deal of work on cooperative learning has and is taking place. The site contains a list of resources, information on opportunities for training in cooperative learning, projects that other can get involved in, activities to try, and a list of publications.

•	Cooperative Learning Center's Homepage
http://www.co-operation.org 
This is the site of the Cooperative Learning Center at the University of Minnesota. Co-directed by Roger T. Johnson and David W. Johnson, the center staff develop and refine theory and research related to cooperative, competitive, and individualistic approaches to teaching and learning. Staff  also develop practical procedures to be used in classrooms, schools, and other settings: CL, school-based decision-making, academic controversy, conflict resolution, and peer mediation.

•	ERIC Abstracts on Cooperative Learning
http://www.ascd.org/services/eric/ericcoo.html
Selected abstracts on CL prepared by the Association on Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)

•	International Association for the Study of Cooperation in Education (IASCE)
www.iasce.net
IASCE Home Page This site includes information about the International Association for the Study of Cooperation in Education (IASCE). Past issues of their newsletter are available, as is information on upcoming conferences. There is also a place for initiating and participating in discussion.

•	George Jacobs' Homepage
www.georgejacobs.net
Go to the CL section for a number of articles on CL.

•	Pete Jones’ Homepage
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/LeftBank/3852/cooplearn.html
This site has CL activities used with secondary school students of French, German, and Spanish in Ontario, Canada secondary schools.
	
•	Kagan Cooperative Learning Homepage
http://www.kaganonline.com
This site is associated with the approach to CL developed by Spencer Kagan and his colleagues. It contains information about resources available for implementing CL. They also have a place to send questions about using CL.

•	Mid-Atlantic Association of Cooperation in Education
http://www.geocities.com/~maacie/
MAACIE is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing a network for people interested in studying, evaluating, developing, or applying cooperative educational methods, approaches, or points of view in educational settings.

•	SouthWest Educational Development Lab Classroom Compass
http://www.sedl.org/scimath/compass/v01n02/welcome.html
Issue of Classroom Compass devoted to CL. Classroom Compass is a publication of the Eisenhower Southwest Consortium for the Improvement of Mathematics and Science Teaching  (SCIMAST) project based at the SouthWest Educational Development Lab.

•	The Jigsaw Classroom
This site contains information on Jigsaw, one of the oldest and best-known cooperative learning techniques. Among the features of the site are history about Jigsaw, a description of how to implement the technique, troubleshooting ideas, a list of books and articles about Jigsaw, and information of recent related work by Eliot Aronson, one of the originators of the technique.
http://www.jigsaw.org/index.html

•	Richard Felder’s Homepage 
Richard teaches engineering at North Carolina State (USA) University. Lots of good stuff here related to CL.
http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/RMF.html

•	Ted Panitz’s Homepage 
Ted teaches mathematics at Cape Cod (USA) Community College. His page includes two E-books, one on CL and one on Writing Across the Curriculum. Also included are some of the wide-ranging internet discussions that Ted has put together across several Lists.
http://home.capecod.net/~tpanitz

Cooperative Learning Listserv
  	For those interested in an international LISTSERV on CL they may subscribe to the CL listserv by sending an e-mail message to majordomo@JARING.MY.
Include in the body of the message:
SUBSCRIBE CL YOURNAME. 
All postings to the list should then be sent to:
CL@jaring.my

Subject headings

Affective Variables

A number of affective variables have been linked with the use of groups in L2 education. These include anxiety and motivation.

Bassano, 1986; Clement, Dornyei & Noels, 1994; Coffey, 1999; Crandall, 1999; Crookes & Schmidt, 1991; Dornyei, 1997; Dornyei & Malderez, 1997; Dwyer & Heller-Murphy, 1996; Ehrman & Dornyei, 1998; Ghaith, 2003a; Ghaith & Bouzeineddine, 2003; Guest, 2002; Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1991; Littlejohn, 1982; Murphey, 1989, 1998b; Ronesi, 2003; Savage, 1996; Scovel, 1978; Tsui, 1996; Zhang, 1995.

Assessment (see also Peer Assessment)

Duran & Szymanski, 1994; Fradd & Bermudez, 1991; Ghaith, 2002b; International Association for the Study of Cooperation in Education, 1993; Khodabakhshi, 1991; Kluge, et al., 1999; Lee, Li, & Lee, 1999; Manera & Glockhamer, 1988; Murphey, 1995c; Parma City School District, 1993; Ribe & Vidal, 1993; Tibbetts, et al. 1993; Wilhelm, 1999.

Bilingual Education and Mainstreaming

Buchanan & Helman, 1993; Bunch, Lotan, & Valdes, 2001; Cohen & Tellez, 1994; Klingner & Vaughn, 2000; Liang & Mohan, 2003; Orellana, 1994; Rubinstein-Avila, 2003; Tibbetts, et al., 1993.

Collaborative Skills/Group Dynamics

To work effectively in groups, students need to have and to use a number of group interaction skills. Further, groups can serve as a context for developing these skills and an appreciation of their value.

Ayaduray & Jacobs. 1997; Bejarano, Levine, Olshtain & Steiner, 1997; Carrier, 1995; Hird, 1996; Jacobs, & Kline-Liu, 1996; Johnson, D. M., 1992; Lam & Wong, 2000; Liang & Mohan, 2003; McGuire, 1999; Morris & Tarone, 2003; Murphey, 1998a; Nicholls, 1993; Nunn, 2000; Senior, 1997; Storch, 2002b; Vicens, 1995.

Computer-Mediated Collaboration

Computers provide students with a host of new means of collaborating. While the same basic issues are involved in facilitating groups working with computers as occur with non-electronic groups, a number of differences warrant consideration.

Aiken, 1992; Baltra, 1990; Beauvois, 1998; Belz, 2002; Bickel & Truscello, 1996; Braine, 1998; Braine & Yorozu,1998; Chan, 1996; Chang & Smith, 1991; Chavez, 1997; Curtis & Roskams, 1998, 1999; Dam, et al., 1990; Gonzalez-Edfelt, 1990; Hoffman, 1995; Jacobs,  Ward & Gallo, 1997; Kelm, 1992; Kern, 1995; LeLoup & Ponterio, 2000; Markley, 1992; Meunier, 1994; Mydlarski, 1998; Rankin, 1997; Soh & Soon, 1991; Sinyor, 1988; Sotillo, 2000; Tan, Gallo, Jacobs, & Lee, 1999; Trometer, 1994; Warschauer, 1996a, b, c, d, 1997; Warschauer, Turbee & Roberts, 1996.

Content-Based Second Language Instruction

An alternative to second language instruction classes that focus on the target language are classes in which students learn academic content through the medium of the target language.

Buchanan & Helman, 1993; Burhoe, 1989; Cazden, 1987; Cochran, 1989; Coffey, 1999; Correa, 1995; Cromwell-Hoffman & Sasser, 1989; Holt, et al., 1993; Kimball, 1990; LaGuardia Community College, 1993; Manera & Glockhamer, 1988; Mohan & Smith, 1992; Sherritt, 1994; Touba, 1999.

Culture

Culture plays a role in how students feel about collaborating with peers.

Carson & Nelson, 1994; Coffey, 1999; Crismore,  & Salim, 1997; Dwyer & Heller-Murphy, 1996; Flowerdew, 1998; Helgesen, 1998; Jacobs & Ratmanida, 1996; Kluge, et al., 1999; Leki, 2001; Liang, 2004; Littlewood, 1999; Moore & English, 1997; Morita, 2004; Pearson & Xu, 1991; Ronesi, 2003; Tsui, 1996; Wenden, 1997; Winter, 1996. 

Gender

Gender may play a role in students’ attitude toward groups and in the way they interact with groupmates.

Chavez, 2000; Gass & Varonis, 1986; Johnson, D. M., 1992; Pica, et al., 1991; Provo, 1991; Shimatani, 1986.
 
Global Education

This area embraces such fields as development education, environmental education, human rights education, and peace education. A focus on cooperation is found throughout these fields.

Brown, H. D., 1991; Ghaith & Shaaban, 1995b; Pereira, 1993; Rogers, 1978; Stern, 1997; UNESCO, 1987.

How To

Included here are works about the nuts and bolts of facilitating collaboration among L2 students. This is divided into subtopics according to the main theme of the work.

a. conversation/speaking/pronunciation/listening

Anderson, 1989; Baldivino, 1999; Bassano, 1986; Bassano & Christison, 1992; Boyd & Boyd, 1980; Burden, 1999; Byrne, 1987; Chi, 1995; Christison & Bassano, 1987; Dent-Young, 1977; Gibson, 1975; Greenberg, 1997; Hull, 1992; Ladousse, 1987; Lee, Lee, & Ng, 1994; McGuire, 1994; Moskowitz, 1978; Murphy, 1992a, b, 1995a, b; Pierra, 1994; Raz, 1985; Renaud, 1987; Schneider, 1993; Washburn & Christianson, 1996; Yang, 1993.

b. general 

Arnold, et al., 1997; Bassano & Christison, 1988; Bobrick, 1997; Brown, H. D., 1994; Brumfit, 1984; Chamot &  O'Malley, 1994; Christensen, 1994; Coelho, 1988, 1994a, b; Cromwell & Sasser, 1987; Crookall & Oxford, 1990; Cross, 1995; Edge, 1993; Fitzgibbon, 2001; Freeman & Freeman, 1994; Gilbert, Goldstein, Jacobs & Olsen, 1997; Grant, 1991; Gray, 2000; Hadfield, 1992; Harmer, 1998; High, 1993; Hirsch & Supple, 1996; Ilola, Power, & Jacobs, 1989; Jacobs, 1988, 1998, 2000a; Jacobs, Gilbert,  Lopriore, Goldstein & Thiyagarajali, 1997; Johnson & Johnson, 1994; Kleiner-Brandwein, 1995; Lorenz, 1987; Martinez, 1996; Meyers, 1993; Murphey, 1987, 1991; Nolasco & Arthur, 1988; Northcote, 1996; Nunan & Lamb, 1996; Olivares, 1993; Parma City School District, 1993; Pierra, 1994; Rogers, 1978; Shimatani, 1986; Wan, 1996; Waters, 1998.

c. grammar 

AbiSamra, 1998; Bueno, 1995; Davidheiser, 1996; Fotos, 1993, 1994, 1998; Fotos & Ellis, 1991; Leeser, 2004; Ney, 1989; Santa Rita & Misick, 1996; Storch, 1999.

d. reading

Chi, 1995;Chin & Blumenthal, 1989; Coelho, 1988, 1994a, b; Coelho, Winer & Winn-Bell Olsen, 1989; Dycus, 1996; Ghaith & Abd El- Malak, 2004; Gee, 1996, 1999; Heal, 1998; Jacobs, 1997, 2000b; Johnson  & Steele, 1996; Klingner & Vaughn, 1996, 1999, 2000; Lie, 1992, 1993; Mocker, 1975; Renandya, et al., 1999; Soonthornmanee, 2002.

e. writing (see also section on Peer Interaction in Writing)

Chin, 1994; Cummins, 1995; Dam, et al., 1990; Diaz, 1991; Fradd & Bermudez, 1991; Gee, 1996; Jacobs & Seah-Tay, 2004; Murray, 1992; Obah, 1993; Reid & Powers, 1993; Renaud, 1987; Sasser & Cromwell, 1987; Schraeder, 1997; Sengupta, 1998; Wajnryb, 1990; 

Humanistic Perspectives 

Humanist psychology has served as an inspiration for some educators to advocate group activities. Humanists emphasize variables such as student initiative, relations with others, democratic values, and opportunities for expression.

Brookes & Grundy, 1990; Moskowitz, 1978; Prapphal, 1991; Puchta, & Schratz, 1993; Savage, 1996.

Input Hypothesis

This view stresses the role of comprehensible input in SLA. Groups provide one means for students to obtain such input.

Kagan, 1995; Cochran, 1989; Cromwell & Sasser, 1987; Krashen & Terrell, 1983; Pica, 1996a; Pica, Doughty, and Young, 1986; Richards & Rodgers, 1985; Yu, 1990.

Interactionist Perspectives

This view emphasizes the role of interaction to promote SLA. One way this occurs is when students negotiate for meaning, i.e., attempt to make previously produced input comprehensible.

Appel, 1984; Aston, 1986; Brown, R., 1991; Bruton & Samuda, 1980; Bygate, 1988, 1999; Crookes, 1989; Deen, 1991; Doughty & Pica, 1986; Duff, 1986; El-Koumy, 1997; Ellis, 1999; Foster, P.,1998; Foster & Skehan, 1999; Fotos, 1993, 1994; Fotos & Ellis, 1991; Freeman, 1993; Gaies, 1985; Garcia Mayo & Pica, 2000; Gass & Varonis, 1994); Hatch, 1978a; Hatch, 1978b; Hatch, 1978c; Hatch, Flashner & Hunt, 1986; Holt, 1993; Hymes, 1972; Iles, 1996; Kagan, 1995; Kasanga, 1996; Knight-Giuliani, 2002;  Kramsch, 1984, 1987; Lee & Littlewood, 1999; Ling, 1998; Linnell, 1995; Long, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1996; Long, et al., 1976; Loschky, 1994; Ma, 2003; Mackey, 1994,1999; Mackey & Philp, 1998; Markee, 1995; McCloskey & Enright, 1985; Mehnert, 1996; Murphey, 1990; Newton & Kennedy, 1996; Ohta, 1999; Oliver, 1998; Ortega, 1999; Pica, 1987; Pica, 1991; Pica, 1994; Pica, 1996; Pica, 1996a; Pica, 1996b; Pica & Doughty, 1983; Pica & Doughty, 1985; Pica, et al., 1986; Pica, et al., 1989; Pica, Lincoln-Porter, Paninos & Linnell, 1995; Pica, Holliday, Lewis, Berducci & Newman, 1991; Pica, Kanagy & Falodun, 1993; Pica, Young, & Doughty, 1987; Polio & Gass, 1998); Platt & Brooks, 2002; Rulon & McCreary,. 1986; Schinke-Llano & Vicars, 1993; Schweers, 1995; Seedhouse, 1999; Varonis, & Gass, 1985; Smith, 2003; Weber & Tardif, 1987; Wiles, 1985.

Learner Autonomy

Group activities represent one means of increasing students' control over their own learning and independence from teachers.

Armstrong & Yetter-Vassot, 1995; Assinder, 1991; Cotterall, 1995; Harris & Noyau, 1990; Ingham & Bird, 1995; Lee, 1998; Little, 1990; Littlewood, 1998; Lynch, 1996; Macaro, 1997; Markee, 1995; Murphey & Jacobs, 2000; Nunan, 1996; Pemberton, Li, Or, & Pierson, 1996; Rendon, 1995; Savage, 1996; Sherritt, 1994; Spratt & Leung, 2000; Stern, 1997; Van Lier, 1996; Wenden, 1997

Learning Styles

Students use a range of learning styles and strategies. The works in this section consider how various learning styles and strategies intersect with group activities.

Bickel & Truscello, 1996; Dawson, McCulloch, & Peyronel, 1996; Griffiths, 1991; Jacobs & Farrell, 2001; Kinsella, 1995; Kinsella, 1996; Oxford, 1990; Reid, 1987.

Multiple Intelligences

It has been posited that intelligence is not a unitary construct; rather humans are intelligent in a variety of ways. The works in this section consider how group activities can be structured so as to develop these intelligences and make use of diversity among students to achieve greater status equality among group members.

Berman, 1998; Christison, 1995, 1996; Cohen, 1994; Cohen & Lotan, 1997; 

Out-of-Class Collaboration

Student collaboration can take place out of classrooms, not just within classrooms.

Murphey, 1992a, b.
 
Output Hypothesis Perspectives

This hypothesis posits that language output by students facilitates SLA.

Kagan, 1995; Kowal & Swain, 1994, 1997; Lapkin & Swain, 1998; Nabei, 1996; Swain, 1985, 1991, 1993, 1999; Swain & Lapkin, 1995, 1998; Swain & Miccoli, 1994; Ushimaru, 1992.

Overview of Cooperative Learning

These works attempt to provide something of an overview of cooperative learning in L2 contexts.

Jacob & Mattson, 1987; Jacobs & Farrell, 2001.

Peer Assessment

When students work in groups, peer involvement can extend beyond helping each other learn to include assessing each other's work.

Cheng & Warren, 1996; 1999; Ney, 1989; Nunan & Lamb, 1996; Rothschild & Klingenberg, 1990; Sengupta, 1998; Tomei, Glick, & Holst, 1999, Wan, 1996.

Peer Interaction in Writing

Writing instruction, particularly in the genre and the process approaches to the teaching of writing, often employs groups.

Amores, 1997; Becker, 1990; Bell, 1991; Berg, 1999a, b; Berger, 1990; Brookes & Grundy, 1990; Carson & Nelson, 1994; Caulk, 1994; Connor & Asenavage, 1994; Curtis & Heron, 1998; Curtis & Roskams 1998, 1999; Davies & Omberg, 1987; Devenney, 1989; Dillon, 1992; Hedgcock & Lefkowitz, 1992; Hirvela, 1999; Huang, 1996a, b; Huckin & Olsen, 1991; Jacobs, 1987; Jacobs, 1989; Jacobs, Curtis, Braine & Huang, 1998; Jacobs & Zhang, 1989; Johnson, D. M., 1992; Lee, 1997; Leki, 1990; LoCastro, 2000; Lockhart & Ng, 1995; Mangelsdorf & Schlumberger, 1992; Mendoca & Johnson, 1994; Miller, 1987; Nelson & Murphey, 1992, 1993; Paulus, 1999; Reid, 1993; Rothschild & Klingenberg, 1990; Saito & Fujita, 2004; Samway, 1993; Stanley, 1992; Tan, Gallo, Jacobs, & Lee, 1999; Tang & Tithecott, 1999; Villamil & De Guerrero, 1998; Wachholz, 1997; Yoshihara, 1993; Zhang, 1995; Zhu, 2001.

Peer Tutoring

Peer tutoring can take such forms as older or more proficient students helping younger or less proficient students.

Cockburn, Isbister & Sim-Goh, 1997; Fitz-Gibbon & Reay, 1982; Jacob & Mattson, 1987; Johnson, 1988; Kipling, 1999; Moore & English, 1997; Morgan, 1987; Nore, 1990; Olson Flanigan, 1991; Rubinstein-Avila, 2003; Samway, Whang & Pippitt, 1995; Winter, 1989, 1996.

Projects

Project work provides opportunities for students to work together on extended tasks.

Anderson, 1989; Armstrong & Yetter-Vassot, 1995; Chin & Blumenthal, 1989; Eyring, 1997; Lee, Li, & Lee, 1999; Nolasco & Arthur, 1988; Ribe & Vidal, 1993; Richards, 1995; Sharan, 1994; Tomei, Glick, & Holst,1999; Turnbull, 1999; Wilhelm, 1999

Research on Teaching Materials

It is now not unusual for L2 coursebooks to contain many group activities. The works in this section investigate the extent and nature of these activities. Also included here is research on the use of student-made materials.

Assinder, 1991; Jacobs & Ball, 1996; Jacobs, Crookall & Thiyaragarajali, 1997; Spratt & Leung, 2000.

Research Specifically on Cooperative Learning in L2 Contexts

While many studies in the L2 field have dealt with issues germane to cooperative learning, only a small subset of these have made specific reference to cooperative learning. This subset of works is listed below.

Aghbar & Alam, 1992; Bejarano, 1987; Calderón, Hertz-Lazarowitz, Ivory & Slavin, 1997; Cohen & Tellez, 1994; Domizio, 1995; Correa, 1995; Duran & Szymanski, 1993; Ghaith & Yaghi, 1998; Ghaith, 2001; Ghaith, 2002a, b, c; Ghaith & Abd El- Malak, 2004; Ghaith & Bouzeineddine, 2003; Gooden-Jones, E. M. & Carrasquillo, 1998; Gomasatitd, 1997: Gunderson & Johnson, 1980; Jacob, Rottenberg, Patrick & Wheeler, 1996; Liang & Mohan, 2003; Lloyd, et al., 1996; McGuire, 1992; Ney, 1989; Ringdahl, et al., 1986; Szostek, 1994; 

Teacher Education

Teachers need to understand how to facilitate group activities.

Ahmed Touba, N. 1999; Cole, et al., 1998; Curtis & Heron, 1998; Davis, 1997; Ford, 1991; Freeman, 1989; Ghaith, 2003b; Ghaith & Shaaban, 1995a; Jacobs & Navas, 2000; Ney, 1990; Papalia, 1977; Shaaban & Ghaith, 1994; Tibbetts, et al., 1993; Touba, 1999; Wan, 1996; Wilhelm, 1997.

Teacher-Teacher Collaboration

By working with fellow educators, teachers can lighten their load and enlighten their practice, at the same time that they model for students the benefits of collaboration.

Bailey, Dale, & Squire, 1992; Brown, 1999; Clair, 1998; Edge, 1992; Farrell 1998a, b, 1999a, b, c; Ghaith & Yaghi, 1997; Mohan & Low, 1995; Nor, 1997; Nunan, 1992; Nunan & Lamb, 1996; Richards & Lockhart, 1994; Samway, Alvarez & Morales, 1989; Struman, 1992, Suzuki, 2003.

Vygotskian, Socio-Cultural Perspectives

An increasingly frequent rationale for the use of groups in L2 education stems from the work of Vygotsky who emphasized the social nature of learning.

Adair-Hauck & Donato, 1994; Ahmed, 1988; Brooks & Donato, 1994; Cazden, 1987; Coughlan &  Duff, 1994; De Guerrero & Villamil, 1994; DiCamilla & Anton, 1997; Donato, 1994; Frawley &  Lantolf, 1985; Haneda, 1997; Hashimoto & Nyikos, 1997; John-Steiner, 1985; Lantolf & Appel, 1994; Lim & Jacobs, 2001a, b; McCafferty, 1994, 2002; Mohan & Smith, 1992; Ohta, 1995, 1999; Platt & Brooks, 2002; Storch, 2002a, 2004; Takahashi, 1998; Toohey, 1998; Van Lier, 1991, 1996; Wells, 1998; Wells & Chang-Wells, 1992.

Workplace

Groups appear to be becoming more common in the workplace, providing another rationale for group activities in education.  This trend can also provoke reflection on the similarities and differences between groups at the two sites and what  educators can learn from workplace groups.

Jacobs, 1994; Mawer, 1991; Murray, 1992; Parma City School District, 1993.

Young Learners

Preschool and lower primary school students have unique characteristics that should be considered when they collaborate with one another.

Antonopoulos, et al., 1997; Boduch & Pravdica, 1995; Cooper & Gilligan 1993; Fassler, 1998; Fong, et al., 2000; Foster, T.L., 1999; Johnson, 1988; Kagan, 1995; Miller, 1987; Orellana, 1994; Toohey, 1998; Weber & Tardif, 1987.

The Bibliography

AbiSamra, N. (1998).  Cooperative learning lesson plan. Unpublished manuscript, American University of Beirut.  http://members.tripod.com/Nadabs/LessonCoopLearn2.doc

* This is a plan for a grammar lesson aimed at high-intermediate to advanced secondary school ESL students in Lebanon. The lesson uses the Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD) cooperative learning strategy. Details are provided on how to organize groups in STAD, as well as how to use quiz scores to calculate group rewards. Teaching materials and a quiz with answers are included.

Adair-Hauck, B., & Donato, R. (1994). Foreign language explanations within the zone of proximal development. The Canadian Modern Language Review 50, 532-557.

Recently, L. S. Vygotsky's concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) has received considerable attention from foreign and second language specialists (Richard-Amato, 1988; Galloway & Labarca, 1990; Scarcella & Oxford, 1992; Schrum & Glisan, 1994). For Vygotsky, the ZPD is the instructional nexus where the expert (teacher) enters into a "dialogue with the novice (learner) to focus on emerging skills and abilities" (Richard-Amato, 1988, p. 33). Unfortunately, we have little research concerning the discourse strategies that occur in the ZPD, or the interactional features that the expert uses while instructing in the ZPD. This article, therefore, reports on a study that analyzes the communicative dynamics during explicit instruction of a grammatical concept (specifically the function of present tense first conjugation -er French verbs) instructed within the ZPD. 

Aghbar, A.-A., & Alam, M. (1992, March). Teaching the writing process through full dyadic writing. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Vancouver, BC. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 352 808

*** A study investigated the effectiveness of full dyadic writing as a technique for teaching writing to students of English as a Second Language (ESL). Subjects were 31 college students of diverse cultural backgrounds enrolled in ESL sections of freshman English. Each chose a partner with a different native language with whom to write two essays, the first and fifth of the course. For the first, three pairs volunteered to have the entire writing process videotaped for closer observation. Scores on the first dyadic essay were compared with the second essay of the course, written individually, and scores on the second dyadic essay were compared with individual scores of the fourth essay of the course. Students also recorded reactions to collaborative writing after each dyadic essay. Results indicate students performed better on the first dyadic essay than on the subsequent individual essay, but showed no gain in the second dyadic essay over the other individual assignment examined. The taped dyads showed very different dynamics of cooperation. Responses to the first dyadic assignment were overwhelmingly positive. Comments on the second dyadic assignment were more general and included more negative reactions. The technique is seen as useful for both teaching and research.

Ahmed Touba, N. (1999). Large classes: Using groups and content. English Teaching Forum, 37, 18-22.

* This article describes how content-based instruction was combined with cooperative learning in courses on English language teaching for in-service teachers in Egypt in which class size averaged 70 and for graduate courses on education in which class size averaged 90. The author states that many teachers are reluctant to use innovative methods such as cooperative learning with large classes, but she believes that with skilled classroom management in which students know what they are expected to do, cooperative learning can increase student engagement in learning. Various types of group activities are presented with examples.

Aiken, M. W. (1992). Using a group decision support system as a teaching tool. Journal of Computer-Based Instruction, 19(3), 82-85.
 
*** Describes a typical Group Decision Support System (GDSS) in use at the University of Mississippi and potential uses of a GDSS in seminars, interactive testing, lectures, foreign language study, and in communication with deaf or mute students. Benefits are noted, including increased participation, group synergy, and automated record keeping.

Akcan, S. <akcans@u.arizona.edu> (1997). Factors facilitating language interaction in cooperative learning groups in an ESL class.  Unpublished M.Ed thesis, University of Cincinnati.

* This qualitative study investigated those factors that increased language interaction for students in cooperative learning groups in a ninth grade content-based ESL class. Subjects for this study were 19 ESL students from eleven different countries. Out of eleven tasks assigned to the students during the term, four language-based and four genre-based tasks were analyzed. Language-based tasks were tasks that emphasized a knowledge of language itself, while genre-based tasks were the tasks that focused on student's academic knowledge of literature (i.e., genre of poems, stories) in a given context. At the end of this study, five common factors were discovered in both language-based and genre-based tasks that facilitated language interaction in cooperative learning groups. These factors were: (1) the role of the teacher, (2) task type, (3) social skills, (4) the role of the facilitator, and (5) positive interdependence. This study also demonstrates that these factors are not separate from each other, but are closely linked together so that the combination of the factors makes group members individually accountable for group work. Through accountability comes increased participation, thereby resulting in increased language interaction among group members. [An electronic copy of the dissertation is available from the author, one of the compilers of this bibliography, see email address above.]

Amores, M. J. (1997). A new perspective on peer-editing. Foreign Language Annals, 30, 513-522. 

This article describes the peer-editing behaviors of eight undergraduate students in a third-year Spanish composition and grammar review course. Data collected over four months through interviews, participant observation, artifact inventories, and questionnaires revealed a strong tendency among informants to define the peer-editing process in social and emotional terms, but did not support some of the previously held views regarding the effectiveness of the process. The author’s findings challenge common beliefs about the effects that audience awareness and response may have on students’ writing and students’ attitude toward writing, and suggest implications for the classroom.

Anderson, M. L. (1989). Theatre techniques for language learning: Assumptions and suggested progression of activities. M.Ed. Paper, School for International Training, Brattleboro, VT. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 321 572

*** A discussion of the use of drama activities in Second Language instruction looks at the rationale for using such techniques in the language classroom, describes a progression of drama activities used for an intensive course in intermediate English as a Second Language, and examines other considerations in the use of drama in language teaching. Discussion of the rationale focuses on the following issues: (1) the power of theater, both in human society and for individuals; (2) the opportunity for ego expression; (3) drama as an affective filter; (4) the value of play; (5) process and purpose in a drama project; (6) drama as an opportunity for cultural expression and adaptation; (7) making use of class or group dynamics; and (8) psychology. Nineteen specific, progressive drama activities are described, ranging from simple observation of the environment to the production of a movie. The description of each activity includes the teacher's objectives, the proposed task and procedures, and a process and outcome analysis based on the author's experience with the activity in class. The final chapter summarizes the four primary objectives for the course and the outcomes of each.

Antonopoulos, K., Cimaroli, S., Moran, B., & Power, K. (1997). A study on peer interaction between English speaking and non-English speaking students in the primary grades. Master's Action Research Project, Saint Xavier University, and IRI/Skylight. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 410 751 

*** The report describes a study of the interaction between native Spanish-speaking and native English-speaking students in four classes (one kindergarten, one first-grade, and two second-grade) in a suburban community, and a program to increase interaction. Initially, lack of interaction between these groups was documented using classroom observation, structured interviews, and teachers' anecdotal information. Probable causes for interaction difficulties were identified, including cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic differences and inadequate social skills. It was determined that in addition to negatively affecting students' school and peer involvement, lack of interaction may also be promoting prejudicial attitudes. A review of solution strategies suggested in the professional literature and analysis of the problem setting resulted in use of cooperative learning strategies and cultural awareness training to ameliorate the problem. Post-intervention data show slight to significant increases in peer interaction between same- and different-language students in all areas measured, attributed to the intervention. Appended materials include the peer interaction observation checklist used, the interview format, sample social studies, language arts, math, and social skills lesson plans, and a bibliography of multicultural children's literature.

Appel, R. (1984). Interaction and second-language acquisition: The teaching of Dutch to foreign children. I.T.L. Review of Applied Linguistics, 63, 23-35.

* This article reports a study that compared the speech of teachers of Dutch as a Second Language in two settings: (1) teaching L2 learners of Dutch with an average age of nine and average length of residence in the Netherlands of one year; (2) giving an interview about their teaching to L1 speakers of Dutch. The author reports that to a statistically significant degree the teachers simplified their speech when interacting with the L2 students via such means as shorter utterances, more limited vocabulary, and slower rate of speech. However, other interactional adjustments previously reported in the literature were hardly present, such as left dislocation of topics and paraphrasing. One possible explanation given for this latter finding is that the teachers in this study had little or no training and no special materials for teaching L2 students, as the Netherlands at that time had little tradition of such teaching. 

Armstrong, K. M., & Yetter-Vassot, C. (1995). Creating interaction with the video camera in the foreign language classroom. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 51, 357-362.

* This article suggests that one means of promoting learner autonomy and genuine communication in the L2 classroom involves students working in groups of three to four to design and produce their own videos. After projects are completed, evaluation is conducted, including teacher feedback to each group member and group debriefing on their video and the process by which it was produced, i.e., how well they functioned as a group. Examples of projects are provided. 

Arnold, W., Blue, J., Bosma, A. S., Gillet, R., Korzhenyak, I., McCoy, A. L., Nikiforov, V., Nowak, C., Rande, E., & Rice, S. M. ((1997). The best of ESL: Practical-strategy guide for ESL. Flint, MI: Michigan Adult Education Practitioner Inquiry Project. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 419 433

*** The guide consists of essays on classroom practice and strategy in adult English-as-a-second-language (ESL) instruction. Essays on practice include: "Benefits of Cooperative Learning: A Guide for Beginning ESL Teachers" (Amy Sak Bosma); "Process Writing in the Adult Education Classroom" (Rosemary Gillet); "Grammar for Pre-Literates" (Ida Korzhenyak); "Take Home Messages--Language and Culture at a Glance" (Angelita Lopez McCoy); "'I Caught Him Red-Headed' or the Joys and Sorrows of Teaching Idioms in Adult ESL" (Victoria Nikiforov); "Why Use Dialogues in ESL?" (Charlotte Nowak); "Paper Mentor" (Eileen Rande); and "How To Set Up Materials and Visuals in the Adult ESL Classroom" (Susan M. Rice). The strategy guide includes descriptions of a variety of ESL activities and techniques, evaluated and submitted by classroom teachers.

Aston, G. (1986). Trouble-shooting in interaction with learners: the more the merrier? Applied Linguistics, 7, 128-143.

A number of recent studies have compared interaction involving learners with interaction involving native speakers, finding that what may generically by termed ‘trouble-shooting’ procedures are more frequent in the former. In this article, I argue that a higher frequency of these procedures does not necessarily indicate a greater ‘negotiation of meaning’, or entail more appropriate input for acquisitional purposes. These procedures can also be seen as concerned with dealing with the difficult circumstances of unshared participant backgrounds by maintaining and enhancing rapport. The social difficulty reflected by their use would imply that where these procedures are very frequent, interactions may be frustrating and hence pedagogically undesirable for learners.

Assinder, W. (1991). Peer teaching, peer learning: One model. ELT Journal, 45(3), 218-229.

Student autonomy, taking responsibility for one’s own learning, negotiation of context and methodology, individualization, and task-based learning, are themes which have generated considerable discussion and documentation in recent years. This article describes a practical experiment, in which students prepared video materials to present to each other, aimed at developing these themes in the classroom. Increased responsibility, increased participation, increased accuracy, and sustained motivation were among the effects observed, and—in addition to my own insights—student feedback confirms that this was a highly successful approach. There follows an attempt to provide a rationale for this success. 

Ayaduray, J., & Jacobs, G. M. (1997). Can learner strategy instruction succeed? The case of higher order questions and elaborated responses. System, 25, 561-570.

Previous research on learner strategy instruction has produced mixed results. This article reports a study in which two classes of 32 Singapore upper secondary school second language user of English participated. Both classes had the same teacher. One class received instruction in asking higher order questions; the other class did not. Higher order questions are related to the development of thinking skills. Participants’ questions and responses to questions during small group discussions were tape recorded before and after the 10-week treatment. The treatment class asked significantly more higher order questions and provided significantly more elaborated responses. A 0.05 alpha level was used. These findings are discussed in light of theory and previous research on issues of learner strategy instruction, the teaching of thinking skills, and learners’ use of questions. 

Bailey, K. M., Dale, T., & Squire, B. (1992). Some reflections on collaborative language teaching. In D. Nunan (Ed.), Collaborative language learning and teaching, (pp. 162-178). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

** The purpose of this chapter is to discuss collaborative teaching in two ESL situations. After briefly considering team teaching, we will describe the context in which our collaborative teaching experiences have occurred, explaining the team processes used through the stages of planning, teaching and following up on the lessons offered. We will incorporate examples of team-taught lessons based on journal entries kept by Benjamin Squire as a practicum assignment. Throughout this discussion we will highlight the advantages of collaborative teaching at each stage of the process. We will also raise some concerns about the disadvantages of a collaborative teaching arrangement, and make some suggestions about easing the process.

Ballman, T. L. (1988). Is group work better than individual work for learning Spanish?: The findings of one study. Hispania, 71, 180-185.

* This article reports a study that compared two learning conditions, small group and individual, as to their relation to learning of L2 syntax and student preferences. Participants in the study were 18 U.S. university students enrolled in a first-semester Spanish course. Stratified random sampling was used to assign participants to one of the two conditions so as to balance for language aptitude. Students worked on ten grammatical topics, first in whole class mode and then either alone or in groups. Individual quizzes and exams were used to assess learning. Results for the two conditions were not significantly different, although the group condition scored somewhat higher, and 15 of the 18 participants reported a preference for groups. The researcher notes that the groups used English to discuss the grammar of Spanish, and suggests that using the L2 in the groups might have been more useful.

Baldivino, P. R. (1999). Developing oral communication competence through small group work. ACELT (Ateneo Center for English Language Teaching) Journal, 3(1), 23-27.

* In this article the author states that high school students in the Philippines lack sufficient fluency in English. Group activities are proposed as a remedy. “Language teachers often believe that this fluency problem is caused by less grammar input, so every school year more grammar lessons are taught. But what we teachers often fail to investigate is how sufficient are the language learning opportunities we provide in the classroom for the learners to use the language. Reading goes hand in hand with writing, i.e. after the reading input, writing seems to be a good output to check comprehension and reinforcement of skills taught. Unfortunately, listening and speaking activities operate on a unidimensional flow: the language teachers talk and the learners listen. Much of the verbal exchange is limited to teachers raising literal questions with students giving monosyllabic answers.”

Baltra, A. (1990). Language learning through adventure games. Simulation and Gaming, 21(4), 445-52.

This article explores how computer adventure games can facilitate second language communicative fluency. Such games are student-centered activities that utilize cooperative learning, with teachers acting as facilitators instead of instructors. The article also discusses motivation in light of what makes computer games fun.
 
Bassano, S. (1986). Helping learners adapt to unfamiliar methods. ELT Journal, 40, 13-19.

Learners in contemporary programs of English as a Second Language (ESL) often encounter a wide variety of strange and wonderful new classroom methods and procedures. Today, perhaps more than ever, we encourage them to develop more personal responsibility and show more personal initiative in their second-language process, by carrying out tasks in independent pairs and small groups. Realizing the importance of relevant and meaningful content, we strive to personalize their lessons in some way. In order to lower defensive barriers, we try to build an informal, stress-free environment where minds are free to acquire. Although much of the new research suggests the value and efficacy of highly active, independent group work, self-investment, personal involvement, and informality in the second-language classroom, students’ needs, preferences, learning styles, and educational backgrounds do differ widely, and some may have other perceptions of this new teaching/learning milieu, and may respond in unproductive ways. This article discusses various student reactions to the activities we so carefully and thoughtfully plan as language teachers, and offers suggestions on how to avoid or deal with negatively or resistance on their parts.

Bassano, S., & Christison, M. A. (1988). Cooperative learning in the ESL classroom. TESOL Newsletter, 22(2), 1, 8-9.

* The authors discuss three areas involved in the implementation of cooperative learning in ESL instruction. The first area concerns classroom environment and social tasks. Means of giving students responsibility are suggested, including orientation of new students and decorating the room, e.g., with plants. The second area addressed in the article is process tasks. Here, the authors state that students need to understand that helping one another is not cheating. Types of help include peer tutoring and peer feedback. The third area discussed for the implementation of cooperative learning involves students in monitoring and evaluating their own progress. In summary, the authors state, “The purpose of a cooperative classroom is to provide opportunities for learners to take more control, show more initiative, and learn to work democratically and cooperatively, all skills with implications reaching far beyond the classroom.”

Bassano, S., & Christison, M. A. (1992). Drawing out. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

* This is an activity book designed for students of English as an L2 at junior high school level and above. Student-created images are used as a stimulus for communicative language learning activities done in groups of two to four. Students write to accompany their drawings and discuss with groupmates. Teachers act as facilitators, explaining the rationale for the activities, discussing topics with students before they draw, modeling what students can do, and, once students have begun, circulating among the groups, asking questions, giving encouragement, and taking opportunities for individual contact.

Beauvois, M. H. (1998). Conversations in slow motion: Computer-mediated communication in the foreign language classroom. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 54, 198-217.

This article presents an overview of early research into an innovative use of networked computers as a research and didactic tool. The focus will be on a preliminary study of computer-mediated discussion on networked computers examining student-student and student-teacher interaction in real time within the context of an intermediate French course at the university level. Because of the rapid nature of the electronic exchanges, the resulting ‘conversation’ is in fact a hybrid phenomenon that falls somewhere between writing and speaking, hence the title ‘Conversations in Slow Motion’. Recent research into this innovative use of the computer to enhance classroom discussion is showing positive results in terms of linguistic, cognitive, and affective benefits to the foreign language learner. 

Bejarano, Y. (1987). A cooperative small-group methodology in the language classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 21, 483-503.

The study reported in this article assessed the effects of two small-group cooperative techniques (Discussion Group; Student Teams and Achievement Divisions) and the whole-class method on academic achievement in EFL for 665 pupils in 33 seventh-grade classes. The students were taught by 18 teachers (assigned at random to one of the three methods), who participated in training workshops followed up by in-class coaching. Evaluation of pupils’ achievement was conducted by observation and by special achievement tests administered before and after the experiment. Particularly noteworthy were the findings revealing that both group methods registered significantly greater improvement than the whole-class method on the total score of the test and on the listening comprehension scale. These findings support the link between the communicative approach to foreign language instruction and cooperative learning in small groups. The study demonstrates how to forge a link between the content and the process of instruction.

Bejarano, Y., Levine, T., Olshtain, E., & Steiner, J. (1997). The skilled use of interaction strategies: Creating a framework for improved small-group communicative interaction in the language classroom. System, 25, 203-214.

The study reported here focuses on the need to provide ESL and EFL readers with preparatory training in order to ensure more effective communicative interaction during group work carried out in the language classroom. The underlying assumption is that appropriate classroom organization and detailed task definition, although imperative, are not always sufficient for achieving successful non-native language interaction. One way to improve the quality of communicative interaction in the classroom is to increase students’ use of Modified-Interaction and Social-Interaction Strategies. The object of this paper is to show how training in such strategies improves interaction in small groups. Thirty-four students in two eleventh-grade classes in a comprehensive high school in Israel participated in this study. The classes were randomly designated as an experimental group and a control group. Both groups were involved in similar cooperative group-work activities as part of their English instruction, but the experimental group underwent special training in the Skilled Use of Modified-Interaction and Social-Interaction Strategies. Each group was video-taped before the six-week experiment and again at the end of this period. The findings, based on descriptive statistics, indicate that as a result of the training in the skilled use of interaction strategies the experimental group used significantly more Modified-Interaction and Social-Interaction Strategies than the control group. The increased use of interaction strategies improved students’ communicative interaction in small groups.

Bell, J.H. (1991). Using peer response groups in ESL writing classes. TESL
Canada Journal, 8(2), 65-77.

Theories of adult education, composition, and ESL encourage the use of peer
response groups in teaching writing. But using such groups is difficult. I describe - and provide the rationale for - a rather structured method I developed as a transition between no writing groups and the freer writing groups students might join in the future. The method worked very well with upper intermediate / advanced students in a college setting.

Belz, J. A. (2002). Social dimensions of telecollaborative foreign language study. Language Learning and Technology, 6(1), 60-81. [http://llt.msu.edu/vol6num1/BELZ/default.html]
Previous research on network-based foreign language study primarily has focused on: a) the pedagogy of technology in the language curriculum, or b) the linguistic characterization of networked discourse. In this paper, I explore socio-institutional dimensions of German-American telecollaboration and the ways in which they may shape foreign language learning and use. Telecollaborative partnerships represent particularly productive sites for the examination of social aspects of foreign language study since, by definition, they entail tight sociocultural and institutional interface. Within the theoretical framework of social realism (e.g., Carter & Sealey, 2000; Layder, 1993), any human activity is thought to be shaped by both macro- and micro-level sociological features. These include social context and institutional setting, situated activity and individual agency, respectively. In this analysis, I intertwine the socially and institutionally contingent features of language valuation, computer know-how, Internet access, and learning accreditation and the micro-level features of situated classroom interaction and individual psycho-biography in order to provide a rich and multi-faceted characterization of foreign language learning and use on both ends of a German-American telecollaborative partnership.

Berg, E. C. (1999a). The effects of trained peer response on ESL students' revision types and writing quality. Journal of Second Language Writing, 8, 215-241.

Since the late 1980s, peer response to writing has gained increasing attention in the ESL field. Whereas affective benefits have been reported in the literature, little is known about the effects of peer response on ESL students’ revision and writing outcomes. This study investigates these effects and also considers an often cited suggestion for successful peer response, that is, training students to effectively participate in the peer response activity. The principal question addressed by the study is whether trained peer response shapes ESL students' revision types and writing quality. Effects of trained peer response were investigated through a comparison of 46 ESL students divided into two groups, one trained in how to participate in peer response to writing and the other not. Revision types were identified based on a taxonomy that discriminates between two types of changes: those that affect text meaning and those that do not (Faigley and Witte, 1981). Writing quality was determined by a holistic rating procedure of first versus revised drafts. Results of the investigation indicate that trained peer response positively affected ESL students' revision types and quality of texts.

Berg, E. C. (1999b). Preparing ESL students for peer response. TESOL Journal,8(2), 20-25.

**** An important, yet largely ignored, aspect of peer response to writing and its implementation in the ESL classroom concerns the preparation of students to participate in the peer response activity. Whether in grade or high school, adult education, or university level writing courses, ESL students are not likely to be experienced peer responders. However, these students are often asked to participate in the complex peer response task without much preparation. That is, with little or no practice, they are expected to read and respond to someone else's writing, constructively react to a response to their own writing from a peer, and based on the peer response activity, revise their writing. As a result of such unprepared peer response, the activity is often an unsatisfactory experience for students and a frustrating one for teachers. To help make peer response to writing a positive and worthwhile experience, students need to be provided with certain skills and knowledge. This paper introduces an approach for preparing students for peer response. The design of the specific approach described has evolved over several years and is consistent with what has been reported in the literature. Importantly, the approach has also been investigated and found to result in more focused peer negotiations and higher quality revisions than those of students in a control group that received no training in peer response. The training approach includes eleven considerations and has several chief goals: to convince students that peer response is a worthwhile activity, to socialize students to each other and get acquainted with the idea of working in pairs, to instruct them to focus discussions on particular aspects of writing, and to provide suggestions for appropriate language use in their responses. Listed in the article are eleven guidelines accompanied by concrete descriptions of specific activities for preparing ESL students to participate in peer response.

Berger, V. (1990). The effects of peer and self-feedback. CATESOL Journal, 3(1), 21-35.

Recent studies of the writing process have confirmed the pervasiveness of revision and the complexity of skills required to revise successfully. Teachers and researchers, looking for ways to improve revisions, have examined the effects of feedback from teachers, peers, or self on this process, but studies juxtaposing these feedback sources have not determined conclusively which is the most effective. This study, conducted by a community college classroom teacher, was implemented to examine the effects of peer versus self-feedback on (a) the number and kind of revisions ESL students make and (b) their attitudes toward feedback and revision processes. The subjects of this study were 54 multilingual ESL students at Grossmont College, San Diego. Data for the research were collected from drafts of two student essays, writing questionnaires, and feedback evaluation forms. The results suggest that peer feedback is more effective than self-feedback in number and types of revisions students make and that more students prefer peer feedback.

Berman, M. (1998). A multiple intelligences road to an ELT classroom.  Carmarthen, Wales: Crown House Publishing.

* Based on Gardner’s theory that there is not one but actually many types of intelligence, this book provides activities for teaching L2 students of English via eight different intelligences: kinestehetic, musical, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, naturalistic, intrapersonal, and interpersonal. This latter type of intelligence, the one most clearly linked with group activities, receives a good deal of attention in the book. Further, group activities also provide a useful setting for teaching via the seven other intelligences.
 
Bickel, B., & Truscello, D., (1996). New opportunities for learning: Styles and strategies with computers. TESOL Journal, 6(1), 15-19.

* This article examines the opportunities for learning that multimedia labs provide for ESL learners. It suggests that the challenge for ESL teachers in the lab is not fundamentally different from the challenge ESL teachers face in the classroom. In order to get students to try new activities and strategies on the computer, it is necessary to identify the students' learning styles and strategies, and adapt the instruction and resources to accommodate learner needs. The article suggests a wide variety of resources to help students meet the learning challenges in the computer labs, and it outlines a range of metacognitive, cognitive, and social/affective strategies for students using computers. It also calls for more research to find out how learning styles and strategies relate to the use of computers.

Bobrick, M. (1997, March). Rising stars: Integrating language skills through shadow plays. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Orlando, FL. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 421 870.

*** A classroom technique for helping elementary and secondary school students of English as a second language (ESL) integrate language skills into the language arts curriculum is described. The activity, shadow play, is used as a culminating experience in a unit on the solar system, and consists of the development of dramatic scripts based on folk tales that try to explain a natural phenomenon of a society concerning the sun, moon, or constellations. To accomplish this goal, students engage in a cooperative learning technique known as "jigsawing." The procedure involves deciding on the number of tales to be told and forming a group ("home team") for each story. Students use graphic organizers (story map or event flowchart) in planning a script, and present the final play in class. Both teacher-   and self-assessment of the final projects are used. Suggestions are made for creating an in-class theater, and books containing folk tales are listed.

Boduch, J., & Pravdica, S. (1995). Mutually beneficial teamwork between bilingual and mainstream classes. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 385 125
 
*** A three-year program to bring together third-grade students in a self-contained bilingual classroom and a mainstream classroom is described. The project was designed to reduce the isolation of the bilingual students and prejudice toward them shown by mainstream students. During the first year, gym and music classes were combined, students were teamed in pairs or trios for science and social studies, and combined classes viewed and discussed curriculum-related films weekly. In the second year, combined gym and music classes were continued, adjacent classrooms were used, students from each class were paired for weekly lessons, new teacher training was undertaken, students wrote individual logs and paired to create a publication in English and Spanish. In the third year, these principles and additional lessons learned from experience about grouping students were implemented. As a result, students are getting along better, sharing work equally and working well together, and playing together during recess, and establishing friendships. It is concluded that the program also facilitates mainstreaming.

Braine, G. (1998). Teaching writing on Local Area Networks. In C. S. Ward & W. A. Renandya (Eds.), Computers and language learning (pp. 63-76). Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.

* Advances in computer technology continue to provide learners with more ways to interact with other learners. This chapter provides ideas on how to utilize networked computers to improve student participation in writing classes. Local area network (LAN) computers permit real time conferencing in which students are able to share ideas and receive feedback from other students and from teachers. Benefits from using LANs in writing class, according to the author, include more student writing, less teacher talk, more student-student interaction, and greater purpose to student writing.

Braine, G., & Yorozu, M. (1998). Local Area Network (LAN) computers in ESL and EFL writing classes: Promises and realities. JALT Journal, 20(2), 47-59.

Local Area Network (LAN) computers, used in writing classes in the U.S. for more than a decade, are now being introduced to colleges and universities in Asia. LANs have been observed to increase the quantity of writing and the degree of classroom interaction by students. However, research does not indicate that LANs are more effective in improving the writing of ESL and EFL students. Further, during peer reviews of papers, a context which usually generates the most collaboration, students in traditional classes have provided more feedback than students in LAN classes. Hence, LANs may be no more effective than traditional classes in improving the writing of ESL and EFL students.

Brookes, A., & Grundy, P. (1990). Writing for study purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

* This is a handbook for teachers of English that explores the development of writing skills in an academic context. The ideas are of particular value to those working in situations where students are required to produce reports, essays, dissertations, and other forms of academic writing in English. The first part of the book examines the writing process and includes practical suggestions about such matters as classroom management and evaluation of student work. The second part of the book contains 44 exercises that reflect the belief that the learners' interests and concerns are central to the learning process. The exercises draw on students' own experience and knowledge of language and are designed to facilitate discussion and collaborative learning.

Brooks, F. B., & Donato, R. (1994). Vygotskyan approaches to understanding foreign language learner discourse during communicative tasks. Hispania 77, 2-14.

This article presents and analyses speech data from secondary-level learners of Spanish who are engaged in a problem-sovling speaking task commonly used in classrooms and in research. It applies a Vygotskyan perspective to understand the nature of selected aspects of their speech activities, such as talk about the task, talk about the talk, and the use of English. The findings suggest that encoding-decoding perspectives, prevalent in much second language research on learner-to-learner speech activity, are inappropriate for capturing and understanding what those learners are attempting to accomplish during their face-to-face activity. In other words, not all speech activity between classroom learners during classroom communicative tasks is necessarily communicative in intent.

Brooks, F. B., Donato, R., & McGlone, J. V. (1997). When are they going to say "it" right? Understanding learner talk during pair-work activity. Foreign Language Annals, 30, 524-541.

Adopting sociocultural theory as their conceptual framework, the authors set out to study selected features of student discourse of three pairs of third-semester (i.e. intermediate-level) learners of Spanish at the university level. Specifically, they wanted to investigate how these selected features, identified in an earlier research project (Brooks and Donato 1994), developed during opportunities to engage in five different but similar jigsaw tasks. Through discourse analysis, they traced these features and found that the students indeed developed and became better and performing the tasks. Their work suggests that if the purpose and function of learner language during problem-solving tasks are not clearly understood, learners may end up being denied strategic opportunities for language activity that can lead to their saying “it” right.

Brown, H. D. (1991). 50 simple things you can do to teach environmental awareness and action in your English language classroom. The Language Teacher 15(8): 4-5.

* This article begins with a discussion of how TESOL practitioners are transformative intellectuals, stating that an aspect of this transformative focus involves encouraging people to examine their attitudes and actions toward the environment. The author then presents practical ideas for incorporating environmental concerns in second language teaching. Among these ideas are some involving groups, e.g., group projects to investigate topics on the environment and simulation games with environmental content.

Brown, H. D. (1994). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.

* This book is designed to help prepare people to teach English to L2 students via communicative means. Group activities are discussed in several parts of the book, in particular in one chapter entitled "Sustaining interaction through group work". This chapter discusses benefits of group activities, why some teachers avoid them, and how to implement group work. Chapters end with tasks to be done in groups. Groups are used to model what can be done in language classrooms, and because, based on the author's experience, "some of the best learning occurs when students collaborate among themselves to solve certain 'problems' in language teaching" (p. x). 

Brown, H. D. (1999). Teachers as collaborators in the next millennium. Thai TESOL Bulletin, 12(2), 1-8.

* This article suggests that teachers should cooperate with one another in order to meet the many demands placed upon them as members of a complex profession. Five forms of teacher-teacher collaboration are described. 

1.	Peer coaching, defined as “a systematic or quasi-systematic process of collaboration in which one teacher observes and gives feedback to another teacher, usually with some form of reciprocity” (p. 2).
2.	Team teaching, which can take such forms as two teachers in the same classroom at the same time, two teachers teaching for different parts of the class time, and teachers teaching the same students at different times over a number of class sessions.
3.	Action research, in which teachers collaborate to investigate an issue of mutual concern.
4.	Collaborative curriculum development and revision.
5.	Teacher support groups, which can be formal organizations at local, national, or international levels or more ad hoc, yet purposeful and regular gatherings of teachers to discuss professional matters.

The article concludes by emphasizing critical pedagogy, part of which involves language teachers’ role as agents of change who help students use language to create a better, more humane world. Collaboration with fellow teachers, it is suggested, offers a necessary tool for accomplishing this difficult task. 

Brown, R. (1991). Group work, task difference, and second language acquisition. Applied Linguistics, 12, 1-12.

This article is based on a study which attempted to find evidence of factors influencing the kind of interaction found in a small group work in language learning among young adult English teacher trainees in a developing country. The particular factors studied were the degree of ‘tightness’ or ‘looseness’ of the tasks, the degree of ‘openness’ or ‘closedness’ of the tasks, and the degree to which the tasks could be described as ‘procedural’, meaning that they led to discussions about what decisions to make, or ‘interpretive’, meaning that they led to the participants having to interpret data according to their understanding and experience. The study follows earlier studies by Barnes and Todd (1977), Long and Porter (1985), Pica and Doughty (1985), Swain (1985), Doughty and Pica (1986), and Pica (1987), and examines the data, using mostly similar categories but adding two new categories—instructional input and hypothesizing—in an attempt to characterize features of learner output. The data itself consists of task-based, small-group discussions set as part of their normal work to three small groups of trainees with the purpose of developing their language ability. The task types differ in objective and demand and the study tries to see how these differing task types may influence the kind of interaction that results. The study found no significant differences in the level of modification occurring in the three task types but found significant differences in the levels of hypothesizing and of instructional input between the interpretive tasks and the task requiring decisions about procedures. The study suggests that the level of challenge of a task, measured by its procedural or interpretive nature, may be an important variable in ensuring that the learners are pushed into framing their ideas in more novel language and thus have opportunities to ‘learn’ and not only to ‘practice’.

Brumfit, C. (1984). Communicative methodology in language teaching: The roles of fluency and accuracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

* This book explains communicative language teaching methodology, arguing for a greater emphasis on fluency. Fluency is “to be regarded as natural language use, whether or not it results in native-speaker-like language comprehension or production” (p. 23). The use of groups is seen as a key means of promoting natural language because people most often communicate in small groups, including pairs, not in classroom-size groups. Further, “any use of group work will massively increase the likelihood, in large classes, of students both producing and receiving language” (p. 75). Thus, learning via group activities “increases the intellectual and emotional participation or involvement of the individual pupil” (p. 77).

Bruton, A., & Samuda, V. (1980). Learner and teacher roles in the treatment of oral error in group work. RELC Journal, 11(2), 49-63.

* The authors situate this article in the context of interlanguage theories and communicative approaches to learner errors. They analyzed data from video recordings of a group of adult language learners from a range of L1 backgrounds involved in a variety of problem-solving tasks, during which there was no teacher intervention. This analysis has three parts: errors the students treated themselves and how they did so; errors they did not treat; and classroom implications. A key finding was that students very seldom miscorrected each other. Nevertheless, the authors argue for an important role for teachers in helping students learn how to successfully communicate.

Buchanan, K., & Helman, M. (1993). Reforming mathematics instruction for ESL literacy students. NCBE Program Information Guide Series, 15. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 363 136

*** The guide is designed to help educators design math curricula to meet the needs of students of English as a Second Language (ESL) with limited or interrupted schooling in mathematics. It provides techniques for integrating mathematics and language teaching, especially through cooperative learning experiences, makes suggestions for in-service teacher training, and encourages collaboration between mathematics and ESL/bilingual personnel in curriculum development and advocacy for ESL literacy students. The first section of the guide outlines the mathematics literacy goals and classroom environment standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Subsequent sections address the following issues: design of appropriate curricula and evaluation; assessing student progress in language and mathematics skill areas; and staff development needs. A series of sample lessons follows, drawn from a middle and high school math literacy curriculum. The lessons are in number concepts and theory, operations, data analysis and statistics, and problem-solving. Each contains a performance objective, vocabulary and materials lists, notes on language issues, notes on the mathematics component, and specific activities or exercises. Answers are included.

Bueno, K. (1995). IDEA: Putting conversation back in classroom practice. Hispania, 78, 873-874.

* This article provides examples of how the author used collaborative small group tasks to replace total reliance on teacher-fronted means of grammar practice. Such tasks enable students to recycle vocabulary, review difficult areas of grammar, express their own opinions, and take part in more natural language interactions. The author gives examples of how kits of these tasks can be developed. One task type involves students in working together to find objects hidden in a picture.

Bunch, G., Lotan, R. A., & Valdes, G. (2001). Beyond sheltered instruction. TESOL Journal, 10(2/3), 28-33.

This article describes the efforts of one university-sponsored project in process in which researchers, teacher educators, classroom teachers, and other school personnel worked together to reform mainstream middle school social studies classrooms to meet the needs of transitional English language learners.  The authors place the project in the context of ongoing discussions among educators as to conditions under which linguistically diverse students can develop the language necessary for academic success.  Four conditions are proposed: (1) appropriate preparation and support for teachers, (2) learning tasks which promote using language to negotiate a rigorous, grade-appropriate curriculum, (3) equal status participation in small groups, with opportunities for English learners to have access to mainstream peers who can serve as linguistic and academic resources, and (4) an explicit focus on academic language development.  The authors discuss the ways in which the project is seeking to meet these conditions, including examples from the curriculum, which centered on four Complex Instruction units.

Burden, P. (1999). University students’ perceptions of pair work tasks. The Language Teacher, 23(9), 28-33.

* The rationale for the study reported in this article was that while second language teachers and researchers seem to favor the use of group activities, the author wondered if Japanese university students of English might have a different view, especially because groups for them would combine students who speak the same L1. This concern was linked to the author’s very contrasting experiences with pair activities in two different classes. In one class, students responded enthusiastically, while in the other many students were off-task and spoke in the L1. A questionnaire was given to another set of students, from whom 161 replies were obtained. Overall, the findings suggest that these Japanese university students responded positively to the use of pair activities in their English classes. Recommendations are made for the productive use of group activities. The author concludes that, “the classroom teacher needs to raise students’ awareness of the importance of pair work and to teach strategies enabling the student to continue the conversation”.

Burhoe, J. C. (1989, April). Paired classes evaluation based on survey results. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Long Beach, CA. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 312 880

*** A program at Lincoln High School in Stockton, California paired mainstream English classes with English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classes to improve communication and understanding among students. Two mainstream literature classes were paired with two ESL literature classes. The pairs met about once a month during the school year, with half of the mainstream class joining half of the ESL class for group activities. Students were usually assigned to cooperative learning groups to participate in activities designed for sharing personal backgrounds, values, and cultures. Students were surveyed about the differences between the groups and the effects of the class pairing. ESL students responded more positively toward school and asking teachers for help. Mainstream students found interaction with classmates easier. The biggest gaps between the student groups were in the areas of trust, safety, and control over one's life, with the mainstream students feeling more positive in these areas. Both groups found the program worthwhile, and students in all classes commented that the best part of the paired classes was getting to know students with a culturally different background. Some ESL students gained in English skills and confidence as a result. It is recommended that the program be expanded.

Bygate, M. (1988). Units of oral expression and language learning in small group interactions. Applied Linguistics, 9, 59-82.

The subject of this article is a data-based discussion of some possible connections between the tactics of small group oral interaction and language learning. The aim is to map out some ways in which oral interaction in SGW (small group work) may characteristically contribute to language learning, rather than merely hastening the development of specifically oral skills. After surveying previous studies of L1 and L2 learning through oral interaction, an argument is outlined for viewing language knowledge as a largely fragmented, non-homogeneous store, growing partly out of the tactical manipulation of units for specific interactive purposes, rather than a unified and integrated body of knowledge. Units of particular relevance to the study of oral language production--'satellite units'--are then defined, and their possible relationship to the learning of language is discussed. Data is then presented and analysed in order to demonstrate some of the uses of language forms in oral interaction. It is suggested that through these uses of the formal features of language, learners engage in an aspect of language learning which is peculiar to oral interaction, and which has been largely ignored by most language courses. It is suggested that for some learners at least these features of oral tasks can be a particularly fruitful way of approaching language learning.

Bygate, M. (1999). Quality of language and purpose of task: Patterns of learners’ language on two oral communication tasks. Language Teaching Research, 3, 185-214.

This study examines the performance of Hungarian secondary school students on two types of unscripted task – an argument task and a narrative task. It focuses on grammatical patterns of learner’ performance. The article discusses implications for the use and design of such tasks. It concludes by suggesting how their use can contribute to language development by leading learners to establish a routinized relationship between task and language. More generally, the article argues the value of predicting, on the basis of attested patterns of use, the classroom learning that is likely to ensue from the use of particular tasks. 

Byrne, D. (1987). Techniques for classroom interaction. London: Longman.

* This book provides practical ideas for organizing a balanced program of interaction activities in the classroom. It describes four main types of classroom interaction: class accuracy work, class fluency work, group accuracy work, and group fluency work, and provides suggestions of activities suitable for each type of interaction. The book also includes advice to help teachers to decide the right kind of interaction for their students and to adapt the activities for their own classroom. 

Calderón, M., Hertz-Lazarowitz, R., Ivory, G., & Slavin, R. E. (1997). Effects of bilingual Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition on students transitioning from Spanish to English reading. Report No. 10. Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk, Johns Hopkins University & Howard University. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 405 428

*** The effects of a cooperative learning program, Bilingual Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (BCIRC), on the Spanish and English reading, writing, and language achievement of second and third graders of limited English proficiency in Spanish bilingual programs in El Paso (Texas) were studied. BCIRC was expected to improve student achievement during the transition from Spanish to English by giving students daily opportunities to use language to find meanings and solve problems, and by applying well-established principles of cooperative learning to increase student motivation and achievement. A comparison of standardized test scores in three BCIRC and four comparison schools generally supported these expectations. On the Spanish Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, second graders scored significantly better than comparison students in writing and marginally better in reading. On the English Norm-referenced Assessment Program for Texas third graders scored better than comparison students in reading, but not language. Third graders in BCIRC for 2 years scored better than control students on both scales, and BCIRC third graders met criteria for exit from bilingual education at a significantly higher rate than did comparison students. Qualitative evidence shows that students in cooperative groups are making meaning for themselves, enjoying the program and having success in writing contests.

Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1, 1-47.

** The present position paper represents an initial stage in our broader research effort to determine the feasibility and practicality of measuring what we will call the ‘communicative competence’ of students enrolled in ‘core’ (similar to general) French as a second language programs in elementary and secondary schools in Ontario. Thus in this paper we have chosen to examine currently accepted principles of ‘communicative approaches’ to second language pedagogy by determining the extent to which they are grounded in theories of language, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, and other language-related disciplines. The examination of the theoretical bases has led us to question some of the existing principles, and in turn to develop a somewhat modified set of principles which is consistent with a more comprehensive theoretical framework for the consideration of communicative competence. …
The organization of this paper is as follows. First, we will provide a general background to communicative approaches, distinguishing the notions of communicative competence and communicative performance. Then we will examine various theories of communicative competence that have been proposed, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of a communicative approach for general second language programs. Next we will propose a theoretical framework for communicative competence and examine its implications for second languages teaching and testing. Finally we will suggest some directions for research that bear either directly or indirectly on our own research goals.

Carrier, K. (1995). Collaborative effort between nonnative English speakers: A difference in strategies. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 11(1), 37-49.

An increasing amount of attention is being focused on contrastive pragmatics, the comparison of the linguistic materials of one group of speakers across various languages and cultures around the world. Knowledge of the pragmatic aspects of language is needed in areas such as language teaching and intercultural communication. This investigation presented here involves a replication of Clark & Wilkes-Gibbs’ 1986 study of referring as a collaborative effort. In this case, however, two nonnative English speakers describe and match a set of 12 abstract figures. The results show that nonnative English speakers who do not share the same native language or the same system for making definite reference use different kinds of strategies to minimize their collaborative effort in conversation from those native English speakers use.

Carson, J. G., & Nelson, G. L. (1994). Writing groups: Cross-cultural issues. Journal of Second Language Writing, 3, 17-30.

It may appear that writing groups, used in many English as a Second Language (ESL) composition classrooms, would be familiar to ESL students from collectivist cultures where group work is common in school both as a means of knowledge acquisition and as a vehicle for reinforcing the group ethic. However, writing groups may be problematic for students from collectivist cultures (e.g., Japan, the People's Republic of China) in at least three ways. First, writing groups, as used in composition classes in the U.S., function differently than groups in collectivist cultures: instead of functioning for the good of the collective, writing groups more often function for the benefit of the individual writer. Second, as a result of the dynamics of ingroup relationships in collectivist cultures, ESL students may be concerned primarily with maintaining group harmony at the expense of providing their peers with needed feedback on their composition drafts. Finally, the dynamics of outgroup relationships for ESL students from collectivist cultures may result in behavior that is hostile, strained, and competitive--behaviour that is likely to work against effective group interactions.

Caulk, N. (1994). Comparing teacher and student responses to written work. TESOL Quarterly, 28, 181-188.

* This article reports a study that compared peer and teacher feedback in terms of quality and function. Participants were 43 intermediate to advanced level non-native English speakers at a university in Germany. They were enrolled in an English writing course that emphasized the process approach to writing. The researcher/teacher reports that 89% of students made valid suggestions and that only 6% of the peer responses were ones with which the researcher disagreed. Sixty percent of the peers’ valid suggestions were not raised by the researcher, and 87% of the researcher’s suggestions were brought up by at least one of the peers. Peers’ suggestions tended to be more local, while the teacher’s were more global. The author concludes that teacher and peer responses both serve “important and complementary functions in developing writing abilities.”

Cazden, C. B. (1983). Peekaboo as an instructional model: Discourse development at school and at home. In B. Bain (Ed.), The sociogenesis of language and human conduct: A multi-disciplinary book of readings (pp. 33-58). New York: Plenum Press.

* This chapter explores the relationship between the language of home and of school and describes the insights gained from a comparison between them. It starts with examples of classroom discourse that are informed by theory and methodology from the ethnography of speaking and sociolinguistics, looks back at mother-child interaction studies for comparison, and from the perspective of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development, the author returns to speculations about what language in the classroom could be. Using a social exchange game, 'peekabook', that mothers play with infants at home, the chapter suggests that 'peekaboo' contains essential qualities of the most powerful learning environment – an environment that the school may lack. While early language games in the home become more complicated as development proceeds, the school language games do not seem to become more complex as the school years go on. Therefore, 'peekaboo' as an instructional model has significant implications for both teachers and researchers.

Cazden, C. B. (1987). Relationships between talking and learning in classroom interaction. In B. K. Das (Ed.), Patterns of classroom interaction in Southeast Asia (pp. 1-16). Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.

* This chapter uses the perspectives of Barnes (1976) and Vygotsky (1962) to consider the connection between students’ talk and their content area learning. The paper’s first section explores students talking with experts, such as teachers. The second and final section treats students’ talk among peers. This latter type of talk is valued for its potential roles as: (1) a tool for generating thinking, and (2) a forum for exploratory talk among students. The author concludes by stating:

I am not here arguing that talk among peers is more valuable than talk with the teacher and should predominate in classroom air time. The important question, in all decisions on how to arrange the time and space of each classroom day, must be the educational objectives and the kinds of classroom interaction that can be most helpful at one time and then another.

Cazden, C. B. (1988). Classroom discourse: The language of teaching learning. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

* This book brings together current research on classroom language from all the behavioral sciences. The classrooms described include those from preschool to the university level, from a variety of ethnic groups within the United States and from other countries in the English-speaking world. The book addresses three important educational questions: (1) How do patterns of language use affect what counts as 'knowledge', and what occurs as learning? (2) How do these patterns affect the equality, or inequality, of students' educational opportunities? (3) What communicative competence do these patterns presume and/or foster? The book presents research that attempts to answer these questions. Transcriptions of actual classroom talk by children and their teachers and examples from the author's own teaching experience are included. The book provides a picture of current knowledge about classroom discourse and discusses the implications of this research for improving children's education.

Chamot, A. U., & O'Malley, J. M. (1994). The CALLA Handbook: Implementing the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

* This book describes the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA). The approach was designed to help ESL students deal with content area learning. Language is seen as a means of learning subject matter, as well as a tool for analyzing, persuading, and evaluating. Cooperative learning is listed as an instructional component in CALLA, along with other pedagogic strategies such as process writing, whole language, and language across the curriculum. 

Chan, M. (1996, April). No talking, please, just chatting: Collaborative writing with computers. Paper contributed to the Teaching in the Community Colleges Online Conference, "Innovative Instructional Practices", Kapiolani Community College, Honolulu, HI. ERIC Document Reproductin Service No. ED 415 836

*** This paper describes the use of collaborative writing software and simultaneous electronic chats in an English as a Second Language (ESL) class. Most ESL students have little experience using word processing software, and most have no keyboarding experience. Using electronic chat sessions assists ESL students with sentence construction, vocabulary building, reading comprehension, and thinking skills. Visual evidence of participation gives students a means of measurable accountability and motivates many to participate more in this medium than in a traditional class setting. Transcripts of the chat sessions are used by the students for reference material for developing composition ideas, and by the instructor for evaluating the performance of individuals and groups in terms of topic, fluency, accuracy, and logic. As in traditional classroom instruction, planning and preparation are essential for effective learning. With proper execution (technical, instructional, and topical), electronic chats can increase student participation, facilitate discussion of class readings, and enhance critical thinking. Electronic collaboration encourages discussion of ideas from different perspectives and builds teamwork. As it focuses on the process of writing, students learn to put their ideas in written words, express their ideas more clearly, and become more excited about learning. Sample transcripts of two chat sessions are appended.

Chang, K.-Y. R., & Smith, W. F. (1991). Cooperative learning and CAAL/IVD in beginning Spanish: An experiment. Modern Language Journal, 75, 205-211.

Recent research in learning and in foreign language teaching has shown that both cooperative learning—defined as those instructional settings that encourage collaborative, interactive, peer teaching and learning—and mediated activities (computer-assisted instruction/computer-assisted language learning—CAL/CALL) can have independent and significant positive effects on student achievement and attitude. Researchers attribute these learning outcomes primarily to the amount of student-student interaction and to the learners’ active, purposeful, task-oriented participation in associated learning events. Additional evidence suggests that this type and degree of interaction and participation can further be enhanced by the addition of interactive videodisc (IVD) technology in the language learning environment. Since interaction and active participation are both factors that facilitate second language (L2) learning, and since classroom instruction that focuses on cooperative and mediated activities is thought to promote learner interaction and encourage active participation, the combination of CALL/IVD and cooperative learning can therefore be considered a significant instructional strategy which merits validation for implementation in L2 curricula. This article reports the results of research conducted to evaluate the combined effort of cooperative learning and computer-mediated interactive videodisc—i.e., individuals alone (monads) versus pairs of learners (dyads) studying at CALL/IVD workstations—and its relative impact on achievement in beginning Spanish. 

Chavez, C. L. (1997). Students take flight with Daedalus: Learning Spanish in a networked classroom. Foreign Language Annals, 30, 27-38.

While incorporating computer technology is time-consuming and may be challenging for the language instructor, there is no need to reinvent the wheel when using computers in the classroom for the first time. Teachers in the second language classroom can benefit from the advances made in Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) programs. Leaders in this field encourage instructors to incorporate writing in all disciplines in order to develop critical thinking skills and prepare students for the workplace. Using computers as a medium for teaching a second language increases the amount of writing and trains the students to use computers in their discipline. Current research in composition theory maintains that students learn a grammatical structure more effectively when it is used in context. Bringing technological innovation to the second language classroom will enhance student interest and learning. This article describes the use of Daedalus Integrated Writing Environment (DIWE) in the networked computer classroom to teach Spanish grammar and composition. 

Chavez, M. (2000). Teacher and student gender and peer group gender composition in German foreign language classroom discourse: An exploratory study. Journal of Pragmatics, 32, 1019-1058.

The goal of this study is to deepen our understanding of the affect of gender on classroom discourse, in particular the discourse of second language classrooms. Two hundred and one U.S. university students of German completed a 100-item questionnaire which looked at a wide range of discourse variables, including several on student-student interaction. Not surprisingly a complex picture emerges in which many factors play important roles. [The article is remarkable for the large number of suggestions offered for future research.]

Cheng, W., & Warren, M. (1996). Hong Kong students' attitudes toward peer assessment in English language courses. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching, 6, 61-75.

Peer assessment in this essay refers to an evaluation system in which students are asked to judge both the contribution or effort of individual members of their own group to the integrated project work and the group work—process and product—of their peers. The main aim of the research study was to determine the feasibility and implications of incorporating peer assessment into the English language programs at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPolyU). Within this study, students’ attitudes toward peer assessment were established and are described. Major findings included a positive shift in students’ attitudes and confidence as a result of the peer assessment exercise, and a less positive attitude toward those categories of assessment criteria which were related to assessing the effort or contribution of group members and the language proficiency of their peers.

Cheng, W., & Warren, M. (1999). Peer and teacher assessment of the oral and written tasks of a group project. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 24, 301-314.

Undergraduate students, and their class teachers, assessed the performance of their peers in three oral and written tasks as part of a group project. The two sets of marks awarded by peers and teachers were subsequently compared to find out whether the students were competent to assess their peers alongside their class teachers and whether this competence, or lack of it, was partly determined by the nature of the task being assessed. A number of statistical tests were run to establish the levels of agreement, the ranges, differences and relationship between peer and teacher assessments. The results have led us to conclude that the peer assessments are not sufficiently reliable to be used to supplement teacher assessments. Students’ competencies in peer assessment do not appear to be dependent on the nature of the task being assessed, but there is some evidence that practical experience of assessing a particular task type can lead to an improvement in students’ assessment skills when they assess a similar task. The paper also discusses possible improvements in peer assessment procedures based on the experiences gained.

Chi, F.-M. (1995, March). Discussion as inquiry in ESL/EFL reading: A study of Taiwanese college students' meaning-construction of a literary text through small group discussion. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Long Beach, CA. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 384 233

*** This study examined how 20 Taiwanese college students of English as a Second Language (ESL) used small group discussion as a medium to construct meaning from a literary text. Students were divided into five discussion groups and instructed to discuss in English only. Each group's interaction was audiotaped and transcribed, then analyzed by topical units reflecting a common perspective and revealing recurring discussion patterns. Five discussion patterns were identified: negotiating meaning; evaluating meaning; savoring meaning; converging meaning; and avoiding meaning. Excerpts from discussions are included here. Results suggest that the possible benefits of small group discussion depend primarily on the willingness of group members to genuinely consider others' ideas and opinions. Some suggestions are made for helping ESL students view group discussion as an inquiry process.

Chin, S. H. (1994). Collaborative library research: A learning process for ESL students. Teaching English in the Two-Year College, 21, 47-52. 

*** Claims that students from foreign countries tend to have little knowledge or background working with American research libraries. Describes a collaborative research project aimed at making academic libraries less intimidating for these students. Argues that such a method helps all students acquire essential skills.

Chin, S. H., & Blumenthal, C. (1989, October). Bibliographic instruction for "real world" reading. Paper presented at a Meeting of the Southeastern Regional Conference of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 323 758

*** The argument is made that English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) educators cannot prepare students for mainstreaming in American colleges and universities if the students are limited to ESL textbooks. When teachers assign library projects, they generally neglect the vital area of bibliographic instruction because they assume that the foreign student has basic library knowledge; an assumption that is not true because many students come from countries in which library resources are nonexistent or limited. A small-group project in a high intermediate/low advanced level reading class is described that demonstrates how students can profit from bibliographic instruction by participating in a guided research assignment. The advantages to English-as-a-Second-Language students of being assigned a library project in a reading class instead of in a writing class are also explained. The project demonstrates that students benefit in the acquisition of new skills, in development of a broader perspective of contemporary issues, in cooperative group dynamics, and in second language absorption through active use in a variety of nonclassroom contexts.

Christensen, T. (1994). Large classes and their influence on language teaching. Journal of Hokusei Junior College, 30, 121-129.
 
*** This paper discusses the nature and implications of problems that language teachers believe to exist in excessively large classes. A review of the literature on class size indicates three categories of problems, namely pedagogical, management, and affective. Pedagogical problems include: difficulties with speaking, reading, and writing tasks; difficulties with monitoring and providing feedback; problems in individualizing work; avoidance of tasks that are demanding to implement; difficulty getting around the classroom; and poor attention of students. Management problems include: correction of large numbers of essays in writing classes; difficulties with pair and group work; high noise levels; difficulties in attending to all students; discipline problems; and difficulties in returning homework and exams on time. Affective concerns include: difficulty in learning student names; impossibility of establishing good rapport with students; difficulty in attending to weaker students; difficulties in assessing student interests and moods; and teacher boredom with pair and group work. Methods to combat these difficulties are discussed, centering on listening practice in the target language. Teacher-provided listening practice can serve as a structure upon which other activities can be built.

Christison, M. A. (1990). Cooperative learning in the EFL classroom. In T. Kral (Ed.), Teacher development: Making the right move (pp. 139-147). Washington, DC: US Information Agency. [Also appeared in English Teaching Forum, October, 1990.]

* This chapter begins by stating that some L2 teachers may give up on cooperative learning without fully understanding it. The author explains three key assumptions about cooperative learning: students need to learn collaborative skills; classrooms must by physically arranged to promote collaboration; and group dynamics must function so that groups support their members while at the same time applying pressure on them to learn. Six strategies for enhancing group dynamics are presented. Also, a four-step procedure for teaching cooperative skills is described: seeing the value of group activities; being aware of the cooperative skills needed for effective groupwork; practicing one skill at a time; and debriefing on the use of cooperative skills. The four-part category system for cooperative skills developed by Johnson and Johnson is presented, before the chapter closes with a brief research summary for cooperative learning in education generally.

Christison, M. A. (1995). Multiple intelligences and second language learners. Journal of the Imagination in Language Learning, 3, 8-13.

* This article explains the theory of multiple intelligences, including the criteria used to establish what constitutes an intelligence. Key points for understanding the theory are explained: each person has a unique mix of intelligences; we can all develop in all the intelligences; intelligences are interdependent; and each intelligence involves various facets. Suggestions to teachers for utilizing multiple intelligence theory in second language teaching include: first determine your own multiple intelligence profile; explain the concept of multiple intelligences to students; identify which intelligences you currently use in your teaching; plan for including a wider range of intelligences; and utilize a variety of intelligences in assessment. 

Christison, M. A. (1996). Teaching and learning languages through multiple intelligences. TESOL Journal, 6(1), 10-14.

* The author begins by recounting her experience with students who were strong in some subjects but weak in others. She links this with multiple intelligences theory. After explaining the theory and describing seven intelligences, she presents a four-stage method for ESL teaching via these intelligences: awaken the intelligence; amplify the intelligence; teach for/with the intelligence; and transfer the intelligence. Although of the seven intelligences interpersonal intelligence is most closely related to group work, group activities are used throughout the various stages of teaching with multiple intelligences.

Christison, M. A., & Bassano, S. (1987). Purple cows & potato chips. Hayward, CA: Alemany Press.

* This resource book provides 56 multi-sensory activities for second language learning at the secondary school level and above. Most of the activities are designed to be done in groups, often with some time for individual work and whole class sharing. The book is divided into four sections, each with one or two specific sensory foci: sight, touch/movement, hearing, and smell/taste.

Clair, N. (1998). Teacher study groups: Persistent questions in a promising approach. TESOL Quarterly, 32, 465-492.

Education reform and the changing demographics of the U.S. student population require teachers to rethink classroom practice and collaborate in ways they may never have before. There is a growing consensus that traditional forms of professional development are inadequate for addressing the vision of classroom practice required for reform and for confronting the challenges that ESL and other content teachers face in including English language learners in reform. Teacher study groups are an alternative to traditional professional development structures in that they provide opportunities for teachers to explore together issues of teaching and learning in linguistically and culturally diverse schools. This article reports on a year-long study of two teacher study groups. The purpose of the study was to illuminate the complexities of working with teachers in new ways regarding the education of English language learners.

Clement, R., Dornyei, Z., & Noels, K. (1994). Motivation, self-confidence and group cohesion in the foreign language classroom. Language Learning, 44, 417-448.

Defining the motivational basis of second and foreign language acquisition has been at the center of much research and controversy for many years. The present study applied social psychological constructs to the acquisition of  English in the unicultural Hungarian setting. A total of 301 Grade 11 students from the region of Budapest answered a questionnaire assessing their attitude, anxiety, and motivation toward learning English, as well as their perception of classroom atmosphere and cohesion. In addition, their teachers rated each of the students on proficiency and a number of classroom behaviors and evaluated the relative cohesion of each class group. Factor and correlational analyses of the results revealed that xenophilic (M=4.22 on a 1-6 scale), sociocultural (M=3.96), instrumental (M=3.78), and media-use reasons (M=3.79) were most strongly endorsed by the students whereas an identification orientation (M=1.81) was rejected. Factor analysis of the attitude, anxiety, and motivation scales confirmed the existence of attitude-based (integrative motive) and self-confidence motivational subprocesses and revealed the presence of a relatively independent classroom based subprocess, characterized by classroom cohesion and evaluation. Correlational analyses of these clusters further revealed that, while all subprocesses were associated with achievement, self-confidence and anxiety showed no relationship to classroom atmosphere. We discuss these findings in the context of current theories of second and
foreign language acquisition and with reference to their applied implications.

Cochran, C. (1989). Strategies for involving LEP students in the all-English-medium classroom: A cooperative learning approach. Program Information Guide Series Number 12. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 337 039

*** Strategies are presented for including limited-English-proficient (LEP) students in learning activities designed for monolingual English-speaking students. The natural approach to language acquisition described by Krashen and Terrell is highlighted, followed by a description of the development of second language proficiency. Suggested strategies can be embedded in cooperative learning activities. Cooperative learning is discussed as a classroom management system that can help involve LEP students in learning activities (such as using nonverbal responses, assigning and rotating roles, and equalizing speaking turns) that encourage linguistic and academic growth. Techniques developed by De Avila, Kagan, and Slavin are presented in the context of those goals. Several learning strategies and lesson activities are also provided that both LEP and native English-speaking students can use together.

Cockburn, L., Isbister, S., & Sim-Goh, M. L. (1997). Buddy reading. In G. M. Jacobs, C. Davis, & W. A. Renandya (Eds.), Successful strategies for extensive reading (pp. 65-80). Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.

** This chapter describes a cross-age peer tutoring programme used in Singapore primary schools in which more proficient students from upper grades help weaker students in lower grades. Some students and parents worry that peer tutoring benefits only the tutees. However, Sim-Goh, Cockburn, and Isbister explain that the tutors benefit also both cognitively and affectively by the application of their knowledge. The chapter illustrates various aspects of Buddy Reading, including: a pair reading script; a guide, a checklist, and a programme for the training of tutors; and instruments for monitoring and evaluating the programme. The chapter concludes with the authors’ plans for future development of the programme. 

Coelho, E. (1988). Creating Jigsaw units for the ESL classroom. How to develop instructional units for co-operative group learning in the communicative curriculum.  TESL Talk, 18(1), 69-81.  

Jigsaw is a method of small-group organization and instruction. Because it offers a highly interactive learning experience, the Jigsaw strategy is consistent with the communicative approach in language teaching. This paper will outline how the technique can be used in a content-based communicative curriculum. The first part of this article provides a general outline of the Jigsaw technique as it can be applied in adolescent and adult ESL classes, using existing Canadian-content materials from libraries and other sources. The second part of this article consists of an outline of the elements of a Jigsaw unit, for those who would like a model from which to create their own materials.

Coelho, E. (1994a). Jigsaw tasks in second language classroom. The Language Teacher, 18(10), 20-24. 

* Jigsaw is a well-known cooperative learning technique that has been popular in second language instruction. The article begins by discussing the value of cooperative learning in second language instruction, citing the ideas of Krashen, Swain, and Long and Porter. Next, the specific value of Jigsaw for promoting second language acquisition is described, including the creation of a two-way information gap and the ability to use texts of varying levels of difficulty so as to adjust to different students’ proficiency levels. How to organize Jigsaw is explained, followed by an extended example of a Jigsaw lesson.

Coelho, E. (1994b). Learning together in the multicultural classroom. Scarborough, ON: Pippin.

* This book describes approaches and techniques for using group activities with classes of linguistically, culturally, and racially diverse students. The book begins with a discussion of the destructive nature of competition in society and the classroom, and of the benefits to be gained from building a cooperative environment. The next section takes up the crucial role of language in learning across the curriculum and how cooperative groups increase students' opportunities for language use. The rest, and majority, of the book deals with issues related to how teachers can facilitate effective small-group cooperation among students. Issues including: forming and managing groups, getting groups off the ground, designing group tasks, promoting the development of collaborative skills, encouraging exploratory talk, and cooperative projects. The book's appendices contain six examples of materials for use by groups.

Coelho, E., Winer, L., & Winn-Bell Olsen, J. (1989). All sides of the issue: Activities for cooperative jigsaw groups. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

* This book begins with a brief introduction to cooperative learning, followed by a description of how to use the Jigsaw method of cooperative learning.  The bulk of the book consists of ready-to-use materials with teachers’ notes for Jigsaw activities to be used with adolescent and adult ESL students. The materials bring out different points of view on an issue and help students prepare themselves in expert teams to teach their Jigsaw piece to the members of their home team. Collaborative skills are also taught.

Coffey, M. (1999). Building cultural community in English language programs. TESOL Journal, 8(2), 26-30.

* This article discusses how to create a community feeling within a class of ESL students. Essentials for the establishment of this community feeling include acknowledgment of and respect for cultural diversity, a sense that the classroom is a safe place, treatment of each person as an individual rather than a stereotype, and cooperation for the benefit of each member of the class. Ideas are provided as to how to build this classroom community among students from different cultures: sharing power with students, encouraging tolerance of ambiguity, fostering empathy, promoting cooperation, building on understanding of cultural values, and using content-based instruction. Examples of collaborative activities are provided.

Cohen, E. G. (1994). Designing groupwork: Strategies for the heterogeneous classroom (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.

* This book blends theory, research, and practice, providing guidance on matters such as preparing students for groupwork, teachers' roles in groupwork, groupwork in bilingual classrooms, and evaluation when groupwork is used. A particular focus of the book is the use of multiple ability tasks to treat differences among students in terms of academic status. Treating status differences becomes especially important in heterogeneous classrooms, including those that include L2 students. Among the suggestions are: making a low status student the group expert, expectation training, and assigning competence to low status students. One appendix provides exercises to train students in how to work cooperatively. The other appendix supplies a questionnaire that students complete to evaluate their groupwork and a guide for analyzing the questionnaire.

Cohen, E. G., & Lotan, R. A. (Eds.). (1997). Working for equity in heterogeneous classrooms. New York: Teachers College Press.

* This book aims to apply sociological theory and methods to the challenge of
developing a workable and equitable approach to instruction that reaches all
children. It begins with an introduction of 'complex instruction' (CI) and the notion of an equitable classroom, and details research on how the organization and management of the classroom yield interaction among students. The book then deals with status problems in the classroom and their treatment, describes principles for creating a multiple-ability curriculum, and discusses the effects of CI on achievement. Lastly, the book reports research on organizational support and staff development for both experienced and preservice teachers, and discusses dissemination of CI and its impact on teachers.  

Cohen, M. D., & Tellez, K. (1994). Implementing cooperative learning for language minority students. Bilingual Research Journal, 18,1-19.

*** Analyzed the relationships between variables affecting the degree to which cooperative learning (CL) was implemented by English-as-a-Second-Language and bilingual teachers. Three sets of variables were investigated: teacher beliefs about acquisition of knowledge, teacher role, and second language instruction; teacher attitudes about cooperative learning; teacher perceptions of constraints and opportunities of their school environment.

Cole, R., McCarthy Raffier, L., Rogan, P., & Schleicher, L. (1998). Interactive group journals: Learning as a dialogue among learners. TESOL Quarterly, 32, 556-568.

* This article describes how a group of students in an M.A. in TESOL program worked together on an interactive group journal (IGJ). To initiate the group, they decided on the topics they would focus on, the order in which group members would write in the journal, how frequently each member would write, and in which format the output would be. In this case, the journal was kept in both electronic and hard-copy form. The IGJ was seen as promoting student-student interaction which, in turn, fostered autonomy and collaboration, was a useful heuristic, helped build a feeling of professional community, and served as a foundation for professional development. 

Connor, U., & Asenavage, K. (1994). Peer response groups in ESL writing class. Journal of Second Language Writing, 3, 257-276.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of peer responses on subsequent revisions, comparing comments from the teacher with other sources. The revisions in essays from two groups of freshman ESL students were evaluated over several drafts. The peer collaboration was audiotaped; written comments by the teacher or others were noted. Faigley and Witte's (1981) taxonomy of revisions was used to identify the types of revisions: surface or text-based. There are six specific types of revisions in each of these broad categories. The results show that the students made many revisions but that few of these were the result of direct peer group response. Students who made the greatest number of changes made predominantly more text-based changes. Students who made fewer changes generally made more surface changes. The results of this research raise questions regarding group formation and types of modeling done for group work.

Correa, M. (1995). Incorporating cooperative learning strategies to improve science achievement scores among ninth grade ESOL I and II physical science students. Ed.D. Practicum Report, Nova Southeastern University. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 385 154

*** In response to the poor achievement, negative attitudes, and anxiety of limited-English-proficient (LEP) ninth-grade students (n=90) in science classes, a cooperative learning approach to instruction was adopted. In an effort coordinated with teachers of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), the students were assigned to cooperative learning groups and given specific projects corresponding to the curriculum but requiring exploratory and investigative methods rather than reading from a textbook. In addition, the teacher contacted parents by telephone and wrote to them in English, Spanish, and Creole, offering tips for assisting their students. An additional 21 students were brought into the program. Results indicate that project objectives were met in: student achievement on a teacher-made criterion-referenced post-test; majority passing the course with a C or better grade; entries in the science fair; regular student participation in hands-on classroom activities; improved student attitudes toward science; use of alternative student evaluation techniques; and parent contact. Suggestions for improvement include further development of the post-test to reflect class activities, creation of a parent guide, and provision of tutoring options. The post-test and class-related forms are appended.

Cotterall, S. (1995).  Readiness for autonomy: Investigating learner beliefs. System, 23, 195-206.

The promotion of autonomous approaches to language learning is justified on ideological, psychological and economic grounds (Crabbe, 1993, p. 443). This paper argues that before any intervention occurs, it is necessary to gauge learners’ readiness for the changes in behaviour and beliefs which autonomy implies. Firstly the paper presents data on learner beliefs collected in a study which involved the development and administration of a questionnaire on learner beliefs about language learning. Factor analysis of subjects’ responses to the questionnaire revealed the existence of six dimensions underlying the responses. The paper then discusses each factor in turn, examining the claims that have been made in the literature about the role that factor plays in language learning and exploring the hypothesized relationship of each factor to autonomous language learning behaviour. The paper concludes by reiterating the importance of investigating the beliefs which learners hold. These beliefs are likely to reflect learners’ “readiness” for autonomy.

Coughlan, P., &  Duff, P. A. 1994. Same task, different activities: Analysis of a SLA task from an activity theory perspective. In J. P. Lantolf and G. Appel (Eds.), Vygotskian approaches to second language research (pp. 173-194). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

* Through close examination of some L2 data, this chapter shows that what is often considered a fixed 'task' is in fact quite variable, not only across subjects but within the same subject at different times. It questions the assumption that research tasks are constants in research design. The data support Vygotsky's understanding of human interaction, in which world knowledge is a product of one's interaction with that world. This interaction can be symbolic, physical, or it may involve relations between human beings. It is suggested that tasks cannot be designed to elicit specific samples of interlanguage data independently of the speaker who engages in communicative linguistic activity. The L2 data support Vygotsky's argument that speakers are agents active in controlling their environment. Consequently, tasks cannot be predetermined, but emerge from the interaction of speakers, settings, motives, and histories.

Courtney, M. (1996). Talking to learn: Selecting and using peer group oral tasks. ELT Journal, 50, 318-326.

This article discusses research findings in relation to oral communication tasks, and concludes that although direct linkage between task type, language output, and language acquisition has not been established, and probably could not be, informed pedagogic choices can still be made, particularly using the concepts of control of information and communication goal.

Crandall, J. (1999). Cooperative learning and affective factors. In J. Arnold (Ed.), Affect in language learning (pp. 226-245). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

*  In this chapter, the author begins by presenting an overview of cooperative learning in which she identifies key characteristics of the approach. This is followed by a review of some traditional cooperative activities, such as Think-Pair-Share and Jigsaw, and their specific application to language learning. A rationale is suggested for using such activities in the language classroom which includes the reduction of anxiety, the promotion of interaction, the increase of student self-esteem, self-confidence and motivation, the greater frequency and range of input and output opportunities, the development of cross-cultural and inter-social understanding, and greater learner-centredness. Finally, the author considers some possible problems which can arise due to the use of the cooperative language learning approach and suggests ways of overcoming such problems. She concludes that “cooperative learning offers many positive, affective features which encourage language learning, while also supporting development of prosocial, academic, and higher order thinking skills” (p. 244).

Crismore, A., & Salim, S. F. (1997). Collaborative learning in Malaysian postsecondary classrooms. TESOL Journal, 7(2), 15-21.
 
*** Teachers of English as a Second Language in a Malaysian postsecondary institution describe their experiences with introducing cooperative learning activities and related techniques. Focus is on the variety of techniques used in different learning situations. The contexts were culturally diverse classrooms, and shy student populations with passive classroom learning habits.

Cromwell, C., & Sasser, L. (1987, March). Putting the shoe on the other foot: A jigsaw lesson in point of view. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the California Association of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Pasadena, CA. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 317 045

*** A problem-solving exercise based on the principle of cooperative learning and designed for use in the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classroom is described and demonstrated. The problem-posing method, which uses students' lives and problems as a focus of discussion in the second language classroom, is outlined. By using carefully selected words or pictures (codes), the teacher draws issues out of the students. The students are then asked to analyze these issues and arrive at solutions. The three parts of the method (listening, dialoguing, and action) and the five problem-solving questions are explained. The problem-solving exercise is then presented. The exercise uses a variant of traditional jigsaw, a formal cooperative structure of cooperative learning, the problem-posing technique, and the natural approach to ESL. The exercise is designed for students of intermediate fluency at the secondary school level. Using this exercise, team members receive a short story in letter form and must decipher and analyze the possible points of view expressed, paragraph by paragraph, in a 3-day procedure. The letter (problem) and a team worksheet are included.

Cromwell-Hoffman, C., & Sasser, L. (1989, February). A literature-based cooperative lesson for ESL. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the California Association for Bilingual Education, Anaheim, CA. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No.  ED 317 047

*** This cooperative lesson for students of English as a Second Language (ESL) has students from different cultural and language backgrounds write folk tales from their native cultures and compile them into a book. Each four-member team is constructed based on student variables, including ethnicity, personality, academic ability, language functioning, gender, and preference. Interdependence within a team is facilitated by assigning certain roles to members. For this lesson, the instructional setting and lesson design are described briefly, and procedures for the 6-day exercise are outlined. For each day, the following lesson plan elements are delineated: materials, preparations, introduction and focus, input and evaluation, application(s) and evaluation, refocus when appropriate, and closure. Extension activities are also suggested. Five sample folk tales and sample worksheets for the unit are appended.

Crookall, D., & Oxford, R. L. (Eds.). (1990). Simulations, gaming, and language learning. New York: Newbury House.

* This book presents theoretical and practical aspects of the application of simulation/gaming techniques to communicative language teaching. The book's 24 chapters are divided into seven sections. In section A, the editors provide an overview of the link between simulation/gaming and language learning, citing such advantages as authenticity, low anxiety environment for trying out language, opportunity to learn about new cultures, and skills integration. Sections B and C discuss practical applications of simulations and games. Chapters in Section D focus on computer applications. Section E offers background on such areas as ethical problems and language acquisition. Section F provides sample simulations and games, and G is devoted to resources for learning more about simulations/games. Several of the chapters specifically discuss various aspects of groups, such as group dynamics, size, and composition.

Crookes, G. (1989). Planning and interlanguage variation. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 11, 367-383.

Having focused previously on attention, cognitively oriented investigations of interlanguage variation and development are turning toward other possible explanatory variables, such as planning. The present study reports on an experiment in which two groups of 20 Japanese learners of English as a second language performed two monologic production tasks with and without time for planning. It was found that providing learners with time to plan their utterances results in interlanguage productions which are more complex in the short run. 

Crookes, G., & Schmidt, R. W. (1991). Motivation: Reopening the research agenda. Language Learning, 41,  469-512.

Discussion of the topic of motivation in second-language (SL) learning contexts has been limited by the understanding the field of applied linguistics has attached to it. In that view, primary emphasis is placed on attitudes and other social psychological aspects of SL learning. This does not do full justice to the way SL teachers have used the term motivation. Their use is more congruent with definitions common outside social psychology, specifically in education. In this paper, we review the standard applied linguistics approach to this topic, and go on to provide an overview of research into motivation in mainstream education. This is used both to demonstrate the utility of other concepts of motivation to the SL field and as the basis for a research agenda for SL investigations of motivation thus conceived.

Cross, D. (1995). Large classes in action. New York: Prentice Hall.

* This book contains over 100 activities for the teaching of listening, speaking, reading, writing, and grammar to large classes of second language students at a variety of proficiency levels. Large classes are defined as 80-120 students, although the author notes that most teachers consider a class of 40 and above as large. Groups are frequently used in the activities, and the book’s introduction contains advice on setting up groups. The introduction also states that the use of groups minimizes the time and expense that would otherwise be needed to produce materials for large classes. Materials preparation, the author notes, is often a particular difficulty in contexts in which large classes are found.

Cummins, J. (1986). Empowering minority students: A framework for intervention. Harvard Educational Review, 56, 18-36.

* Cummins presents a theoretical framework for analyzing minority students' school failure and the relative lack of success of previous attempts at educational reform, such as compensatory education and bilingual education. The author suggests that these attempts have been unsuccessful because they have not altered significantly the relationships between educators and minority students and between schools and minority communities. He offers ways in which educators can change these relationships, thereby promoting the empowerment of students, which can lead them to succeed in school.

Cummins, M. (1995, March). Looking for commonalities in culturally and linguistically mixed basic writing classes. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, Washington, DC. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 384 888

*** A multilingual basic writing course is an ideal laboratory for language learning for both second language students and native English speakers. This latter group at Bronx Community College (New York), which is located in a poor, minority urban community, are generally English-as-a-Second-Dialect (ESD) students. What one instructor tries to do is to focus on the commonalities among these groups and to provide group or collaborative opportunities. The commonalities among the two groups would include their age, the educational challenges, including their lapses in education and lack of writing experience, and a corresponding sense of low self-esteem. To make use of these commonalities, the instructor forms groups among the students, each group being composed of one native speaker and one second language speaker. The first activity is an interview, a writing and speaking activity through which students introduce each other to the class. In addition to making use of the commonalities, an instructor must be aware of the differences. He or she must keep in mind the immense difficulties facing the second language speaker, whose second language skills may be far from proficient by the time he or she enrolls in a basic writing course. Instructors should concentrate on global errors when reading student papers--errors that interfere with the conveyance of meaning--rather than small, grammatical errors, however exasperating they may be.

Curtis, A., & Heron, A. (1998). On being less innovative: Peer groups and process writing in Hong Kong. Asia Pacific Journal of Language in Education, 1(1), 99-118.

Process writing and peer response are not new. However, in Hong Kong, teaching using a process writing approach is still considered to be ‘innovative’. The aim of the study reported in this paper was to examine how the experience of writing in peer groups would influence perceptions and attitudes to this way of writing and working among a group of student teachers. The student teachers were also asked how their experience of using this approach would influence their reasons for, and likelihood of using or not using, a peer group process writing approach when they themselves became teachers.

Curtis, A., & Roskams, T. (1998). Second language student reactions to collaboration on networked computers. Asia Pacific Journal of Language in Education, 1(2), 129-148.

The potential of networked computers in assisting learners to develop their writing abilities remains largely untapped in Asia. The effectiveness of such technology depends not only on task design and learner familiarity with computers, but also on their perceptions of, and attitudes to, using a computer-based collaborative approach to writing. The study examined four academic writing classes, each of approximately 20 students, at a university in Hong Kong. Students took part in on-line discussions of exemplar essays in the course textbook and planned and revised their own work by sending extracts to peers who responded with questions, suggestions and improvement-oriented comments exchanged via the computer network.  In the classes, writing laboratory activities occupied approximately two-thirds of class contact time. Students were asked to describe their initial reactions to this mode of learning and their descriptions were compared with end-of-course perceptions and evaluations. Learners reacted on many different levels, painting a rather complex and intricate picture of what happens in the networked computer learning environment. Changes in student reactions over the length of the course, and the reasons for those changes, are discussed and recommendations made for enhancing and improving the effectiveness of a networked computer approach to writing classes.

Curtis, A. & Roskams, T. (1999). Language learning in networked writing labs: A view from Asia. In J. A. Inman & D. N. Sewell (Eds.), Taking flight with OWLs: Examining electronic writing center work (pp. 29-39). London: Lawrence Erlbaum.

**** Data was gathered from four groups of undergraduate students, 74 in total, attending a one-semester introduction to academic writing course at a university in Hong Kong. The students worked on their writing in a networked computer lab. Approximately 85% of the students rated using the Interchange software, which enabled them to circulate extracts of their drafts and comment on each other’s texts, as moderately useful or very useful. Students’ open-ended responses to the question of usefulness were grouped under five main categories: collaborative learning; time; thinking skills; interesting or boring; general comments about writing.

Dam, L., Legenhausen, L., & Wolff, D. (1990). Text production in the foreign language classroom and the word processor. System, 18, 325-334.

This paper is concerned with the possible applications of the word processing facilities of the micro-computer in the foreign language classroom. It is argued that writing in small groups is an efficient way to promote writing abilities, and that it is an excellent interaction activity. Drawing on our research conducted in a number of different language classrooms we are able to show that the computer can be a valuable tool in this activity.

Davidheiser, J. C. (1996). Grammar groups in the student-centered classroom. Foreign Language Annals, 29, 271-278.

Experience has shown many second-language teachers that, although students learn some grammar at the elementary level, they need an intensive review at the intermediate level and still seem to make numerous grammatical errors in advanced courses. This paper briefly reviews the way grammar has been taught in the last 30 years and explores a successful student-centered method of grammar instruction in second-language classes that can aid retention. By applying research about pair and group work, teachers can increase the quality of grammar instruction. Instructors briefly teach grammar in context. Pairs of students are then asked to compose several examples of the target grammatical structure, making any changes recommended by group partners. A final slate of examples is then presented to the entire class for review. By being responsible for practicing and integrating the grammar, students internalize, even at the elementary level, challenging grammatical points.

Davies, N. F., & Omberg, M. (1987). Peer group teaching and the composition class. System, 15, 313-323.

The writing process has received relatively little attention in research on foreign language teaching, yet writing is a valuable communicative skill which fosters the clear expression of thought and feeling. It is a means of (self-) discovery as well as a linguistic discipline. Peer groups have been found to be valuable at various stages in the writing process, a course is described and evaluated which uses them at the pre-writing and revision stages as a (cost-free) supplement to teacher instruction and evaluation. 

Davis, R. L. (1997). Group work in NOT busy work: Maximizing success of group work in the L2 classroom. Foreign Language Annals, 30, 265-279.

Pair and group activities have become a staple in the L2 classroom, but in many cases instructors do not use the techniques appropriately or to maximum effectiveness. This proposal for training pre- and inservice teachers in the use of group work is based on the principles of action research: first it outlines some issues in the design and implementation of these activities and then includes suggestions for the postobservation remodeling of activities within a task- and content-based framework for language instruction. 

Dawson, G., McCulloch, E., & Peyronel, S. (1996). Learners’ perceptions of factors affecting their language learning. Edinburgh Working Papers in Applied Linguistics, 7, 30-45.

This paper describes a project that sought to investigate what factors are perceived by students as helpful or detrimental to their language learning. Questionnaires were used to collect data from a sample of Modern Language students at the Institute for Applied Language Studies (IALS). In-depth interviews, which focused on the three main factors mentioned in the questionnaires (homework, teaching and learning in a group), were conducted with a much smaller sample. Respondents seemed highly positive about their present classes, especially friendly atmosphere and use of homework, and generally felt that ‘teacher knows best’. Negative comments appeared to refer to earlier learning, especially at school.

De Guerrero, M. C. M., & Villamil, O. S. (1994). Social-cognitive dimensions of interaction in L2 peer revision. Modern Language Journal, 78, 484-496.

* In this article, the authors use a Vygotskian social-cognitive perspective to analyze the interaction of pairs of university-level, native Spanish-speaking ESL students engaged in peer revision of compositions. Using transcripts of the interactions, episodes were coded as on-task, about-task, or off-task. On-task episodes were then coded in three ways: type, in terms of who was active in the episode; whether the episode was object-regulated, other-regulated, or self-regulated; and whether the interaction was symmetrical or asymmetrical. Results showed that 84% of the episodes were on-task ones. The majority of on-task episodes involved the two students both discussing revision of a troublesource. The majority of on-task episodes were also coded as displaying self-regulation. Finally, 69% of these episodes were considered to display asymmetrical relationships and 31% symmetrical. The authors conclude that second language students can benefit from peer revision, that students should interact with a variety of peers in order to gain the maximum benefit, and that Vygotskian analysis can provide insights into effective peer interaction. 

Deen, J. Y. (1991). Comparing interaction in a cooperative learning and teacher-centered foreign language classroom. I.T.L. Review of Applied Linguistics, 93-94, 153-181.

Cooperative learning (CL) methods are group work methods that have recently received considerable attention in the U.S. as effective classroom methodologies for increasing academic achievement, especially for minority students. Kagan (1986) has hypothesized two elements of CL interaction that might support achievement:
(i)	increase in opportunities students have to produce more diverse and complex output and
(ii)	increase of the amount of comprehensible input students receive.
This study investigates these hypotheses for language learning by comparing the classroom interaction in a CL and in a teacher-centered (TC) lesson, recorded in a beginning university course in Dutch. Findings showed that students as expected took more turns and produced a great deal more Dutch output in the CL setting, which supports their language acquisition. However, contrary to CL goals of providing equal opportunities for all, the stronger students— as usual— took more turns and used more Dutch than the weaker ones. Nonetheless, all students—independent of their proficiency level—asked many questions, modifying their input to a comprehensible level and making language acquisition possible. In terms of quality of output, students proportionally produced fewer ungrammatical Dutch utterances and fewer errors were corrected in the CL setting. In addition, vocabulary usage was more diverse as well as more repetitious. No significant difference between both settings was found in the complexity of students’ Dutch.

Dent-Young, J. (1977). Role playing in language teaching. RELC Journal, 8, 61-68.

* This article describes role play techniques used to teach drama and L1 students which the author adapted for use with university and adult L2 students in Hong Kong. In many of these techniques, students work in groups of two. The author sees the chief advantage lying in the fact that role play provides opportunities for purposeful, challenging yet less anxiety producing, unpredictable language use. He recommends that role play not be used with beginning level students because of their lack of linguistic resources. Suggestions are made as to teachers' tasks in facilitating role plays and on selecting topics.

Devenney, R. (1989). How ESL teachers and peers evaluate and respond to student writing. RELC Journal, 20(1), 91-96.

* This article begins by explaining how the growth of learner-centered approaches in ESL writing instruction and an increased emphasis on meaning and communication led to the use of the peer group as an audience for student writing. Then, the article reports a study partially replicating research that found L1 student peer feedback differed significantly from feedback provided by teachers. Participants in Devenney's study were 39 ESL students at a U.S. university and 13 ESL teachers. Each rank ordered seven ESL compositions and provided the reasons for their rankings. Results showed differences between the teachers and the students but also within each group, leading the author to conclude the "neither the teachers nor the students formed a homogeneous group with a shared set of evaluation criteria", and that peers can provide a useful audience for L2 student writing, an audience that complements but does not replace the role of teacher feedback.

Diaz, D. M. (1991). Writing, collaborative learning, and community. College ESL, 1, 19-24.
 
*** Discusses how collaborative learning helps English-as-a-Second-Language students both acquire language and become part of the academic community.

DiCamilla, F. J., & Anton, M. (1997). Repetition in the collaborative discourse of L2 learners: A Vygotskian perspective. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 53, 609-633. 

This study investigates the role of repetition in the discourse of students of Spanish as a second language working on a writing assignment in collaborative dyads. Data were taken from audio tapes of the dyad’s collaborative sessions. The occurrences of repetition (of self or of the other member of the dyad) were analyzed from the theoretical perspective based on the work of L. S. Vygotsky (1978, 1986), which argues that ‘sociocultural and metal activity are bound together in a dependent, symbolically mediated, relationship’ (Lantolf & Pavlenko, 1995). This study shows that the sociocultural and mental activity of our subjects is mediated by the repetition of both L1 and L2 utterances, the effect of which is to create and maintain a shared perspective of the task (i.e., intersubjectivity) and to construct scaffolded help, which enables them to complete their tasks.

DiCamilla, F.J. & Anton, M. (1998). Socio-cognitive functions of L1 collaborative interaction in the L2 classroom. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 54, 314-342.

This paper studies the use of L1 in the collaborative interaction of adult learners of Spanish who are native speakers of English. Viewed as a psychological tool that mediates human mental activity on the external (interpsychological) and the internal (intrapsychological) planes, L1 use is found to serve a critical function in students' attempts to mutually define various elements of their task, that is, to establish and maintain intersubjectivity (Rommetveit, 1985). Also, L1 is shown to be an indispensable device for students in providing each other with scaffolded help (Wood, Bruner, & Ross, 1976). Finally, this study provides evidence of the use of L1 for the purpose of externalizing one's inner speech (Vygotsky, 1986) throughout the task as a means of regulating one's own mental activity. The analysis of student interaction presented here not only highlights these critical functions of L1 in the second language learning process, but attempts to show how various communicative moves and linguistic forms achieve these functions.

Dillon, W. T. (1992). Nuclear sentences: Teaching cohesion to L2 business writers. Bulletin of the Association for Business Communication, 55(1), 9-15.

***** Describes a lesson which uses collaborative revision strategies to help teach cohesion to second-language speakers of English in business communication classes. (SR) (ERIC)

Domizio, H.-H. L. (1995, November). Prochievement in light of SOPI and OPI: Activities for advanced speakers of Chinese. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Anaheim, CA. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 400 712

*** A classroom study in two advanced Chinese language courses compared the effectiveness of two instructional strategies: (1) proficiency-based instruction through cooperative learning (Chinese 405) and (2)    "prochievement," a hybrid, performance-based strategy derived from both proficiency and achievement approaches (Chinese 406). Subjects were six students enrolled in the two successive classes, tested with an oral proficiency interview at the beginning of the first course and after each course. Both courses had the theme "Contemporary China and Chinese Culture." Results suggest that students made more progress in the course emphasizing prochievement, with all students advancing at least one level on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) proficiency scale. In the fall (cooperative learning) class, only half the students had a measurable proficiency gain. A more comprehensive study is recommended to investigate this phenomenon further. 

Donato, R. (1994). Collective scaffolding in second language learning. In J. P. Lantolf, & G. Appel (Eds.), Vygotskian approaches to second language research (pp. 33-56). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

* This chapter reports a study that examined how social interactions in the classroom setting result in the development of L2. Results suggest that L2 learners can provide guided support to their peers during collaborative L2 interactions, and that collective scaffolding occurs when students work together on language learning tasks. The author asserts that his study demonstrates how collective scaffolding may lead to linguistic development within the learners, because during peer scaffolding, learners can extend their own L2 knowledge as well as promote the linguistic development of their peers.  

Dornyei, Z. (1997). Psychological processes in cooperative language learning: Group dynamics and motivation. Modern Language Journal, 81, 482-493.

Cooperative learning (CL) has been found to be a highly-effective instructional approach in education in general and this has been confirmed with regard to second language (L2) learning as well. This article investigates reasons for the success of CL from a psychological perspective, focusing on two interrelated processes: the unique group dynamics of CL classes and the motivational system generated by peer cooperation. It is argued that the affective domain of CL plays a crucial role in the educational potential of the method. This paper summarizes the specific factors that contribute to the promotion of learning gains. While the analysis concerns cooperatively structured learning only, it is assumed that the processes described have a broader relevance to understanding the success of peer collaboration in general. 

Dornyei, Z., & Malderez, A. (1997). Group dynamics and foreign language teaching. System, 25, 65-81.

This paper highlights the importance of the dynamics of the learner group in shaping the L2 learning process. We argue that group characteristics and group processes significantly contribute to any success or failure in the L2 classroom, and therefore language teachers could potentially benefit from an awareness of the principles of group dynamics. First, we provide an overview of the aspects of classroom dynamics that we consider most relevant to L2 teaching. Then, based on the theoretical insights and our own teaching experience, we make practical suggestions for teachers on how to exploit the principles of group dynamics in their classrooms to good effect. 

Doughty, C., & Pica, T. (1985). Input and interaction in the communicative language classroom: A comparison of teacher-fronted and group activities. In S. M. Gass & C. G. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 115-132). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

* In this chapter, the authors compare and contrast the interactional features of teacher-fronted and group communicative activities. What they suggest is that small group communicative activities are more effective in increasing the opportunities for students to practice the target language than are teacher-directed activities. Doughty and Pica support the use of group activities because: (1) students are exposed more language input in group work activities than in teacher-fronted activities; and (2) students generate more language when they are working together. Although conversational adjustments appear to be more abundant in the teacher-fronted than in the group activities, the conversational adjustments in the teacher-centered classes are not necessarily relevant to each student's comprehension level. 

Doughty, C., & Pica, T. (1986). Information gap tasks: Do they facilitate second language acquisition? TESOL Quarterly, 20, 305-326.

This article reports the findings of the latest of a series of studies conducted to determine the effects of task type and participation pattern on language classroom interaction. The results of this study are compared to those of an earlier investigation (Pica & Doughty, 1985a) in regard to optional and required information exchange tasks across teacher-directed, small-group, and dyad interactional patterns. The evidence suggests that a task with a requirement for information exchange is crucial to the generation of conversational modification occurring during interaction is instrumental in second language acquisition. Furthermore, the finding that group and dyad interaction patterns produced more modification than did the teacher-fronted situation suggests that participation pattern as well as task type have an effect on the conversational modification of interaction.

Duff, P. (1986). Another look at interlanguage talk: Taking task to task. In R.R. Day (Ed.), Talking to learn (pp. 147-181). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

* This chapter examines the effect of task type on the input and interaction in nonnative speaker - nonnative speaker (NNS - NNS) dyads. It reports the findings of a study which analyzed the speech generated by dyads of Japanese and Mandarin Chinese speakers enrolled in English as a second language (ESL) classes at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The study investigates the potentially differential role that types of tasks play in the SLA process. Two types of pedagogic tasks, problem-solving (PS) and debates (D), and two examples of each, are the focus of the study. The results suggest qualitative and/or quantitative differences across tasks in the speech of the ESL subjects, validating the notion that some task types are more conducive to SLA. The article concludes with preliminary pedagogical and psycholinguistic implications and suggestions for further research.

Duran, R. P., & Szymanski, M. H. (1993). Construction of learning and interaction of language minority children in cooperative learning. Baltimore, MD: Center for Research on Effective Schooling for Disadvantaged Students.
 
*** This report analyzes the moment-by-moment construction of interaction by language minority children in a cooperative learning activity. The interaction occurred among students in a Spanish-English bilingual 3rd grade classroom as part of a cooperative learning curriculum known as Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC), which was especially adapted for use in bilingual classrooms by language minority students. The analysis of interaction reveals that under supportive social circumstances, children are very active in probing and questioning their own knowledge and they rely on their shared expertise to attain instructional goals and supplemental goals that are related to their own expertise and concerns. The report supports the importance of promoting learning as a constructive process wherein students actively develop new knowledge through manipulation and questioning of their existing knowledge

Duran, R. P., & Szymanski, M. H. (1994). Improving language arts assessment of language minority students in cooperative learning settings. Los Angeles: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 379 295

*** Ensuring that new forms of assessment are fair and valid for language minority students is essential for research on assessing the performance of Latino language minority elementary school students engaged in a cooperative learning language arts curriculum in Spanish and English. Strategies for developing performance assessments are described, and results from a preliminary study implementing these strategies as part of the curriculum for 39 bilingual and monolingual third graders are presented. The research shows how the design of individualized performance assessments might be devised based on ethnographic observation of the children's interaction and goals for cooperative learning established by the teacher. How analysis of children's interaction in cooperative learning can show "in situ" classroom assessments among the children that help validate interpretation of performance is also described. Three appendixes contain study questions, charts of change, and transcript conventions.

Dwyer, E.,  & Heller-Murphy, A. (1996). Japanese learners in speaking classes. Edinburgh Working Papers in Applied Linguistics, 7, 46-54.

This project was undertaken to investigate possible causes of and solutions to the reticence of many of the Japanese students attending General English courses at the Institute for Applied Language Studies of the University of Edinburgh. The issue was considered important because of the suspected effect of this reticence not only on the rate of learning and improvement of the Japanese students themselves, but also on the dynamics of the multi-national classes which they attend. Information was gathered in extensive guided interviews over two years. Results suggest that certain socio-cultural factors are significant causes of reticence, and that – possibly as a result of these factors – activities involving an element of duty to others may encourage Japanese learners to speak. We also speculate, however, that problems may be over-estimated as a result of teachers’ anxiety about their role.

Dycus, D. (1996, February). Making jigsaw activities using newspaper articles. Internet TESL Journal, 2(2). http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/

* This article offers an alternative way to use newspaper articles and other texts in reading and conversation classes. In the author's use of jigsaw, each student receives only a portion of the text, which has been divided into 3 or 4 portions. Students read their portion and work with other students who have the same portion to: understand their portion, develop and practice a way of explaining it to others in their own words, and write two questions about their portion. Then, students form new groups in which each member has learned a different portion. Students explain their portion to their new groupmates, ask them the questions they had written about their portion, work as a group to write a brief summary of the entire article, and share their summary with the rest of the class. Later, the teacher distributes the complete article to all students, followed by whole class discussion of the article. The author reports that the large majority of students favor this technique. More details and student handouts are included in the article.

Edge, J. (1992). Cooperative development: Professional self-development through collaboration with colleagues. London: Longman.

* This book is written to provide guidance for language teachers intent on professional self-development. The author stresses that "Self-development needs other people: colleagues and students. by cooperating with others, we can come to understand better own experiences and opinions. We can also enrich them with the understandings and experiences of others". The book contains activities that guide users through a process of attending, reflecting, focusing, discovering, toward the goal of action, which includes goal-setting, trialling, and planning. The activities are designed to be done with other teachers or, at the very least, to be discussed with others afterwards.

Edge, J. (1993). Essentials of English language teaching. Harlow, Essex: Longman. 

* This book provides an introductory overview of L2 English teaching. As on element of this general book, a rationale is provided for the use of group activities. Numerous examples of such activities are given and discussed. Additionally, issues in the use of groups are explored, e.g., students speaking in their L1.

Ehrman, M. E., & Dornyei, Z. (1998). Interpersonal dynamics in second language education: The visible and invisible classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

* This book synthesizes the diverse aspects of interpersonal and group
psychology and explores the conscious and unconscious processes that affect
second language teaching and learning. Drawing on humanistic, social, and
clinical psychology, it addresses unconscious communication among people,
group development, class climate, psychological characteristics of effective
classroom groups, leadership roles, interpersonal attraction and conflicts, and the relationship of these to learner autonomy and collaborative learning. The book examines the contributions of the mental health branches of counselling and clinical psychology to our understanding of how teachers and learners interact with each other to make second language learning more or less effective. The book also shows how learning can be facilitated by appropriate use of interpersonal dynamics.

El-Koumy, A. S. A. (1997). Review of recent studies dealing with techniques for classroom interaction. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 415 688

*** Theory and research on techniques for second language classrooms are
reviewed in five areas: the scaffolding technique; questioning techniques; cooperative learning; techniques for promoting student interaction with text (reading instruction); and error correction. It is concluded that: (1) while there is some conflicting evidence, the majority of studies reviewed support the notion that reciprocal teaching improves reading and listening skills and fosters positive student attitudes toward reading; (2) studies of questioning show that teacher questions promote classroom interaction when open-ended, challenging, and interpretational, increasing teacher wait time after questions improves the quality and quantity of interaction, teacher encouragement and immediacy increase student questions, and the number of student questions in student/student interaction is much greater than in teacher/student interaction; (3) allowing students to interact freely in cooperative learning without close monitoring improves language skills; (4) heterogeneous grouping promotes interaction of low-ability students; (5) task differences influences interaction among group members; (6) interaction with prior knowledge and student-generated questions improve reading comprehension; and (7) error correction, even computer-generated, improves learning.

Ellis, R. (1999). Learning a second language through interaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

This book examines different theoretical perspectives on the role that interaction plays in second language acquisition. The principal perspectives are those afforded by the Interaction Hypothesis, Socio-Cultural Theory and the Levels of Processing model. Interaction is, therefore, defined broadly; it is seen as involving both intermental and intramental activity. The theoretical perspectives are explored empirically in a series of studies which investigate the relationship between aspects of interaction and second language acquisition. A number of these studies consider the effects of interaction on the acquisition of vocabulary (word meanings) by both adult and child L2 learners. In addition, the effects of language aptitude on input processing are considered. Further studies consider the contribution that interaction makes to the acquisition of grammatical knowledge. These studies provide clear evidence that social and intermental interaction are major forces in the acquisition of an L2. Finally, the book considers a number of pedagogic specifications. In particular, the importance of discourse control as a means of learners’ obtaining the quality of interaction likely to foster acquisition is discussed.

Eyring, J. L. (1997). Is project work worth it? ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 407 838

*** A study investigated the utility of project work in university-level English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction. Projects are defined as assignments that incorporate student input, with content deriving from real second language use through extensive contact with either native speakers or native texts, integrating language skills, and extending over several weeks or more. Three distinguishing features of the approach were a negotiated syllabus, extended research of a single topic, and collaborative assessment. One summer ESL course was conducted using project work, and two conventional ESL classes provided comparison groups. Data were gathered through classroom observation, researcher-student interaction, and student surveys. Results suggest that despite extensive class time devoted to student-centered, project-related activities, neither teachers nor students were fully satisfied with the experience. Anticipated group solidarity and empathy were not experienced. Female students were most responsive to the project approach. Problems of focus were observed, somewhat more in the project group than comparison groups. While the project group was more satisfied than comparison groups, goals accomplished were mostly non-academic: e.g., having a lighter workload. Appended materials include notes on methodology, student questionnaires, a course description, and support materials.

Farrell, T. S. C. (1998). Communicating with colleagues of a different culture. In J. C. Richards (Ed.). Teaching in action: Case studies from second language classrooms (pp. 125-128). Alexandria, VA: TESOL.

**** This paper discusses the situation in a university second language programme in which the programme director attempted to involve the 25 teachers in improving the programme. Various less-than-successful attempts are described. What seemed to work best was a voluntary approach that resulted in five of the teachers meeting regularly to improve their teaching. It is emphasized that teacher development will not be successful unless it has some bottom-up features.

Farrell, T. S. C. (1998). Critical friendship in ELT. Prospect: The Australia TESOL Journal, 13(2), 78-88.

Reflective practice is becoming an important component in ESL/EFL teacher education programs worldwide. Reflection in teaching generally refers to teachers subjecting their beliefs and practices of teaching to a critical analysis. One way to promote reflective practice for experienced EFL teachers is to form critical friendships. Critical friendship encourages talking with, questioning, and even confronting the trusted other. This paper examines one such critical friendship between two Caucasian EFL teachers in Korea over a 16-week period. Specifically, the study sought to investigate in what ways critical friendship promotes teacher development and change. The discussions were audio-taped and coded according to the topics talked about. Results showed that: 1) the teacher talked about his personal theories of teaching, and the problems he faced in his teaching; 2) the teacher initially resisted looking deeply at his teaching and did not make any observable changes in his teaching behavior. Implications for the use of critical friendships as a means to promote teacher development are discussed.

Farrell, T. S. C. (1999a). Reflective practice in a teacher development group. System, 27(2), 157-172. 

Reflective practice is becoming a dominant paradigm in ESL/EFL teacher education programs worldwide. One way to promote reflective practice for EFL teachers is the formation of teacher development groups. This study sought to investigate in what ways regular group discussion promotes reflective thinking. The study focused on three experienced EFL teachers in Korea who came together in weekly meetings to reflect on their work. The study examined: 1) what the teachers talked about in the group discussions; 2) whether the level of reflection was descriptive or critical, and 3) does this reflection develop over time? The group discussions were audio-taped and coded according to the topics they talked about, and these topics served as a measure of critical reflectivity. Results showed that: 1) the teachers talked about their personal theories of teaching and the problems faced in their teaching; 2) all three teachers were reflective, to a certain extent, in their orientation to teaching, although they varied in their degree of reflectivity in each or all of the categories. Also, two of the participants reported that they perceived the whole experience as being empowering. Implications for the use of teacher development groups as a means to promote critical reflection for ESL/EFL teachers are discussed.

Farrell, T. S. C. (1999b). Reflective teaching: A case study. Asian Journal of English Teaching, 9, 105-114. 

Recently the concept of reflective teaching has been considered as a desirable practice among teachers. Reflective teaching refers to teachers subjecting their beliefs and practices to analysis. However, there does not seem to be a clear understanding as to exactly what can be accomplished by reflective teaching, especially by practicing teachers. After defining reflective teaching, this paper explores one approach to promote reflective practice that includes a combination of discussions, classroom observations by a trusted other, and journal writing. The paper reports on a case study of a reflective experience where an experienced teacher of English met with a colleague regularly to reflect on the former’s teaching. The paper reports on the process of reflection, how it was set up, what aided reflection and the problems that were encountered. Implications for the professional development of teachers of English are also discussed.

Farrell, T. S. C. (1999c). Teachers talking about teaching: Creating conditions for reflection. TESL-EJ, 4(2) http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/tesl-ej/ej14/a1.html.

Reflective teaching refers to teachers subjecting their beliefs and practices of teaching to a critical analysis. One way to promote reflective practice is for teachers to form teacher development groups. This paper reports on one such teacher development group in Korea. The focus of the report is the role co-operative talk played during group meetings in assisting four English as foreign language (EFL) teachers to reflect on their professional practice. Results show that interaction in the group was complex and that there were two interactional phases in the process. Interaction in Phase I was mostly between the group organizer (who was also one of the participants) and the three other participants. However, Phase II was represented by more sustained interaction among all four participants. Some of the outcomes of the study discussed include the use of silence and choice of topic, the type of talk and the role of the leader in both phases. It is hoped that the results of this study can be used as a guide for other groups of EFL teachers who come together to reflect on their work.

Fassler, R. (1998). "Let's do it again!" Peer collaboration in an ESL kindergarten. Language Arts, 75, 202-10. 

*** Illustrates how the use of picture books in an English-as-a-second-language kindergarten supports language development. Describes individual children's interactions with picture books, and analyzes the degree and nature of peer collaboration. Discusses the classroom context, observes the focal children reading, and describes how the teacher drew on a range of personal and peer resources.

Fitz-Gibbon, C. I., & Reay, D. G. (1982). Peer-tutoring: Brightening up FL teaching in an urban comprehensive school. British Journal of Language Teaching 20(1), 39-44.

* Based on the results of a pilot cross-age tutoring project using observations, achievement tests, and attitude measures, this article suggests that peer tutoring in foreign languages may have a great deal to offer, especially in difficult situations facing teachers in depressed urban areas. Through peer tutoring students may persevere with language studies and reach higher standards, since the methods adopted involve experiences that they enjoy.  The article suggests that teachers have a significant role to play in organizing tutoring projects.

Fitzgibbon, L. (2001). Cooperative learning in the EFL Context. KOTESOL: The English Connection 5(5), 1, 6-8. Retrieved October 31, 2003, from 
http://www.kotesol.org/pubs/tec/tec_pdf/tec_0109.pdf

* This article provides background on cooperative learning and explores links between CL and foreign language instruction. The bulk of the article describes the author’s initial uses of CL with English as a Foreign Language students at a university in Korea. Of particular note is the manner in which CL was introduced by students learning vocabulary and collaborative skills related to group activities.  

Flowerdew, L. (1998). A cultural perspective on group work. ELT Journal, 52, 323-329.

Many practitioners have emphasized the value of group work in discussions of methodological issues in ELT. However, very few have considered it from a cultural perspective. This article advocates the use of group work for a group of learners from a Chinese cultural background, where, to some extent, Confucian values still prevail. It is argued that, in certain teaching situations, group work is an appropriate methodological tool for such learners, given that it is sensitive to the three Confucian values: co-operation, the concept of ‘face’, and self-effacement. This article is also of relevance to those teaching other nationalities, since the underlying pedagogic philosophy of much ELT material is to foster collaborative learning strategies and create a non-stressful learning environment for the student - both of which can be considered as extensions of the Confucian values of co-operation and the concept of ‘face’.

Fong, S., Ho, L., Chew, L. S., Wong, K. W. Wee, S., & Jacobs, G. M. (2000). Introducing cooperative learning to primary 1 and 2 pupils. Teaching English Language & Literature, 16(1), 3-8.

* This article describes how a group of primary school teachers joined a Learning Circle (LC) to learn more about using cooperative learning strategies to teach lower primary pupils. An LC is a group of teachers who come together for self-directed professional development. The article explains how the teachers prepared their students to work together in groups, the cooperative learning strategies that were used, the collaborative skills that were taught, and how evaluation was done. Samples are provided. The authors also discuss the processes that went on amongst themselves inside their LC.

Ford, E. (1991). Criteria for developing an observation scheme for cooperative language learning. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 48, 45-62.

Second language theorists such as McGroarty (1988) and Kagan (1986) believe that cooperative language will increase students’ opportunities to learn a second language. There have been, however, few studies that systematically observe the use of cooperative learning in L2 classes. This paper develops an observation scheme researchers or teachers can use to observe cooperative learning in core French programs.

Foster, P. (1998). A classroom perspective on the negotiation of meaning. Applied Linguistics, 19, 1-23.

It is widely argued that engaging in communicative language tasks helps a learner develop in an L2 in several ways. Tasks provide an opportunity not only to produce the target language, but also, through conversational adjustments, to manipulate and modify it. Checking and clarifying problem utterances (‘negotiating for meaning’) ensures that task participants receive comprehensible input and generate comprehensible output, both of which have been claimed as crucial to second language acquisition (SLA). Task type is considered significant, with those tasks requiring an exchange of information most likely to prompt negotiations for meaning. This paper reports a classroom observation of the language produced by intermediate EFL students engaged in required and optional information exchange tasks in both dyads and small groups. The results show no clear overall effect for tasks type or grouping, though there was a discernible trend for dyads doing a two-way task to produce more negotiated interaction. However, it was noticeable that many students in the small groups did not speak at all, many more in both dyads and small groups did not initiate any negotiated interaction, and very few students in either setting produced any modified utterances. Such positive results as were obtained seemed to be due to the disproportionate influence of a small number of the students, and so were not typical of the group as a whole. The setting of the study within a classroom, as opposed to a venue especially arranged for data collecting, is suggested as a significant variable, with important implications for group work research methodology. It is also suggested, contrary to much SLA theorizing, that ‘negotiating for meaning’ is not a strategy that language learners are predisposed to employ when they encounter gaps in their understanding.

Foster, P., & Skehan, P. (1999). The influence of source of planning and focus of planning on task-based performance. Language Teaching Research, 3, 215-247.

Recent research (Crookes, 1989: Foster and Skehan, 1996) has focused on the role of planning when tasks are used within language instruction. These studies have indicated that pre-task planning can have beneficial effects upon the nature of task performance, consistently leading to greater fluency and complexity and, less dependably, greater accuracy. The present study examines different sources of planning (teacher-led, solitary, group-based) as well as different foci for planning (towards language or towards content). Using a decision-making task (a ‘balloon debate’), data was collected using a 2x2 research design contracting source of planning (teacher-led, group) and focus of planning (language vs content). In addition, to ensure comparability with previous research, solitary planning and control groups were also used. Results indicate a number of statistically significant effects. The teacher-fronted condition generated significant accuracy effects, while the solitary planning condition had greater influence on complexity, fluency and turn length. Group-based planning did not lead to performance significantly different from the control group. Finally, there was little effect on performance as a result of the language vs content planning condition. The results are discussed in relation to how teachers may more effectively make pedagogic decisions on task implementation conditions linked to selective pedagogic goals.

Foster, T. L. (1999). Cooperative learning as a key to language acquisition and cultural understanding in bilingual cross-cultural elementary classrooms. TESOL Matters, 9(4), 17.

* This article advocates the use of cooperative learning for its effectiveness in boosting students’ self-image, helping them acquire an L2, and promoting understanding and acceptance of classmates from other cultures. The author summarizes her doctoral dissertation in which she investigated the use of cooperative learning in a bilingual/bicultural U.S. first grade classroom.  The teacher used a step-by-step process to foster collaborative skills and bilingual language development among students. One method she used was to first let students work in mostly homogeneous language groups before moving to groups formed by mixing students with different L1s. With this gradual, well-planned approach, a cooperative environment was created in which eventually when allowed to choose their own partners students often selected classmates from a different linguistic group.

Fotos, S. (1993). Consciousness raising and noticing through focus on form: Grammar task performance versus formal instruction. Applied Linguistics, 14, 385-407.

The view that formal instruction is important for raising learner consciousness of grammatical structures has become prominent recently. One component of this view is the critical role in language processing assigned to noticing the target structures in subsequent communicative input. The research presented here investigates the amount of learner noticing produced by two types of grammar consciousness-raising treatments designed to develop formal knowledge of problematical grammar structures: teacher-fronted grammar lessons and interactive, grammar problem-solving tasks. The frequencies of noticing the target structure in communicative input one and two weeks after the grammar consciousness-raising treatments are compared with the noticing frequencies of a control group which was not exposed to any type of grammar consciousness-raising activity. The results indicate that task performance was as effective as formal instruction in the promotion of subsequent significant amounts of noticing, as compared with the noticing produced by the control group. It is demonstrated that a number of learners who developed knowledge about grammar structures went on to notice those structures in communicative input after their consciousness had been raised.

Fotos, S. (1994). Integrating grammar instruction and communicative language use through grammar consciousness-raising tasks. TESOL Quarterly, 28, 323-351.

Grammar consciousness-raising tasks combine the development of knowledge about problematic L2 grammatical features with the provision for meaning-focused use of the target language. However, for this task type to be pedagogically useful in ESL/EFL classrooms, it must be shown that task performance is as effective as a teacher-fronted grammar lesson in promoting gains in knowledge of the target structure and is comparable to performance of regular communicative tasks in terms of opportunities for communicative language exchange. This article reports an investigation of three grammar consciousness-raising tasks dealing with word order. The results indicate that the tasks successfully promoted both proficiency gains and L2 negotiated interaction in the participants, with negotiation quantity being determined by the combination of task features present rather than by the nature of the task content. Thus, grammar consciousness-raising tasks can be recommended as one way to integrate formal instruction within a communicative framework.

Fotos, S. (1998). Shifting the focus from forms to form in the EFL classroom. ELT Journal, 52, 301-307.

This article examines arguments for ‘focus on form’, a term referring to the incorporation of implicit grammar instruction within communicative ESL lessons, and suggests ways to adapt this approach to EFL settings where grammar instruction has never left the classroom. In such contexts a focus-on-form approach can provide an acceptable rationale for including communicative language use within traditional grammar-based instruction. Several types of form-focused EFL activities are described, including two task-based approaches designed for large classes.

Fotos, S., & Ellis, R. (1991). Communicating about grammar: A task-based approach. TESOL Quarterly, 25, 605-628.

Providing learners with grammar problems they must solve interactively integrates grammar instruction with opportunities for meaningful communication. This article reports the results of an exploratory study of the use of a communicative, grammar-based task in the college EFL classroom. The two research questions addressed are whether the task successfully promoted L2 linguistic knowledge of a specific grammar point and whether it produced the kind of negotiated interaction which has been assumed to facilitate L2 acquisition. The limited results of this investigation suggest that the grammar task encouraged communication about grammar and enabled EFL learners to increase their knowledge of a difficult L2 rule.

Fradd, S. H., & Bermudez, A. B. (1991). A process for meeting the instructional needs of handicapped language minority students.  Teacher Education and Special Education, 14(1), 19-24.

***** A field-tested instruction and assessment model is described that fosters development of second-language skills by integrating writing models with listening, speaking, reading, and problem solving. The model draws upon elements of process-oriented instruction, whole language learning, cooperative learning, cognitive mapping, and reading and writing across the curriculum. (Author/PB) (ERIC) 

Frawley, W., &  Lantolf, J. P. (1985). Second language discourse: A Vygotskian perspective. Applied Linguistics, 6, 19-44.

The purpose of this paper is to present an explanation of second language discourse in terms of the claims of Vygotskyan psycholinguistics. We have turned to Vygotsky (1962, 1978), his colleagues (e.g. Leontiev 1983), and his successors (Luria 1976; Wertsch, 1978, 1979a and 1979b, 1980a and 1980b) for our theoretical vocabulary, because Soviet psycholinguistics provides clear and consistent explanations of second language discourse from the point of view of knowledge processes, or, better, knowing processes, given the bent toward knowledge as activity in Soviet theory (see e.g. Wertsch 1979a). Furthermore, the dynamic model offered by Vygotskyan psycholinguistics necessitates the elimination of the distinction between correctly and incorrectly produced forms since, in this model, all forms in discourse must be viewed as markers of how speakers relate to the task, rather than as markers of their general linguistic competence. That is, all verbal forms in discourse (affective markers and hesitation phenomena, as well as linguistic structure) are both revelatory and relevant. By the first term, we mean that all forms produced by speakers are indicative of their cognitive states in the task; by the second term, we mean that all forms produced by speakers are germane to their attempts to complete the task as presented. In what follows, we first offer a brief outline of some basic concepts of Vygotskyan psycholinguistics and then proceed to analyse second language discourse in light of these concepts. Finally, we remark on the general utility of Soviet psycholinguistics in second language research.

Freeman, D. (1989). Teacher training, development, and decision making: A model of teaching and related strategies for language teacher education. TESOL Quarterly, 32, 27-45.

Language teacher education has become fragmented; too often, its efforts focus on ancillary areas such as applied linguistics, methodology, or language acquisition while overlooking the core – teaching itself. Emphasis on these areas, although it may create a pedagogical foundation for the teacher-in-preparation, skirts the central issue of learning to teach. This article refocuses language teacher education on teaching itself by proposing two schemata; (a) a descriptive model that defines teaching as a decision-making process based on the categories of knowledge, skills, attitude, and awareness and (b) a related framework of two educating strategies – training and development – to teach teaching.

Freeman, D. E., & Freeman, Y. S. (1994). Between worlds: Access to second language acquisition. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

* The book sets out to provide an overview of theory and practice in second language education for the benefit of teachers, other school personnel, and community members involved with students in ESL, bilingual, and in mainstream classes with some L2 students. The goal is to help the book's readers facilitate these students’ path toward language acquisition and content area understanding. Distinctive features of the book include its emphasis on whole language approaches to pedagogy and its lengthy examination of issues out the school context, such as community attitudes, culture, value conflicts, and parental influence. Learning via collaboration is stressed not only for students but also for the teachers and others who help students learn.

Freeman, R. (1993). The importance of participant role in cooperative learning. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 9, 1-20. 

*** A way in which second language teachers can use analysis of student discourse to understand how small group interaction defines students' roles relative to each other is demonstrated in a case study. The study compared the participant role of a 21-year-old Japanese male student in an intensive English second language program in two different student pairs. In one pair, the subject did not participate fully, showed frustration, and allowed the other participant to determine the dynamics of the interaction. In the second pair, the subject negotiated turn-taking with his partner and began to perceive himself as a legitimate participant in the classroom culture. It is concluded that the interaction between students can either limit or enhance students' opportunities to participate and negotiate meaning, and the teacher is in a position to intervene to change the limiting organization of the pair or group. In addition, it is proposed that when the teacher can identify strategies that students are using to successfully negotiate meaning, she or he can help all students develop such strategies by making them explicit.

Gaies, S. J. (1985). Peer involvement in language learning. Orlando, FL and Washington, DC: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich and Center for Applied Linguistics. 

* This book begins with a discussion of communicative second language teaching and its implications for the changing roles of teachers and students. Next, intraclass peer interaction is discussed. Then, the author considers four types of cross-level peer involvement in both second and foreign language contexts (same-age, intergrade, interschool, and reciprocal), how to set up such programs, and their pedagogic and socio-affective benefits. The last section on the book is a summary of research related to peer involvement in language learning.

Garcia Mayo, M. P., & Pica, T. (2000). L2 learner interaction in a foreign language setting: Are learning needs addressed? International Review of Applied Linguistics, 38, 35-58.

The following study was undertaken to address questions and concerns about the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom as an environment that promotes input, feedback and the production of output for second language (L2) learning. In order to address these concerns, the interaction of seven dyads of EFL learners was compared with that of seven dyads of EFL learners and English NSs on two communication tasks. The comparison revealed that the learner-learner dyads were not significantly different from the learner-NS dyads with respect to their contribution of input, feedback and output as they participated in the communication tasks. Results of the study supported the EFL environment as a learning environment; however, linguistic inaccuracies on learners’ part suggested that in addition to communicative activities, more targeted, grammar-oriented approaches may also be in order.
	
Gass, S. M., & Varonis, E. M. (1985). Task variation and non-native/non-native negotiation of meaning. In S. M. Gass & C. G. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 149-161). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

* This chapter reports a study that examined negotiation for meaning in one-way and two-way tasks involving nine NNS-NNS (non-native speaker) dyads. The researchers found that: (a) interlocutors used more indications--a hearer's signal that understanding has not been completed--of 'unaccepted input' when the interaction was one-way; (b) the role of the interlocutor is important. The recipients of information used more indications of unaccepted input than the givers of the information. The authors indicate that a NNS can make input comprehensible by showing that it has not been accepted, and such signals facilitate acquisition since they set the stage for making unaccepted input comprehensible.

Gass, S., & Varonis, E. (1986). Sex differences in nonnative speaker-nonnative
speaker interactions. In R. R. Day (Ed.) Talking to learn: Conversation in
second language acquisition (pp. 327-351). Boston: Newbury House.

* This study investigates sex differences in NNS/NNS interactions between ESL
learners of a single language background. The database for the study consists of 30 taped conversations of 10 NNS/NNS dyads. All subjects were native Japanese adults studying in an intensive language program at the English Language Institute of the University of Michigan. Of the 10 dyads, four were male/female pairs, three were male/male pairs, and three were female/female pairs. Each dyad participated in a conversation task and two picture-description tasks. Each of the tasks was tape-recorded and the first 10 minutes of each task was transcribed. The results were analyzed according to four categories: (1) negotiation of meaning; (2) topics; (3) dominance; and (4) interpersonal phenomena. The findings of the study reveal differences in the ways men and women interact in conversation in same-sex and opposite-sex dyads. While the men appeared to dominate in conversations with women in ways that provided opportunities for producing comprehensible output, women initiated more meaning negotiations than men in mixed-sex dyads. The results also show that male/male pairs exhibit more involvement in the conversation itself, and it is argued that this plays an important role in obtaining comprehensible input.

Gass, S. M., & Varonis, E. M. (1994). Input, interaction, and second language production. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 16, 283-302.

The role of conversational interactions in the development of a second language has been central in the recent second language acquisition literature. While a great deal is now known about the way in which nonnative speakers interact with native speakers and other nonnative speakers, little is known about the lasting effects of these interactions on a nonnative’s linguistic development. This paper specifically investigates the relationship among input interaction, and second language production. Through data from native-nonnative speaker interactions in a direction-giving task, we show that both modified input and interaction affect task performance. However, only interaction has an effect on subsequent task performance.

Gee, R. W. (1996). Reading/writing workshops for the ESL classroom. TESOL Journal, 5(3), 4-6. 

*** Describes the role of reading/writing workshops for second-language classrooms as a flexible way to organize a class for literary instruction. In this environment, students can choose among integrated social activities involving reading, writing, speaking and listening without feeling pressure to exhibit a polished performance every time.

Gee, R. W. (1999). Encouraging ESL students to read. TESOL Journal, 8(1), 3-7.

*  This article presents ideas for encouraging a love of reading among ESL students at elementary and middle school level. The author begins by emphasizing the crucial nature of affective variables in reading, not only in determining attitude toward reading but also for increasing comprehension. In addition to attitude, these affective variables include motivation, beliefs, perceived task control, and perceived competence. Suggestions for enhancing affect include: open tasks in which students have opportunities for choice, challenge, control in organizing and planning, collaboration, connecting to the world beyond the classroom, understanding of why they are doing the task, and self-evaluation; ways of making easy books acceptable and difficult books accessible; allowing students to choose what they read and helping them to learn how to choose wisely; and a low-risk environment in which teachers act as facilitators and role models rather than evaluators, classmates are supportive, and time and space are provided for students to read and to share with one another about their reading.

Ghaith, G. M. (2004). Correlates of the implementation of the STAD cooperative learning method in the EFL classroom. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 7(4), 279-294.

Abstract: This study investigates the connection between teachers' experience, beliefs concerning the acquisition of knowledge, behavioural intentions to implement instructional innovations and their use of the Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD) cooperative learning (CL) method in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). Fifty-five EFL teachers from diverse school backgrounds in Lebanon participated in the study. The participants completed a demographic questionnaire and another Likert-type questionnaire that measured the variables under consideration. The results indicated that teachers' interpretive beliefs, attitudes towards STAD, subjective norms, and perceived degree of behavioural control play a significant role in the use of STAD in EFL teaching. Conversely, the results revealed that teachers' transmissive beliefs and experience did not influence their use of STAD in their instruction.

Ghaith, G. [Email: gghaith@aub.edu.lb] (2001). Learners’ perceptions of their STAD cooperative experience. System, 29, 289-301.

This article reports a study of the perceptions of the STAD cooperative learning experience of a group of EFL learners who studied language rules and mechanics according to the dynamics of the STAD method. The results revealed that the learners were generally positive about their CL experience and willing to recommend STAD as a teaching method in other classes. Furthermore, the results indicated that the males were clearer about the STAD procedure than the females and that they had learned more than the latter. Likewise, the high achievers felt that they had contributed to the learning of others more than their low-achieving counterparts.

Ghaith, G. M. [Email: gghaith@aub.edu.lb] (2002a). The relationship between cooperative learning, perception of social support and academic achievement. System, 30, 263-273.

This article reports on an investigation into the relationship between cooperative learning (CL), perceptions of classroom social support, feelings of alienation from school, and the academic achievement of university-bound learners of English as a foreign language. The results revealed that CL was positively related to academic achievement, and to the degrees of academic and personal support provided by teacher and peers, but not related to learners’ feeling of alienation from school. 

Ghaith, G. M. [Email: gghaith@aub.edu.lb] (2002b). Using cooperative learning to facilitate alternative assessment. English Teaching Forum, 40(3), 26-31. 

* This article shows how cooperative learning can be used to facilitate alternative assessment in the second or foreign language classroom. It presents seven examples of cooperative assessments based on the assumption that language teaching involves instructional objectives in the linguistic and paralinguistic domains and that meeting these objectives requires continuous and performance-based assessment.

Ghaith, G. M. (2003a). Effects of the Learning Together model of cooperative learning on English as a Foreign Language reading achievement, academic self-esteem, and feelings of school alienation. Bilingual Research Journal, 27(3), 451-474. 

This study investigated the effects of the Learning Together cooperative learning model in improving English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading achievement and academic self-esteem and in decreasing feelings of school alienation. Fifty-six Lebanese high school learners of EFL participated in the study, and a pretest-posttest control group experimental design was employed. The results indicated no statistically significant differences between the control and experimental groups on the dependent variables of academic self- esteem and feelings of school alienation. However, the results revealed a statistically significant difference in favor of the experimental group on the variable of EFL reading achievement. The author discusses pedagogical implications and suggests recommendations for further research.

Ghaith, G. M. [gghaith@aub.edu.lb] (2003b). The problems and prospects of using cooperative learning structures in educating teachers of English as a foreign language. Journal of Student Centered Learning, 1, 97-104.

This article describes the aim, preparation, and procedures of five cooperative learning activities for educating teachers of English as a foreign language. The activities integrate content and methodology, motivate student teachers, and maximize communication, reinforcement, and cognitive work. The prospects and problems of implementation are documented and solutions are suggested.

Ghaith, G. M. [Email: gghaith@aub.edu.lb] (2003c). The relationship between forms of instruction, achievement and perceptions of classroom climate. Educational Research, 45(1), 83-93. 

This study examined the relationship between cooperative, individualistic and competitive forms of instruction, achievement in English as a foreign language (EFL) and perceptions of classroom climate. A total of 135 university-bound learners of EFL participated in the study. The participants completed a modified version of the classroom life script and their responses were correlated with achievement. In addition, the participants were divided into high and low cooperation groups and were compared across the variables of achievement and selected aspects of class climate. While the results indicated that cooperative learning is positively correlated with learners’ perceptions of fairness of grading, class cohesion and social support, individualistic and competitive instruction were found to be unrelated to any of the aspects of class climate under study. Likewise, the results revealed certain statistically significant differences between the low and high cooperation groups in favour of the latter in their achievement and perceptions of fairness of grading, class cohesion and social support. The results are discussed in light of previous research and recommendations for further research are suggested.

Ghaith, G. M., [Email: gghaith@aub.edu.lb] & Abd El- Malak M. (2004). Effect of Jigsaw II on EFL reading comprehension. Educational Research and Evaluation 10(2), 105-115.

The present study examines the effect of the cooperative Jigsaw II method on improving literal and higher-order reading comprehension in English as a foreign language (EFL). Forty-eight students of EFL participated in the study, and a pretest – posttest control group experimental design was employed. The results indicated no statistically significant differences between the control and experimental group on the dependent variables of overall reading comprehension and literal comprehension. However, the results revealed a statistically significant difference in favor of the experimental group on the variable of higher-order comprehension. Pedagogical implications are discussed and recommendations for further research are suggested.

Ghaith, G. M., [Email: gghaith@aub.edu.lb] & Bouzeineddine, A. (2003). Relationship between reading attitudes, achievement, and learners’ perceptions of their Jigsaw II cooperative learning experience. Reading Psychology 24, 105-121.

This study investigated the relationship between reading attitudes, achievement, and learners’ perceptions of their Jigsaw II cooperative learning (CL) experience. One hundred eleven (n=111, eight grade students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) enrolled in four sections in two branches of a middle school in Lebanon participated in the study. The participants completed two questionnaires and a semantic differential scale that assessed their reading attitudes and perception of their Jigsaw II CL experience. In addition, the participants took a pretest and a posttest specifically designed for the purpose of the study. Descriptive statistics and correlation coefficients were computed and two multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) tests were conducted in order to address the questions raised in the study. Results indicated that reading attitudes and reading achievement were positively internally related, but not related to the perception of the Jigsaw II cooperative experience. Furthermore, the results revealed certain statistically significant differences between high and low achievers and between males and females across the variables of reading attitudes, achievement, and perception of the Jigsaw II cooperative experience. The results are discussed in light of previous research findings and with reference to the cultural context of the present study.

Ghaith, G. M., & Shaaban, K. A. (1995a). Cooperative learning and in-service teacher training: A suggested approach. TESL Reporter, 28(1), 25-31.

* This article describes an approach used in Lebanon to provide in-service education for ESL/EFL teachers on cooperative learning and via cooperative learning. The approach emphasizes discussion, brainstorming, and experiential learning, rather than didactic lecturing. Five stages are followed: needs assessment, exposure/observation, application/coaching, evaluation, and follow-up. Each of these stages is described, e.g., in the evaluation stage, teachers assess what they have gained from the workshop via panel discussions, poster sessions, journals of reflective writing, questionnaires, and interviews.

Ghaith, G. M., & Shaaban, K. A. (1995b). Peace education in the ESL/EFL classroom: A framework for curriculum and instruction. TESL Reporter, 27(2), 55-62.

* The authors begin by arguing that peace education should be infused into all instruction and state that second and foreign language education offers many possibilities for such infusion. Next, the authors present a framework for promoting peace education that includes five inter-related main dimensions: themes, skills, methods, materials, and assessment. Among the instructional methods highlighted as appropriate for peace education is cooperative learning.

Ghaith, G., & Yaghi, H. (1997). Relationships among experience, teacher efficacy, and attitudes toward the implementation of instructional innovation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 13, 451-458.

This article reports a study undertaken to investigate the relationships among teachers experience, efficacy, and attitudes toward the implementation of instructional innovation. Data were gathered through three questionnaires administered to 25 teachers immediately following a four-day staff development program on cooperative learning. Results showed that experience was negatively correlated, personal teaching efficacy positively correlated, and general teaching efficacy no correlated with teachers' attitudes toward implementing new instructional practices. Implications for instruction improvement and future research are discussed.

Ghaith, G. M., & Yaghi, H. M. (1998). Effect of cooperative learning on the acquisition of second language rules and mechanics. System, 26, 223-234.

This article reports the results of an experimental investigation of the effect of cooperative learning on the acquisition of English as a second language (ESL) rules and mechanics. Four fourth-grade, four fifth-grade, and four sixth-grade intact classes (n=318 students) were randomly assigned to experimental and control conditions. The experimental classes received instruction according to the cooperative learning method of Student Teams Achievement Divisions, whereas the control classes followed an individualistic instructional approach based on exercises in their regular textbooks. Students were pre-tested and post-tested on their knowledge of ESL rules and mechanics. Results of a two-way analysis of covariance indicated that here was no overall significant interaction between participants' aptitude and their subsequent linguistic achievement. Similarly, there was no significant difference between the control and experimental groups on the post-tests that measured content covered during the period of investigation. However, low achievers in the experimental classes made more relative gains than their high-achieving counterparts in the same classes though not at the expense of the latter.

Gibson, R. E. (1975). The strip story: A catalyst for communication. TESOL Quarterly, 9, 149-154.

This paper describes a learning procedure which utilizes real communication activities to help students gain communicative abilities. It is an adaptation of the scrambled sentence type of exercise in which each student memories one sentence of a story for which the proper sequence is not known. With each student being the sole source of one piece of information, his sentence, the story is put back together strictly through verbal interaction of the class. Many otherwise difficult-to-teach grammatical items are learned and pronunciation problems overcome surprisingly easily and quickly, without the direct aid of a teacher. The reasons for the success of this technique are discussed along with some of the ways the procedure can be extended to include related skill areas of ESL.

Gilbert, C., Goldstein, S., Jacobs, G. M., & Olsen, J. W-B. (1997). Six questions and 58 answers about using cooperative learning. ThaiTESOL Bulletin, 10(1), 16-24.

* The article provides multiple responses to six questions the authors have frequently heard second language teachers raise about the implementation of cooperative learning (CL). The questions addressed are: How should we respond when students use their native language (L1) while in CL groups? Should we explain the rationale for CL and the procedure for CL techniques to the class in advance? How can CL help students prepare for accuracy-based standardized tests such as the TOEFL? How can we as teachers find the vast amount of preparation time necessary to set up structured CL activities? What can we say to colleagues who want to get started with CL? With what other changes in language teaching methods does CL fit well? Why?

Gonzalez-Edfelt, N. (1990). Oral Interaction and collaboration at the computer: Learning English as a second language with the help of your peers. Computers in the School, 7(1-2), 53-89.

***** Research supports the view that the computer affords an environment which is conducive to the active verbal interaction among students, especially if combined with a cooperative learning structure. This paper reports a study of the nature of this verbal interaction among learners of English. Analysis of the interactions of pairs of students using a simulation found that the students’ interactional strategies and collaborative behavior were affected by the speakers as well as the partner’s English proficiency level and that more proficient participant exhibited greater collaborative behavior than the less proficient partner. Positive features of a computer environment, such as that used in this study, for language learning are identified. (Education Technology Abstracts)

Gooden-Jones, E. M., & Carrasquillo, A. L. (1998). Developing English writing proficiency in Limited English proficient college students through cooperative learning strategies. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 423 668

*** A study followed ten limited-English-proficient (LEP) community college students who were taught English largely using a cooperative learning approach. For four months, the students worked together using brainstorming techniques and collaborative reading and writing tasks. Task emphasis was on development of thinking skills through collaboration in whole group and pair situations. Results indicate that the cooperative learning approach improved the students' English writing skills. Eight passed the College Writing Assessment Test, and all expressed the feeling that they had improved their writing skills and viewed writing as a mode of learning.

Grant, J. (1991). Individual and cooperative completion of cloze. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 341 259

*** Taking a report on the effects of cooperative completion of cloze by Jacobson (1990) as its point of departure, this study used English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students to investigate the potential of the cloze procedure and of group work for learning, including its usefulness as an instructional or self-instructional procedure for language skills. Cloze procedure involves the deletion of words from a passage of text and the evaluation of the responses supplied by the reader in order to fill in those deletions. The study examined the extent to which gains made in group work were internalized and retained or built upon by individual students, and the potential of the cloze procedure, or group/cooperative work, and of repetition/repeated exposure to a problem in promoting learning in the absence of teacher input. Results suggest a very productive, though not always easy to define, role played by the group work in fostering improved performance, at both the group and later individual stages, among the strongest as well as the less able students.

Gray, J. (2000, March). Group work: Using job duties in the classroom. The Language Teacher Online, 24(3) http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/00/mar/sh_gray.html

* This brief article discusses the use of roles to improve the effectiveness of group activities among Japanese students studying English in Japan. Advantages of group activities are proposed. Five roles are described: leader, secretary, time keeper, brainstormer, and co-leader (optional). Rules are given for playing the roles, and a sample scenario is presented.

Greenberg, C. (1997). Teaching pronunciation through problem posing. College ESL, 7, 62-71.

Motivating students to use pronunciation for greater communicative intelligibility is not always an easy task. Methods and materials can be rote, repetitious, and irrelevant to the student’s new culture. This article presents a problem-posing curriculum that integrates a class-generated theme with pronunciation acquisition. The curriculum outlines the six steps needed to generate, develop, and critically analyze a problem relevant to the group, with an example theme entitled ‘homelessness’ provided. Student reactions to their participation in this curriculum suggest the effectiveness of this approach. The approach can be used with a variety of groups and ESL levels.

Griffiths, R. (1991). Personality and second-language learning: Theory, research, and practice. In E. Sadtono (Ed.), Language acquisition and the second/foreign language classroom (pp. 103-135). Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.

*** Personality has largely been ignored or written off as a variable in second language learning. However, it should be considered as an alternative research perspective for four reasons: (1) the writing off of personality variables in second language research has been unjustified, and results from giving credibility to studies based on ill-conceived assumptions; (2) a sufficiently detailed and elaborated theory of personality exists and could be built on profitably; (3) mainstream psychological research indicates variables and interactions that might be investigated in second language classrooms; and (4) such research is likely to be particularly relevant in cross-cultural studies because of distinctive national/racial personality profiles and mental ability profiles, particularly in Asia. Research in the field suggests that    personality may be of potential importance in a number of areas of second language learning and teaching, including general instructional approaches, choice of specific methodology, task-based learning, paired and group work, use of praise and reinforcement, range of classroom stimuli used, and testing.

Guest, M. [Email: michael@post1.miyazaki-med.ac.jp] (2002). Competition and cooperation in the classroom. The ETJ Journal (English Teachers in Japan), 3(2), 25-26.

*  This opinion piece begins with a discussion of the pros and cons of the use of competition in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classrooms. The author’s view is that competition can at times play a useful role in motivating students. Six suggestions are given to overcome possible ill effects of competition: a) keep the focus on learning, rather than on winning or losing; b) do not use competition too often; c) monitor student reaction to competition to gauge whether there are ill effects; d) have rules and promote sportsmanship; e) foster success for less proficient students; and f) do not force students to compete if they do not want to do so.

Gunderson, B., & Johnson, D. W. (1980). Building positive attitudes by using cooperative learning groups. Foreign Language Annals, 13(1), 39-43.

This article describes the teacher’s role in using cooperative learning groups to teach junior high school introductory French classes. It also describes the results of an evaluation of how cooperative learning experiences affect (1) the students’ attitudes toward French, (2) their relationships with peers and the teacher, and (3) the perceived impact of the cooperative learning experiences on their motivation to learn French, the personal benefits they received from the group experiences, and their attitudes toward learning in groups. Cooperative learning experiences promoted positive attitudes among students toward all of these aspects of learning French.

Hadfield, J. (1992). Classroom dynamics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

* This book emerged from the author's experience sending a questionnaire to language schools and state colleges throughout Britain asking L2 teachers about their most frequent teaching problems. The most frequent complaint was "My groups just doesn't gel!". This book offers a wide variety and large number of affective and cognitive activities for addressing various aspects of group dynamics. Among these are: group strengths, individual contributions, getting to know each other, establishing trust and a sense of belonging, encouraging positive feelings, inter-class activities, ensuring participation, assessing goals, coping with crisis, evaluating the group experience, and ending with positive feelings.

Haneda, M. (1997). Second language learning in a 'community of practice': A case study of adult Japanese learners. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 54, 11-27.

This paper examines adult students learning Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) in a university course. It explores the relevance of Lave and Wenger’s (1991) notion of community of practice (COP) in a foreign-language setting. The portfolio project described in this paper was introduced to investigate the forms of interaction that characterized the COP in this multilevel class. Drawing on audiotaped data from student-teacher conferences and the students’ sharing sessions, this paper focuses on the experiences of three students and provides illustrative examples of the way in which the COP was instantiated in the classroom. Although the characteristics of learning in this JFL classroom identified in the data fit Lave and Wenger’s description of a community of practice, the analysis revealed that this notion needs to be extended to account for the significant role of the teacher and of more capable peers in enabling the students to learn in their zones of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978, 1987).

Harmer, J. (1998). How to teach English. Harlow, Essex: Addison Wesley Longman.

* This book is designed for people at the start of their teaching career. It gives examples and explanations of current teaching practice, including the use of group activities, that teachers can put into immediate use. The book begins with general issues about teaching and learning: what makes a good teacher and what makes a good learner. It then examines important aspects of English language teaching, such as the basic concepts of grammar, vocabulary, language use, pronunciation and punctuation, the 'four skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening), classroom management, lesson planning, and exploitation of textbooks. The book also includes descriptions and examples of language teaching methods and a new model of good teaching practice called the ESA (Engage-Study-Activate) model. Common problems in the classroom are discussed, and a Task File of photocopiable tasks is included.

Harris, V., & Noyau, G. (1990). Collaborative learning: Taking the first steps. In I. Gathercole (Ed.), Autonomy in language learning (pp. 55-64). London: Centre for Information on Language Teaching.

* This chapter describes a project that attempted to introduce more group activities and learner autonomy in second language classes in London. A number of implementation issues are discussed: student response to the use of groups, physical organization of groups, formulation of ground rules for group activities, composition of the groups, the impact of ability level and sex on adaptability to group work, ways to monitor individual students’ progress, and how to make group work more communicative and collaborative. Examples of group tasks are provided.
 
Hashimoto, R., & Nyikos, M. (1997). Constructivist theory applied to collaborative learning in teacher education: In search of ZPD. Modern Language Journal, 81(4), 506-517.

Few studies look critically at the processes in a teacher education course in which students are asked to practice the very teaching approach they study. Using a constructivist framework, this article examines written statements from students working collaboratively in a graduate-level class on cooperative learning. The study asks to what extent constructivist theory; particularly the concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD), explains interaction that occurred spontaneously during group work on the final project. Content analysis was used to examine three types of writings: (a) dialogue journals, (b) self-reports on the group process, and (c) self-reports on each student’s role in the group. Key findings address division of labor, role taking and switching, desire for challenge, power relationships, the languages used to express these concerns, and the need for social interaction to actualize constructive claims.

Hatch, E. (1978a). Acquisition of syntax in a second language. In J. C. Richards (Ed.), Understanding second and foreign language learning (pp. 34-70). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

* This chapter considers the syntax of second language learners, and provides a detailed review of some of the major questions that have motivated the study of syntax of second and foreign language learners. It reviews the major observational and experimental studies that have been carried out, critically assesses both assumptions and research methodology, and suggests that the questions we being asked may not necessarily be the right ones. The author proposes that much of the research on second and foreign language syntax appears to have been based on the assumption that linguistic competence is the sum total of individual items - morphemes, structures, etc. This chapter suggests that the reverse hypothesis is equally possible: namely, that learners first learn how to communicate, how to converse, and how to interpret the rules of conversation, and that morphemes, syntax, etc. arise out of this activity.

Hatch, E. (1978b). Discourse analysis and second language acquisition. In E. Hatch (Ed.), Second language acquisition: A book of readings (pp. 401-435). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

* The purpose of this chapter is to build a case for discourse analysis as a methodology for the study of second language acquisition. It draws together some of the work that has been done in discourse analysis for first language learners, and attempts to apply the methodology to second language learning. The chapter begins with a short historical review of current research methodology in second language research. It then looks at examples from data that may justify a new approach. It is suggested that instead of building up a repertoire of structures and then applying the structures in discourse, second language learners learn how to do conversation, how to interact verbally, and out of this interaction syntactic structures are developed. The data suggest that discourse analysis may yield revealing insights into this aspect of the second language learning process.

Hatch, E. (Ed.). (1978c). Second language acquisition: A book of readings. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

* The papers presented in this book present empirical, data-based claims about the second language acquisition process. The studies cover five major areas of research: (1) studies of infant bilingualism; (2) studies of young children adding a second language; (3) studies of adolescents and adults learning a second language; (4) a sample from the experimental literature; and (5) discourse analysis papers. The first section of the book presents some case studies focusing primarily on phonological and semantic areas along with general acquisition strategies, the development of the auxiliary system, negation, and question formation. The second section presents some experimental studies on the order of acquisition of morphemes. The final papers present summary information and look at discourse analysis as a new direction in second language acquisition research.

Hatch, E., Flashner, V., & Hunt, L. (1986). The experience model and language teaching. In R. R. Day (Ed.), Talking to learn: conversation in second language acquisition, 5-22. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

* This chapter calls for a different look at the way second languages are acquired. It proposes 'the experience model' - a framework through which we may understand language, language acquisition, and language use. The model is not restricted to one aspect of language such as syntax or phonology but attempts to account for all the subsystems of language. Crucial to the model is 'knowledge structure', which is previous information about or experiences with the situation in which the learner is involved, including the language associated with the situation. It is claimed that language clarifies and organizes experience and conversely, language grows out of experience, and that language development is not completely internally driven. Substantiating its claims with data from first and second language acquisition, the article suggests that the experience model is flexible enough to deal with the organization of conversation at many levels of speech.

Heal, L. (1998). Motivating large reading classes. Internet TESL Journal. <http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/98/dec/sh_heal.html> retrieved 4 June, 1999.

This article describes how group rewards were used to increase motivation in a reading class of 50 second-year students at a women's junior college in Japan. The class was built around the reading of a novel during the semester, with students reading a certain number of chapters per week as homework and discussing those chapters in class. Early in the semester, many students did not seem to be reading the assigned chapters, absenteeism was high, and when asked to discuss the chapters in groups, many students did not participate. In hopes of improving the situation, the teacher organized students into permanent groups of about five. At first, groups were given questions to answer about the chapters and were rewarded based on the order in which groups correctly completed all the questions. Later in the semester, groups wrote questions for other groups to answer and were rewarded on the quality of their questions, their ability to answer other groups' questions, and other groups' inability to answer their questions. Grades for the course were assigned by totaling groups' weekly scores, with some minor individual adjustment if a student was particularly diligent or particularly unparticipatory. The author reports that while some students continued to lack motivation, overall the reward system was a success as the class "became a scene of active group cooperation and communication".

Hedgcock, J., & Lefkowitz, N. (1992). Collaborative oral/aural revision in foreign language writing instruction. Journal of Second Language Writing, 1, 255-276.

Although L1 and L2 writing research has demonstrated the positive effects of revision, few empirical studies have investigated the effects of a collaborative revision-based method in the foreign language (FL) context.  This investigation tests the hypothesis that a multistep, oral revision process carried out in the FL is measurably facilitative in developing basic composition skills and written fluency among adult learners. The study involves two groups of college-level learners of French (L1=English) who were give two essay assignments, each requiring three separate drafts. In the control group, the instructor alone supplied written feedback; in the experimental group, revision took place in small groups, with participants reading their own papers aloud to their group partners, who responded orally according to a written protocol. Analysis of the final versions of the two essays collected from both groups showed that essays produced by the experimental group received significantly higher component and overall scores than those produced by the control group (p < .05). The findings suggest that systematic, collaborative revision produces in learners an awareness of the rhetorical structure of their own writing and an ability to self-correct surface errors, thereby helping them overcome inhibitions related to the formal aspects of writing.

Helgesen, M. (1998). Not just two folks talking: Interpretations of pairwork. The Language Teacher, 22(7), 11-13. <http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/98/jul/helgesen.html>

This article encourages pairwork while questioning some commonly held assumptions. It suggests that for east-Asians pairwork is less about efficiency of practice than about working as a group. It states that while information gaps are useful starting points, learners need to move to experience, opinion and reasoning gaps. Finally, it suggests chaos/complexity theory may offer insights in organizing activities.

Hester, H. (1984). Peer interaction in learning English as a second language. Theory Into Practice, 23(3), 208-217.

* This article discusses the importance of 'collaborative talk' for children who are learning English as a second language. Opportunities for collaborative learning give support to children who are learning English. For instance, first, ESL learners are placed in groups to use English in contexts. Second, they are given access to English through interaction with their peers. In this way, they will be able to share their experiences as well as the target language. Hester supports the role of task in collaborative learning and discusses three ways to organize the classroom: (1) the organization of curriculum activities into themes, (2) the organization and development of each activity, and (3) the organization of groups in the classroom.

High, J. (1993). Second language learning through cooperative learning. San Clemente, CA: Kagan Cooperative Learning.

***** A collection of simple activities that takes a cooperative communicative approach to foreign language/ ESL instruction. Lessons are situated within the framework of language acquisition theory and apply five fundamental principles: simultaneity principle, communicative approach, creating a positive and safe environment, peer support (push and pull process) and gambit development. Chapters examine: the introduction of structures; teaching modeling and reinforcing social roles and gambits, class and team building activities; activities that structure vocabulary learning; application of grammatical conventions; writing skills, lesson design; and, resources and references.

Hird, B. (1996). The incompatible objectives of groupwork in FL learning: A study of Chinese-English codeswitching. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 9(2), 163-175. 

*** Examines assumptions underlying the use of groupwork in the teaching of English as a foreign language (FL) in China. The article concludes that the primary role of small group discussion in FL learning should be in the development of collaborative learning strategies to master content rather than interpersonal communication in the target language. 

Hirsch, C., & Supple, D. B. (1996). 61 cooperative learning activities in ESL. Portland, ME: J. Weston Walch. 

*** Cooperative learning activities, instructional strategies, and reproducible classroom materials are provided to assist teachers with English-as-a-Second-Language learners in their classes. They are designed to help students develop English language skills using conversation-based cooperative learning principles, with native speakers and ESL students working together at mixed levels in the core curriculum. Rich content choices and the collaborative design of each activity encourage student interaction. Activities that can be used exclusively for language learning are also included. The 61 activities are grouped in five sections: language and literature; history and social studies; thinking and communicating in mathematics; thinking and communicating in science and technology; and health, wellness, and safety and prevention. Each activity incorporates one or more of these elements of holistic learning: content; problem-solving; principles of humanistic learning; and games. An introductory chapter suggests a lesson-plan format, including activities, teaching procedures, and reading strategies. Each activity includes a page of teaching suggestions and reproducible worksheet(s).

Hirvela, A. (1999). Collaborative writing instruction and communities of readers and writers. TESOL Journal, 8(2), 7-12.

* The article begins by discussing the growing use of collaborative activities in ESL writing instruction. These activities typically involve each student writing their own text and receiving feedback from groupmates. The author proposes an alternative – students collaborating to produce a single piece of writing. Insights from the literature on collaborative learning are reviewed, highlighting the ideas of Bruffee. Arguments from this literature in support of students producing joint texts include enhanced emphasis on process rather than product, a deeper level of collaboration, greater congruity with collectivist cultures, and increased similarity with the manner in which texts are produced in real-world contexts. A seven-week collaborative reading-writing assignment is described in which plural authors produce singular texts.

Hoffman, S. (1995). Computers and instructional design in foreign language/ESL instruction. TESOL Journal, 5(2), 24-29.

* The article begins by allaying foreign language teachers’ fears that technology may replace them. The author states that, instead, “Educational technology is no more than a medium for teaching that can free the teacher to focus on helping students develop skills … .” Among the uses of education technology discussed are in the teaching of writing, speaking, and pronunciation. One section of the article describes how computers can be a tool for designing cooperative learning activities, including bubble dialogues in which some group members take the role of characters in a story.

Holt, D. D. (Ed.). (1993). Cooperative learning: A response to linguistic and cultural diversity. Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.

* In Chapter 1 of this edited book, Daniel Holt provides background on the situation of ESL students in California in particular and on the use of cooperative learning with such students. Spencer Kagan explains the Structural Approach to cooperative learning in Chapter 2, contrasting it with unstructured group discussion and explaining a number of cooperative learning techniques, e.g., Three-Step Interview, and their suggested purposes. Chapter 3 contains Mary McGroarty’s look at how cooperative learning fits with various models of second language acquisition. Models discussed are universal grammar, information processing, interlanguage, input, socialization, and interactive models. Next, research on group work in second language learning is reviewed. Then, the author discusses how cooperative learning merges with second language acquisition theory and elements of effective second language instruction. The chapter’s final two sections deal with unanswered questions about second language learning in cooperative activity settings and considerations in planning cooperative language learning.                         
Chapter 4, by Kagan and McGroarty, builds on the previous chapter. Cooperative learning principles – positive interdependence, individual accountability, social skills development, and simultaneous interaction – and cooperative learning elements – team formation, team building, class building, role assignment, student processing of group effectiveness, and cooperative learning structures – are discussed in relation to three second language acquisition principles – input (varied, redundant, meaningful), output (interaction, negotiation, practice), and context (supportive, nonthreatening). 
	Chapters 5 and 6 provide and discuss sample lessons for cooperative learning at the elementary and secondary school levels, respectively. Chapters 7-11 present model units for K-1 language arts/social studies, Grades 2-3 language arts, Grade 4 social studies, secondary level intermediate ESL, and Grade 10 history-social studies, respectively. An appendix by the editor provides a coaching instrument for cooperative learning.

Holt, D. D., et al. (1993). Cooperative learning in the secondary school: Maximizing language acquisition, academic achievement, and social development. NCBE Program Information Guide Series 12. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 350 876

*** Cooperative learning is a valuable strategy for teaching secondary school students, especially useful with students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds who are learning English as a Second Language. It offers a method for managing diversity, channeling peer influence into a positive force for improving school performance, and involving students in classroom communication and activity. Secondary students with limited English language skills have less time to acquire the English essential to academic success, and need a low-risk environment to practice English. Cooperative learning provides an appropriate method for these purposes, and in addition offers increased opportunities for student social development. Cooperative learning strategies can be used in a variety of ways and time periods. Team-building and oral language activities can be used to familiarize students with the approach and build language skills. Such collaborative activities include games for exchanging personal information, problem-solving exercises, brainstorming, group discussion, cooperative review of information, and story-sequencing. A sample unit for grade 10 world history, designed for a class consisting of native English-speakers, non-native fluent English-speakers, and limited-English-proficient students, illustrates the approach. The activity requires that small groups complete projects and share them with the rest of the class. 

Horwitz, E., Horwitz, M., & Cope, J. (1991). Foreign language classroom anxiety. In E. Horwitz & D. Young (Eds.), Language anxiety - from theory to research to classroom implications (pp. 27-36). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. 

* This chapter identifies 'anxiety' as a conceptually distinct variable in foreign language learning and interprets it within the context of existing theoretical and empirical work on specific anxiety reactions. A 'Support Group for Foreign Language Learning' was established for a group of foreign language students at the University of Texas in 1983. Group meetings consisted of student discussion of concerns and difficulties in language learning, didactic presentations on effective language learning strategies, and anxiety management classes. The experiences related to the support groups contributed to the development of the Foreign Language Classroom
Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). Pilot testing with the FLCAS shows that students with debilitating anxiety in the foreign language classroom share a number of characteristics, reflecting three performance anxieties: (1) communication apprehension, i.e. difficulty speaking in groups; (2) test anxiety; and (3) fear of negative evaluation. The authors suggest that in order to help foreign language students overcome anxiety in language learning, teachers should help students cope with the existing anxiety-provoking situations, and make the learning context less stressful. Some recommended pedagogical techniques for reducing stress include setting up student support systems and closely monitoring the classroom climate to identify specific sources of student anxiety.

Huang, S.-Y. (1996a). L1 or L2 peer response sessions? Differences in verbal interaction between a writing group that communicates in Mandarin Chinese and one that uses English. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 400 679

*** A study conducted in a freshman English class in a Taipei (Taiwan) university investigated how peer response groups functioned in their native language (Mandarin Chinese) and English, a second language. Analysis focused on (1) whether there were qualitative differences in the comments students made about peers' writing in the two languages, and (2) whether qualitative differences in interaction occurred during the peer response sessions. Participants were 35 students randomly assigned to English-language (L2) and Chinese-language (L1) groups, which were further subdivided into three- and four-student peer review groups. Results indicate that during the review session, the L1 group gave more specific comments than the L2 group, and the two groups emphasized different aspects of the compositions. L1 groups focused mainly on language usage, while the L2 groups dealt more evenly with language use, reasoning, and rhetoric. The former communicated more effectively, but the latter appeared more supportive of each other. Implications for teaching and research are discussed.

Huang, S.-Y. (1996b, April). A study of verbal interaction in discussion groups in a writing class. Paper presented at the Annual Seminar of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Language Centre, Singapore. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 399 802

*** Observation of 16 university students of writing in English as a Second Language in Taiwan focused on the nature of interactions during three peer response sessions and one consensus exercise. It examined the kinds of comments made by a writing group in responding to peer writing and the characteristics of the verbal interaction in a consensus exercise. Peer response was used in this context to revise compositions, and consensus exercises to cultivate negotiation and critical thinking skills. Analysis of audiotape recordings of the interactions over two months showed that the students tended to restate the ideas in their peers' writing half of the time, and only one-third of the time were able to challenge or make suggestions to others. There were few evaluative statements, suggesting inability or reluctance to critique peers' work. During the consensus exercise, students showed substantial lack of skills needed to negotiate and synthesize ideas. Deficient in critical thinking skills, they were unable to present arguments with support.

Huckin, T. N., & Olsen, L. A. (1991). Technical writing and professional communication for non-native speakers of English (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

* This book is intended for university-level students in technical areas who are including English in their studies and who plan to continue into technical careers, and for practicing scientists and engineers who need a self-instructional reference book in written and oral English for oral communication. The book focuses on principles and use rather than usage. It offers functional explanations rather than formal rules, so that the target readers can benefit from focusing on the features of scientific and technical English that are known to be troublesome for them. The book also emphasizes the early stages of writing as well as the process of producing an effective piece of communication for a given audience. To reflect the rapidly changing environment in which technical communication occurs, the book incorporates case study exercises which provide simulated group activities and organizational settings for students accustomed to working alone in academic environments.

Hull, J. C. (1992). The learner-centered classroom: Is there a role for role play? Perspectives 4(2), 77-93.

* This article situates the use of role play in L2 classrooms in the context of efforts to encourage students to (1) personalize learning by relating it to their current knowledge and past experiences, and (2) engage in meaningful interaction. The author maintains that role play may be particularly useful in helping students develop the strategic competence dimension of communicative competence. He also highlights the role of group activities in promo ting SLA. The largest section of the article presents and provides examples of an approach to developing role play activities that consists of two cycles containing four phases in the first cycle (schema-setting activity, dialogue, role play, and follow-up listening activity), and three phases in the second cycle (dialogue, role play, and follow-up listening activity). 

Hymes, D. (1972). On communicative competence. In J. B. Pride & J. Holmes, (Eds.), Sociolinguistics, (pp. 269-293). Harmondsworth: Penguin.

* This paper, which introduced the term ‘communicative competence’ and influenced the growth of communicative second language teaching, takes as a starting point a quote from Chomsky (1965) in which he states that, “linguistic theory is concerned primarily with an ideal speaker-listener, in a completely homogeneous speech community … .” Hymes suggests that beyond grammatical competence, people also need to develop sociocultural understanding of how a language is used so as to be “able to accomplish a repertoire of speech acts, to take part in speech events, and to evaluate their accomplishment by others”. He urges linguists to take heed of work on culture and communication. Others have used Hymes work as part of a rationale for the use of more real or at least realistic communication in second language instruction, group activities being one of the means of achieving this goal.

Iles, Z. (1996). Collaborative repair in EFL classroom talk. York Papers in Linguistics, 17, 23-51. 

This paper explores some of the benefits to be gained by adopting a conversation analysis (CA) perspective in an examination of ‘English as a foreign language’ (EFL) classroom talk. The EFL classroom is a context in which there is a heightened potentiality of problematic talk, e.g. errors, misunderstandings and non-communication.  The need for REPAIR (Schegloff et al 1977) is therefore situationally endemic. In everyday talk, between participants who hold mutual assumptions of common ground and shared knowledge, repair has been shown to be an activity which is executed quickly as repair trajectories can necessitate certain interactional investments, EFL teachers and learners are differently capable of dealing with and resolving trouble-at-talk situations because of the unequal knowledge distribution that exists between them. Some of the ways in which talk created by EFL participants is collaboratively built in order to address this particular state of affairs are discussed in this paper.

Ilola, L. M., Power, K. M., & Jacobs, G. M. (1989). Structuring student interaction to promote learning. English Teaching Forum, 27(3), 12-16.

* This article uses the acronym ARIAS to represent five vital 'notes' that can lead to harmonious student-student interaction. A stands for accountability, the need for each group member to be responsible for their own learning and that of their groupmates. R stands for rewards to individuals, small groups, or classes, which is one means of promoting I, interdependence, in this case positive interdependence, the feeling among group members that what helps one helps all and that what hurts one hurts all. The second A stands for assignments, another means of fostering the 'sink or swim together' feeling of positive interdependence among group members. Examples of role assignments include summarizer, elaborator, observer, and facilitator. Finally, S stands for social skills, skills that students need to successfully collaborate. Specific applications of ARIAS to second language classrooms are provided.

Ingham, M., & Bird, N. (Eds.) (1995). Learning how to learn: A handbook for
teachers. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Institute of Education.

* The aim of this handbook is to provide teachers with strategies and techniques for introducing a greater degree of learner autonomy in their approach to English language teaching. The handbook present a wide range of tried and tested methods for encouraging greater learner independence, all based on the principle that cognitive skills are developed most effectively through individual construction of meaning in an interactive learning environment. Practical ways of introducing elements of learner autonomy into the English language teaching agenda are suggested, such as self-access learning and group learning approaches.

International Association for the Study of Cooperation in Education. (1993). Assessment in cooperative learning [Theme Issue]. Cooperative Learning, 13(1).

***** A theoretical framework that examines the process of cooperative learning assessment and evaluation in relation to research evidence, practical programs and methods, classroom suggestions, and lesson plans. Feature articles include: close-up analysis, global assessment, and long-range assessment lessons; and examination of the challenges a teacher faces using cooperative tasks or assessment and evaluation and what kinds of tasks are appropriate to evaluate; alternative cooperative programs and assessment strategies for bilingual students or students learning English as a second language; and a case study on a ninth grade social studies class that illustrates group investigation.

Jacob, E., & Mattson, B. (1987). Cooperative learning with limited-English-proficient students. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 287 314

*** Theory and research indicate that cooperative learning methods may provide a way to help limited-English-proficient (LEP) students achieve academically and develop the English language skills necessary for successful classroom functioning. The method involves small groups of two to six students in tasks that require cooperation and positive interdependence within the group. It provides opportunities for face-to-face interaction on school tasks, raises academic achievement levels, and improves intergroup relations and self-esteem. There are various kinds of cooperative learning methods, all of which apply the basic principle of cooperative task and reward structures. They include peer practice, the jigsaw approach, cooperative projects, group investigation, and learning together. Several curriculum packages are available. Choice of method may depend on the teacher's subject matter and communication goals. Classroom implementation requires preparation of the necessary materials; rearrangement of the classroom to facilitate small group work; class division into small groups; establishment of guidelines for group work; teacher monitoring and intervention when necessary; and evaluation on both task performance and group work, which can include class discussion.

Jacob, E., Rottenberg, L., Patrick, S., & Wheeler, E. (1996). Cooperative learning: Context and opportunities for acquiring academic English. TESOL Quarterly, 30, 253-280.

This article explores how the Learning Together form of cooperative learning influenced opportunities for acquiring academic English by L2 learners in a 6th-grade social studies classroom. Our findings present a complex picture. Cooperative learning gave L2 learners a wide range of opportunities to acquire academic English. They gave and received help with academic terms, difficult academic concepts, and para-academic knowledge. They were exposed to and produced lexical and conceptual explorations and homonymic word associations. They received help with conventions of written English. They used language for self-help and were invited by their peers to contribute more to the group. Many of these categories included both input and output opportunities, with L2 learners helping others as much as they were helped. However, except for help with decoding academic terms, the various kinds opportunities occurred relatively infrequently. Moreover, there were some missed opportunities and some negative input. Several local contextual features (e.g., students' definitions of the task, features of the task, and participant structures) helped us understand the complex picture we found. Our findings suggest that (a) developers and disseminators need to take context into account, and (b) teachers who want to maximize the benefits of cooperative learning in support of second language acquisition (SLA) need to have a broad understanding of academic language, include SLA in their instructional goals, structure classroom tasks to support the desired opportunities for L2 learners, monitor what is happening in the groups, and fine tune their implementation if they are not getting what they want.

Jacobs, G. M. (1987). First experiences with peer feedback on compositions: Student and teacher reaction. System, 15, 325-333.

This report describes reaction to working in peer feedback groups in composition class. First, the compatibility of peer feedback procedures and a process approach to writing is outlined. Next, the peer feedback aspect of the class is described. Then, student reaction, gathered from teacher-student journals and postcourse interviews, is discussed. Overall, student feeling about the groups was mixed. Finally, the author, who was also the teacher of the course, suggests ways of making the feedback teams function more effectively.

Jacobs, G. M. (1988). Co-operative goal structure: A way to improve group activities. ELT Journal, 42(2), 97-101.

Group activities are used in many aspects of second-language instruction. Among the reasons cited for their use is that they encourage students to work together, helping each other. However, simply putting students together in a group is no guarantee that co-operation will occur. One factor affecting the success of group activities is the goal structure present in the classroom. This article explains the concept of goal structure, illustrates three principal types of goal structure (co-operative, competitive, and individualistic), and highlights the benefits of a co-operative goal structure. Additionally, the article discusses the effect of learning about goal structures on the author’s teaching methods.

Jacobs, G. M. (1989). Miscorrection in peer feedback in writing class. RELC Journal, 20 (1), 68-76.

* This article reports a study that investigated the presence of miscorrection when students engaged in peer feedback on writing tasks. Participants were 18 third-year English majors at a university in Thailand. Peer feedback consisted of corrections and indications of uncertainty about correctness. Corrections were coded into four categories: (A1) wrong in original - correction wrong; (A2) wrong in original - correction right; (A3) correct in original - correction also right; (A4) correct in original - correction wrong.  Indications of uncertainty were coded into two categories: (B1) wrong in original; (B2) correct in original. The researcher found that by far the largest category was A2, wrong in original – correction right. Categories A1 and A4 were the smallest. Further, of a total of seven A4 miscorrections, just four were adopted when the original author wrote their final draft, and all four were in the same student's draft and all concerned the identical grammar point: articles. The author notes that the findings of his study are consistent with those on spoken interaction which also found only small amounts of miscorrection by peers.

Jacobs, G. M. (1993). The sweet smell of learning: Adding lots of honey to small group activities. Guidelines, 15(1), 29-36.

* This article suggests that group activities in second language classrooms could work more effectively if principles from the cooperative learning literature were applied. The principle of positive interdependence is highlighted.  Positive interdependence is a feeling of solidarity among group members such that they feel that they sink or swim together. Eight types of positive interdependence are explained and illustrated with classroom and non-classroom examples: goal, role, resource, reward, outside enemy, environmental, fantasy, and identify.

Jacobs, G. M. (1994). The changing nature of workplace literacy as a rationale for the use of groups in ESP. ESP Malaysia, 2(2), 106-117.

A trend toward the use of groups can be seen both at the workplace and in education. The growing presence of groups at work provides one motivation for groups in educational context, especially ESP, because students now need to acquire a higher form of literacy to participate in groups at work. Involved in this broader literacy are such skills as exercising initiative, peer-training, group problem solving, and interpersonal communication. Such literacy will be especially difficult for second language learners to achieve. The author discusses the nature of this trend toward groups and the reasons for it. Next, groups at the two sites are compared in areas such as the changing roles of managers/teachers and employees/students and the degree of commonality of interests between employers/teachers and employees/students. The author concludes that the use of groups in education is valuable for helping students acquire the skills and attitudes of cooperation and complex thinking. Such preparation will serve students well regardless of what they encounter in their careers and beyond. Additionally, the content of education must also be considered in preparing students for the situations they may experience with employers and others.

Jacobs, G. M. (1997, March). Four or more eyes are better than two: Using cooperative learning to maximize the success of group activities in reading.
Paper presented at the Singapore Symposium on Reading for Success. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 409 722
 
*** An essay on use of cooperative learning (CL) techniques in the second language classroom looks at the benefits of CL, examines the current status of their use, particularly in Singapore, and makes recommendations for implementing CL techniques in second language reading instruction. The discussion begins with a review of literature on group instruction and group activities in second language teaching, and looks at how group activities are, first, incorporated into second language curriculum plans and instructional materials and then implemented in the classroom. Singapore's situation is highlighted here. A second section looks at what distinguishes CL group instruction approach and its potential to improve group activities. Five advantageous features of CL are noted: positive interdependence; individual accountability; collaborative skills; use of group time to process interactions; and heterogeneous grouping. Variables in task design that affect language learning are also discussed briefly. Three ways to increase the use of CL in reading instruction are outlined and explored: (1) inclusion of CL in pre- and inservice teacher education; (2) incorporation of CL activities in teachers' instructional materials; and (3) inclusion of CL activities in student materials. Several specific classroom techniques and procedures are noted.

Jacobs, G. M. (1998). Cooperative learning or just grouping students: The difference makes a difference. In W. A. Renandya & G. M. Jacobs (Eds.), Learners and language learning (pp. 172-193). Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.

* The key point of this chapter is that cooperative learning involves much more than just asking learners to work together in groups. After reviewing 10 potential advantages of group activities in L2 instruction, 10 problems that can arise when groups are used in this context, and rationales for the use of cooperative learning (CL), the author describes 10 differences between CL and just asking students to work in groups. These differences lie in: group composition, physical arrangement of groups, duration of groups, teaching of collaborative skills, encouraging group cohesion, helping each group member participate and learn, teachers acting as role models for collaboration and observers of student interaction, fostering collaboration beyond the small group, and using cooperation as a theme, rather than as only a learning tool.

Jacobs, G. M. (2000a). Noxious noise or sweet sound: Adjusting the volume of group activities. Guidelines, 22, 20-23.

* One potential problem with group activities is that when one student per group is talking, the noise level in the classroom may reach what some would consider unacceptable levels. This article presents 11 suggestions for dealing with this issue.
Jacobs, G. M. (2000b, May). Reading alone together: Combining extensive reading and cooperative learning. Plenary paper presented at the biennial MICELT (Malaysian International Conference on English Language Teaching), Malacca. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 444 377

* This paper begins with a justification for combining group activities with extensive reading in order to encourage students to read more and to think more deeply about what they read. The main portion of the paper consists of descriptions of cooperative learning techniques that can be used when the entire class has read the same book or when each student has read a book of their choice. Each technique is analyzed in terms of how it embodies the cooperative learning principles of positive interdependence, individual accountability, equal participation, and simultaneous interaction.

Jacobs, G. M., & Ball, J. (1996). An investigation of the structure of group activities in ELT coursebooks. ELT Journal, 50(2), 99-107.

This article reports a study examining the use of group activities in ELT coursebooks published since 1990. Ten randomly selected coursebooks were analysed in order to find the number and percentage of group activities as a whole, and of those group activities rated as fostering co-operation. The results are discussed in light of theory and research on co-operative learning, task-based language teaching, and the roles of learners, teachers, and coursebooks. Suggestions are made for how group activities can better foster co-operation among group members.

Jacobs, G. M., Crookall, D., & Thiyaragarajali, R. (1997). The evolution of group activities in ELT coursebooks. Folio, 4(2), 21-24.

* This article reports a study that investigated two questions: (1) Are group activities more common in ELT coursebooks published for the international market from 1993-1996 compared to similar coursebooks published from 1950-1967? (2) Do the group activities in the more recent coursebooks more frequently involve communication? The coursebooks from each period were chosen at random. Results showed that to a statistically significant degree the ten coursebooks from 1993-1996 had more group activities and more group activities involving communication than the coursebooks from the earlier period. These results are put in the context of changes in pedagogic paradigms.

Jacobs, G. M., Curtis, A., Braine, G., & Huang, S-Y. (1998). Feedback on student writing: Taking the middle path. Journal of Second Language Writing, 7, 307-317.

Among the many controversies in second language writing instruction is the issue of whether or not to employ peer feedback. The current study collected anonymous questionnaire data on whether second language learners prefer to receive peer feedback as one type of feedback on their writing. Participants were first- and second-year undergraduate ESL students of lower intermediate to high proficiency, 44 in a university in Hong Kong and 77 in a university in Taiwan. All were enrolled in writing courses in which peer, self, and teacher feedback were used. The chi-square test was used to analyze the questionnaire data, with the alpha level set at .05. A statistically significant percentage of participants (93%) indicated they preferred to have feedback from other students as one type of feedback on their writing. This finding, as well as students’ written explanations of their choices, is discussed with reference to how best to incorporate peer feedback into second language writing instruction. 

Jacobs, G. M., Gilbert, C. C., Lopriore, L., Goldstein, S., & Thiyagarajali, R. (1997). Cooperative learning and second language teaching: FAQs (Frequently asked questions). Perspectives (TESOL-Italy), 23(2), 55-60.

This article provides multiple responses to six questions frequently asked about the use of cooperative learning (CL) in second language teaching. The questions are: How can we cover the syllabus if we use CL? Doesn't it take more time to cover the same amount of material compared to when a teacher-fronted mode is used? How long (days, weeks, months, years) should CL groups stay together? How can CL work in situations in which competition is stressed in the school system and the larger society? How can CL be used with students whose language proficiency is low? How can CL be used with large classes? How can cooperation be a content theme as well as a procedure?

Jacobs, G. M., & Farrell, T. (2001). Paradigm shift: Understanding and implementing change in second language education. TESL-EJ, 5(1). http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/tesl-ej/ej17/toc.html

Change seems to be a constant in education. We can better understand and implement change in second language education if we look for connections between changes. The concept of paradigm shift offers one means of making such connections. This article describes eight of the changes that fit with the paradigm shift in second language education towards what is most often described as communicative language teaching. These eight changes are: learner autonomy, cooperative learning, curricular integration, focus on meaning, diversity, thinking skills, alternative assessment, and teachers as co-learners. The paradigm shift of which these changes are part is put into perspective as an element of larger shifts from positivism to post-positivism and from behaviorism to cognitivism. The authors argue that in second language education, although the paradigm shift was initiated many years ago, it still has been only partially implemented. Two reasons for this partial implementation are: (1) by trying to understand each change separately, second language educators have weakened their understanding by missing the larger picture; and (2) by trying to implement each change separately, second language educators have made the difficult task of change even more difficult.

Jacobs, G. M., & Kline-Liu, K. (1996). Integrating language functions and collaborative skills in the second language classroom. TESL Reporter, 29(1), 21-33.

* In this article, the authors maintain that by assisting students to learn the collaborative skills necessary to work successfully in groups, language teachers are also teaching language, because collaborative skills and language functions overlap. The authors first discuss the teaching of functions. Next, collaborative skills and one technique for teaching them are described. This is a six-step technique in which students learn why a skill is important and what is involved in using the skill. They then practice the skill, first in isolation and then as part of course content. Finally, students debrief their use of the skill, and plans are made for how they can continue to utilize the skill. The longest part of the article provides examples of how cooperative learning techniques can be used to integrate the teaching of language functions and collaborative skills. The authors conclude by stating that while the acquisition of collaborative skills is seldom easy or rapid, time spent on acquiring them will yield long-term benefits in terms of effective group interaction and enhanced language proficiency.

Jacobs, G. M., & Navas, E. (2000). The task of teaching task-based language teaching to teachers. The English Teacher, 3(3), 54-64.

This article reports a study that investigated three concepts from the literature on task-based language teaching - planned/unplanned, closed/open, and required information exchange. After a two-hour workshop on these concepts, 33 in-service English as a Second Language teachers in the Philippines were asked to label and adapt activities according to the three concepts and to give their views on the usefulness of the concepts for their own teaching. Results suggest that although the teachers found the concepts useful, the workshop did not provide them with sufficient background to make easy use of the concepts. Materials from the workshop and the activities the teachers were asked to label are supplied. 

Jacobs, G. M., & Ratmanida. (1996). The appropriacy of group activities: Views from some Southeast Asian second language educators. RELC Journal, 27, 103-120.

Group activities developed in Western countries have been advocated for use in foreign and second language learning internationally. This article reports the views of 31 second language educators from six Southeast Asian countries (Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand) on the appropriateness of group activities in their own educational contexts. Background is provided on the six countries and relevant previous scholarship is reviewed. Data were collected via questionnaires and interviews. Some of the participants also took part in the data analysis. Results showed that these Southeast Asian second language educators feel group activities are appropriate to their contexts and that they are already making use of groups in their teaching. Key problems cited in using groups were low motivation, significant variation in proficiency levels, and large classes. These problems are discussed. The recommendation is made that the literatures on cooperative learning and task-based language teaching may provide insights into methods of increasing the effectiveness of group activities, while at the same time, educators will want to use their own local knowledge to adapt group methods to fit their particular contexts.

Jacobs, G. M., & Seah-Tay, H. Y. (2004). Using cooperative learning to teach via text types. The Reading Matrix, 4(2), 117-124. Available online at http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/jacobs_yong/article-part1.pdf. Retrieved 19 September, 2004.

This article offers ideas as to how students can collaborate as they learn about and utilize a variety of text types (also known as rhetorical modes). The article begins with explanations of the teaching of text types and cooperative learning. The longest section of the article consists of examples of ways that students can use cooperative learning techniques to work together to expand their knowledge of text types and to use that knowledge in their writing. 

Jacobs, G. M., Ward, C. S., & Gallo, P. B. (1997). The dynamics of digital groups: Cooperative learning in IT-based language instruction. Teaching of English Language and Literature, 13(2), 5-8.

* This article begins with a short discussion of why groups are recommended in language teaching. Next, key concepts in cooperative learning (CL), e.g., positive interdependence and individual accountability, are described. After that, ways that CL and IT (information technology) fit well together are suggested. These include: while computers can isolate students, CL brings them together; because computers deliver large amounts of information to students in a variety of interesting, multi-media ways, teachers are freed to become facilitators, e.g., of group interaction, instead of being information transmitters; and computers offer new ways to cooperate, e.g., networked computers and email. Finally, ways to combine CL with IT are outlined.  It is suggested that collaboration can take place at four points: before groups work at the computer; while using the computer; during a pause in computer use; and after using the computer. 

Jacobs, G. M., & Zhang, S. (1989, April). Peer feedback in second language writing instruction: Boon or bane. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 306 766

*** Two studies investigated three questions: (1) Do second language learners provide mostly faulty feedback to their peers in evaluating written composition? (2) Is peer feedback more or less effective than teacher correction? and (3) Do second language learners welcome or resist peer feedback? The studies were done in Thailand and Hawaii with college students of English as a Second Language. In the first study, a small group n=18) of students evaluated each other's composition drafts. Corrections and indications of uncertainty were analyzed, and results showed relatively little miscorrection. These results parallel the findings in previous research on peer oral correction. The second study required 81 students at three proficiency levels to write compare-and-contrast essays on selected topics. The essays were evaluated by teachers, peer readers, or the student writers themselves. Students were surveyed concerning their feelings about the feedback types. Results indicate that the type of corrective feedback did not affect informational or rhetorical accuracy, but teacher and peer feedback was found to be more effective for grammatical accuracy. Subjects strongly preferred teacher feedback.

Johnson, D. (1988). ESL children as teachers: A social view of second language use. Language Arts, 65, 154-163.

*  The article begins by discussing the situation of ESL students in US primary schools. The author argues that teachers need to plan and to use “social engineering” to help these student participate actively when in classes with native speaking students. She describes a procedure in which a small group of children are first taught in English how to do an activity, e.g., a science project. Each of these students is then paired with another child and is to use English to teach their partner how to do the activity. Research using a control group was done on this technique with students between the ages of five and eight. Students in the peer tutoring condition outperformed control group students on some measures, such as vocabulary development, whereas no significant differences were found between the two conditions on other variables. Systemic-Functional Linguistics is used to analysis the language context.

Johnson, D. M. (1992). Interpersonal involvement in discourse: Gender variation in L2 writers’ complimenting strategies. Journal of Second Language Writing, 1, 195-215.

This article reports on the use of complimenting as an involvement strategy in peer-review texts. The analysis explores how L2 writers vary their complimenting style according to gender of addressee. The data base is a set of 35 peer-review papers written by advanced L2 women writers. Four complimenting strategies that have been found to contribute to a female-female style are analyzed: positive evaluation, intensifiers, personal referencing, and a framing strategy. For each strategy, a comparison is made between texts addressed to women and texts addressed to men. In addition, the audience accommodation strategies of the L2 writers are compared to those of L2 writers. Results reveal that although L2 writers used some aspects of the L1 writers’ female-female complimenting style, they did not vary their language use according to gender of addressee to the degree or in the same ways that the L1 writers did. Implications for second language acquisition and for writing effectiveness are discussed. 

Johnson, D .M. (1994). Grouping strategies for second language learners. In F. Genesee (ed.), Educating second language children (pp. 183-211). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

** In this chapter I discuss ways of using grouping strategies in teaching second language students. The chapter is written for second language and bilingual teachers who are working or will work in a variety of instructional settings, as well as for other "regular" or "mainstream" teachers who have some second language students in their classes. ... I first discuss implications of some recent theory and research for planning classroom interaction strategies. Based on this research, I suggest general principles to guide teachers as they plan grouping and interaction strategies. Then I provide a discussion of the major grouping structures addressing their uses, advantages, and disadvantages. Next, examples of activities through which teachers can apply these principles as they plan varied grouping strategies are offered. Finally, I conclude by suggesting methods of assessing the effectiveness of various grouping strategies.

Johnson, D., & Steele, V. (1996). So many words, so little time: Helping college ESL learners acquire vocabulary-building strategies. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 39, 348-357.

* This article suggests a number of means of building students' second language vocabularies, such as semantic mapping and personal word lists. Only one of the means explicitly involves student-student interaction. In this technique, each group member works alone to choose a word to learn from the text the class is studying. They think about why they selected that word and go on to develop a way to teach it to other students. Students then tell each other their word and why they selected it, and then teach their word to a partner. 

Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (1994). Cooperative learning in second language classes. The Language Teacher, 18(10), 4-7.

* The authors are among the best-known proponents of cooperative learning in the general education field. The article begins with a discussion of three types of relations that can exist among students: competitive, individualistic, and cooperative. Various ways of structuring for cooperation among students are presented: formal cooperative learning, informal cooperative learning, base groups, cooperative learning scripts, and academic controversy. The five basic elements in the Johnsons’ model of cooperative learning are explained: positive interdependence, individual accountability, face-to-face promotive interaction, social skills, and group processing. Research on cooperative learning is reviewed. Reasons for the appropriacy of cooperative learning for second language instruction are offered. Finally, the need for cooperation throughout the school, rather than just within small groups of students, is proposed.
 
Johnson, K. (1981). Writing. In K. Johnson & K. Morrow (Eds.), Communication in the classroom (pp. 93-107). Harlow, Essex: Longman.

* The chapter begins with examples and explanation of the way that communicative language teaching focuses learners on understanding and conveying information content. Next, the author describes how information gap activities promote a focus on information and how, unlike in some information gap activities, jigsaw involves each group member in both sending and receiving information. The author goes on to explain why the existence of an information gap is not sufficient to encourage communication. This is where the task dependency principle comes in, i.e., exchange of information must be required to complete a task.   

Johnson, K. E. (1995). Understanding communication in second language classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

* This book provides an integrated view of communication in second language
classrooms, which acknowledges the importance of what teachers and learners bring to the classroom, as well as what actually happens during face-to-face communication within the classroom. The book presents a conceptual framework which enables teachers to recognize how different patterns of classroom communication are established and maintained, how these patterns affect students' participation, and how their participation shapes the way they use language for learning the their opportunities for second language acquisition.

John-Steiner, V. P. (1985). The road to competence in an alien language: A Vygotskian perspective on bilingualism. In J. Wertsch (Ed.), Cognition: Vygotskian perspectives, 348-371. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

** John-Steiner … touches on Vygotsky’s concern with the social origins of individual psychological functioning. … In contrast to those who are interested in the emergence of higher mental functions that are mediated by language, John-Steiner focuses on the language development itself (e.g., first- and second-language acquisition, the development of writing). Throughout her chapter she emphasizes the difference between early forms of development that involve little in the way of conscious reflection and later forms that do, an issue that played a major role in Vygotsky’s theoretical approach. 

Kagan, S. (1995). We can talk: Cooperative learning in the elementary ESL classroom. ERIC Digest. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 382 035 

*** Language Acquisition is determined by a complex interaction of a number of critical input, output, and context variables. This digest examines these variables and reveals that cooperative learning has a dramatic positive impact on almost all of the variables critical to language acquisition. The examination looks at how cooperative learning transforms input, output, and context variables in the direction of facilitating language acquisition, suggesting the effectiveness of using cooperative learning to facilitate the learning of English as a Second Language.

Kasanga, L. A. (1996). Peer interaction and L2 learning. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 52, 611-639.

Underlying assumptions within the interactionist paradigm, which provide a theoretical basis for classroom task-based practices involving peers in second language (L2) learning, are mostly speculative. The evidence from concurrent second language acquisition research on the mediating role of (modified) interaction in L2 learning is still too fragmentary to be of interest and use to language practitioners. The empirical research (on L2 Zaïrean multilingual students of foreign language English) reported here was part of ongoing efforts to uncover some of the correlates and components of (modified) learner interaction and its possible impact on acquisition. Overall, the findings (a) confirmed the working hypothesis of the differential effect of both task type and the level of target language attainment on the amount of  interaction, (b) suggested a significant effect on L2 learning of oral peer interaction, and (c) showed a significant learning potential of mixed-ability participation patterns.

Kaufmann, D., & Brooks, J. G. (1996). Interdisciplinary collaboration in teacher education: A constructivist approach. TESOL Quarterly, 30, 231-251.

Teacher education programs must begin to foster in beginning teachers of all disciplines new images of collaboration, involvement, and inquiry--images of classroom environments where students of all cultures engage in interdisciplinary activities and construct knowledge rooted in their own personal experiences. The high number of language minority students who score below the national norm in mathematics and science and avoid careers in these areas underscores the fact that uncoordinated instruction has had negative ramification on the academic success of these students. Collaboration between ESOL teachers and teachers of other subject areas is imperative. Teacher education programs must reevaluate current pedagogical orientations and reorganize to prepare teacher candidates of all disciplines for coordinated interdisciplinary education for all students. This article describes the evolution of a collaborative initiative involving undergraduate and graduate students in two teacher education programs at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. This collaboration, motivated by constructivist approaches, integrates language pedagogy and science instruction. It is based on the premise that if teachers are to collaborate in schools and create enhanced interdisciplinary classroom environments that better foster students' linguistic and academic growth, they must experience such pedagogy in teacher education programs at the university.

Kelm, O. R. (1992). The use of synchronous computer networks in second language instruction: A preliminary report. Foreign Language Annals, 25, 441-454.

This paper reports some personal observations regarding a second language teaching situation where non-native speakers of Portuguese participated in class discussions via real time computer networks. Synchronous computer networks have been utilized in university courses to improve group participation in writing and composition in L1 situations. This same process offers L2 students an opportunity to participate in interlanguage discussions via computer. Preliminary observations from this experience suggest that computer assisted class discussions may promote increased participation from all members of a work group, allow students to speak without interruption, reduce anxiety which is frequently present in oral conversations, render honest and candid expression of emotion, provide personalized identification of target language errors and create substantial interlanguage communication among L2 learners. 

Kern, R. G. (1995). Restructuring classroom interaction with networked computers: Effects on quantity and characteristics of language production. Modern Language Journal, 79, 457-476.

This study describes the use of Daedalus InterChange, a local area computer network application, to facilitate communicative language use through synchronous, written classroom interaction. The study compares the quantity and characteristics of the discourse produced by two groups of second-semester French students during an InterChange session and during an oral class discussion on the same topic. Students had over twice as many turns, produced two to four times more sentences, and used a much greater variety of discourse functions when working in InterChange than they did in their oral discussion. Furthermore, the distribution and direction of turns were radically different in the two conditions, with much more direct student-to-student exchange in the InterChange condition. Students’ and instructors’ responses to using InterChange were assessed: both groups responded favorably, although students more enthusiastically so than the instructors. Features of InterChange that may be unsettling for teachers include: decentering of teacher authority, lesser attention to grammatical accuracy, and less clear coherence and continuity of discussions. 

Kessler, C. (Ed.). (1992). Cooperative language learning: A teacher's resource book. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. 

* This edited book is directed at educators working with ESL students. It contains eleven chapters divided into three sections, plus a bibliography on cooperative language learning and acquiring English by Roger Winn-Bell Olsen. The first section is entitled “Foundations of Cooperative Learning”. In Chapter 1, Roger Winn-Bell Olsen and Spencer Kagan discuss cooperative learning: research, benefits, what it is, key elements, and major models.  Chapter 2, by Elizabeth Coelho, begins with a discussion of the competitive ethic in North American society in general and in classrooms in particular. This competitive ethic is seen as detrimental to: achievement by minority students, the affective climate, race relations, and classroom talk. Cooperative learning is proposed as a means of countering the ill-effects of competition. The chapter describes the implementation of cooperative learning with special emphasis on the teaching of cooperative group skills, skills that closely parallel linguistic functions. The third chapter, by Wendy McDonell, looks at the nature of language learning and the role of language in cognitive development and concept learning. The author concludes by stating that, “[C]hildren who learn within a cooperative classroom will be better prepared for the challenge of the future because they will be better able to communicate, collaborate, negotiate, problem solve, and think critically”. 
The book’s second section is “Language Through Content”. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 deal with the integration of language and content learning via cooperative learning in science, social studies, and mathematics, respectively. Chapter 4 examines how insights from cognitive psychology have led to new principles for the teaching of science. These principles provide an important role for cooperative learning. Further, the authors, Kessler, Mary Ellen Quinn, and Ann Fathman, contend that the principles demonstrate a marked similarity with principles of second language learning. The principles include: (1) learning is not necessarily an outcome of teaching; (2) prior knowledge influences learning; (3) learning usually moves from the concrete to the abstract; (4) learning requires practice in new situations; and, (5) effective learning requires feedback. 
Chapter Five, by Roger Winn-Bell Olsen, explores the integration of CL and second language learning in social studies.  Olsen believes that because social studies concepts tend to be abstract, cognitively varied, and highly language dependent, they pose particular difficulties for L2 learners. He states that CL helps learners overcome these difficulties in three ways. First, talk in cooperative groups can be more closely tuned to individual students' needs. Second, by interacting with other students, not just with the teacher, students hear and see concepts presented in multiple ways. Third, CL encourages more active engagement of students with the subject matter. The main portion of the chapter explains CL structures which can be used in teaching high-consensus information, e.g. dates, locations of countries, low-consensus thinking, e.g. applying concepts, and social skills. Many examples are provided. 
	Mathematics provides the focus of Chapter Six. Contrary to past belief, language does play a vital role in understanding mathematics concepts. The authors, Quinn and Marilyn Molloy, point out that in addition to learning the vocabulary of mathematics, students also need to master the syntax, semantic properties, and discourse features of the language of the subject. They argue that CL sets the stage for students to practice the language of mathematics as they work together to master and utilize concepts.  The use of the cooperative learning technique Jigsaw to help students learn subject-specific language is the theme of Chapter 7 by Elizabeth Coelho. 
The book’s final section is “Focus on the Teacher”. Chapter 8, by Yael Harel, examines teacher talk in junior high school classrooms in Israel, contrasting teacher-fronted classes with those in which cooperative learning is used. The author reports the style of teacher talk produced when cooperative learning is used to be much more consistent with communicative language teaching than the style of teacher talk employed in teacher-fronted situations. In Chapter 9 Wendy McDonell discusses the roles of teachers when cooperative learning is used. The roles discussed are: inquirer, creator, observer, facilitator, and change agent. The book’s tenth chapter, by Peter Shaw, makes suggestions about the place of cooperative learning in an M.A. program in second/foreign language teaching. Shaw argues that cooperative learning must be more than a topic to be taught; it should also be part of the way all aspects of the M.A. curriculum are taught. The book’s final chapter, by Judy Winn-Bell Olsen, begins with an overview of inservice teacher education and then discusses basic issues involved in in-service teacher education on cooperative learning. Next, a format for staff development workshops in cooperative learning is presented, along with some workshop materials.

Khodabakhshi, S. C. (1991, April). Group vs. individual completions of cloze passages by ESL students. M.A. paper, Kean College of New Jersey. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 333 727

*** A study investigated whether group interaction in completing cloze passages resulted in better completion than individual work. An earlier analysis of cloze procedure was replicated with 41 community college students of English as a Second Language (ESL). The population was randomly divided into two samples. Each sample completed two cloze passages, one individually and one in small groups. Group mean scores were compared with mean individual scores within and between samples. Results were strikingly similar to those of the previous study, with groups clearly outperforming individuals. Group scores were higher than individual scores for 93% of participants. While 80% of the individuals scored at the frustration reading comprehension level, 83% of the groups scored at the instructional level or higher. The groups also produced a greater number of responses than did the individuals.

Kimball, M. H. (1990). Soundoff. How can we best help ESL students? Mathematics Teacher, 83, 604-05.
 
*** Discussed are the problems faced by mathematics students who have limited English proficiency. Suggestions for teaching these students in the context of mathematics are provided. Cooperative learning strategies are stressed.

Kinsella, K. (1996). Designing group work that supports and enhances diverse classroom work styles. TESOL Journal, 6(1), 25-30.

*** Discusses how teachers can offer an inclusive setting for personal and academic growth by orchestrating group work to engage and develop unique learners. The article emphasizes that a focused whole-group discussion of working preferences affirms the presence and validity of diverse styles and maximizes the climate for learning in the classroom.

Kipling, A. (1999). Peer tutoring and performance. Speaking English, 3(2), 35-41.

*  This article begins by tracing some of the roots of peer tutoring, from the work of Comenius in 17th century Europe and Bell in 18th century Asia, to projects in the U.S. and U.K. in the second half of the 20th century. The problem of defining who qualifies as a peer is discussed. Four theories are suggested as providing a basis for peer tutoring: role model theory, behaviorism, Bernstein’s socio-linguistic theory, and gestalt. The article also briefly touches on potential benefits of peer tutoring, ways of organizing peer tutoring, and problems that can arise. Finally, about a page is devoted to an example of a successful peer tutoring scheme the author organized at her school.

Kleiner-Brandwein, Y. (1995). Pair and small group work is dead and living in Ramat Aviv. English Teachers' Journal (Israel) 48, 143-147.

* The author explains that although the Communicative Approach has been advocated since the mid-1970s, and group activities have been encouraged as part of this approach, many EFL teachers do not use groups because of a variety of problems, e.g., noise, use of the L1, and off-task behavior. To overcome these problems, six guidelines are proposed for the use of group activities. These guidelines are: keep group size at no bigger than four; allow time for students to work alone before collaborating with peers; incorporate graphic skills into group tasks, e.g., drawing, writing, completing grids; give task directions one step at a time; use variety in the way students report their task outcomes to the whole class; and employ realistic tasks. An example is provided.

Klingner, J. K. & Vaughn, S. (1996). Reciprocal teaching of reading comprehension strategies for students with learning disabilities who use English as a second language. The Elementary School Journal, 96, 275-293.

* This article reports a study that investigated the effect of reciprocal teaching with two approaches (cross-age tutoring and cooperative grouping) on the reading comprehension of seventh and eighth grade ESL students with learning disabilities. The findings of this study suggest that ESL students with learning disabilities benefit from "reciprocal teaching" since they engage in social interactions with their peers and teachers where the students find opportunities to improve their reading comprehension skills, such as prediction, summarization, question generation, and clarification. Findings also suggest that cross-age tutoring and cooperative grouping improve students' reading comprehension skills. 

Klingner, J. K., & Vaughn, S. (1999). Promoting reading comprehension, content learning, and English acquisition through Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR). Reading Teacher, 52, 738-747.

* This article describes Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR), a technique that combines reading comprehension strategy instruction with cooperative learning. In CSR students work in groups of 4-5 formed so as to mix students of varied past achievement. Four reading strategies are employed: 

1. previewing the text - recalling relevant prior knowledge, scanning for clues about text content, and predicting text content

2. clicking and clunking - self-monitoring what has been understood (clicking) and what has caused comprehension difficulties (clunking), followed by the use of fix-up strategies to deal with clunks

3. getting the gist - identifying and paraphrasing the main idea or key information in a particular text section

4. wrapping-up - identifying main ideas in the entire text, and generating questions and answers related to these main ideas. 

Before groups use CSR, teachers or other students demonstrate via modeling, thinking aloud, and role playing. The article cites supporting research and provides details on implementation.

Klingner, J. K., & Vaughn, S. (2000). The helping behaviors of fifth graders while using collaborative strategic reading during ESL content classes. TESOL Quarterly, 34, 69-98.

This study investigated the frequency and means by which bilingual students helped each other and their limited English proficient peers in content classes while working in small, heterogeneous groups as they implemented a reading strategy: collaborative strategic reading. Overall, students in groups spent large amounts of time engaged in academic-related strategic discussion and assisted one another in understanding word meanings, getting the main idea, asking and answering questions, and relating what they were learning to previous knowledge. Furthermore, each group provided some explanation in Spanish. Students’ scores on English vocabulary tests improved significantly from pre- to posttesting. Results revealed that students’ helping behaviors were facilitated by the provision of specific instruction in how and when to help their peers.

Kluge, D., McGuire, S., Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (Eds.). (1999). Cooperative learning. Tokyo: Japan Association for Language Teaching. 

* The focus of the book's 14 chapters is the use of CL in Japan with special emphasis on the teaching of English. With the exception of two chapters by well-known CL scholars Roger and David Johnson, all the chapters are based on the CL experience in this nation of 120 million. The book begins with a very brief chapter by David Kluge on what CL is, relevant research, and prominent models of CL. Next, the Johnsons discuss what makes CL work and stress the important role that culture plays. Shuji Sugie’s chapter discusses CL in Japan, including his Bazu (Buzz Learning) method. Chapter 12 of the book contains Inoue Tetsuro's description of how he uses Buzz Learning to teach English to Japanese junior high school students. In Chapter 4, William Acton and Corrine Cope describe how their difficulties in teaching English conversation skills to Japanese college students led them to implement cooperative attending skills training. Chapter 5 contains Soo-im Lee’s application of CL at a private language school. In Chapter 6, Amy Yamashiro and John McLaughlin describe how they use Jigsaw II and 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth to involve their Japanese high school and university students in an English language simulated NGO forum on the environment. The next chapter consists of Patricia Thornton's description of how she teaches English language reading to her female Japanese junior college using such CL techniques as Talking Tokens, Group Investigation, Jigsaw, and RoundTable. Chapters 8-11 offer descriptions of a wide variety of CL activities for the teaching of English language. These activities involve projects, oral fluency tasks, group skills, and writing. Chapters 13 and 14 focus on evaluation. In Chapter 14, Jane Joritz-Nakagawa provides a case study of one new means of assessment, as she describes a cooperative performance test she developed to measure Japanese university students' proficiency in English conversation.

Knight-Giuliani, L. F. (2002). The benefits of student-student interaction among adult students in the English as a second language classroom. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey.

Much of the literature on classroom interaction in the adult English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom has focused on the teacher-student relationship and, specifically, on how the teacher can promote learning. Although studies of teacher designed cooperative learning groups have shown that learning occurs when students work together in small groups, there are few studies that have looked at student-initiated student-student interactions that are not structured by the teacher. In focusing on the student-initiated student-student interactions that occurred in two university-level ESL classrooms, and the helping behaviors they represented, this study began to address the gap in the second language learning literature. To investigate the student-initiated helping behaviors that occurred in the two ESL classrooms observed, the researcher used an ethnographic approach, observing both classes as a passive observer. Any interactions among students that were not governed by the teacher and appeared to represent helping behaviors were noted and later analyzed. In addition, both informal and formal interviews were conducted with those students who volunteered. Three kinds of helping behaviors used among the students in both classes were identified in the fieldnotes. In the analysis stage, these categories were described and labeled as language helping behaviors, cultural helping behaviors, and general helping behaviors. For each kind of behavior, examples of student dialogues and vignettes were presented. Using the data obtained from the informal and formal interviews, it was hypothesized that student learning did result from student-initiated student-student interactions that contained helping behaviors. However, learning could not be proven to have occurred and was hypothesized to have occurred based on the students' own interpretations of their helping interactions. As a result, the main contribution of this study was in providing a set of categorizations of the helping behaviors that adult ESL students use to help each other while they are in class. In conclusion, by provoking thinking, this study offers innovative suggestions for ESL teachers who wish to promote positive student-student interactions in their own classrooms. In addition, this study has provided a foundation on which to base future research on student-initiated student-student interactions.

Kohonen, V. (1992). Experiential language learning: Second language learning as cooperative learner education. In D. Nunan (Ed.), Collaborative language learning and teaching, (pp. 14-39). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

** The purpose of this chapter is to provide a theoretical and empirical justification for experiential language learning, and to justify the incorporation of cooperative learner education into language programs. In the first part of the chapter a theory of experiential learning is presented. This is followed by a detailed justification for the adoption of an experiential approach to language learning. The chapter then deals with learner training, and its incorporation into language programs. In the final part, principles of cooperative learning are set out and discussed.

Konopacki, S. (1990). Let them talk!: Teaching high school Spanish conversation. Hispania, 73, 833-836.

* This article describes conversational partnerships (CPs), a technique for encouraging the development of oral proficiency and "democratic cooperative work skills". Details are given on the use of CPs in a U.S. high school Spanish class. CPs consist of two or more members who agree work together in class and out of class to plan and rehearse their conversations. Each conversation has a specified length of time, topic, format, and grammatical and lexical focus. Students prepare their conversations for one of three types of performance: before the whole class, only for the teacher, or audio or videotaped. 

Kowal, M., & Swain, M. (1994). Using collaborative language production tasks to promote students' language awareness. Language Awareness, 3(2), 73-93.

This paper presents data of 13 and 14 year old intermediate and advanced learners of French working collaboratively to complete a text reconstruction task. The task was designed to focus the students’ attention and discussion on the form of the message they were constructing. It was hypothesised that this kind of opportunity to produce language would promote their language learning by (1) making them aware of gaps in their existing knowledge which they would subsequently seek to fill; (2) raising their awareness of the links between the form, function and meaning of words as they worked to construct their intended message; and (3) obtaining feedback that they would receive from their peers and their teacher as they completed the task. The results support the hypothesis and also provide rich insights for teachers, researchers and curriculum planners into the language learning process in a collaborative setting; the students’ understandings of how language ‘works’; and the effects of certain grouping patterns on the ensuing student talk.

Kowal, M., & Swain, M. (1997). From semantic to syntactic processing: How can we promote metalinguistic awareness in the French immersion classroom? In R. K. Johnson and M. Swain (Eds.), Immersion education: International perspectives, (pp. 284-309). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

* This chapter reports a case study of a French immersion class of grade 8 students in Toronto. The chapter begins by describing the Canadian French immersion program, the specific class, and its teacher. The Output Hypothesis is also described. The authors believe that, “Group work provides multiple ways for enriching opportunities for output.” Kowal and Swain wondered if group work would help students to process the L2 not only semantically but also syntactically. Two groups tasks – dictogloss (Wajnryb, 1990) and cloze – succeeded in doing this; however, the authors consider that dictogloss was superior as it seemed to result in more contextualized syntactic processing. They also state that while students are able to provide each other with useful feedback, final corrective feedback is necessary.

Kramsch, C. J. (1984, March). Interaction processes in group work. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Houston, TX. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 252 082

*** Some aspects of foreign language classroom discourse are examined from a social theoretical perspective, and an attempt to raise the learners' awareness of the social reality created in interaction with other learners in the foreign language being taught is described. Through peer observation and the retrospective evaluation by the participants of interaction patterns in group discussions, three aspects are examined: the turn-taking mechanism, the management of topics, and repair patterns. The subjects were three groups of seven undergraduate students in a fourth semester German course participating in a task-oriented discussion in the absence of a teacher on the second day of the fall term. In each group, three students were observers and four were participants, and all responded to questionnaires after the discussion. The results suggest that adult learners at this level can observe and evaluate their interaction in group work, and the interactional metalanguage in the second language seems to be linguistically accessible to them, permitting a process-oriented discussion. However, the learners' ability to focus on process seems determined by the amount of control they perceive themselves to have over the group's discourse. It is suggested that this ability to reflect on interactional features could be helpful to students in (1) viewing their own performance in light of short- or long-term, explicit or implicit goals set for themselves; (2) reducing anxiety by qualitative differentiation of tasks and functions in discourse; and (3) broadening learners' options in group work through comparison with peers.

Kramsch, C. (1987). Interactive discourse in small and large groups. In W. M. Rivers (Ed.), Interactive language teaching (pp. 17-32). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

* The chapter focuses on how teachers can help prepare students to function in a range of discourse settings. The typical teacher-dominated classroom with its focus on accuracy and fixed discourse roles does not do this. Kasper is quoted as maintaining that, “Speaking a language means more than referring to the world, it also means relating to one’s interlocutor.” The use of group activities offers students much more opportunity to practice a wide range of interactional skills. The effect of power and culture on interaction are discussed. Skills that students need to master include turn-taking, topic management, and repair of errors and other possible problems. Suggestions are made for teaching these discourse skills in both teacher-fronted and group settings. The author concludes by stating that, “Only by broadening their discourse options in the classroom can learners stop being foreign-language consumers and become the active architects of interpersonal and intercultural understanding.”

Krashen, S. D., & Terrell, T. D. (1983). The Natural Approach: Language acquisition in the classroom. Oxford: Pergamon.

* This books presents the theoretical and practical components of the Natural Approach to second language instruction. While this approach emphasizes the dominant role of comprehensible input in promoting L2 acquisition, language production by learners also receives a place. Benefits of production include: (1) generating more input from teachers and other more proficient speakers, and from fellow students; (2) providing students a feeling of satisfaction from their increasing L2 proficiency; (3) supplying students with meaningful input about each other’s lives, thoughts, and feelings. The authors acknowledge that the input learners provide each other is a form of interlanguage, and the non-targetlike forms in this interlanguage may harm learners' movement toward more advanced second language competence. Nevertheless, they advocate that group activities and other learning modes involving student production be used as one part of the curriculum: 

[O]ur experience is that interlanguage does a great deal more good than harm, as long as it is not the only input the students are exposed to. It is comprehensible, it is communicative, and in many cases, for many students it contains examples of i+1 (p. 97).

Ladousse, G. P. (1987). Role play. New York: Oxford University Press.

* The author states that role play is an ideal vehicle for developing fluency and is suitable for use with large or small groups at many different levels of general or ESP English courses. This book provides guidance for the use of role play in the language classroom. It presents an array of techniques, moving from closely-controlled, teacher-directed role play activities to fully-fledged simulations devised and written by the students themselves. Many of the role plays are followed by suggestions of ways of adapting them to particular situations. This step-by-step guide can serve as a resource book for experienced teachers and an instruction manual for inexperienced teachers.

LaGuardia Community College. (1993). Project PROPEL handbook: Resources for adopting sites. Washington, DC: Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 362 024

*** Project PROPEL (Program Reorganization Promoting Excellence Through Language) is a program in content area instruction for limited English speaking (LEP) high school students, developed at the International High School of LaGuardia Community College (New York). The handbook is designed to assist teachers, administrators, and policymakers attempting to reorganize their programs to serve this population. Introductory sections describe the International High School program, present its mission statement and educational philosophy, and offer general information on content-based English as a Second Language, strategies for teaching LEP students, collaborative learning, interdisciplinary study, and alternative methods of assessment for students and staff. Subsequent sections provide more detailed information on the objectives and design three programs: the Motion Program, a set of courses exploring the concept of motion from the perspectives of several disciplines, including literature, mathematics, physics, and physical education; Beginnings, a full-day interdisciplinary program stressing linguistic and cognitive development; and a personal and career development program, a 3-year experiential learning sequence incorporating linguistic skill development, multiple learning contexts, and career education. Notes for teachers and program developers and sample class activities are contained in each of these sections. Criteria for program adoption and a list of Project PROPEL publications are appended.

Lam, W., & Wong, J. (2000). The effects of strategy training on developing discussion skills in an ESL classroom. ELT Journal, 54, 245-255.

Between February and May 1997, 58 sixth form students from Hong Kong were trained in the use of strategies during group discussions. Before the course began, questionnaires were completed by 24 practising teachers and analyses of transcripts were taken during a pre-training discussion task. These identified the following key strategies which students need in order to play an effective part in discussion: seeking clarification, clarifying oneself, and checking that other people have understood one’s message. Based on these findings, and on analysis of transcripts from the pre-training tasks, an action plan was drawn up, and teaching materials were developed which incorporated strategies designed to be used in training the students. The analyses indicated that learners made more attempts to seek clarification and to clarify themselves in the post-training discussion task than in the pre-training task. However, they also showed more incidents of ineffective than effective use of these strategies in the post-training discussion. While these results tended to support the value of strategy training, they raised two basic issues regarding strategies-based instruction: (1) the necessity to support strategy training with linguistic scaffolding, and (2) the importance of peer help and co-operation in facilitating strategy use.

Lapkin, S., & Swain, M. (1998). Interaction and second language learning: Two adolescent French immersion students working together. Modern Language Journal, 82, 320-337.

This article provides support for a theoretical orientation toward viewing dialogue as both a means of communication and a cognitive tool. Data to support this position come from an analysis of the language-related episodes isolated in the dialogue of two grade 8 French immersion students as they carry out a jigsaw task. During the task, the students work out a story line and write it out. As they do so, they encounter linguistic problems. To solve them, the students use their first language (L1) and second language (L2) in order to communicate to each other and as tools to aid their L2 learning. The language-related episodes discussed provide evidence of language use as both an enactment of mental processes and as an occasion for L2 learning. Variation in how other pairs of students in the class perform the task supports existing evidence that the same task does not provide similar occasions for L2 learning to all student dyads.

Lantolf, J. P., & Appel, G. (1994). Theoretical framework: An introduction to Vygotskian perspectives on second language research. In J. P. Lantolf and G. Appel (Eds.), Vygotskian approaches to second language research (pp. 1-32). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

* This introductory chapter gives a brief historical sketch of Vygotsky, and examines Vygotsky's attempt to develop an explanatory framework for human consciousness. According to Vygotsky, it is necessary to discover the appropriate unit of analysis of consciousness, the theoretical principles needed to explain its formation and operation, and a methodological paradigm to carry out the necessary research. To this end, the chapter addresses the issue of the unit of analysis of consciousness, and presents a summary of the research paradigm that has its origins in Vygotsky's writings. The chapter also provides a brief introduction to the papers included in the book.

Lee, I. (1997). Peer reviews in a Hong Kong tertiary classroom. TESL Canada Journal, 15(1), 58-69.

Peer reviews are becoming increasingly popular in second language (L2) composition pedagogy. This article describes the implementation of peer reviews in a Hong Kong tertiary classroom: the background, classroom procedure, types of students' negotiations during peer reviews, comparisons of students' drafts before and after peer reviews, and interviews with students. The results, together with the students' positive comments on peer reviews, support the need to introduce peer reviews in L2 writing instruction. The article concludes with some suggestions about ways to incorporate peer reviews in the writing classroom.

Lee, I. (1998). Supporting greater autonomy in language learning. ELT Journal, 52, 282-290. 

Learning to be self-directed involves taking responsibility for the objectives of learning, self-monitoring, self-assessing, and taking an active role in learning. This article describes the implementation of a self-directed learning programme for tertiary students in Hong Kong, and evaluates its outcomes using data from the students and the teacher. It raises issues concerning the provision of support for such learning, and discusses the implications for future work in this field.

Lee, I., Lee, M., & Ng, R. (1994). Fun after hours: Extra-curricular activities in secondary schools. Hong Kong: Institute of Language in Education. 

*The book is designed for ESL / EFL teachers who are interested in incorporating the idea of English use into extra-curricular activities. It describes eighteen extra-curricular activities (e.g. debate, drama competition, story-telling) that teachers can use with students outside the language classroom. Detailed descriptions of the procedure for each activity are provided for teachers' reference. The materials can also be used by student leaders who organise extra-curricular activities for their peers. Through organising and/or taking part in extra-curricular activities students learn how to co-operate with others and use English for a wide variety of purposes.

Lee, L. Y. W., & Littlewood, W. (1999). What makes interactive learning work? HKBU (Hong Kong Baptist University) Papers in Applied Language Studies, 4, 80-92.

Many recent developments in educational thought and policy involve a shift from transmission-oriented conceptions of teaching and learning towards more learner-centred approaches which emphasise the active role of the students in processing and constructing knowledge. An important element in many of these approaches is interactive learning in which knowledge is processed through social interaction. The success of these approaches is contingent on the tutor’s success in establishing contexts in which students feel able and willing to participate in classroom interaction. This paper reports on a project which investigates the factors which make interactive learning work in tertiary contexts. It has four main sections. First, it describes and defines the term “interactive learning”: a form of learning which occurs as students interact with each other (without or without the teacher) in processing information and exploring ideas. Second, it looks at some of the reasons why we should want interactive learning to work. Third, it presents some of the results of our investigation (through interviews and observation) into factors which make interactive learning work. Finally, based on these results, it offers recommendations to teachers who would like to make interactive learning work more effectively in their classes at tertiary level. A key factor in implementing interactive learning is the creation of a non-threatening atmosphere in which the students feel respected and do not perceive the tutor as the sole possessor knowledge.

Lee, M. M. T., Li, B. K. W., & Lee, I. K. B. (1999). Project work: Practical
guidelines. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Institute of Education.

* Project work provides excellent opportunities for independent and collaborative learning. This book aims to provide ESL / EFL teachers with a practical guide for using project work in teaching English. It describes the procedure for conducting project work, and discusses a number of practical and technical issues pertinent to the organisation of project work, such as the selection of themes and the grouping of students. The book also describes some techniques for gathering information and for presenting the final product of project work. The techniques delineated in the book emphasise the importance of team work and co-operative learning, for example, preparing and conducting an interview in a group, and giving a group presentation orally or in writing. Examples of project work that has been tried out successfully by some Hong Kong teachers are presented, together with ready-to-use materials such as work procedures, lesson plans, worksheets, and instructions for students.

Leeser, M. J. (2004). Learner proficiency and focus on form during collaborative dialogue. Language Teaching Research, 8(1), 55-81.

One of the challenges in content-based instruction in second language classrooms is how to focus on form in a way that is both effective and appropriate. The use of collaborative tasks that push learners to consciously reflect on their own language use (i.e., produce ‘language-related episodes’) while conveying meaning has been proposed as one way to accomplish this goal. Studies investigating the use of collaborative tasks that encourage learners to produce language-related episodes (LREs) have been shown to affect positively language development. However, little is known about how the proficiency of each dyad member affects how and how much dyads produce LREs during collaborative tasks. Therefore, the study reported in this article investigated how grouping learners by their relative proficiency (high-high, high-low, or low-low) affected the amount, type (lexical or grammatical) and outcome (correct, unresolved, or incorrect) of LREs produced during a passage reconstruction task, completed by twenty-one pairs of adult L2 Spanish learners from a content-based course. The findings revealed that the proficiency of the dyad members affected how much the dyads focused on form, the types of forms they focused on as well as how successful they were at resolving the language problems they encountered.

Leki, I. (1990). Potential problems with peer responding in ESL writing classes. CATESOL Journal, 3(1), 5-19.

Many native speaker composition classes and increasing numbers of ESL composition classes use small group work and peer responding to improve writing. Teachers who have used peer responding are generally convinced of its usefulness, but many are unaware of the special problems ESL writers and readers face when asked to comment on a classmate’s writing. These problems stem partly from ESL students’ lack of experience in using techniques like peer responding and partly from the varying rhetorical expectations that readers from other cultures bring to a text. This paper discusses the issues surrounding the attempt to bring ESL writers into the American academic discourse community through the use of peer responding in ESL writing courses.

Leki, I. (2001). "A narrow thinking system": Nonnative-English-speaking students in group projects across the curriculum. TESOL Quarterly, 35(1), 39-67.

Reports research investigating how English-as-a-Second-Language students are positioned in the group work that is routinely a part of many university classes in the United States. Through an ethnographic study of the experience nonnative speakers of English have at U.S. universities, the challenges that these students face as they attempt to participate in course-sponsored group work are detailed.

LeLoup, J. W., & Ponterio, R. (2000). Cooperative learning activities for the foreign language classroom. Language Learning & Technology [http://llt.msu.edu/default.html], 3(2), 3-5. 

Diligent searching on the World Wide Web (WWW) can result in the location of pages offering language learning activities that are ready-made by language teachers, are freely available, and can immediately serve educators as instructional, enrichment, and/or review tools. The present column describes in detail one such site that was created by a foreign language (FL) educator in Canada who took an educational methodology and devised activities in concert. Pete Jones is the Head of Modern Languages at Pine Ridge Secondary School in Pickering, Ontario. Mr Jones has created a myriad of activities for use in high school classes, all of which have one common theoretical underpinning: Cooperative Learning.

Liang, X. (2004). Cooperative learning as a sociocultural practice. Canadian Modern Language Review, 60(5), 637-668.

This study investigates Chinese immigrant high school students' perceptions of cooperative learning and their interactions during cooperative learning activities in English as a second language (ESL) classes. The findings present a complex picture of cooperative learning in the ESL classroom. The interview results demonstrate that the Chinese students had multiple and contradictory views of cooperative learning. They simultaneously liked and disliked working in groups. The observation data show that these students also produced multiple and conflicting discourses of cooperation, non-cooperation, and mis-cooperation as they worked on cooperative learning tasks. The themes of these contradictory discourses suggest that the Chinese students' everyday lived experiences of cooperative learning in ESL classes were shaped by dilemmatic qualities. The dilemmas these students encountered during cooperative learning tasks seem to derive from conflicting values and practices of the cultural, socio-economic, and educational worlds that these students experienced before and experience now.

Liang, X. [xliang@csulb.edu], & Mohan, B. (2003). Dilemmas of cooperative learning and academic proficiency in two languages. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 2, 35–51.

This study examines cooperative learning in relation to goals for L2 development, L1
maintenance, and content learning. It investigates how Chinese immigrant students perceive these goals, and how they use L1 and L2 to acquire content knowledge during cooperative learning activities. An analysis of interviews with the students indicates that they had contradictory feelings about cooperative learning goals, in particular the goals of L1 maintenance and L2 development. A functional analysis of the students’ interaction during cooperative learning sessions reveals differences between the L1 and L2 discourse they produced. Taken together, these findings indicate that the ideal goals that are claimed for cooperative learning may involve dilemmas between L1 maintenance and L2 development, between the use of L1
and L2 in academic discourse, and between the use of the L1 and L2 for the learning of content. Bilingual academic language proficiency is also shown to be a complex matter, involving the translation of meaning systems, not just labels.

Liang, X., Mohan, B. A., & Early, M. (1998). Issues of cooperative learning in ESL classes: A literature review. TESL Canada Journal, 15(2), 13-23.

This article reviews the research literature on cooperative learning in the second language (L2) classroom in relation to L2 acquisition, maintenance of first language (L1), the integration of language and content learning, and L2 learners' perceptions, and discusses some issues and problems of this educational innovation in an English as a second language (ESL) context. Although acknowledging the reported potential benefits of cooperative learning for L2 learners, it calls for further research to examine the types of L1 and L2 discourse produced in cooperative groups and find out about student development of academic discourse, to investigate whether L1 use in cooperative groups affects the interracial and intercultural relationships between students who speak different L1s, to look at the role of the students' prior knowledge in L1 in their learning of new content knowledge in L2 in cooperative groups, and to explore how different groups of ESL students perceive cooperative learning and how cultural and educational backgrounds may influence their perceptions.

Lie, A. (1992). Jigsaw: Cooperative learning for EFL students. Cross Currents, 19, 49-52.

* This article begins by explaining the rationale for using the Jigsaw cooperative learning strategy. Next, various forms of Jigsaw are described: Jigsaw I, Jigsaw II, Strip Story, Jigsaw Picture Stories, Jigsaw Storytelling, and Jigsaw Listening. Finally, various concerns about using Jigsaw are addressed, e.g., materials preparation and group functioning.

Lie, A. (1993). Paired storytelling: An integrated approach for EFL students. Journal of Reading, 36, 656-658.

* This article describes a dyadic reading/writing technique developed for use with university level EFL students in Indonesia. Five principles underlie the technique: prior knowledge affects reading comprehension; L2 readers must utilize the same skills used by L1 readers; reading and writing should be integrated; a cooperative, low-anxiety atmosphere should be fostered; and students need opportunities to process information and to communicate in the L2. In Paired Storytelling, each pair member receives half of the same text. They each take notes, exchange notes, and develop their own version of their partner's half of the text. Then, the partners read each other's versions, before the teacher provides each student with the half of the text they are missing. 

Little, D. (1990). Autonomy in language learning. In I. Gathercole (Ed.), Autonomy in language learning (pp. 7-15). London: Centre for Information on Language Teaching.

* This chapter begins to define learner autonomy by stating five things learner autonomy is not, including “not a synonym for self-instruction”. The author goes on to state that as the social beings that we humans are, “our essential condition is one of interdependence; total detachment is a principal determining feature not of autonomy but of autism.” Next, the chapter deals with approaches to autonomy in language learning, autonomy outside the full-time education system and within the education system, and practical issues in implementing autonomy. 
 
Little, D., & Sanders, L. (1989). Classroom community: A prerequisite for communication. Foreign Language Annals, 22, 277-281.

This report of participant-observer research in beginning French and German classes shows that recognition of common ground within the classroom is essential for communication. Without it, exercises, no matter how communicative in intent, will fail to produce communication. A sense of classroom community is a crucial prerequisite to truly communicative interaction. 

Lim, S. (1987). Peer group versus teacher-pupil interactions. In B. K. Das (Ed.), Patterns of classroom interaction in Southeast Asia (pp. 103--128). Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.

* This chapter begins with a review of studies of peer group versus teacher-pupil interaction that generally favors peer group interaction because of its association with greater variety of student talk and greater interactivity. The bulk of the chapter is devoted to a study of classroom interaction patterns at a Singapore junior college. Data were collected via participant observation, interviews, questionnaires, video-taping, and transcription of lessons. Twenty-six lessons were used for data collection, of which sixteen involved teacher-pupil discussion with a class size of six to nineteen and student-student interaction with a group size of six to ten. The study’s findings generally support the findings of previous research, in that the teacher-pupil discussions were dominated by the teachers, whereas the student-student discussions exhibited more meaningful pupil participation.

Lim, W. L., & Jacobs, G. M. (2001a). An analysis of students' dyadic interaction on a dictogloss task. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 456 649.

Using a Vygotskian perspective, the researchers investigated the possibility of secondary school second language students providing scaffolding for each other’s learning during dyadic verbal interaction on a dictogloss task. Participants in the study were 19 English as a Second Language students from China, Hong Kong, and Korea who were studying at a girl’s secondary school in Singapore. The researchers examined students’ exchanges for the presence of discourse strategies that occur in the zone of proximal development. To understand the students’ socio-affective responses to collaborative work and the effect of these responses on the quality of their dyadic interaction, data were collected via student journals, questionnaires and interviews. Findings suggest that second language students are capable of providing assisted performance, though in ways different from traditional methods of scaffolding. Further, socio-affective factors may also play a key role in the success or failure of scaffolding. The implications of the study make a case for the validity of student-student interaction as a tool for second language learning, while suggesting the need for collaborative skills to be taught and for students to understand the value of cooperation.

Lim, W. L., & Jacobs, G. M. (2001b). Detrimental behaviors in collaborative tasks. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 457 685.

Using a Vygotskian perspective, the researchers investigated the interaction of secondary school language learners engaged in a dictogloss task that called for collaborative reconstruction of a text. The investigation focused on the students' behaviors that were detrimental to effective interaction and made it less likely that students would be able to provide scaffolded help for the other member of their dyad. Participants in the study were 19 English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learners from China and Korea who were studying at a girls' secondary school in Singapore. Data sources were transcripts of one dyad's interaction, student journals, questionnaires, and interviews. A wide range of detrimental behaviors were displayed by the participants in the current study. However, the overall picture provided by the data suggests that with help from educators, students can become more skilled at assisting one another and more willing to do so. Ideas are put forward as to how educators can supply such help.

Ling, S. (1998). Negotiated interaction in teacher-led versus peer group adult ESL discussions. TESL Canada Journal, 16(1), 54-75.

This study investigated how teachers and learners negotiated meaning in three teacher-led whole-class and nine peer group prewriting discussions in a pre-university ESL program. By analyzing various interaction features such as comprehension and confirmation checks, clarification and feedback requests, self- and other-corrections, and self- and other-completion, the study found that although peer discussions had high frequencies of negotiation, these negotiations were restricted compared with the extended negotiations in teacher-led discussions. Also, peer groups, where students showed more initiation to modify syntax, lexis, and meaning were limited compared with the targetlike forms in teacher-led error corrections. Students’ feedback suggested that they perceived peer and teacher talk to complement each other to meet various needs of the learners as useful language learning experiences.

Linnell, J. (1995). Can negotiation provide a context for learning syntax in a second language? Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 11(2), 83-102.

Evidence from a growing number of studies has revealed that linguistic modification occurs during negotiation. No research has yet examined whether such modifications assist the learning of syntax in a second language (L2). The present study asks if negotiation can aid one process in the learning of L2 syntax known as syntacticization. The three research questions addressed were: (1) To what extent are linguistic modifications during negotiation evidence of syntacticization? (2) To what extent do different negotiation moves affect syntacticization? and (3) To what extent does negotiation affect syntacticization over time? Evidence suggests that negotiation would integrate and intensify certain key processes in L2 learning and that these would have an impact on syntacticization over time. Experimental/control treatments were contained within ten sessions as 19 L2 learners participated in communication tasks with native speakers through a computerized writing conference. Results indicated that negotiation could stimulate syntacticization and sustain the process over time. However, comparisons with one control group showed that syntacticization was independent of the type of treatment given. 

Littlewood, W. (1996). “Autonomy”: An anatomy and a framework. System, 24, 427-435.

This article examines the components that make up autonomy in language learning. At the core of the notion of autonomy are the learners’ ability and willingness to make choices independently. In foreign language learning contexts, we are concerned mainly with helping learners to make and carry out choices in three domains: communication, learning and (by processes of transfer) their personal life. In this article, these components and domains of autonomy serve as the basis of a conceptual framework for coordinating our strategies for helping learners to develop autonomy. Since the goal of language teaching (and indeed all education) is to develop independent capacities in relevant domains, this framework can also be seen as underlying our overall teaching methodology.

Littlewood, W. (1999). Questioning some assumptions about East Asian students. HKBU (Hong Kong Baptist University) Papers in Applied Language Studies, 4, 142-153.

This paper will examine some common assumptions about East Asian students and their learning attitudes, focusing especially on the belief that they see the teacher as an authority figure and a “fount of all knowledge” which they should receive. This belief is frequently expressed not only by people working in education but also by economists and politicians. In order to question whether it reflects the students’ real attitudes, the paper will present and discuss the responses of 2656 students in eight East Asian countries and (for comparison) three European countries to a survey which aimed to explore students’ attitudes and preferences in English language learning. The responses indicate that conceptions of East Asian learners as “obedient listeners” do not reflect what students really want. The responses also indicate that there is less difference between the ‘average” student in Asia and in Europe than between individual students within each country. The results emphasise the need to question our assumptions, to explore in greater depth the nature and extent of cultural influences on learning, and to base our pedagogy on a more rounded picture of what students want and need.

Lloyd, J. W., et al. (1996). Group versus individual reinforcement contingencies within the context of group study conditions. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 29(2), 189-200.
 
*** Examination of effects on 27 secondary students' Spanish vocabulary quiz performance of 2 variables (group versus individual study and group versus individual contingencies) found that, overall, group study was superior to individual study and, within the group study condition, group contingencies were superior to individual contingencies. Individual exceptions were found.

LoCastro, V. (2000). Evidence of accommodation to L2 prgamatic norms in peer review tasks of Japanese learners of English. JALT Journal, 22, 245-270.

This paper reports on a project examining written peer reviews by Japanese learners of English and is a partial replication of a study conducted by Johnson (1992) on compliments and politeness in peer reviews of native English speaker writers. In addition, this project focuses on the effect of instruction. The literature on the teaching of L2 pragmatic norms, particularly in a foreign language environment, lacks information on the effect of instruction in academic writing skills on the learners’ production, a lack which this study attempts to remedy. The first aim is to assess the learners’ use of speech acts of complimenting, agreeing and disagreeing, and making corrections, as well as the complimenting discourse strategies the learners used when correcting their peers’ texts. The second aim is to assess the effects of writing instruction administered within the learners’ Intensive English Program. The effect of instruction is examined specifically with regards to the use of the syntactic0-semantic device “I think.”

Lockhart, C., & Ng, P. (1995). Analyzing talk in ESL peer response groups: Stances, functions, and content. Language Learning, 45, 605-655.

This study analyzes the interaction during peer response as it occurs in an
authentic writing class. Transcripts of 27 response groups are analyzed using the constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) to identify reader stances and determine the characteristics of these stances. We identified four categories of reader stances - authoritative, interpretive, probing, and collaborative. We then analyzed the language functions and topics discussed during the response sessions. This analysis reveals interesting differences across the four stances in five function categories (Summarize Essay, Express Intention, Give Suggestion, Give Opinion, and Give Information) and in three content categories (Writing Process, Ideas, and Audience and Purpose). We conclude that interactive peer response offers benefits to the students. However, in the probing and collaborative stances, the writer is encouraged to articulate the intended meaning of the text, thereby clarifying, expanding and shaping meaning. These two stances therefore engage students in a fuller understanding of the writing process.

Logan, T. F. (1989-1990). Controlling involvement: A naturalistic study of peer interaction in a bilingual, bicultural preschool. NABE: The Journal of the National Association for Bilingual Education, 14(1-3), 145-66. 

This study was a naturalistic investigation of social interaction among Spanish-speaking, Mexican American 4-year olds and English-speaking,  African-American 4-year-olds in a Head Start center. Data were collected over a 7-month period using participant observation, interviews, and audio and video recordings of the children in a variety of classroom and playground settings. The purpose of the research was to provide a detailed description of a bilingual, bicultural preschool setting and a theoretical analysis of the children's interactional behavior. The principal questions addressed were how well the setting provided for peer social interaction and whether that social interaction facilitated the acquisition of English by the Spanish speakers. The setting was shown to provide little opportunity for peer social interaction, because of the manner in which the center's routines and activities were organized. This, combined with the children's language differences and their limited interactional skills, led to a low incidence of collaborative peer interaction and social dramatic play. The children's social interaction was characterized by their determination to exercise control over their involvement with others: frequent avoidance of all social contact, willingness to enter only those social interactions that left them in control, and resistance to the access of others of ongoing interactions. The most significant result of this concern for control was the Hispanic children's reluctance to enter into verbal play with English speakers. Social dramatic play was conducted in Spanish by the Hispanics and in English by the African-American children. There was little mixing except in more nonverbal forms of play. Thus, the Spanish-speaking children received little English input from play with English-speaking peers. Most English acquisition occurred in teacher-structured activities. 

Long, M. H. (1975). Group work and communicative competence in the ESOL classroom. In M. K. Burt, & H. Dulay (Eds.), On TESOL '75: New directions in second language learning, teaching and bilingual education (pp. 211-223). Washington, DC: TESOL.

* This paper begins with a discussion of the differences between linguistic and communicative competence. The author states that L2 teachers and materials writers often pay too much attention to linguistic competence: “[S]tudents quickly learn that in the classroom what they say is of little importance to their teacher compared with how they say it.” This emphasis on form over content is exacerbated by lockstep, teacher-fronted teaching methods. As a partial remedy, group activities are proposed. Advantages claimed for groups include more learner language production, more varied talk, and the adoption by students of a wider range of roles. The paper concludes by cautioning that just placing students in groups is not sufficient for realizing the above advantages. Attention must also be paid to group size and composition, and to the tasks the groups carry out.

Long, M. H. (1977). Group work in the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language. English Language Teaching Journal, 31(4), 285-291.

* This article begins with a discussion of the weaknesses of teacher-fronted, lock-step instruction, “whereby the teacher presents and practises the same material in the same way to and with all the learners simultaneously”. Next, the use of group work as an alternative is suggested. Among the proposed potential benefits of the use of group work are: more individualization, less boredom among students, more opportunity for communicative language use, more creative, risk-taking language use, greater variety in learner talk, increased learner independence, and more opportunity to develop social interaction skills and learning-to-learn skills. A gradual transition to the use of groups is recommended, and a number of issues in the use of groups are discussed, including the best size for groups, duration of groups, how group membership should be chosen, the internal structure of groups, types of activities to be done in groups, and the roles of students and teachers when group work is conducted. 

Long, M. H. (1981). Input, interaction, and second language acquisition. In H. Winitz (Ed.), Native language and foreign language acquisition (pp. 259-278). New York: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

** It is now well established that, under as yet little understood conditions, native speakers modify their speech when addressing non-native speakers. Discussion of native speaker—non-native speaker (NS-NNS) conversation, however, often conflates two related but distinguishable phenomena, input to and interaction with the NNS. Input refers to the linguistic forms used; by interaction is meant the functions served by those forms, such as expansion, repetition, and clarification. This paper explores the possibility that a distinction between these two facets of NS-NNS conversation is important both theoretically, in order better to understand the second-language-acquisition (SLA) process, and in practice, when considering what is necessary and efficient in SL instruction.

Long, M. H. (1996). The role of the linguistic environment in second language 
acquisition. In W. C. Ritchie, & T. K. Bhatia (Eds.), Handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 413-468). San Diego: Academic Press.

** The linguistic environment for second language (L2) acquisition may be thought of in many ways, but perhaps most fundamentally in terms of the positive and negative evidence speakers and writers provide learners about the target language (TL). As positive evidence, in the process of communicating they offer models of what is grammatical and acceptable (not necessarily the same) in the L2, but also instances of ungrammatical language use at a time when learners do not know which is which. Under certain conditions they adapt their speech or writing in ways that make those models comprehensible to the learner and thereby usable for acquisition. As negative evidence, they provide direct or indirect information about what is ungrammatical. This may be explicit (e.g., grammatical explanation or overt error correction) or implicit (e.g. failure to understand, incidental error correction in a response, such as a confirmation check, which reformulates the learner’s previous utterance without interrupting the flow of conversation – in which case, the negative feedback simultaneously provides additional positive evidence – and perhaps also the absence of items in the input). In addition, conversational partners may be important as facilitators and shapers of learner output and as participants in a process whereby nonnative speakers learn at least part of a new grammar by doing conversation. … 
Few aspects of human development have turned out to be explicable solely as a function of either innate or environment variables acting separately. Most involve both, the interaction of the two, and changes in the relative importance of each and of their interaction over developmental time (Bornstein & Bruner, 1989). A reasonable working hypothesis for L2 acquisition, therefore, would be that neither the environment nor innate knowledge alone suffice. The following review focuses on L2 (and some L1) acquisition research findings. In an updated version of the so-called Interaction Hypothesis (Long, 1981a, 1983c), it is proposed that environmental contributions to acquisition are mediated by selective attention and the learner’s developing L2 processing capacity, and that these resources are brought together most usefully, although not exclusively, during the negotiation for meaning. Negative feedback obtained during negotiation work or elsewhere may be facilitative of L2 development, at least for vocabulary, morphology, and language-specific syntax, and essential for learning certain specifiable L1-L2 contrasts. 

Long, M. H., Adams, L., McLean, M., & Castanos, F. (1976). Doing thing with words—Verbal interaction in lockstep and small group classroom situation. In J. F. Fanselow, & R. H.Crymes (Eds.), On TESOL ’76 (pp. 137-153). Washington, DC: TESOL.

* The study reported here was designed to contrast lockstep teaching with group work. Lockstep teaching is faulted for constraining the potential for communicative discourse, whereas group work is seen as offering possibilities for exploratory talk. Intermediate level ESL students in Mexico took part in the study. Their language production was recorded in two conditions: whole-class instruction and groups of two. Results showed enhanced quantity and variety of student speech in groups, as compared to lockstep instruction.

Long, M. H., & Porter, P. A. (1985). Group work, interlanguage talk, and second language acquisition. TESOL Quarterly, 19, 207-228.

The use of group work in classroom second language learning has long been supported by sound pedagogical arguments. Recently, however, a psycholinguistic rationale for group work has emerged from second language acquisition research on conversation between non-native speakers, or interlanguage talk. Provided careful attention is paid to the structure of tasks students work on together, the negotiation work possible in group activity makes it an attractive alternative to the teacher-led, “lockstep” mode and a viable classroom substitute for individual conversations with native speakers.

Lorenz, E. B. (1987). Immersion strategies. Rockville, MD: Montgomery County Public Schools. Office of Instruction and Program Development. 

*** Four classroom activities useful for language immersion instruction are described and specific applications and extensions are noted. All are best used to teach content and language at the same time. The first, entitled "Think-Pair-Share," is a cooperative learning technique that increases student participation in classroom experiences and increases opportunities for students to learn from one another. It establishes teacher expectations for students' attention and participation by requiring that students think about and interact with all questions. The second activity encourages students to use questioning to discover the common attribute of a collection of items. The items may be revealed one at a time or all together. An exercise called "comparison circles" is an instructional technique based on the logic of Venn diagrams. Relationships among groups of objects in science and social studies are demonstrated to help students learn to classify objects according to common characteristics. Finally, the "guess box" uses a technique similar to "Twenty Questions." A mystery item is placed in a box and students must identify the item by gaining information through questioning. A list of prompts for the guess box activity is included.

Loschky, L. C. (1994). Comprehensible input and second language acquisition: What is the relationship? Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 16, 303-323.

This study attempts to test aspects of the input hypothesis (Krashen, 1980, 1983, 1985) and Long’s modification of it (Long, 1980, 1983a, 1985). Specifically, it experimentally tests the hypothesis that both input and interactional modifications facilitate second language acquisition, using Japanese as the target language. Three experimental groups were differentiated in terms of input and interaction conditions: (1) unmodified input with no interaction, (2) premodified input with no interaction, and (3) unmodified input with the chance for negotiated interaction. The groups were compared in terms of (a) their degree of comprehension of the input and (b) their subsequent retention of vocabulary items and acquisition of two Japanese locative structures. The results indicated that moment-to-moment comprehension was highest for the negotiated interaction group, whereas there was no significant difference between the two noninteraction groups. Furthermore, there was no correlation found between differences in moment-to-moment comprehension and gains in vocabulary recognition and acquisition of structures, though significant gains on both measures were found for all three groups. Discussion of these findings centers on the relationship between comprehension and acquisition.

Lynch, T. (1996). Basing discussion classes on learners’ questions: An experiment in (non-)course design. Edinburgh Working Papers in Applied Linguistics, 7, 72-84.

In this paper I present a case study of an innovative class in an English for Academic Purposes context. What made this ‘non-course’ unusual was that spontaneous topics raised by the learners took the place of a pre-planned syllabus. I describe the audience and rationale for the class, analyse the topics the learners chose, and report their positive evaluation of this unfamiliar approach. Finally I outline areas for future research and development.
Ma, R. (2003). A review of research on cooperative learning. Teaching English in China, 26, 24-26, 12.
Cooperative learning methodology has been seldom employed by English teachers in China. This paper reviews the research on cooperative learning in various areas, including three cooperative learning techniques, task-based interaction in cooperative learning and characteristics of cooperative learning. This paper argues that the essence of cooperative learning is that it can achieve task-based interactions favourable for Second Language Acquisition. In addition, cooperative learning has a positive effect of student achievement. Accordingly, it is hoped that cooperative learning methodology will be widely applied in China. 

Macaro, E. (1997). Target language, collaborative learning and autonomy. Clevedon, Avon: Multilingual Matters.

* Using the educational context of England/Wales as a framework within which to evaluate studies in language acquisition and language learning, this book explores the relevance that second language research has for the secondary school foreign language (FL) classroom. It analyzes the concept of teaching and learning exclusively through the target language, relating it to two current pedagogical tendencies: peer collaboration and learner autonomy. It suggests different ways learners in the secondary FL context collaborate, and examines the various influences and different labels which have been attached to the notion of leaner autonomy. Critical discussion of the issues is supported by analysis of a substantial empirical research project.

Mackey, A. (1994). Using communicative tasks to target grammatical
structures: A handbook of tasks and instructions for their use. University
of Sydney: Language Acquisition Research Centre.

** This handbook outlines and illustrates 18 communicative tasks and describes how to use them. These tasks are designed to promote conversational interaction. The tasks have been tested with groups of both adult and child learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) with a variety of L1 backgrounds. Research has shown that they are successful at eliciting targeted grammatical structures in ESL.

Mackey, A. (1999). Input, interaction and second language development:
An empirical study of question formation in ESL. Studies in Second Language
Acquisition, 21, 557-587.

This study examines the relationship between different types of conversational interaction and SLA. Long’s (1996) updated version of the interactionist hypothesis claims that implicit negative feedback, which can be obtained through negotiated interaction, facilitates SLA. Similar claims for the benefits of negotiation have been made by Pica (1994) and Gass (1997). Some support for the interaction hypothesis has been provided by studies that have explored the effects of interaction on production (Gass & Varonis, 1994), on lexical acquisition (Ellis, Tanaka, & Yamazaki, 1994), on the short-term outcomes of pushed output (see Swain, 1995), and for specific interactional features such as recasts (Long, Inagaki, & Ortega, 1998; Mackey & Philp, 1998). However, other studies have not found effects for interaction on grammatical development (Loschky, 1994). The central question addressed by the current study was: Can conversational interaction facilitate second language development? The study employed a pretest-posttest design. Adult ESL learners (N=34) of varying L1 backgrounds were divided into four experimental groups and one control group. They took part in task-based interaction. Research questions focused on the developmental outcomes of taking part in various types of interaction. Active participation in interaction and the developmental level of the learner were considered. Results of this study support claims concerning a link between interaction and grammatical development and highlight the importance of active participation in the interaction.

Mackey, A., & Philp, J. (1998). Conversational interaction and second language development: Recasts, responses, and red herrings? Modern Language Journal, 82, 338-356.
 
This article examines the effects of negotiated interaction on the production and development of question forms in English as a second language (ESL). The study focused on one feature of interaction, recasts, which have recently been the topic of interactional work in the SLA literature (Doughty, 1993; Long, 1996; Long, Inagaki, & Ortega, this issue; Lyster & Ranta, 1997; Oliver, 1995). The study compared groups of learners who received interactionally modified input with learners who received the same input containing intensive recasts in order to investigate: (a) the effect of recasts on learners' short term interlanguage (IL) development, and (b) the nature and content of learners' responses to recasts. The results suggest that for more advanced learners, interaction with intensive recasts may be more beneficial than interaction alone in facilitating an increase in production of targeted higher-level morpho-syntactic forms. These positive developmental effects were found for recasts even though they were generally acknowledged in the discourse, recasts were usually not repeated and rarely elicited modification by the learners. This study, therefore, suggests that recasts may be beneficial for short term IL development even though they are not incorporated in learners' immediate responses. In fact, the responses may be red herrings.

Manera, E. S., & Glockhamer, H. (1988). Cooperative learning: Do students "own" the content? Action in Teacher Education, 10(4), 53-56. 

*** This article relates experiences from three examples of cooperative learning activities at Arizona State University. These descriptions illustrate that cooperative learning activities work well with adults, can promote higher levels of thinking and mastery of the content, and can be used as a student evaluation vehicle.

Mangelsdorf, K., & Schlumberger, A. (1992). ESL student response stances in a peer-review task. Journal of Second Language Writing, 1, 235-254.

Peer reviews are commonly used in ESL composition classes to enable students to help each other improve their writing. However, little research has been conducted concerning how students actually respond to each other during review sessions and what these responses suggest about their assumptions concerning peer reviews and composition. In this exploratory study, we asked 60 ESL freshman composition students to respond in writing to an essay written the previous semester by another ESL student. We then examined the stances the students took toward the writer of the text, the characteristics of these stances, and what these stances suggest about the students' assumptions concerning written classroom discourse. We discerned three stances in the students' reviews: an "interpretive" stance, in which students imposed their own ideas about the topic onto the text; a “prescriptive" stance, in which students expected the text to follow a prescribed form; and a "collaborative" stance, in which students tried to see the text through the author's eyes. A majority of the students assumed a prescriptive stance, suggesting that they believed that correct form was more important than the communication of meaning. We conclude by discussing how our students' responses to their peers' text can reflect characteristics of the collaborative stance.

Markee, N. P. (1995). Teachers’ answers to students’ questions: Problematizing the issue of making meaning. Issues in Applied Linguisitics, 6, 63-92.

This paper analyzes how three university ESL teachers answered students’ requests for help in understanding unknown vocabulary items during lessons that were mediated via a task-based, small group methodology. While considerable individual variation was observed, it was found that teachers rarely answered students’ questions directly. Instead, they tended to answer learners’ referential questions with display questions of their own, a strategy that is called here a counter-question strategy. It is argued that their use of this strategy for making meaning problematizes issues in the second language acquisition literature on the social construction of comprehensible input and output. Alternative interpretations of the implications of this meaning-making strategy for second language acquisition theory are offered as a basis for further research.

Markley, P. (1992). Creating independent ESL writer & thinkers: Computer networking for composition. CAELL Journal, 3(2), 6-12.

* The author maintains that in order for the use of computers to improve L2 composition instruction three conditions must be met. One, students must view computers as tools for enhancing their education, not merely as devices for making their writing more legible. Two, teachers need to supply students with feedback that enables them to develop their talents in the art of writing. Three, writing programs must encourage creativity and cooperative learning. The author goes on to explain how he has endeavored to use the INTERCHANGE option in the Daedalus computer program to create these three conditions in teaching freshman composition to international students at a U.S. university.

Martinez, F. (1996). Mixed ability groups at university. Babel, 31(3), 28-29, 33.

* This article describes how a teacher of university-level Spanish uses group work as a means of organizing more advanced students to tutor their lower proficiency classmates. The teacher acts as facilitator, only intervening when a group is unable to solve a problem on its own. This system is illustrated via a unit in which students work with film extracts and video clips of news items.

Mawer, G. (1991). Language audits and industry restructuring. Sydney: National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research, Macquarie University.

* This paper analyzes the English language needs of immigrant workers in Australia, given the changing nature of Australian workplaces. The language audit is described as a tool for assessing these changes. Various considerations in designing and conducting audits are discussed.
Among the workplace changes noted by the author are: (1) worker participation in decision-making; (2) encouragement of social interaction among employees; and (3) a broader range of skills needed for current jobs. The author maintains that workers now need language skills that will help them to collaborate with others to solve problems, make decisions, learn new skills and information, and train peers. 
 
McCafferty, S. G. (1994). The use of private speech by adult ESL learner at different levels of proficiency. In J. P. Lantolf & G. Appel (Eds.) Vygotskian approaches to second language research (pp. 117-135). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

* This chapter analyzes samples of private speech produced by ESL learners at different proficiency levels. The purpose of the research is to replicate the original study of private speech in second language learners carried out by Frawley and Lantolf (1985). The chapter presents evidence to support Frawley and Lantolf's claim that as learners' proficiency increases their use of private speech decreases. This is shown in the trend towards a greater use of self-regulation. Evidence is also presented to corroborate and partially contradict the finding reported by Frawley and Lantolf with regard to tense and aspect features of private speech. It is concluded that a number of factors may affect the L2 learners' use of private speech, such as task content, task type, and the number of participants, i.e. whether the task involves individual or group work. It is further suggested that the cultural background of L2 speakers may override proficiency level with respect to the frequency of private speech production.

McCafferty, S. G. (2002). Gesture and creating zones of proximal development for second language learning. Modern Language Journal, 86(2), 192-203.
This study investigated the role of gesture in and of itself and in conjunction with speech in creating zones of proximal development (ZPD) for second language learning and teaching. A university student of English, newly arrived in the United States, was videorecorded once a week in conversational interaction with an American graduate student, an ESL/EFL teacher, over two different periods lasting 15 weeks altogether. The view taken in the study of Vygotsky’s concept of the ZPD follows that of Newman and Holtzman (1993), who argued that it primarily concerns revolutionary activity, that learning and teaching transforms as a consequence of interacting in the ZPD, and that this affects all participants. Findings indicate the important role that gesture played both in promoting language learning and in facilitating positive interaction between the two participants, helping to create a sense of shared social, symbolic, physical, and mental space.

McCloskey, M. L., & Enright, D. S. (1985). Yes, talking!: Organising the classroom to promote second language acquisition. TESOL Quarterly, 9, 431-453.

Recent research into the processes of children’s first and second language development has yielded a number of insights which have been combined to create the communicative language teaching model. This model should be useful to English as a second language (ESL) teachers, both in planning their own instruction and in advising the increasing numbers of regular classroom teachers with limited English-speaking (LES) students in their classes. This article summarizes the central assumptions of the communicative language teaching model and specifies the potential difficulties that regular classroom teachers may face in adopting it. It then presents seven criteria to be used in organizing communicative classrooms and describes specific applications of these criteria to decisions about organizing classroom interactions and the physical environment.

McGroarty, M. (1989). The benefits of cooperative learning arrangements in second language instruction. NABE Journal, 13, 127-143.

This paper identifies some of the advantages that cooperative learning arrangements offer in second language and bilingual instruction. There are six main benefits (two linguistic, two curricular and two social): (1) increased frequency and variety of second language practice through different types of interaction; (2) possibility for development or use of the first language in ways that support cognitive development and increased second language skills; (3) opportunities to integrate language with content instruction; (4) inclusion of a greater variety of curricular materials to stimulate language use as well as concept learning; (5) freedom for language teachers to master new professional skills, particularly those emphasizing communication; and (6) opportunities for students to act as resources for each other, and, thus, assume a more active role in learning. Pertinent empirical findings from various settings of linguistic diversity are presented and theoretical foundations summarized to show the promise of cooperative approaches for improving both student learning and pedagogical methods in the second language classroom. 

McGroarty, M. (1992). Cooperative learning: The benefits for content-area teaching. In P. A. Richard-Amato & M. A. Snow (Eds.), The multicultural classroom: Readings for content-area teachers (pp. 58-69). White Plains, NY: Longman.

* This chapter discusses some of the benefits of cooperative learning
arrangements for multicultural content-area instruction. Research on
cooperative learning in settings of linguistic diversity corroborates the 
advantages of cooperative instruction shown in settings where all students
speak the same language: increase in student exposure to and practice of
relevant skills; improved interaction and language development; feasibility of use in several content areas; greater possibilities for task variety, and improved affective relationships for all in the classroom. The strong
general agreement shown in disparate research settings suggests that 
cooperative learning facilitates functional L2 proficiency and allows teachers and students to experience new roles that enhance social climate and linguistic skills.

McGroarty, M. (1993). Cooperative learning and second language acquisition. In D. D. Holt (Ed.), Cooperative Learning: a response to linguistic and cultural diversity (pp. 19-46). McHenry, IL and Washington, D.C.: Delta Systems and the Center for Applied Linguistics.

McGuire, S. P. (1992). An application of cooperative learning to teaching English as a Foreign Language in Japan. Master's Thesis, University of Minnesota. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 354 735

*** The thesis discusses some difficulties involved in teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Japanese universities and proposes cooperative learning techniques as a partial solution to these problems. This recommendation is supported by a selective review of the literature on group work in second language teaching and research on the negotiation of meaning in second language acquisition. Results of a study conducted in a Japanese university show that cooperative learning groups outperformed individual learners on many measures and performed equally well on others. The thesis concludes with specific recommendations for the use of cooperative learning techniques in EFL classrooms in Japan. 

McGuire, S. (1994). Cooperative learning using commercially available materials. The Language Teacher, 18(10), 27-29.

* This article discusses how cooperative learning concepts were deployed to adapt a set of materials designed to provide oral practice for Japanese university students of English. Background on the specific situation of such students is presented. Each of the five elements in the Johnsons’ approach to cooperative learning are explained along with how the elements were implemented in adapting the materials. For instance, one means of implementing the element of social skills was that students practiced using English to encourage their groupmates. Benefits of the adapted materials are described, including increased student talk, decreased anxiety, and more interaction at a personal level between the teacher and students as the teacher circulated among the groups.

Mehnert, U. (1996). The effects of different lengths of time for planning on second language performance. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 20, 83-108.

This article reports on a study that investigated the effect of different amounts of planning time on the speech performance of L2 speakers. Subjects were 4 groups of learners of German (31 in total) performing 2 tasks each. The tasks varied in the degree of structure they contained and the familiarity of information they tapped. The control group had no planning time available; the 3 experimental groups had 1, 5, and 10 minutes of planning time, respectively, before they started speaking. Results show fluency and lexical density of speech increase as a function of planning time. Accuracy of speech improved with only 1 minute planning but did not increase with more planning time. Complexity of speech was significantly higher for the 10-minute planning condition only. No significant differences were found for the effect of planning on the different tasks. This study employed various general and specific constructs for measuring fluency, complexity, and accuracy of speech. The interrelationships and qualities of these measures are also investigated and discussed.

Mendoca, C. O., & Johnson, K. E. (1994). Peer review negotiations: Revision activities in ESL writing instruction. TESOL Quarterly, 28, 745-769.

The purpose of this study is to describe the negotiations that occur during ESL students’ peer reviews and the ways these negotiations shape students’ revision activities. Twelve advanced ESL learners enrolled in a writing course participated in peer reviews. Audiotaped transcripts of the peer reviews and the students’ first and revised drafts were analyzed, and postinterviews were conducted. During these peer reviews, students asked questions, offered explanations, gave suggestions, restated what their peers had written or said, and corrected grammar mistakes. Reviewers generated most types of negotiations. Moreover, certain patterns of negotiations occurred more frequently in peer dyads from different fields of study than in dyads from the same field. Although students used their peers’ comments to revise their essays, they incorporated those comments in their revisions selectively, deciding for themselves what to revise in their own texts. Finally, the postinterviews supported students’ rationale for their revision activities and revealed that overall they found peer reviews useful. The findings of this study support the need to include peer reviews in L2 writing instruction and underscore their value in providing feedback on students’ essays.

Meunier, L. E. (1994). Computer-assisted language instruction in cooperative learning. Applied Language Learning, 5(2), 31-56.

This article addresses the renewed debate on cooperative learning in foreign language classrooms. First, it reports on the rationale for communicative language teaching in foreign language (FL) instruction. The focus then shifts to research on potential drawbacks of communicative language teaching: i.e., the selection of task-types, the lack of sociolinguistic authenticity, and the low quality of language input during communicative activities. The second part of the article focuses on the role computers can play in cooperative learning today, and how they can offset the drawbacks observed in “conventional” communicative activities.

Meyers, M. (1993). Teaching to diversity: Teaching and learning in the multi-ethnic classroom. Toronto, ON: Irwin.

***** Geared to all educators who are looking for ways to adapt their teaching to help students who lack English literacy skills, this book introduces recent theory about second-language acquisition as well as tested teaching approaches and practices to use in elementary schools. It synthesizes current information on second-language issues practically and in a way that is useful for regular classroom educators in addition to teachers of English as a second language. Chapters provide background information on key aspects of second-language acquisition and practical aspects of programming for diversity.

Miller, C. H. (1987). Ready, set, write! Equity and Choice, 3(2), 3-8. 

*** Bilingual elementary pupils can successfully learn to write in English if they write about what is important to them, get feedback from their peers, use "invented spelling," and are allowed to work with partners. This report describes a third-grade teacher's class experience.

Milleret, M. (1992). Cooperative learning in the Portuguese for Spanish speakers classroom. Foreign Language Annals, 25, 435-440.

Cooperative learning has a fifteen year history of research and application in primary and middle schools throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Israel. This paper briefly describes that history in terms of research conducted in primary education and in foreign- and second-language education. It also outlines the components that make up cooperative learning. The discussion then describes a specific application of some cooperative learning structures in a post-secondary foreign language classroom. The paper notes examples of successful structures as well as student reactions to the experiment and an assessment of the results.

Mocker, D. W. (1975). Cooperative learning process: Shared learning experience in teaching adults to read. Journal of Reading, 18, 440-44.
         
*** Argues that requiring student input and responsibility is an effective method for teaching reading to adults.

Mohan, B., & Low, M. (1995). Collaborative teacher assessment of ESL writers: Conceptual and practical issues. TESOL Journal, 5(1), 28-31.

* This article describes an investigation into how a group of tertiary level ESL teachers collaborated on the assessment of their students’ writing. The teachers attempted to establish common criteria for assessing both the language and content of the writing. Individual and collective interviews were used to gain insight into the process the teachers went through.

Mohan, B., & Smith, S. M. (1992). Context and cooperation in academic tasks. In D. Nunan (Ed.), Collaborative language learning and teaching, (pp. 81-99). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

** This chapter will investigate how a group of Chinese students participated and succeeded in a graduate adult education course, despite the fact that they had scored below the required level on a language proficiency test (TOEFL). Rather than taking a view of language learning conceived in abstraction from sociocultural proficiency and content learning, this study will use the theoretical perspective of ‘language socialization’, which views language learning and cultural learning as interrelated, and which seeks to understand the role of language in the process of forming social practices. Consequently, language socialization will be contrasted with language acquisition. Central to the study is the notion of academic tasks as sub-tasks of a larger cultural activity, learned cooperatively.

Moore, Z., & English, M. (1997, April). Linguistic and cultural comparisons: Middle school African American students learning Arabic. Paper presented at the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 414 723

*** This study investigated the experiences and behavior of eight African American students participating in an experimental Arabic second language course in an inner city middle school. Data were drawn from student and teacher journals and two videotaped class sessions, one in an early stage and one in a late stage of the two-semester course. Analysis focused on how the class met the comparison goal of the recent national standards for foreign language learning. The study gathered information on students reasons for learning foreign languages in general and Arabic in particular, growth in student awareness of cultural differences between their native (American) and Arabic cultures, student learning styles, classroom dynamics, transfer of linguistic knowledge from one language to the other, use of students as peer teachers, and students' ability to apply learned materials in real-life situations. Student progress during the course of the class is summarized, and the teacher's reflections on his experience are included. It is concluded that the extensive cultural information presented in the class made the students' language learning experience more meaningful.

Morgan, G. (1987). Exploiting the natives--Making use of native speakers in the classroom. British Journal of Language Teaching, 25(2), 73-77. 

*** Two learning activities employing pair work, or cooperative learning, between two students studying the other's native language as a second language, are described. The activities allow students to compare how their languages function in real-life situations and to acquire the second language appropriate to these situations.

Morita, N. (2004). Negotiating participation and identity in second language academic communities. TESOL Quarterly, 38(4), 573-603.

This article reports on a qualitative multiple case study that explored the academic discourse socialization experiences of L2 learners in a Canadian university. Grounded in the notion of "community of practice" (Lave & Wenger, 1991, p. 89), the study examined how L2 learners negotiated their participation and membership in their new L2 classroom communities, particularly in open-ended class discussions. The participants included 6 female graduate students from Japan and 10 of their course instructors. Student self-reports, interviews, and classroom observations were collected over an entire academic year to provide an in-depth, longitudinal analysis of the students' perspectives about their class participation across the curriculum. Three case studies illustrate that students faced a major challenge in negotiating competence, identities, and power relations, which was necessary for them to participate and be recognized as legitimate and competent members of their classroom communities. The students also attempted to shape their own learning and participation by exercising their personal agency and actively negotiating their positionalities, which were locally constructed in a given classroom. Implications for classroom practices and future research are also discussed.

Morris, F. [fmorris@miami.edu], & Tarone, E. (2003). Impact of classroom dynamics on the effectiveness of recasts in second language acquisition. Language Learning, 53(2), 325-368.
*** This study suggests that the social dynamics of the language learning classroom may in some cases dramatically alter the way cognitive processes of attention, or noticing, are deployed in cooperative learning activities in which feedback occurs, and this in turn appears to affect acquisition.

Moskowitz, G. (1978). Caring and sharing in the foreign language class: A sourcebook on humanistic techniques. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

* The purpose of the book is to provide specific ways foreign language teachers can weave humanistic strategies into their existing curricular materials. It presents 120 strategies or techniques known as humanistic, affective, or awareness exercises, intended to enhance foreign language teaching by bringing out the best in students. The exercises attempt to blend the students' feelings, thoughts, and knowledge with what they are learning in the target language. The book also aims to establish rapport, cohesiveness, and caring, and to help students to be themselves, to accept themselves, and to be proud of themselves. The awareness exercises suggested in the book are, according to the author, not only fun and motivating, but they also foster a cooperative spirit in the class as students interact in groups. Through these group activities, a climate of caring and sharing can be established in the foreign language class.

Murphey, T. (1987). De la coopération à l'ajustement collaboratif polylogal dans les cours de langues. (From cooperation to collaborative adjustment in language courses). TRANEL 11, 273-284. 

**** This article talks about the difference between simply passively cooperating (listening to lectures) and actively adjusting to collaborate and get involved with classmates (in pair and group work). It suggests that students and teachers can negotiate the syllabus and classroom discourse. 

Murphey, T. (1989). Sociocognitive conflict: Confused? Don't worry, you may be learning! ETC., 46, 312-315.

**** Piaget described cognitive conflict as a situation in which a child is confused about the “truth” of things at particular stages. Such conflicts could promote development. Piaget’s students later began to understand that these confusions would happen more quickly and often in social interaction with other peers.

Murphey, T. (1990). You and I: Adjusting interaction to get comprehensible input.  English Teaching Forum, 28(4), 2-5.

**** This article describes the facilitative adjustments learners can make with each other to enhance their language acquisition. This is contrasted with the case of one person (usually the teacher) talking or lecturing to the entire class. In the latter case, the one person cannot possibly adjust to all the different levels and interests in a single classroom. 

Murphey, T. (1991). Teaching one to one. London: Longman.

**** This book describes the rationale for one-to-one teaching, with one teacher per student (builds rapport, allows for adjustments, and increases involvement). Such teaching can equally be applied to one-to-one interaction among students. Chapter 6, “Implications for regular classroom teaching,” directly invites teachers to consider the efficacy of students learning in pairs using 1/1 principles.

Murphey, T. (1992a). A conversation exchange program. Academia, 52, 131-149. [Also availlable from the TESL-L Archives : Address an email message to LISTSERV@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Ordering command: GET CONVERS EXCHANGE TESL-L F=MAIL]

**** This article reports on and describes the out-of-class, voluntary, conversation exchange program between Japanese students and visiting foreign students learning Japanese. The program has been run for a number of years with great results. The article describes in detail how students are matched into self-regulated pairs that are left alone to evolve as they will. 

Murphey, T. (1992b). Telephoning homework. The Language Teacher, 16(11), 71. 

**** This article reports on one way of encouraging students to interact in English outside of class. A class list of all students and their phone numbers are supplied to students. Next, for homework students are asked to call the person below them on the list (last calls first) and to ask several questions provided by the teacher. The second homework assignment is to call the 2nd person below them on the list. Gradually more freedom is given to decide on the topic to be discussed. Students report in class or in writing how long they spoke, how much in English, etc. 

Murphey, T. (1995a). Conversational shadowing for rapport and interactional language acquisition.  In M. Ahmed (Ed.), Proceedings of the 6th Conference on Second Language Research in Japan (pp. 42-65). Yamato: International University of Japan.

**** This piece describes how shadowing appropriately can increase rapport among interlocutors. In shadowing, students work in pairs with the listener attempting to repeat what the speaker has just said, and then the partners exchanging roles. The paper also describes the varieties of shadowing that students can engage in. The article is based on audio transcripts of four dyads shadowing each other. When shadowing, learners show their proficiency level, thereby making it easier for interlocutor to adjust their output appropriately.

Murphey, T. (1995b). Meaningful communicative repetition. English Teaching Forum, 37-38, 10.

**** There are a multitude of ways to provide students with many different partners in a short amount of time to allow for the meaningful repetition of content and linguistic forms. Repeating output is awkward when speaking to only one person, but when one changes partners often, repetition becomes natural. Several benefits of repetition are proposed.

Murphey, T. (1995c). Tests: Learning through negotiated interaction TESOL Journal, 4(2), 12-16.

**** This article describes how teachers can set up collaborative tests in which groups of students work together to negotiate the content and process of testing and take orally based content tests. Several options are provided and a list of suggestions given to make testing more of a “learning” activity.

Murphey, T. (1998a). Friends and classroom identity formation. IATEFL Issues, 145, 16-17.
	
**** This piece talks about the importance of allowing students to get to know each other and to become friends so that they can support each other better in their learning. When students feel accepted as part of the group, they invest more of themselves in the learning process because they feel safer. This feeling of safety allows students to give more attention to learning.

 Murphey, T. (l998b). Motivating with near peer role models. In B. Visgatis (Ed.), JALT97 Conference Proceedings: Trends and Transitions (pp. 205-209). Tokyo: Japan Association for Language Teaching. 

**** This paper traces studies done over the last few years on motivating students through near peer role models, those peers who learners admire. Teachers’ stories, edited video interviews, written language learner histories, and observation of classmates were used to help students reflect on certain aspects of their learning and to notice how it might be possible for them to learn by using their more successful peers as models. 

Murphey, T., & Jacobs, G. M. (2000). Encouraging critical collaborative autonomy. JALT Journal, 22, 220-244.

In this theory-building review-essay, we advocate that second language teachers encourage their students to act critically, cooperatively, and autonomously. We discuss the three components of “critical collaborative autonomy,” why these components fit together well, and ideas for promoting their interaction and development.  Being autonomous does not necessarily mean learning alone, but rather having the ability to metacognitively and critically make decisions as to the means that one uses to learn and develop. It is our contention that students learn autonomy (become more metacognitively aware and take more control) more quickly through guided cooperative learning in which they collaborate with peers to find and create their autonomous and critical voices. The incremental “assuming of control” of one’s language learning within a community not only accelerates acquisition but changes group and individual personalities. While we focus principally on this process in SLA, we also briefly address the wider socio-cultural, political and philosophical nature of such efforts. 

Murphy, J. M. (1992). Preparing ESL students for the basic speech course: Approach, design, and procedure. English for Specific Purposes, 11, 51-70.

This article introduces a “discovery process” method for teaching ESL speech communication, an example of the author’s current classroom practices. The method is designed to prepare ESL students for participation in the basic speech course as defined in the literature on first language (L1) speech communication. Preparing ESL students in this area is thus an example of teaching English for a specific purpose. To this aim, the author applies a framework for the analysis and description of second language (L2) methods initially developed by Anthony (1963), Richards (1983), and Richards and Rodgers (1986). These writers examined L2 methods at three levels: approach, design, and procedure. Their organizational structure has been adopted in an expanded form in order to characterize a discovery process method that emphasizes dyadic interaction patterns and cooperative learning. In the classroom, the method provides individual speakers with multiple opportunities to develop prepared topics and individual listeners with recurring opportunities to practice note-taking skills. Periodically, speakers change partners and continue to work with different members of the class. Students learn that presenting a topic to a peer is a challenging process of discovery, change, and revision. Assessment procedures are incorporated into the methodology as part of regular, daily classroom procedures.

Murray, D. (1992). Collaborative writing as a literacy event: Implications for ESL instruction. In D. Nunan (Ed.), Collaborative language learning and teaching, (pp. 100-117). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

* This chapter opens by stating that, “writing is not a solitary enterprise; it is a social act”. Thus, the author maintains that ESL writing instruction should prepare students for writing in social contexts, e.g., the workplace. Two types of collaborative writing are delineated: (1) collaboration in which most of the interaction is done in writing, and (2) collaboration in which most of the text construction is done orally. The chapter deals with the latter type. The author analyzes her experience as a member of a group of six ESL professionals who collaborated to write a document on ESL teacher competencies. She draws on this experience to suggest how to organize collaborative writing tasks for ESL students. Among her suggestions are that student groups should have: a scribe and a leader, most often selected by the group themselves; a definition of their audience and that audience’s current knowledge of their topic; and differing perspectives and knowledge among group members. The author also describes how she models the collaborative writing process for students as the entire class constructs a text together.

Mydlarski, D. (1998). Shall we dance?: Applying the cooperative model to CALL. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 55, 124-138.

Cooperation and its various manifestations (collaboration, peer learning, partnerships) constitute a powerful - and empowering - educational concept. This article explores how computers and cooperative language learning have dovetailed over the last fifteen years, resulting in what may be termed CCALL (cooperative computer-assisted language learning). Within the context of computer usage, the cooperative model is applied to three groups: language learners, courseware developers, and language professionals.

Nabei, T. (1996). Dictogloss: Is it an effective language learning task? Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 12(1), 59-74.

SLA studies on interaction support the hypothesis that negotiation is a useful context for language learning. Based on the assumption that learners’ awareness of language form facilitates their language learning, Kowal and Swain (1994) claimed that dictogloss was an effective language learning task since the task provide a context for negotiation. This paper examines learners’ interaction in the interactional stage of dictogloss to see how it might facilitate L2 learning. The learners’ interaction suggests that the four procedural stages of the task are all important for language learning.

Nelson, G. L., & Murphy, J. M. (1992). An L2 writing group: Task and social dimensions. Journal of Second Language Writing, 1, 171-193.

Although peer writing groups are frequently used in ESL writing classes, little research has been conducted on what actually occurs in these groups. This study examined two aspects of L2 writing groups: the task dimension and the social dimension. Using a case-study methodology, we videotaped one L2 writing group for six consecutive weeks. The data collected included (a) the videotapes, (b) transcripts of the videotapes, (c) student compositions, (d) student dialogue journals, and (e) student interviews.
	Using transcripts of the six videotapes, coders divided the participants’ utterances into thought groups. Using a modified version of Fanselow’s (1987) classroom observation instrument, we then coded their thought groups using the following categories: study of language, life general knowledge, life personal knowledge, procedure, and format. Two trained raters independently coded the transcripts. An intercoder reliability of .91 was determined by comparing their ratings. Results indicated that the percentage of utterances relating to study of language ranged from 70% to 80% and increased slightly across the six sessions. These findings suggest that students stayed on task by discussing each other’s texts.
	To examine the group’s social dimension (i.e., group dynamics), all data were examined. The literature on writing groups tends to idealize writing group interactions as writers constructively helping each other. This present analysis suggests otherwise. For example, one student was characterized by the group as the attacker because of her sharp, negative comments. Due, in part, to the attacker’s critical comments, another student expressed dissatisfaction with the writing group.

Nelson, G. L., & Murphy, J. M. (1993). Peer response groups: Do L2 writers use peer comments in revising their drafts? TESOL Quarterly, 27, 135-142.

* This article reports a study that investigated whether second language students incorporate their peers’ suggestions when they revise their writing and what factors influence this. Participants were four intermediate level proficiency non-native speakers of English enrolled in a writing course at a US university. Data included students’ rough and final drafts, as well as videotapes of their peer response group sessions. The researchers report that students did indeed make changes based on some but not all of their peers’ responses. What factors influenced whether peer responses led to changes? “When writers interacted with their peers in a cooperative manner, they were more likely to use the peers’ suggestions in revising. When writers interacted with their peers in a defensive manner or did not interact at all, the writer was less likely to use the peers’ comments.” The authors conclude that L2 teachers need to facilitate peer interactions that “is meaningful and constructive.”
  
Newton, J., & Kennedy, G. (1996). Effects of communication tasks on the grammatical relations marked by second language learners. System, 24, 309-322.

This study reports some possible grammatical consequences of interaction in split and shared information tasks undertaken by adult second language learners of English. Based on an analysis of a learners’ corpus of almost 30,000 words, the study examines the morpho-syntax of task-based interaction and, in particular, ways of marking relationships between lexicalized concepts and between clauses by means of prepositions and conjunctions, respectively. The study confirmed the main hypothesis that shared information tasks would result in the use of more coordinating and subordinating conjunctions than split information tasks. The paper suggests that both cognitive and pragmatic reasons may explain why inter-propositional relationships are marked more frequently than intra-propositional relationships in the corpus, and why the marking of inter-propositional relationships may be encouraged more by shared information tasks than by split information tasks. The results of the study suggest that communication tasks for language learning can be designed to influence the use of particular linguistic structures. 

Ney, J. W. (1989). Teaching English grammar using collaborative learning in university courses. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 311 463
 
*** A study examined the effectiveness of a collaborative learning model for the teaching of a modern English grammar class at the college level. The model involved student presentations based on the explanation of material from assigned readings in the texts; daily quizzes on the material from the assigned reading; and peer grading of the daily quizzes and exams with the instructor spot checking for accuracy of grading. Student attitudinal surveys revealed a slightly negative perception of students on the whole toward the conduct of the class as measured during the spring of 1989 but a positive perception as measured during the summer of 1988. However, the positive perceptions that students have of their own involvement in the educational process counterbalance the negative perceptions. Perhaps an even greater positive aspect of the collaborative learning model is the discipline that it introduced into the educational process, resulting in a more adequate mastery of the subject matter and manifesting itself in better classroom attendance.

Ney, J. W. (1990). Collaborative learning in a TESL training class. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 321 553

*** On the basis of a model established for the teaching of various linguistic and writing classes, a collaborative learning model was used for class instruction and for the training of teachers of English as a Second Language (ESL). The model involved: (1) trainee presentations based on the explanation of material from assigned readings in the text(s); (2) daily quizzes of the material from the assigned reading; and (3) peer grading of the daily quizzes and exams with the instructor spot checking for accuracy of grading. Student attitudinal surveys revealed a positive perception of student teachers on the whole. These positive perceptions were especially evident in those measures focusing on the involvement that students have in their own educational process. Perhaps an even greater positive aspect of the collaborative learning model was the thoroughness with which the teacher-trainees mastered the subject matter, and the discipline that it introduced into the educational process, manifesting itself in better classroom attendance. Future studies of other collaborative learning processes should reveal more about the nature of student-teacher interaction and better explain current findings.

Nicholls, J. (1993, April). Exchange structure in the ESL classroom: Q-A-C and Q-CQ-A-C sequences in small group interaction. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Conference on Pragmatics and Language Learning, Urbana, IL. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 396 557 

*** A study investigated patterns of interaction in college classroom discourse involved in small group work. Specifically, it looked at two discourse sequences: Question-Answer-Comment (Q-A-C) and Question-Counter Question-Answer-Comment (Q-CQ-A-C). Instances of the latter are closely considered in the context in which they occur, and an attempt is made to link the nature of classroom talk to the larger concern of classroom dynamics. Data are drawn from two transcribed university-level English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classes. An opinion is that despite the fact that students in small groups are able to self-select freely, the exchange structure characteristic of this interaction remains traditional in nature. Examination of one case within the data in which the counter-questioning move in Q-CQ-A-C sequence is generally absent, and the resulting classroom discourse becomes markedly less traditionally pedagogical in nature.

Nolasco, R., & Arthur, L. (1988). Large classes. London: Macmillan.

* This book provides guidance for second language teachers attempting to apply communicative language teaching methods with large classes. Sections of the book focus on areas such as creating a productive environment, developing materials, and coping with limited resources. Group activities receive considerable attention, including how to manage and monitor group activities and how to conduct project work.

Nor, A. A. (1997). Open classrooms: Peer observation for professional development. The English Teacher, 26, 82-99.

Many teachers are reluctant to be ‘observed’ because they associate observation with ‘evaluation’, its traditional function. They feel uncomfortable at the idea of having another person—even a colleague—watching them teach and manage their classroom. However, over the past few years observation has taken on a completely new role and, under the right conditions, it can be a powerful learning tool and a very positive source of professional growth and development for both the observer and the observee. A systematic program of observation can open up classrooms so that teachers can share the many excellent techniques and innovations that they develop individually but which are accessible to their colleagues. This paper draws on recent research and the experience of a structured observation program within an institute of higher learning. It will discuss some of the purposes and benefits of observation, give guidelines on how to set up an observation program, and suggest some possible aspects of teaching or learning which can provide a focus for observation activities. 

Nore, G. (1990). Peer tutoring in vocational literacy skills. TESL Canada Journal, 7(2), 67-81.

This article provides an overview of the first year's operation of the Frontier College / Learning in the Workplace (LWP) project. Operating under a contract with the Innovations Branch of Canada Employment and Immigration Commission (CEIC), LWP's mandate is to develop industry-specific training materials and model programmes that can be used to help employees develop the literacy skills needed to function in the changing workplace. One component of Learning in the Workplace is the use of peer tutors who meet with co-workers who are interested in improving their skills. This paper is concerned with showing that the peer tutoring model is a useful component for identifying and meeting worksite literacy needs of non-native speakers.

Northcote, K. (1996). Catering for mixed abilities through collaborative group work. Babel, 31(3), 23, 35.

* This article shares insights from a workshop led by a teacher of Indonesian to Australian secondary school students. The advantages of group projects, such as plays, are seen as outweighing the difficulties that must be overcome. Suggestions for overcoming difficulties include: clarifying the rationale behind the use of collaboration, discussing what successful collaboration entails, helping students learn to use groupmates as a resource, building listening and decision-making skills, encouraging students to state opinions and disagree politely, beginning with pairs and short, structured tasks before students work in larger groups on longer, less-defined projects, giving students a voice in choosing their group projects, and providing students with responsibilities through the use of well-defined group roles.

Nunan, D. (Ed.). (1992). Collaborative language learning and teaching New York: Cambridge University Press.

***** A collection of papers that focuses on the central characteristics of cooperative learning, appropriate theoretical models of language and learning for collaborative research, appropriate research models, tools and techniques for collaborative investigation, classroom tasks and patterns of organization that facilitate cooperative learning, and the organizational patterns that underlie successful collaborative teaching. 

Nunan, D. (1996). Towards autonomous learning: some theoretical, empirical and practical issues. In R. Pemberton, E. S. L. Li, W. W. F. Or, & H. D. Pierson (Eds.), Taking control: Autonomy in language learning. (pp. 14-26). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

* This chapter examines some of the theoretical, empirical, and practical issues associated with the concept of learner autonomy. It defines some key concepts in relation to learner autonomy and provides a selective review of research relevant to autonomous learning, such as peer teaching and peer learning. It also examines some of the practical implications of fostering learner autonomy in language learning, with materials illustrating ways to develop autonomous learning in both ESL and EFL contexts.

Nunan, D., & Lamb, C. (1996). The self-directed teacher: Managing the learning process. New York: Cambridge University Press.

*** This guide, designed for second language teachers and teacher trainees, addresses central practical, methodological concerns in effective classroom management and decision making. The first chapter provides background information and assumptions. The second chapter discusses the planning process (lesson preparation, pre-instructional decision-making, collaboration with colleagues). Classroom talk is the focus of the third chapter, including direct instruction, error correction and feedback, teacher questions, instructions, and use of the first language. Chapter 4 looks at classroom dynamics, including classroom monitoring, cross-cultural aspects of classroom management, the "effective teaching" movement, reflective teaching, and dealing with behavior problems. Chapter 5 addresses instructional groups, teacher and learner roles; small group and pair work; large classes; individual instruction; self-directed learning; and mixed-level groups. In chapter 6, resource management issues are considered, including use of commercial texts, and making the most of the teacher's manual, and exploiting materials that lack a teacher's guide, electronic support, using computers in the classroom, and motivation; attitude; anxiety. Finally, issues in formal, informal, and self-evaluation and evaluation by others are discussed. 

Nunn, R. (2000). Designing rating scales for small-group interaction. ELT Journal, 54(2), 169-178.

Classroom activities in small groups provide opportunities for practicing important interaction skills such as distributing and competing for opportunities to speak, holding the floor, adjusting to the contributions of other speakers and negotiating real understanding when exchanging information, opinions, feelings, and attitudes. A rating scale is proposed here as a practical means of addressing the difficult task of assessing both the level of a particular communicative performance in a small group and the general ability to perform in small-group conversations over time. This paper will argue that theoretical difficulties of designing and using rating scales for this purpose, while requiring serious consideration, are out-weighed by practical advantages. Rating scales not only report test performances. They can also guide the teaching process, defining the principles for the construction of both assessment and classroom tasks and providing teaches (and students) with achievable goals which they themselves have formulated in writing.

Obah, T. Y. (1993). Learning from others in the ESL writing class. English Quarterly, 25, 8-13.

*** Examines the characteristics of three approaches to the teaching of writing (traditional, tutorial, and group). Demonstrates how the combined use of pair work and peer feedback, features of the group approach, enables students of English as a Second Language to learn from each other and improve their writing.

Ohta, A. S. (1995). Applying sociocultural theory to an analysis of learner discourse: Learner-learner collaborative interaction in the ZPD. Issues in Applied Linguistics, 6(2), 93-121.

SLA research in the tradition of sociocultural theory examines the dynamic relationship between interaction and acquisition, exploring how language, cognition, and culture are acquired through collaborative interactions. This paper presents an analysis of teacher-fronted and pair interaction involving two learners of Japanese in an intermediate language class, showing learner-learner collaborative activity between two students of differing levels of proficiency to result in creative interaction where scaffolding creates a positive environment for L2 acquisition. Learner use of Japanese in pair work is strikingly different from that in teacher-fronted practice, with learners becoming highly interactive and using the L2 for a variety of purposes, including 1) hypothesis-testing through language play, 2) talk about the here-and-now, 3) lexical experimentation, 4) modulating the pace of interaction, 5) repair, 6) negotiating roles, 7) managing tasks, and 8) humour. Contribution of learner strengths and weaknesses results in refinement of both learners’ L2 use with both students learning and progressing through collaborative interaction in the zone of proximal development (ZPD).

Ohta, A. S. (1999). Interactional routines and the socialization of interactional style in adult learners of Japanese.  Journal of Pragmatics, 31, 1493-1512.

Interactional routines are powerful in first language acquisition contexts, socializing children into appropriate norms of language use. This paper investigates the role of interaction routines in the socialization of L2 interactional competence via analysis of 15 hours of foreign language classroom data. Results reveal that active and peripheral participation in the routines of the classroom shapes learner ability to use the follow-up turn of the IRF routine to perform assessments and other expressions responsive to their interlocutor’s utterances. Instances in which teachers explicitly guide learners in the expression of alignment are rare. In teacher-fronted contexts, learners are guided to be responsive to teacher questions, and have little opportunity for expression of alignment, including assessments. Learner assessments, when they occur in teacher-fronted contexts, have particular sequential consequences, triggering extended assessment activity by the teacher. The teachers’ language incorporates various follow-up turn expressions during interaction with students. Longitudinal analysis of learner language during pair-work reveals an increase in learner use of follow-up expressions, including assessments, evidencing the socializing power of both active and peripheral participation in the interactional routines of the classroom.

Olivares, R. A. (1993). Using the newspaper to teach ESL learners. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

***** Emphasizes using newspapers in the context of broader classroom methodologies that have proved successful in the education of language minority students. In developing these practical activities, the book stresses three main elements of research in this area: (1) how second-language students acquisition and second-language learning occur; (2) the connection between learning in the content areas (mathematics, social studies, and science) and the acquisition of the second language; and (3) the value of the cooperative learning approach in developing language skills. Chapters in the book are: The General Theory; Strategies for Using the Newspaper with LEP Students; Classroom Activities to Develop and Reinforce Language Skills; Integrating Language Instruction and he Content Areas; and Classroom Activities in the Content Areas. An annotated list of 20 resources for using newspapers in education is attached. (RS) (ERIC)

Oliver, R. (1998). Negotiation of meaning in child interactions. Modern Language Journal, 82, 372-386.

This research examines conversational interactions between children, a group generally overlooked in second language acquisition (SLA) research. Specifically, the research focuses on (a) whether children can negotiate for meaning, (b) what strategies they use, and (c) whether there are differences between the ways adults and primary school children negotiate for meaning. Some possible effects of negotiation for meaning on child SLA are also explored. Students (n=192) from age 8 to 13, were paired to form 96 age- and gender-matched dyads. The pairs worked together on 2 communication tasks: a one-way and a two-way task. From the transcriptions made of their conversations it was apparent that, like adults, children also negotiate for meaning and use a variety of strategies to do so. Although the pattern of use by children seems to differ from that of adults, the differences are not categorical but, rather, are manifest in the proportional use of particular strategies. Further, the evidence indicates that, like adults, primary school learners also benefit from the process of negotiation for meaning. It appears to provide them with the opportunity to receive comprehensible input, to produce comprehensible output, and to obtain feedback on their attempts. The results show that tasks that promote negotiation for meaning can be undertaken successfully by primary school second language (L2) learners, and provide evidence that there is a valid argument for making use of such pedagogical practice in L2 teaching for this age group of learners. The differences between the child and adult findings (see Oliver, 1995) highlight the fact that findings from adult studies cannot be generalized to child studies without adequate and appropriate research involving child learners.

Olson Flanigan, B. (1991). Peer tutoring and second language acquisition in the elementary school. Applied Linguistics, 12, 141-158.

In earlier studies of classroom second language learning, attention was focused on teacher-pupil interaction. However, it is evident that learners learn in many ways and studies of '‘group-fronted'’classes suggest that pupil-pupil interaction may lead to more comprehensible linguistic input and more productive and ‘negotiated’ output. At the level of the child second language acquisition, such interaction has been studied primarily as language-in-play, with the focus on learner output, but research on caretaker language and foreigner talk has also led to studies of whether, and how, children simplify, repeat, and expand utterances as they speak with less proficient interlocutors. The present study reports on the ‘tutor talk’ used in two typical peer situations within a local elementary school: (1) in teacher-directed NNS-NNS (non-native speaker) pairings in the ESL classroom, and (2) in pupil-initiated pairings as native or more proficient non-native English-speaking children help LEP (low English proficiency) children in content-based lessons. It is concluded that, while little sentence-level simplification is used by the tutors, extensive use is made of conversational and tutorial strategies similar to those used by native and non-native adults. Samples and tabulations are given of the ‘tutor-talk’ used in the six dyads observed.

Orellana, M. F. (1994, April). Negotiating power: Critical literacy practices in a bilingual classroom. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA, ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 372 633

*** A study investigated the interpersonal dynamics occurring in an ungraded bilingual education class of native Spanish-speaking students in an ungraded primary classroom (with 10-12 students each from grades one, two, and three) at Garamond Elementary School in a working class community southeast of Los Angeles, California. Six classroom sessions were taped for discourse analysis focusing on the language patterns used by students and the ways students positioned themselves through language in relation to each other. One session was conducted entirely by students. Data were also drawn from observation, student and teacher interviews, and written work spanning six months. Analysis of the data suggest two common patterns of verbal expression: (1) a direct, argumentative form in which individuals overtly position themselves, in relation to other students, as for or against particular arguments; and (2) introduction of new ideas into discussion without argumentative positioning, often in the forms of helpful suggestions or comments. The class session conducted by students, late in the year, illustrates these two dynamics and the fact that the students have internalized a basic framework for argumentation. Similar patterns also appeared in teacher-led classes and were influenced by the teacher's participation. It is proposed that such interactions are influential in helping students organize thinking and use language in specific ways, and can influence literacy development and self-expression.

Ortega, L. (1999). Planning and focus on form in L2 oral performance. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21, 109-148.

Previous research on the impact of pretask planning on interlanguage development (e.g., Crookes, 1989; Ellis, 1987; Foster & Skehan, 1996) has focused solely on the linguistic quality of planned output, leaving the cognitive and attentional processes engaged during planning time unexplored. Drawing on recent research on focus on form (Doughty & Willing, 1998a) and on retrospective methodologies used in strategy use research (e.g., O'Malley & Chamot, 1990), the study reported here investigated whether planning opportunity results in an increased focus on form at the level of strategic attention to form during planning time, as well as at the level of production outcomes during task performance. The results provide support for the claim that planning before doing an L2 task can promote an increased focus on form by providing space for the learner to devote conscious attention during pretask planning to formal and systemic aspects of the language needed to accomplish a particular task.

Oxford, R. L. (1990). Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know. New York: Newbury House.

* This book explores the learning strategies used by students of second languages. Six types of learning strategies are explained: memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective, and social. Among the latter set of strategies are ones that involve cooperation with fellow students. Suggestions are provided on how to assess strategies and how to train students to use strategies wisely. 

Oxford, R. L. (1997). Cooperative learning; collaborative learning; and interaction: Three communicative strands in the language classroom. The Modern Language Journal, 81(4), 443-456.

This article describes important distinctions among three strands of communication in the foreign or second language (L2) classroom: cooperative learning, collaborative learning, and interaction. These three strands have different connotations, which, when understood, can help us better comprehend language learning and teaching. Cooperative learning refers to a particular set of classroom techniques that foster learner interdependence as a route to cognitive and social development. Collaborative learning has a ‘social constructivist’ philosophical base, which views learning as construction of knowledge within a social context and which therefore encourages acculturation of individuals into a learning community: Interaction is the broadest of the three terms and refers to personal communication, which is facilitated by an understanding of four elements: language tasks, willingness to communicate, style differences, and group dynamics. 

Papalia, A. (1977). Teachers' attitudes toward current trends in foreign language instruction. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 33, 344-347.

*** Teachers' attitudes toward language teaching trends were surveyed. Prospective teachers about to enter the profession believed that language programs should be self-paced and there should be a cooperative learning climate in classrooms. Experienced teachers were more moderate but used techniques for self-pacing and real communication often in class. 

Parma City School District. (1993). You can be in a group and still not cooperate. Collaborative approaches and cooperative learning activities for adult learners. Columbus, OH: Ohio State Dept. of Education. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 361 492

*** This handbook defines and describes the benefits of both collaborative approaches and cooperative techniques. An introduction uses watercolor marbling as a metaphor for collaborative approaches and cooperative activities. Section I provides research results regarding problems of adult literacy programs, skills employers want, and Bloom's taxonomy. Section II defines collaborative approaches to adult learning. Section III defines cooperative learning, highlights the five basic elements that need to be structured into a cooperative learning activity, describes structures for cooperative learning, lists aids to cooperative learning, offers troubleshooting suggestions, and provides personal and group evaluation forms. Section IV contains activities that have been designed, implemented, and evaluated by the Parma (Ohio) Adult and Continuing Education staff. The section on activities contains English-as-a-Second-Language, adult basic education, or General Educational Development activities. Each activity has the following elements: level, type of lesson, objective(s), materials, procedure(s), and extensions or variations. Any necessary materials or handouts are provided.

Parrott, J. (1987). Reading syndicates: A working model for the language classroom. Reading in a Foreign Language, 3, 411- 416.

A classroom model is proposed for developing an interest in reading for pleasure and increasing literacy competence amongst intermediate or advanced language students. The relevant background to the teaching and learning situation in which this scheme was elaborated is outlined, and reasons given for wanting a more sophisticated wide-reading programme than the traditional class reader. At the heart of the article is a detailed model showing the mechanics involved in implementing a reading syndicate, with examples of texts which have been used successfully. The article concludes by enumerating perceived advantages of such a system and suggesting possible adaptations in different teaching situations.

Paulus, T. M. (1999). The effect of peer and teacher feedback on student writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 8, 265-289.

Although teacher and peer feedback, together with required revision, is a common component of the process-approach English as Second Language (ESL) writing classroom, the effect that the feedback and revision process has on the improvement of student writing is as yet undetermined. The research analyzed 11 ESL student essays in detail: categorizing the types and sources of revisions made according to Faigley and Witte’s (1981) taxonomy of revisions, evaluating the first and final drafts of the students’ essays, and recording students’ verbal reports during revision. While the majority of revisions that students made were surface-level revisions, the changes they made as a result of peer and teacher feedback were more often meaning-level changes than those revisions they made on their own. It was also found that writing multiple drafts resulted in overall essay improvement.

Pearson, B. A., & Xu, Q. (1991, March). Ways to achieve "working consensus": Some cross-cultural considerations. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, New York, NY. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 334 864

*** A study investigated cultural variations in the ways groups of speakers reach consensus in the face of disagreement or suggestion. Subjects were six graduate students in each of five groups: one composed of native speakers of American English, two of Taiwanese Chinese, and two of mainland Chinese. Each group performed a desert survival exercise, arriving at agreement on a ranking of items needed for survival. One Taiwanese Chinese and one mainland Chinese group were given instructions in Mandarin; others were instructed in English. Disagreements and suggestions in the interactions were counted, and the interactions' conduct and outcomes were qualitatively evaluated in terms of efficiency and organization. Similarities and differences were found in all five groups in the ways in which they began the interaction and reached consensus and in the resulting rankings as compared with that of a survival expert. Some cultural dependencies were found in the organization and patterns of realization in disagreement and suggestion. It is concluded that students of English as a Second Language should be exposed to a variety of forms used to disagree and suggest, and to how these forms are used in discourse and ratification achieved. The task description is appended.

Pemberton, R., Li, E. S. L., Or, W. W. F., & Pierson, H. D. (1996). Taking control: Autonomy in language learning. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

* The book aims to examine the key aspects of current theory and practice in the field of autonomous and self-access language learning, including the use of group activities to promote learner autonomy. It combines a wealth of theoretical perspective with a wide range of practical examples, drawn from both classrooms and self-access centres at secondary and tertiary levels and in a number of different cultural contexts. The focus of the book is on fostering learner autonomy within educational institutions, and it is predicated on the belief that despite the difficulties that may be faced, given appropriate support learner autonomy in these environments is an achievable goal. The book begins with a section on 'Introductory perspectives', discussing important theoretical and practical issues that are followed up later in the book. The next section deals with 'The learner and the learning process', reporting on a variety of projects in which teachers help learners direct their own learning and develop autonomy. The book then examines 'Materials' and 'Technology' and ways in which these can be utilized to foster learner autonomy. The book ends with a section on 'The evaluation of learner autonomy', exploring the methodologies appropriate for research into self-directed learning, and providing examples of projects that evaluate the results of self-directed learning. 

Pereira, C. (1993). Educating ESL students for citizenship in a democratic society. ERIC Digest. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 377 138

*** The growing population of "English-as-second language" (ESL) students in the United States need to learn how to cope with the rights and responsibilities of citizenship in the U.S. Because of this, civic education should pervade the curriculum for ESL students. This ERIC digest treats five facets of civic education for ESL students: (1) needs and goals, (2) content and curriculum materials, (3) use of cooperative learning, (4) use of outside resource persons, and (5) national organizations that provide resources for teachers. The process of acculturation is essential in the area of U.S. civic culture--government, laws, criminal and civil rights, and civic values. To live in any kind of harmony with U.S. institutions and to make a productive contribution to national democratic life, students from other cultures need both information about and experiences in the political system of the United States. The principles, practices, and values of U.S. constitutional democracy comprise the cultural core of our pluralistic society. Citizens in possession of the democratic civic culture are able to protect their private rights, pursue personal interests, and contribute to the public good. Because language is both the vehicle and the most profound expression of culture, learning English is an essential part of the civic education process. Both ESL teachers and social studies teachers can profit from professional development experiences in multicultural education. Cooperative learning in ESL classes includes positive interdependence, interaction within the group, accountability of individual students, and explicit teaching of small group skills. A resource list is included.

Pica, T. (1987). Second-language acquisition, social interaction, and the classroom. Applied Linguistics, 8, 3-21.

The following article attempts to account for empirical findings (Doughty and Pica 1986; Long and Sato 1983; Pica and Doughty 1985a,b, in press; Pica and Long, 1986) regarding the relative absence in classroom discourse of interactional moves through which learners and their teachers seek clarification or check comprehension of each other’s message meaning. Data are presented to illustrate how these interactional features, i.e., confirmation and comprehension checks and clarification requests, assist language comprehension and production, and current theoretical claims are reviewed to emphasize their proposed importance to the second-language acquisition process. Absence of these interactional features in the classroom, it is argued, is a reflection of the unequal participant relationships which shape and are shaped by classroom activities. In support of this argument, examples of discourse from a variety of classroom activities are given. Finally, results are reported from research on two activities believed to promote more equalized relationships among classroom participants—a decision-making discussion, and an information-exchange task. Results of the latter are used as a basis for suggesting ways in which the classroom can serve as a social and linguistic environment more favourable to second-language acquisition.

Pica, T. (1991). Classroom interaction, negotiation, and comprehension: Redefining relationships. System, 19, 437-452.

The following study was undertaken to address theoretical claims regarding the importance of negotiated interaction to the comprehension of second-language (L2) input through a comparison of three different interactional behaviors of L2 learners in a classroom context. Three groups of L2 learners were asked to carry out their teacher’s directions to a comprehension task: eight Negotiators, who were encouraged to negotiate by requesting clarification, repetition, and confirmation of the directions; eight Observers, who were not permitted to interact with the teacher, but could watch and listen as the Negotiators did this; and eight Listeners, who carried out the task away from the other two groups by listening to a text of the directions which had been generated through negotiation. Results of the study revealed comparable comprehension scores for each of the three subject groups. Moreover, follow-up analyses suggested that individual subjects whose level of comprehension development was at or above the level of their classmates could comprehend the direction input whether they engaged in negotiation, observed negotiation, or listened to the text of negotiated input. However, for subjects at lower developmental levels of comprehension, direct participation in negotiation was the most effective means to facilitate comprehension of the direction input.

Pica, T. (1994). Research on negotiation: What does it reveal about second-language learning conditions, processes and outcomes? Language Learning 44, 493-527.

This article reviews insights into second-language (L2) learning that have been revealed through a decade of research on the social interaction and negotiation of L2 work of Hatch (1978a, 1978b) and Long (1980 et passim), and with reference to a corpus of informal, experimental, and classroom data from published studies. This research illustrates ways in which negotiation contributes to conditions, processes, and outcomes of L2 learning by facilitating learners’ comprehension and structural segmentation of L2 input, access to lexical form and meaning, and production of modified output. The research points out areas in which negotiation does not appear to assist L2 learning, especially with respect to the learner’s need to access L2.

Pica, T. (1996a). Do second language learners need negotiation? International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 34, 1-21.

Theoretical claims have been made regarding what learners need to do for successful second language (L2) learning, e.g., to obtain comprehensible input (Krashen 1981, 1983, 1985, Long 1985), produce modified output (Swain 1985, 1994, Swain and Lapkin 1994), and focus attention on L2 form. (Long 1990, 1994, Schmidt 1990, Schmidt and Frota 1986). That learner’s participation in negotiation addresses the first two of these needs has been shown through extensive research. The following study, therefore, aimed to examine whether negotiation also addresses the third of these needs. To achieve this purpose, an analysis was carried out on the utterances of negotiation which were produced as 20 English native speaker-non-native speaker (NS-NNS) dyads engaged in communication tasks. The analysis revealed that the NS utterances produced during negotiation offered data on L2 forms, the meanings they encoded, and some of the structural relationships into which they could enter. These utterances were also found to contain information which could help the NNSs distinguish between lexical and structural features of their interlanguage that were native-like and those which were not; however, there were few explicit cues which could make such distinctions salient to the NNSs. Thus negotiation appeared to assist the NNS needs for data on features that were possible in the L2, but it was limited in the extent to which it could inform the NNSs on which of their own interlanguage features were not possible in the L2. 

Pica, T. (1996b). The essential role of negotiation in the communicative classroom. JALT Journal, 18, 241-268.

This paper reviews theory and research on the role of negotiation in second language (L2) learning, with application to the communicative classroom. What is shown with respect to L2 learning is that when learners and interlocutors engage in negotiation to resolve impasses in their communication, they signal and respond in ways that enhance their comprehension of input, provide them with feedback on form and meaning, assist their production of modified output, and thereby facilitate the process of L2 learning. 

Pica, T. (1996c). Second language learning through interaction: multiple perspectives. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 12(1), 1-22.

Since its inception, the field of second language acquisition (SLA) has been both theory-less and theory-laden. It has been theory-less in that, as most major textbooks remind us, there has yet to emerge a single, coherent theory that can describe, explain, and predict second language learning. Yet it is theory-laden in that there are at least forty claims, arguments, theories, and perspectives that attempt to describe and explain the learning process and predict its outcomes (see Larsen-Freeman & Long 1992: 227). It is within this context that an interactionist perspective on language learning has thrived. As a perspective on language learning, it holds none of the predictive weight of an individual theory. Instead, it lends its own weight to any number of theories.

Pica, T., & Doughty, C. (1983). The role of group work in classroom second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 7, 233-248.

The shift in language classroom organization from teacher-fronted to student group work has received a growing amount of theoretical and empirical support (cf. Long, 1983; Long, Adams, McLean, and Castanos, 1976; Taylor, 1982). However, this practice is becoming so popular that it is in danger of turning into yet another ESL bandwagon. The following study was conducted, therefore, to evaluate the role of group work in the classroom, specifically in regard to its possible effects on classroom second language acquisition. Comparisons were made of three ESL classrooms during group vs. teacher-fronted classroom interaction on decision-making tasks. Analysis focuses on three broad categories: (1) grammaticality of input, (2) negotiation of input, and (3) individual input/production. Significant differences between the two participation patterns were indicated only in the increased amount of input and production for individual students during group interaction. Task, rather than participation pattern, was shown to be a more important variable with regard to parameters (1) and (2). These results suggested that group work has a useful but somewhat restricted role in classroom second language acquisition.

Pica, T., & Doughty, C. (1985). Input and interaction in the communicative language classroom: A comparison of teacher-fronted and group activities. In S. M. Gass & C. Madden (Eds.), Input and second language acquisition (pp. 115-132). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

** Pica and Doughty offer an intensive investigation of classroom-centered activities and the differing effects that teacher-directed input and small-group input have on the nature of the developing strategies and language of second language learners. Through an analysis of discourse features and linguistic units in learner classroom interactions, Pica and Doughty add to the growing body of research on language development within a communicative context. Focusing on two classroom styles, teacher-fronted activity and small-group work, the authors substantiate some expected, as well as some unexpected, differences between learners exposed to the two approaches. This research offers a challenging paradigm of investigation for further classroom-centered research.

Pica, T., Doughty, C., & Young, R. (1986). Making input comprehensible: Do interactional modifications help? ITL Review of Applied Linguistics, 72, 1-25.

In view of the evidence that comprehensible input is necessary for language acquisition (Krashen 1980, 1982, Long 1981, 1983, 1985), this study compared the listening comprehension of NNSs’ of English on directions to an assembly task given by a NS under two input conditions: (1) Syntactically and semantically premodified input without interaction and (2) Unmodified input with interaction. Two hypotheses were tested in the study. First, it was predicted that interaction in Condition (2) would lead to even greater syntactic and semantic modification of input than was built in a priori in Condition (1) and second, that NNSs’ comprehension of input in Condition (2) would exceed that in Condition (1). Both hypotheses were supported. Analysis of the data indicated that the most significant aids to comprehension brought about by interaction were increased quantity and redundancy of input. Several specific interactional modifications, such as confirmation and comprehension checks and clarification requests were also shown to be critical factors in input comprehension. However, a reduction in the syntactic complexity of the input was observed to play no significant role in this comprehension. 

Pica. T., Holliday, L., Lewis, N., Berducci, D., & Newman, J. (1991). Language learning through interaction: What role does gender play? Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13, 343-76.

This investigation of NS-NNS interaction in same- and cross-gender dyads on four information exchange tasks revealed that male and female NNSs made and received a comparable number of opportunities to request L2 input and modify interlanguage output during interaction with female NSs, but during interaction with male NSs, these opportunities were significantly lower for female than for male NNSs. In addition, more request-response exchanges were found on tasks in which either the NS or the NNS was given initial control over task-related information. Findings of the study were attributed to cultural similarities and differences in the interaction behaviors of the participants.

Pica, T., Holliday, L., Lewis, N., & Morgenthaler, L. (1989). Comprehensible output as an outcome of linguistic demands on the learner. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 11, 63-90.

In view of the theoretical claim that comprehensible input is not sufficient for successful second language acquisition, but that opportunities for nonnative speakers (NSSs) to produce comprehensible output are also necessary (Swain, 1985), the present study sought to describe how second language learners responded linguistically when native speakers signaled difficulty in understanding them and to compare types and frequencies of the learners’ responses in relation to different native-speaker (NS) signal types and different communication tasks. The NS signals differed in the extent to which they offered nonnative speakers an open-ended request for clarification or a model to repeat or acknowledge. The tasks differed in the degree of control they gave to NSs and NNSs over the preciseness and relative quantity of information needed to carry them out, and relative quantity of information needed to carry them out, and were as follows: (a) an “information-gap” task, in which the NNSs drew their own original picture and then described it to the NSs, who had to reproduce the picture solely on the basis of the NNSs’ description; (b) a “jigsaw” task, in which the NNSs and NSs were required to reproduce an unseen sequence of pictures by exchanging their own uniquely held portions of the sequence; and (c) a discussion, in which the NNSs and NSs were told to share their views on the language-learning contributions of the other two communication tasks. Each task was carried out by 10 NNS-NS dyads. Results of the study provided empirical validation for the theoretical construct of comprehensible output and revealed the extent to which its production by NNSs was influenced by the linguistic demands of NS signals of comprehension difficulty and communication tasks. Additional analyses of data indicated that the gender of participants in each dyad played an important role in these results.

Pica, T., Kanagy, R., & Falodun, J. (1993). Choosing and using communication tasks for second language instruction and research. In G. Crookes & S. Gass (Eds.), Tasks and language learning (pp. 9-33). Clevedon, Avon: Multilingual Matters.

** Second language (L2) teachers and researchers devote a great deal of their time and energy toward getting language learners to talk. Yet this common pursuit has been overshadowed by the different approaches they often take in their work. For many years, teachers have relied on language lessons, directing learners to repeat and practice L2 sounds, words and structures, or calling on them to answer questions and thereby display what they have learned through instruction. More recently, teachers have also engaged students in debates, discussion, role plays, and other activities focused on functional and strategic aspects of L2 use. To gather data on L2 learning, many researchers have operated within a format of structured elicitation, asking learners to respond to pictures, readings and questions for which a range of L2 forms and functions must be supplied. Such approaches taken by teachers and researchers in their work with language learners, however, may not be the most suitable means of carrying out their work with L2 learners. When viewed from the perspective of current second language teaching and learning, a more effective way to assist language learning in the classroom or to study the processes of second language acquisition (SLA) is revealed through the use of communication tasks. This chapter will therefore aim to validate the communication task as an important tool for teachers and researchers by comparing the communication task with other classroom and research activities in light of current theoretical perspectives on language learning. Discussions on the usefulness and importance of communication tasks have had a long tradition in literature on communicative language teaching (see Crookes (1986) and Nunan (1989) for reviews. The term, communication task, therefore, is one which is already familiar to many teachers and researchers. What has not always been clear, however, is exactly what features constitute a communication task and made it distinctive from other activities used in teaching and research. Thus, in order for teachers and researchers to be able to identify, create and employ communication tasks with confidence and success, it seems crucial that they understand the unique contribution these tasks can make to their work with language learners and be able to distinguish them from the wide range of other activities and materials available for teaching and research. This chapter will therefore also aim to provide a framework through which communication tasks can be characterized and differentiated both from other activities and materials that are not tasks, as well as within their own sub-types. This chapter thus attempts to accomplish two purposes: (1) to provide a theoretical rationale for the use of communication tasks in L2 instruction and research, and (2) to present a task typology which can be used to differentiate tasks according to their contributions to language learning. In so doing, this chapter aims both to explain to teachers and researchers why communication tasks can assist them in their work with language learners, and to help them to choose and use these tasks effectively. 

Pica, T., Lincoln-Porter, F., Paninos, D., & Linnell, J. (1995). What can second language learners learn from each other? Only their researcher knows for sure. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 11(1), 1-36.

This study asked whether second language (L2) learners’ interaction with other learners can address three of their theoretical needs for L2 learning in ways that interaction with native speakers (NSs) has been shown to do, i.e., the need for L2 input modified toward comprehensibility, for feedback focused on form, and for modification of output. To address this question, the interaction of five dyads of English L2 learners was compared with that of five dyads of English NSs on two communication tasks. Results of the comparison revealed similarities in the types of modified input and feedback the learners were offered from other learners and NSs in their respective dyads and in both the type and amount output modifications they produced. Differences were found in the amount of modified input the learners were provided, with less modified input from other learners than from NSs. The study thus indicated that interaction between L2 learners can address some of their input, feedback, and output needs, but that it does not provide as much modified input and feedback as interaction with NSs.

Pica, T., Young, R., & Doughty, C. (1987). The impact of interaction on
comprehension. TESOL Quarterly, 21(4), 737-758.

The study reported in this article compared the comprehension of 16 nonnative speakers (NNSs) of English on directions to a task presented by a native speaker (NS) under two input conditions: premodified input, in the form of a NS baseline lecturette modified by decreased complexity and increased quantity and redundancy, and interactionally modified input, consisting of the NS baseline lecturette without linguistic premodification, but with opportunities for interaction with the NS. It was found that comprehension was best assisted when the content of the directions was repeated and rephrased in interaction; however, reduction in linguistic complexity in the premodified input was not a significant factor in NNSs' comprehension. It was also found that NS-NNS interactional modifications in the form of comprehension and confirmation checks and clarification requests served as a mechanism for NS modification of input, either by encoding or, more frequently, by triggering repetition and rephrasing of input content, and thus played a critical role in comprehension. Results of the study support current theoretical claims regarding the role played by interactional modifications in facilitating second language comprehension. These results also provide guidelines for restructuring interaction in the classroom to serve learners' needs for comprehensible input.

Pierra, G. (1994). Langue, culture, et pratique theatrale (Language, culture, and dramatic practice). Francais dans le Monde, 267, 69-73. 

*** A University of Texas, Austin, French course that uses dramatics as a focus for language practice and cultural awareness is described. Relaxation, movement, group dynamics, and interpretation of the text area are all seen as contributing to the language-learning experience.

Platt, E., & Brooks, F. B. (1994). The "acquisition-rich environment" revisited. Modern Language Journal, 78, 497-511.

* This article questions the use of input-output models to describe humans talking in the presence of each other, focusing specifically on learners of second or foreign languages and the term 'acquisition-rich environment'. The authors review literature relevant to problems with respect to the term 'acquisition-rich environment', and analyze three data sets in terms of a perspective that holds that learners construct their own environments through language use. The article presents arguments in support of this framework and concludes with suggestions for classroom and research practice, highlighting the importance of listening to learners as they are involved in problem-solving tasks and attempting to understand what it is they are trying to accomplish.

Platt, E., & Brooks, F. B. (2002). Task engagement: A turning point in foreign language development. Language Learning, 52(2), 365-400.
In this article we use a sociocultural framework to suggest task engagement as a viable construct in L2 learning research. Clarifying and specifying this construct has important implications for the analysis of conversational data, needed in light of claims for the causal relationship posited for certain kinds of conversational adjustments on L2 acquisition outcomes. Here we examine L2 learner data to identify task engagement as it emerges, unfolds in dialogic activity, and becomes associated with the transformation of task, self, and group. The data to be analyzed come from two pairs of L2 learners involved in jigsaw tasks, one pair using Swahili, the other Spanish; all are native speakers of English. Our concern with task engagement is motivated by methodological and theoretical issues entailed in the study of L2 learning in the interactionist perspective. We argue that a sociocultural approach offers an alternative to that perspective, from the standpoint of method and theory, resting as it does on quite a different set of underlying assumptions, to be described below. The research questions are the following. (1) How might task engagement be defined within a sociocultural framework? (2) What is the effect of task engagement on data analysis and interpretation? (3) What transformative effects, if any, can be found during task engagement? In the first section we juxtapose the two frameworks for thinking about task performance, demonstrating that certain phenomena not even considered data according to one perspective can be interpreted as crucial in selecting, analyzing, and interpreting data in the other. We go on to present and interpret the task data using the proposed analytic framework, then draw conclusions based on the findings.

Polio, C., & Gass, S. M. (1998). The role of interaction in native speaker  comprehension of nonnative speaker speech. Modern Language Journal, 82, 308-319.

Interaction has often been shown to have a positive effect on nonnative speakers' (NNS) comprehension of their second language (L2). Based on the fact that interaction gives learners an opportunity to modify their speech upon a signal of noncomprehension, it should also have a positive effect on native speakers' (NS) comprehension of NNSs. However, in a 1994 study, Gass and Varonis did not find that interaction led to better comprehension of NNSs by NSs in an information gap task. Because such a result has important implications for theory and practice, the present study attempted to replicate their results. Thirty dyads performed an information gap activity with and without interaction. The results show that interaction does indeed help NSs comprehend NNSs. This article discusses various reasons for the discrepancy between the results obtained in the Gass and Varonis study and those from the present study as well as the implications of this study for research methodology. 

Porter, P. A. (1986). How learners talk to each other: Input and interaction in task-centered discussions. In R. R. Day (Ed.), Talking to learn (pp. 200-222). Rowley, MA: Newbury House,

* The chapter reports a study of how learners talk to one another in task-centered discussions in the ESL class. Several findings are reported: learners at the intermediate and advanced levels help their partners by using interactional devices; learners receive better quality input from advanced learners than from intermediates; and all levels of learners have more overall practice and take part in more discussions with advanced-level learners, whereas they engage in more repair with intermediate-level learners. As a pedagogical implication, Porter suggests that teachers should pair students of differing proficiency levels. 

Prapphal, K. (1991). Cooperative learning in a humanistic English class. Cross Currents, 18, 37-40.

This paper presents cooperative learning as an effective way to involve EFL students in using English and to make learning more enjoyable. This approach helps build rapport and, in the words of Moskowitz, fosters a climate of “caring and sharing” in the classroom. A study conducted on an English class at Chulalongkorn University Language Institute illustrates how cooperative learning fosters commitment to tasks, and encourages students to work cooperatively, to learn to be problem solvers, to become knowers rather than merely assimilators, and to act as evaluators and assessors. An informal evaluation of the study indicates that cooperative learning is a promising humanistic approach which increases student participation in EFL classes in the Thai context. It appears to facilitate the learning process both cognitively and affectively.

Provo, J. (1991). Sex differences in nonnative speaker interaction. The Language Teacher, 15(7): 25-28.

After a review of related research, this article reports a partial replication of Gass and Varonis’ (1986) study. Participants were 60 dyads of intermediate proficiency Japanese college students taking part in a picture description task using English. One member of the pair described a picture to the other who could not see it, and the other drew the picture. Four types of pairs took part: females describing to females, females describing to males, males describing to males, and males describing to females. Three dependent variables were measured: words spoken, interruptions made, and leading questions asked. No statistical tests were run on the data, but comparing percentages and means, the author concludes that: there were no major differences in words spoken, and females tended to interrupt more and to ask more leading questions.

Puchta, H., & Schratz, M. (1993). Teaching teenagers: Model activity sequences for humanistic language learning. Harlow, Essex: Longman.

* This book provides nine units of activities for teaching second languages to teenage students. The units follow a humanistic approach. They attempt to foster what the authors call “cooperative independence”, i.e., “the ability to learn either independently or cooperatively, according to the situation” (p. 3). The units contain many group activities, such as role play and brainstorming. Indeed, one of the units is subtitled “Students on their way to cooperative learning”. 

Rankin, W. (1997). Increasing the communicative competence of foreign language students through the FL Chatroom. Foreign Language Annals, 30, 542-546.

The popular online ‘chatroom’ can be incorporated into course syllabi of foreign language courses as a regular homework assignment to encourage students to use the target language actively and frequently. By scheduling regular visits to an FL-specific chatroom, the FL instructor can greatly increase the amount of time the students spend communicating in the target language. The FL chatroom allows the instructor and students to continue more in-depth discussions—grammatical, cultural, and literacy—outside of the classroom. Further, these discussions can be opened up to include other sections and classes, as well as guests from outside the institution. Thus, students from all levels of language learning can benefit from a shared knowledge base.

Raz, H. (1985). Roleplay in foreign language learning. System, 13, 225-229.

Role-play is used in various contexts and in various ways, the most effective in the foreign classroom being simultaneous pair or group work, spontaneous and unstructured, focusing on conflict situations of real concern to the learners. A research project, carried out in Israeli schools, has demonstrated the beneficial effect of such role-play on the motivation and the communicative competence of the learners. The experience gained enables us to suggest how role-playing can best be implemented as a regular component of the program. Pre-requisites and limitations as well as the beneficial effects are discussed, with emphasis being placed on its potential educational value.

Reid, J. M. (1987). The learning style preferences of ESL students. TESOL Quarterly, 21, 87-111.

Following a review of the literature on learning styles and cognitive styles for both native speakers (NSs) and nonnative speakers (NNSs) of English, this article presents the results of a questionnaire that asked 1,388 students to identify their perceptual learning style preferences. Statistical analyses of the questionnaires indicated that NNS learning style preferences often differ significantly from those of NSs; that ESL students from different language backgrounds sometimes differ from one another in their learning style preferences; that other variables such as sex, length of time in the United States, length of time studying English in the U.S., field of study, level of education, TOEFL score, and age are related to differences in learning styles; and that modifications and extensions of ESL student learning styles may occur with changes in academic environment and experience.

Reid, J. M. (1993). Teaching ESL writing. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Regents/Prentice Hall.

* This book aims to provide an overview of the teaching of ESL writing for people learning to become teachers of composition to ESL and EFL students. It addresses the special problems and concerns that distinguish the teaching of composition to ESL students from the teaching of composition to native English speakers. The book also presents an historical overview of different methods of teaching composition at all levels and provides extremely well documented, specific information about planning curricula and developing syllabi for each level of language proficiency in an effective ESL writing program, and day-to-day lesson plans for basic, intermediate, and advanced ESL writing classes. The book advocates the use of collaborative and cross-cultural activities that enable students to help each other and to learn in a supportive classroom environment.

Reid, J., & Powers, J. (1993). Extending the benefits of small-group collaboration to the ESL writer. TESOL Journal, 2(4), 25-32. 

*** The University of Wyoming English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) program replaced a laboratory drill with a weekly, one-hour writing tutorial (WT) in which small groups of ESL students meet with a writing tutor. The role of the WT in community building and developing writing and oral skills is described, along with sample questions for a WT group.

Renandya, W. A., Oh, R., & Lim, W. L. (1999). Reciprocal teaching: What do our pupils say about it? TELL (Teaching English Language and Literature), 15(2), 29-32.

Reciprocal Teaching (RT) is a method of teaching reading and comprehension skills in a co-operative learning environment. The writers describe how they put two groups of their pupils through a 4-stage reciprocal teaching process. The pupils took turns to be the ‘teacher’ to steer the group discussion through each stage, paragraph by paragraph of a text. The pupils first drew on their prior knowledge to make predictions and inferences about the content of the text, then asked questions about the text before seeking clarification about some difficult words or phrases in the text. Finally, they summarised the content in order to demonstrate their understanding. The writers report that their pupils gained positive learning experiences through RT.

Renaud, M.-P. (1987). Expression dramatique: Former autrement (Dramatic expression: Teaching another way). Francais dans le Monde, 211, 51-55.

*** In a French course offered in a German university, students were required to develop, structure, write, rehearse, and present brief plays as a group language-learning activity.

Rendon, M. J. (1995). Learner autonomy and cooperative learning. English Teaching Forum, 33(4), 41. Available online at http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol33/no4/p41.htm.

* This article begins by explaining links between learner autonomy and cooperative learning. In the main part of the article, the author describes how she and colleagues apply these two concepts to the teaching of adult learners of Business English who are sent for courses by their companies. Among the strategies employed is discussion with students of course objectives and the goals of each lesson, accompanied by student self-assessment and flexibility on the part of teachers to make changes based on student suggestions. The author also advocates the use of group projects and suggests that teachers promote a feeling of positive interdependence among the members of project groups.

Ribe, R., & Vidal, N. (1993). Project work: Step by step. Oxford: Heinemann.

* This book of 94 pages begins with an introduction that briefly connects projects with tasks and second language acquisition theories. Chapter 1 provides ideas on how to create a welcoming and pleasant class atmosphere in which students find out about each other. The second and third chapters have ideas for helping students select topics. Project planning and group formation are the focus of Chapter 4, while Chapter 5 deals with conducting research. Oral presentation skills, peer feedback, and group functioning all receive attention in Chapter 6. Group functioning is again discussed in Chapters 7 and 8, the latter of which, along with Chapter 9, includes ideas on finalizing and presenting projects. The final chapter, #10, furnishes ideas on assessment and evaluation, including self-assessment instruments.

Richard-Amato, P. A. (1996). Making it happen: Interaction in the second language classroom (2nd ed.). White Plains, NY: Longman.

* This book presents an overview of theory and practice, devoting three pages, 270-272, specifically to cooperative learning. Among the issued discussed are the effect of cooperative learning on students of different levels of past achievement, the problem of students providing each other with inaccurate input, different types of cooperative learning, and the level to which student interaction should be structured.

Richards, J. C. (1995). Easier said than done. In A.C. Hidalgo, D. Hall, & G. M. Jacobs (Eds.), Getting started: Materials writers on materials writing, (pp. 95-135). Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.

* This chapter describes the author’s experiences in writing a coursebook for the teaching of English conversation to low proficiency L2 learners. Topics covered include needs analysis, unit format, and trialing. Examples from various drafts of chapters are appended. Brief group activities as well as group projects are key features of the materials.

Richards, J. C., & Lockhart, C. (1994). Reflective teaching in second language classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

* This book aims to help second language teachers work toward their professional self-development by exploring the processes that take place in their classrooms. Topics for exploration include teachers’ beliefs, classroom interaction, the nature of language learning activities, and language use in the classroom. Action research and reflections are key tools in professional self-development, and the book offers multiple ways of employing these tools. Many of these ways involve working together with other teachers, e.g., collaborative journal writing and peer observation.

Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (1986). Approaches and methods in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

* This book provides a detailed account of major twentieth-century trends in 
language teaching, highlighting the similarities and differences between various approaches and methods. It describes approaches and methods according to their underlying theories of language and language learning; the learning objectives, the syllabus model used, the roles of teachers, learners, and materials within the method or approach, and the classroom procedures and techniques used. The activity type a method advocates often serves to distinguish methods. Group activities, for example, are used in Communicative Language Teaching and the Natural Approach where learners share information in order to complete a task. The book concludes by comparing and evaluating the different methods, helping teachers arrive at
their own judgments and decisions through a better understanding of the
nature, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the methods and approaches.

Ringdahl, S., et al. (1986). "Thank you for working with me": An experiment in cooperative learning. Passage, 2(3), 26-29.

*** Cooperative Learning is a teaching methodology based on the belief that learning increases as students develop cooperative skills. A recent experiment with cooperative learning at the Philippine Refugee Processing Center indicates that it can be used effectively with low-level learners of English as a second language to foster both language learning and positive social skills. The approach focuses on development of three characteristics: positive interdependence, individual accountability, and social skills related to small-group interaction. These characteristics of cooperative learning are incorporated into familiar language-learning activities. Teachers make a commitment to the belief that each student can learn by interacting with peers. The benefits of the approach are substantial and include increased student participation and confidence, positive social behavior, and acceptance of responsibility.

Rodgers, T. S. (1988). Co-operative language learning: What’s news? In B. Das (Ed.), Materials for language learning and teaching (pp. 1-15). Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.

* This chapter discusses several aspects of cooperative learning in second language teaching. The first section provides some historical background and introduces some of the scholars working on cooperative learning and related pursuits. The next section attempts to explain cooperative learning, discussing some of the better-known approaches and techniques. The third section deals with reasons for the use of cooperative learning and objections to its use. Four objections are discussed: students provide each other with flawed models of the L2; peers cannot give proper feedback to one another; the use of groups could cause major classroom management difficulties; and students are likely to use their L1 in their groups. The chapter’s last section offers thoughts on materials for cooperative learning.

Rogers, J. (1978). Group activities for language learning. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.

* This book begins with a brief discussion of differences between traditional and non-traditional educational systems. A key contrast is that while the former favors a lock-step, teacher-fronted instructional mode, the latter is more likely to feature small group activities. The rest of the book is a compilation of group activities divided into categories, including: introductory activities, ‘traditional’ ELT techniques adapted for group work, activities for pairs or dyads, consensus-seeking activities, thinking or problem-solving puzzles, and group activities for global education. 

Romney, J. C. (1997). Collaborative learning in a translation course. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 54, 48-67.

Collaborative learning, based on small group discussions conducted according to specific rules, provides an alternative to traditional classroom structure which has been shown to be useful in second language acquisition. This article describes its application in a translation course. A more in-depth understanding of the source text is arrived at collectively, and a greater degree of grammatical correctness, accuracy, and faithfulness can be achieved in the translation through discussion and negotiation as participants are required to justify their solutions. Social support is important as participants share their difficulties. They gain in self-confidence and self-esteem; they also become more tolerant of different opinions and appreciate the non-threatening atmosphere of working in small groups.

Ronesi, L. M. (2003). Enhancing postsecondary intergroup relations at the university through student-run ESL instruction. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 2(3), 191-210.

This case-study research examines the prosocial potential of a cooperative-learning, content-based English as a second language program in which native-born and immigrant undergraduate pairs work to develop the immigrant students' academic English. Majority and immigrant student interpretations of their partnerships regarding status and stereotype confirmation/disconfirmation were investigated. Twelve informants comprised 6 pairs representing the program's 3 cooperative models. All 6 native-born informants were White women ages 18 to 26. Four male and 2 female participants, ages 20 to 36, were immigrants from Cambodia, Laos, Cape Verde, and Hong Kong. Data collection included interviews, document review, and observation during two semesters. The theoretical frameworks are cooperative learning, decategorization, and investment informed data analysis. This research found partners' personalized interaction instrumental in promoting status equalization and undermining category-based preconceptions. Interaction between the participants' activated identities and the contact's structural features influenced the development of stereotype-disconfirming and -confirming relationships.

Rothschild, D., & Klingenberg, F. (1990). Self and peer evaluation of writing in the interactive ESL classroom: An exploratory study. TESL Canada Journal, 8(1), 52-65.

The evaluation of writing in the ESL classroom has traditionally been the teacher's prerogative and as such it has remained outside the interactive model of student learning. Our goal is to bring evaluation into the classroom in order to increase learners' awareness of criteria for good writing, promote greater improvement of writing by giving learners an instructional and diagnostic tool which they could use, reinforce in-process feedback with end-of-process evaluation, and foster more positive attitudes towards writing. The students in our pilot investigation are high intermediate level adults from diverse backgrounds studying part-time during a four-month term. Our investigation is in two parts. Part one involves adapting an appropriate evaluation scale, training students in its use, and having them use the scale throughout the term to evaluate their own and their peers' writing. In part two we study various end-of-term effects the use of the scale had on students: we test the hypothesis that students trained in the use of the scale will have a concept of good writing more congruent with the instruction than will a control group; we compare the criteria most often cited by both groups as they judge the quality of a set of compositions; we examine the responses of both groups to a survey on their attitudes towards writing. Our results show a slight trend in the predicted direction between the experimental group and one of the judges. We also find indications that the experimental group is using a different set of criteria in judging compositions. As well, the experimental group responds more positively to all ten statements on a writing attitude survey.

Rubinstein-Avila, E. (2003). Negotiating power and redefining literacy expertise: Buddy Reading in a dual-immersion programme. Journal of Research in Reading, 26(1), 83-97.

This paper reports on a case study of face-to-face interaction around and about texts between a [US] second grade dyad in a dual-immersion programme [English/Portuguese]. Through the lenses of Vygotskian situation cognition and Literacy Studies, classroom observations were conducted, both holistic and focused. Daily peer reading sessions between a dyad were tap recorded, and informal interviews with the teacher and the participating dyad were conducted. The analysis of participants’ verbal exchanges revealed multiple pedagogical scaffold, few of which were unexpected. As meaning making became more salient to the various collaborate literacy tasks, the roles of tutor and tutee were blurred. The shift in power also impacted the direction of language switches. Buddy Reading encouraged the peer readers to acknowledge and draw upon each other’s expertise, as they redefined what it meant to be ‘a good reader.’
Rulon, K. A., & McCreary, J. (1986). Negotiation of content: Teacher-fronted and small-group interaction. In R. R. Day (Ed.), Talking to learn: Conversation in second language acquisition (182-199). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

* The goal of this chapter is to discuss the negotiational interaction in small-group and teacher-fronted activities in an ESL class. Rulon and McCreary claim that negotiation of meaning is an essential element in promoting interaction for successful second language acquisition. The authors suggest that small group discussion tasks generate more negotiation of meaning and negotiation of content than the teacher-fronted
discussion tasks. It is also stated in the chapter that when students are placed in groups and asked to work on a contextualized task (two-way tasks; tasks that increase the exchange of information between peers), more negotiation of content occurs than when the teacher directs the discussion.

Saito, H., & Fujita, T. (2004). Characteristics and user acceptance of peer rating in EFL writing classrooms. Language Teaching Research, 8(1), 31-54.

Lack of research on the characteristics of peer assessment in EFL writing may inhibit teachers from appreciating the utility of this innovative assessment. This study addressed the following research questions: (1) How similar are peer, self- and teacher ratings of EFL writing?: (2) Do students favour peer ratings?; and (3) Does peer feedback influence students’ attitudes about peer rating? Forty-seven college students studying English writing in a Japanese college were assigned to write two essays. Each essay was commented on and rated by two teachers, three peers and the writers themselves. Students also completed a five-item questionnaire about their attitudes regarding peer rating. Peer and teacher ratings were found to correlate significantly. The results of the questionnaire indicated that students had favourable attitudes towards peer rating. A regression analysis suggested that peer feedback did not influence students’ favourable attitudes about feedback.

Samway, K. D. (1993). "This is hard, isn't it?": Children evaluation writing. TESOL Quarterly, 27, 233-258.

This paper describes the evaluation criteria that nonnative-English-speaking children (Grade 2-6) employed when evaluating writing. Specifically, the paper discusses: (a) the range of evaluation criteria that children used, (b) whether authorship influenced evaluation criteria (not all the stories were written by the children), and (c) whether the evaluation criteria used by the children varied according to age. The study is grounded in 14 in-depth interviews of 9 students, in which they rated pieces of writing and explained why they had given each story its particular rating. An analysis of the data reveals that the students (a) were critical evaluators, (b) tended to focus on meaning regardless of their age and whether the piece of writing had been written by themselves or an anonymous peer, (c) were highly idiosyncratic in the range of evaluation criteria that they employed, and (d) were influenced by the pedagogical focus in their ESOL classes.

Samway, V.D., Alvarez, L.P., & Morales, F. (1989). Practicing what we preach: A collaborative approach to staff development. CATESOL Journal, 2(1): 67-82.

This paper discusses the impact of an intensive, hands-on, research-based
approach to staff development. It focuses on the experiences of teachers of language minority students (grades K-12) who took part in a 4-day literacy development institute. The paper challenges traditional, teacher-centered and teacher-dominated teaching practices. In particular, it challenges teaching practices that ignore or deny the knowledge that learners bring with them. It also confirms the need to personally experience instructional practices that are advocated for other learners and the value of reflection as a means to learn.

Samway, V., Whang, G., & Pippitt, M. (1995). Buddy reading: Cross-age tutoring in a multicultural school. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 

* This book describes a program used in a primary school in the U.S. in which upper primary ESL students served as tutors to ESL students in lower grades. A unique feature of the program is that even students of less than average proficiency were included among the tutors. Tutor preparation, coordination among teachers, and lessons learned during the course of the program are discussed. 

Sanders, S. L., & Little, D. G. (1989). Classroom community: a prerequisite for comunication. Foreign Language Annals, 22(3), 277-281.

Language teaching today has changed dramatically. Students responding to teacher-centered drills have been replaced by students clustered in groups busily working on communicative activities full of ‘exchange and negotiation between speakers’. The class appears successful, but true communicative language learning requires something far more significant than a shift in classroom management techniques. In fact, communication does not actually take place in the classroom unless the language learners are a community. 

Santa Rita, E., & Misick, J. (1996). An adaptation of group dynamics techniques to conversation workshops for ESL students. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 393 526

*** Based on the assumption that the acquisition of language habits is in itself insufficient for the true mastery of language, small group discussion techniques have been used in conversation workshops for students in English as a second language (ESL) courses at New York's Bronx Community College. In the groups, students are induced to communicate with others by employing newly learned grammatical structures. One of the exercises used in the ESL groups presents students with a problem and possible courses of action. The students are divided into "buzz groups," or goal-directed discussion groups of no more than six students, with the task of arriving at a consensus regarding the solution, selecting a spokesman, and formulating a rationale for the group's decision. In attempting to convince other members of their group, students are forced to participate, construct persuasive explanations for their position, and make themselves understood in English. Another exercise also involves the use of "buzz groups" to arrive at a consensus regarding a survival scenario. These exercises are effective in increasing students' ability to express themselves and employ free conversation, while the use of "buzz groups" can be particularly helpful in oversized classes to allow all students the opportunity to participate.

Sasser, L., & Cromwell, C. (1987, November). Testimony: Writing cooperatively. Paper presented at a Regional Meeting of the California Association of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Los Angeles, CA. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 317 046

*** A lesson plan and supportive materials for an exercise in reading comprehension and cooperative writing are presented. The exercise is based on a story entitled "Testimony," in which a writer expresses feelings about a boxing match. The lesson plan outlines procedures for presentation of the exercise to the class, for the cooperative teams to explore the story using a series of worksheets, and for conclusion and followup of the exercise. Worksheets include vocabulary categorization exercises, an activity analyzing the information presented in sentences, an exercise in putting events into sequence, analysis of fight details, an active-passive voice exercise, and an analysis of the sides taken by witnesses to the event. The story is appended.

Savage, A. (1996). The collaborative ESL classroom: Perspectives and techniques. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 394 349

*** It is proposed that classroom collaboration has the potential to build a classroom learning community in which students turn to each other as resources and the teacher becomes one channel, among many, for learning. The demands that collaborative work places on students are examined, and the process of building a collaborative environment is explored, focusing on techniques that enhance learner awareness of the value of cooperation and promote sharing of knowledge and skills. The specific context addressed here is the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classroom. An example of a traditional classroom practice that has been adapted to encourage empathy among participants and decrease teacher-dependence is presented. In this classroom exchange, four characteristics are noted: (1) respect for the speaker; (2) empathy for fellow classmates, with all participants invested in validating or correcting their hypotheses by observing peer efforts; (3) focus on learning at the point of need or discrepancy in understanding; and (4) students' recognition and use of one another as resources. Using the last 10 minutes of a class period for student response to the day's work is also recommended as effective in orchestrating community dialogue.

Scarcella, R. C., & Oxford, R. L. (1992). The tapestry of language learning: The individual in the communicative classroom. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

* This book discusses a communicative approach to second language teaching. Both theory and practice are covered. Features of the approach include task-based and theme-based instruction, language skills integration, and an appreciation of individual differences among learners. Cooperative learning and other forms of student-student interaction receive extensive attention.

Schinke-Llano, L., & Vicars, R. (1993). The affective filter and negotiated interaction: Do our language activities provide for both? Modern Language Journal, 77, 325-329.

* This article reports a study designed to investigate the relation between activity type and learners' comfort level, with a particular focus on the degree to which the activity type might generate negotiation for meaning. Participants in the study were 47 U.S. university students studying various foreign languages. Students participated in four activities, each of a different type. After each, they completed a questionnaire about their reaction to that activity and their general attitude toward studying a foreign language. The four activity types were: teacher-fronted with group response; teacher-fronted with individual response, small group problem solving, and dyadic two-way information gap. The researchers hoped to gain insight into whether activities that provided the most opportunity for meaning negotiation (the third and fourth activity types above) would also be those associated with a lower affective filter, operationalized as a higher reported comfort level. Although a great deal of variation was found in individual students' rating of the various activity types and the results were by no means clear-cut, the authors conclude that their findings support the use of tasks that facilitate negotiated interaction.

Schneider, P. (1993). Developing fluency with pair taping. JALT Journal, 15, 55-62. 

Students in their second year of a large, weekly English conversation course in Shiga University of Medical Science were given the option of recording their free conversations in pairs four times a week. They were to do this during the day in the language laboratory, to log in there, and to pass in their tapes. Those who subsequently chose to do pair taping had a significant improvement in fluency (p<0.001) over the year that was more than double (p<0.01) that of the control group of those using a pair work text in the regular class. The pair taping students also had a listening comprehension improvement similar to the regular students, but a significantly higher increase in enjoyment and ease in speaking. The success with this technique may be due to the efficacy of learning something often in multiple short periods, and to students being relaxed, confident and motivated when studying on their own. Foreign language teachers anywhere could feasibly use pair taping to help students improve their speaking.

Schraeder, L. L. (1997). Teaching narrative writing through the collaborative funnel. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 415 717

*** A middle school teacher describes the process by which she discovered a collaborative approach to teaching writing to a class including English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students. To create a meaningful writing experience, she had students prepare a personal narrative, starting by having the class generate endings to the sentence beginning "I'll never forget the first time I..." Each student was then asked to think about their special moment and remember every detail, then placed in collaborative groups with at least two ESL and two mainstream students in each, and asked to tell their story to group members. Remaining group members filled out a story plan worksheet, then shared their notes and asked questions, helping the storyteller refine and sequence details. Each student then wrote a first draft of his story. Students were paired, as much as possible, in ESL/mainstream student dyads to further develop their stories as partners. The experience served to reduce ESL students' anxiety greatly, promote exchange of ideas and feedback, help develop relationships between students across cultural boundaries, foster student self-esteem, and develop individual accountability.

Schweers, C. W. Jr. (1995). Negotiated interaction, transfer, and the second language classroom. TESL Reporter, 28(1), 1-14.

* This article begins by separately discussing negotiated interaction and L1 transfer. Next, examples of negotiated interaction are presented in which native speakers of Spanish studying English converse with a variety of interlocutors. The various examples show: development of a lexical form through conversational interaction; correct learning through interaction; incorrect learning through interaction; and no learning in spite of interaction. Ideas are presented for promoting effective negotiated interaction and beneficial L1 transfer.

Scovel, T. (1978). The effect of affect on foreign language learning: A review of the anxiety research. Language Learning, 28, 129-142.

Although studies of the relationship between affective factors and language learning proficiency abound in the literature, the evidence to support such a relationship is difficult to interpret. Much of the problem resides in the fact that a wide range of variables are lumped together under the rubric "affect". An attempt is made to ameliorate this situation by defining affective variables in terms of traditional psychological theory and classifying them as a subset of those variables intrinsic to the learner. The conflicting evidence dealing with one important affective variable, anxiety, is then examined, and it is shown that ambiguous experimental results can be resolved if the distinction between facilitating and debilitating anxiety is drawn. Further classificatory distinctions are discussed from the abundant experimentation undertaken by applied psychologists, and an attempt is made to consider the implications of some of this research for adult language learning - for some of the new methodologies in EFL as well as for future research opportunities. 

Seedhouse, P. (1999). Task-based interaction. ELT Journal, 53, 149-156.

The ‘task’ has become a fundamental concept in language teaching pedagogy. However, there is a lack of studies which present a ‘holistic’ analysis and evaluation of the interaction produced by tasks in the classroom. Based on a database of lesson extracts, this article attempts to characterize task-based interaction as a variety, discusses its pedagogical and interaction advantages and disadvantages, and considers what kinds of learning it might be promoting.

Sengupta, S. (1998). Peer evaluation: ‘I am not the teacher’. ELT Journal, 52, 19-28.

This article is based on an exploratory investigation of a secondary school writing class in Hong Kong. Through examination of the way learners in this study viewed the roles of the teacher and learner as ‘readers’ of the compositions they had written, it explores the extent to which the broader educational context and its belief system shaped six ESL students’ perception of peer evaluation. Finally, the article questions whether notions of collaborative construction of knowledge in the classroom are viable options within an examination-driven, accuracy-oriented L2 curriculum which may preclude learners (and teachers) from re-conceptualizing their traditional roles.

Senior, R. (1997). Transforming language classes into bonded groups. ELT Journal, 51, 3-11.

To date little attention has been paid to group processes in language classes. Applied linguistics researchers have preferred to examine classroom interaction from a pedagogic perspective, despite exhortations by various language teaching experts to examine social aspects as well (Breen 1985, Allwright and Bailey 1991, Prabhu 1992). A recent study by the author revealed that experienced language teachers perceived that it is important to develop and maintain a positive whole-group feeling among their students. Such teachers appear to have developed a range of personal behaviours which, when examined from a social psychological perspective, reveal an intuitive knowledge of how to foster and maintain a spirit of cohesion in their classes. In this paper the findings of the study are described, and relevant areas in the field of social psychology identified. Eight facets of the group development process in language classes are then discussed, and teachers are presented with a number of tactics which can be used to encourage the transformation of their classes into cohesive groups.

Shaaban, K. A., & Ghaith, G. M. (1994). Cooperative learning and staff development in Lebanon. Cooperative Learning, 14, 51-52.

* This article describes a six-day workshop program that has been conducted many times for inservice ESL/EFL teachers in Lebanon. The workshop emphasizes learning about cooperative learning and other humanistic-affective approaches by working in cooperative groups. Participants work in groups to experience and learn a wide variety of techniques suitable to various aspects of language teaching, and then collaborate to develop ways to use these techniques in their own teaching contexts. To help prepare participants to cooperate effectively in their groups, the workshop's first activity involves groups selecting a group name, writing a group chant or song, creating a group banner, and designating rotating roles within the group. Participants' journals indicate a positive response to the workshop.

Sharan, Y. (1994). Group investigation and second language learners. The Language Teacher, 18(10), 18-19.

* Group Investigation is a method from general education for organizing a class to work on group projects. The author is one of the developers of the method. The article begins with an explanation of Group Investigation. Adapting the method to the special needs of second language learners is discussed with a focus on four areas in which L2 students may need special assistance: planning the project and studying together; choosing an investigation topic on which students possess sufficient vocabulary; formulating questions; and locating resources appropriate to students’ proficiency levels. 

Sherritt, C. (1994). Cooperative learning for ABE and ESL classes: Getting started. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 368 862

*** With philosophic and theoretical emphases on group learning and individual empowerment, adult education is ideally suited for cooperative learning, particularly in areas such as adult basic education and English as a second language where learners are culturally, linguistically, and academically diverse. Small group learning, with its attendant problems, is often called cooperative. Lacking the essential elements of cooperative learning, such practice usually fails, leading facilitators and learners alike to complain that cooperative learning does not work. To be effective, cooperative learning must contain six elements: individual accountability, group learning and processing goals, group rewards, assigned roles, and well-defined evaluation criteria. (Sample cooperative learning lesson plans are provided on three topics: cultural plurality, community social services, and biology.)

Shimatani, H. (1986). The use of small group work in the ESL/EFL classroom: Theoretical basis and some suggestions for practical application. Unpublished manuscript, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 280 262

*** In English as a second language/English as a foreign language classrooms where teacher-fronted instruction is still the norm, small group work tends to be avoided because conversational activities among nonnative speakers are generally thought to be of little use. The validity of small-group work among nonnative speakers is defended with both pedagogical claims and recent second language acquisition theories and research findings obtained inside and outside the classroom. In addition, variables that affect successful small group performance are discussed in these contexts: (1) the role of the teacher, (2) the role of the leaders, (3) the formation of groups, and (4) the sex composition of groups. Also, an ideal organization of small group work is suggested. Finally, the ways in which currently available techniques can be incorporated into the traditional classroom are demonstrated.

Sinyor, R. (1988). Group writing with computers: A pilot study in Italian. Bulletin of the Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics, 10(2), 93-97.

This paper describes a year-long pilot study on group learning using computers to assist in the writing of Italian composition. The main objectives were to ascertain whether student groups produced a better composition than in the traditional classroom setting and whether the computer motivated them in their group work. Informal observations of the writing groups suggested that the second aim was achieved while the first one could not be confirmed. More importantly, with computers functioning as a catalyst, students took responsibility for their own learning.

Smith, B. [bryan.smith@ttu.edu] (2003). Computer-mediated negotiated interaction: An expanded model. Modern Language Journal, 87, 38-57.

This study examines task-based, synchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) among intermediate-level learners of English. The research specifically explores (a) whether learners engage in negotiated interaction when they encounter new lexical items, (b) whether task type has an effect on the amount of negotiation that transpires, and (c) how this computer-mediated negotiation compares to that noted in the face-to-face literature. Fourteen nonnative-nonnative dyads collaboratively completed 4 communicative tasks using ChatNet, a browser-based chat program. Each dyad completed 2 jigsaw and 2 decision-making tasks, which were each “seeded” with 8 target lexical items. The chatscripts reveal that learners do in fact negotiate for meaning in the CMC environment when nonunderstanding occurs. Furthermore, task type was found to have a definite influence on the extent to which learners engaged in negotiation, but not necessarily in the same way that has been observed in the face-to-face literature. Though the negotiation that occurs in the CMC environment proceed in ways that are roughly similar to face-to-face negotiation, the observed differences call for a new model of computer-mediated negotiation. This new model is presented as a more accurate tool for describing computer-mediated negotiated interaction than those offered to chart face-to-face negotiation episodes.

Soh, B. L., & Soon, Y. P. (1991). English by e-mail: Creating a global classroom via the medium of computer technology. ELT Journal, 45, 287.

This article describes a telecommunications project involving teenage EFL/ ESL students in Singapore and Quebec. With the help of telephones, fax machines, word processors, computers, and electronic mail (e-mail), the students exchanged ideas and opinions on a variety of topics which they selected themselves. In an expansion of the project into cross-cultural and cross-curricular work on literature, the students produced an impressive range of written work, based on their reading of stories about their own and their correspondents’ cultures. The project developed the students’ grasp of technology, improved their command of English, gave them a sense of pride in their own work, and enlarged their awareness of themselves as members of an international, global community. 

Soonthornmanee, R. (2002). The effect of the reciprocal teaching approach on the reading comprehension of EFL [English as a Foreign Language] students. RELC Journal, 33(2), 125-141.

The purpose of the study was to investigate whether metacognitive awareness and comprehension monitoring, as employed by reciprocal teaching involving summarization, question-generation, clarification, and prediction, helps EFL readers to comprehend texts and whether this method could be applied to both skilled and less-skilled learners. A group of 42 students [at a university in Thailand] was taught using the reciprocal teaching approach (RT) while the other of 42 students was given skill-oriented instruction (ST). Findings indicate that reciprocal teaching had a significant positive effect on these EFL learners’ reading. In addition, while both skilled and less-skilled learners in the RT group benefited from the reciprocal teaching method, the skill-based teaching method helped the less-skilled learners, not the skilled learners, improve their reading comprehension. The RT students also reported their preference for the reciprocal teaching method.

Sotillo, S. M. (2000). Discourse functions and syntactic complexity in synchronous and asynchronous communication. Language Learning & Technology, 4(1), 82-119. [http://llt.msu.edu/vol4num1/sotillo/]

The present study investigates discourse functions and syntactic complexity in English-as-a-second-language (ESL) learner output obtained via two different modes of computer-mediated communication (CMC): asynchronous and synchronous discussions. Two instructors and twenty-five students from two advanced ESL writing classes participated in this study. Answers were sought to the following questions: a) Are the discourse functions present in ESL learners' synchronous discussions of reading assignments quantitatively and qualitatively different from those found in asynchronous discussions? And, b) which mode of CMC shows more syntactically complex learner output? The results showed that the quantity and types of discourse functions present in synchronous discussions were similar to the types of interactional modifications found in face-to-face conversations that are deemed necessary for second language acquisition. Discourse functions in asynchronous discussions were more constrained than those found in synchronous discussions and similar to the question-response-evaluation sequence of the traditional language classroom. Concerning syntactic complexity, the delayed nature of asynchronous discussions gives learners more opportunities to produce syntactically complex language. Asynchronous and synchronous CMC have different discourse features which may be exploited for different pedagogical purposes. In the hands of experienced teachers, both modes of CMC can be used as novel tools to enhance the language acquisition process by encouraging interaction among participants, collaborative text construction, and the formation of electronic communities of learners. 

Spratt, M., & Leung, B. (2000). Peer teaching and peer learning revisited. ELT Journal, 54, 218-226.

In 1991, Wendy Assinder described a classroom experiment she had carried out in which her students prepared their own classroom materials and then taught them to each other. She subsequently reported on the positive effects of this approach on their language learning, and on their attitudes towards learning. Inspired by her finding, and those of others, two university language teachers conducted a similar classroom experiment, in which students actively participated in developing and delivering learning materials for an ESP course in legal English. This article describes how the course was conducted, and the results of the course evaluation, to which the students and teachers both contributed. It then discusses the results, which were much less positive than Assinder’s, attempting to see why this might have been the case, and making recommendations for future use of the approach.

Stanley, J. (1992). Coaching student writers to be effective peer evaluators. Journal of Second Language Writing, 1, 217-233.

Peer evaluation is used widely in the ESL classroom, although many teachers express reservations about the efficacy of this type of group work. Some of these complaints focus on students’ tendencies to respond to surface problems at the expense of more substantive questions of meaning and to offer unhelpful or unconstructive advice to their classmates. Consideration of these complaints leads to questions about the way students are prepared to participate as peer evaluators.
	Students in this study are prepared for peer evaluation in a fairly lengthy coaching procedure, which includes role-playing and analyzing evaluation sessions, discovering “rules” for effective communication, and studying the genre of student writing. The subsequent peer-evaluation sessions are analyzed for evidence of the effectiveness of the coaching. Drafts are also analyzed for evidence of revision in response to peer evaluators’ advice.
	As a backdrop to this coached group, another group of students is prepared for group work in a shorter, and more typical, procedure of watching a demonstration peer-evaluation session and then discussing it. These students’ peer-evaluation sessions and drafts are also analyzed.
	The participants in this study who receive coaching demonstrate a greater level of student engagement in the task of evaluation, more productive communication about writing, and clearer guidelines for the revision of drafts.

Stern, H. (1997). Organizing ESL students for social change. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 408 867

*** A teacher of English as a Second Language (ESL) to adult migrant workers from Central America describes the evolution of her efforts to create a sense of community within the classroom and Latino center and to empower students to bring about social change in the long term. While students were pressuring the teacher to teach grammar, the teacher was considering ways to increase student access to the language and culture of power. Techniques used at the Latino center to encourage student interaction, cooperation, and leadership include: class coffee breaks; inclusion of homeless immigrants and families in center holiday parties; organization of weekly basketball and soccer games; mentoring to support students in taking responsibility for center activities; delegation to students of some teacher tasks in the classroom (organizing into teams, passing out papers, setting up and cleaning up the room, facilitating discussions); student planning of center events; and hiring of students for Latino center jobs. These efforts eventually became effective after a student protest against an administrative action taken in another organization. The protest was joined by the teacher and her students because they all belonged to a coalition which shared the same concerns.

Storch, N. (1998). A classroom-based study: Insights from a collaborative text reconstruction task. ELT Journal, 52, 291-300.

The current literature on second language pedagogy promotes a return to some form of grammar instruction, and to tasks which ‘push’ learners to produce meaningful texts while paying attention to grammatical accuracy. Yet there seem to be few classroom-based studies which provide descriptive accounts of students’ engagement in such tasks. The study reported here investigated how 30 tertiary ESL learners, at intermediate and advanced levels, engaged in a text reconstruction task. Based on Rutherford’s (1987) ‘propositional cluster’, the task required learners to work in groups and reconstruct a text from given content words. The study investigated the type of grammatical items which caused them most concern, and the reasoning they used to arrive at grammatical decisions.

Storch, N. (1999). Are two heads better than one? Pair work and grammatical accuracy. System, 27, 363-374.

The use of pair work has been promoted in both first (L1) and second (L2) language classrooms. In the L2 classroom, a number of studies have shown that learners working in pairs have more opportunities to communicate in the target language than in teacher-fronted classrooms. However, this research has also shown that the tasks generally used in such studies (eg. Jigsaw) do not engage students in negotiations over grammar. In the language class where the development of both fluency and accuracy are important goals, what is needed is research on grammar-focused communication tasks investigating the effects of student negotiations over grammatical choices on the accuracy of production. The small-scale study reported here required tertiary ESL learners of intermediate to advanced L2 proficiency to complete three different types of grammar-focused exercises commonly used in the language classrooms: a cloze exercise, a text reconstruction and a short composition. Each exercise type had two isomorphic versions, one to be completed individually and the other to be completed in pairs. A comparison of exercises completed individually with those completed in pairs suggested that collaboration had a positive effect on overall grammatical accuracy, but tended to vary with specific grammatical items.

Storch, N. (2002a). Patterns of interaction in ESL pair work. Language Learning, 52(1), 119-158.
	
This study investigated the nature of dyadic interaction in an adult ESL classroom. The study was longitudinal, classroom based, and examined the nature of interaction between 10 pairs of adult ESL students over a range of language tasks and over time (a semester). Four distinct patterns of dyadic interaction were found. These patterns are distinguishable in terms of equality and mutuality (Damon & Phelps, 1989). More importantly, the findings suggest that certain patterns of dyadic interaction are more conducive than others to language learning. These findings are explained by reference to Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development.

Storch, N. (2002b). Relationships formed in dyadic interaction and opportunity for learning. International Journal of Educational Research, 37(3/4), 305-322.

A large study which investigated the nature of dyadic interactions in a university second language (ESL) classroom setting found that students form very distinct and stable relationships or patterns of dyadic interaction. This paper uses a case study approach to illustrate two of the patterns found in the study: a collaborative pattern and a dominant/dominant pattern. These distinct patterns were evident in the way the pairs approached the task, dealt with any language issues as well as a number of salient features such as the quantity and quality of requests, explanations, phatic utterances and repetitions. The study also considered whether there were instances in the data to suggest a transfer of knowledge from the pair talk to subsequent individual performance. The study found that there were a number of such instances in the data of the collaborative pair but none in the dominant/dominant pair. These findings suggest that the relationship a pair or group forms is an important consideration in research on learner interaction and in second language pedagogy.

Storch, N. (2004). Using activity theory to explain differences in patterns of dyadic interactions in an ESL class. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 60(4), 457-480.

Variations in how LA learners work in pairs/groups have been noted by a number of researchers. However, explanations for such variations are often made in terms of differences in L2 proficiency or culture. What has often been overlooked is the participants' orientation to an activity and, in particular, their motives and goals. The importance of human motives and goals in enplaning human behaviour is encapsulated in activity theory (Leont'ev, 1981). It is this theoretical perspective that guided the study reported in this article. The study attempted to explain variations found in the ways students interacted in pairs in a university ESL class. The data consist of interviews with eight participants who formed four case study pairs, each case exemplifying a distinct pattern of dyadic interaction. The findings suggest that patterns of dyadic interaction can be traced to the nature of the participants' goals and to whether or not members of the dyad share these goals.	

Sturman, P. (1992). Team teaching: A case study from Japan. In D. Nunan (Ed.), Collaborative language learning and teaching (pp. 141-161). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

* This chapter describes a team teaching project in Japan that paired native speakers of Japanese and of English to teach English to secondary school students. The two groups of teachers differed markedly from one another in their perspectives on teaching. Among the topics discussed in the chapter are how the project was organized and evaluated, preparation for team teaching, and problems encountered. These problems included personality conflicts, lack of mutual respect, differing attitudes about the role of the native speaker member of the team, lack of agreement on the project’s aims, variation in team members’ ability to speak their partner’s language, shortage of planning time, lack of motivation to learn English among some students, and differing approaches to student discipline and to teaching generally. 

Suzuki, T. (2003, Summer). You can do it, too! Cooperative learning in a Japanese junior high school. JALT Teacher Education SIG Newsletter, 11(2), 10-20. Available online at http://www.jalt.org/teach/articles/Newsletter_files/Summer2003.pdf.
 
* This article describes how teachers in the English Department at a private secondary school near Nagoya, Japan collaborated with each other to design their own approach to using cooperative learning in their junior high school classes. The author reports that the program, which includes cooperative assessment tasks, has led to improved student attitudes toward the second language and has been particularly helpful to weaker students. Cooperative learning has become an important element in the Department’s pedagogy and has also been adopted by teachers of other subjects. The author concludes by stating, “We hope there will be no boundaries between the subjects and all the teachers in the school community will cooperate to make our school a better place for learning and growing together.” 

Swain, M. (1985). Communicative competence: Some roles of comprehensible input and comprehensible output in its development. In S. Gass & C. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 235-253). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

* This chapter examines the input-output relationships at the level of language proficiency traits, specifically the traits of grammatical, discourse, and sociolinguistic competence. The data the chapter draws on come from children whose first language is English and who are learning French as a second language in the school setting of a French immersion program. The chapter considers the second language proficiency exhibited by the French immersion students, relating their output at a macro level to their language learning environment. The results of the study suggest that although comprehensible input may be essential to the acquisition of a second language, it is not enough to ensure native-like performance. While comprehensible input and the concomitant emphasis on negotiation of meaning are essential, the author believes its impact on grammatical development has been overstated. It is argued that conversational exchanges in which meaning is negotiated are the source of acquisition derived from comprehensible output: output that extends the linguistic repertoire of learners as they attempt to create the meaning desired. It is claimed that comprehensible output is a necessary mechanism of acquisition independent of the role of comprehensible input, a mechanism that provides opportunities for contextualized, meaningful use of language, and a means to move the learners from a purely semantic to a syntactic analysis of the language. 

Swain, M. (1991). French immersion and its offshoots: Getting two for one. In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Foreign language acquisition research and the classroom (pp. 91-103). Lexington, MA: C.C. Heath.

* This chapter discusses some of the research findings associated with the
French immersion programs in Canada with reference to the issue of whether
one can have 'two for one', that is, whether one can enhance second language learning without sacrificing content knowledge. The chapter focuses on the late immersion program and the sheltered program. The former begins with 12- to 14-year-old adolescents, whereas the latter is taught at the university level. The findings showed that late immersion students performed significantly better than core French students (who had more focused instruction about the language but less exposure to it), and that there were few differences between early and late immersion students in their French skills when they graduated from secondary schools, except that early immersion students tended to show superior speaking skills, and less consistently, superior listening comprehension compared with late immersion students. The findings also indicate that the late immersion students with several years of core FSL backup were able to master the content taught to them using French as the language of instruction. As for the sheltered programs, the findings show that the sheltered students made significant gains in their receptive French skills, and their mastery of the content was comparable to that of native speakers of English who pursued the same course in English. Summarizing classroom-based observations of the programs, the author concludes that pedagogical models such as cooperative learning, which are more learner-centred and interactive in nature, can maximize students' productive use of the second language and help improve ways of getting 'two for one', that is, of integrating content and second language learning.

Swain, M. (1993). The output hypothesis: Just speaking and writing aren’t enough. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 50,158-164.

* This article begins with an anecdote in which a former student in a Canadian French immersion program recounts feeling that she would have benefited more from the program had she been pushed to produce more L2 output. The author goes on to explain the output hypothesis, noting four ways in which output might promote SLA: increasing fluency, pushing students to engage in syntactic processing, supplying learners opportunities to test hypotheses about the L2, and providing the chance to receive feedback with which to evaluate their hypotheses. Next, classroom implications are discussed. These include teacher-fronted options, as well as those involving student-student collaboration. As to the latter, concepts from cooperative learning, including positive interdependence, are discussed.

Swain, M., & Lapkin, S. (1995). Problems in output and the cognitive processes they generated: A step towards second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 16, 371-391.

This paper argues, and provides data to support the argument, that in producing an L2, learners will on occasion become aware of (i.e. notice) a linguistic problem. Noticing a problem can 'push' learners to modify their output. In doing so, learners may sometimes be forced into a more syntactic processing mode than might occur in comprehension. Thus, output sets 'noticing' in train, triggering mental processes that lead to modified output. What goes on between the original output and its reprocessed form, it is suggested, is part of the process of second language learning.

Swain, M., & Miccoli, L. S. (1994). Learning in a content-based, collaboratively structured course: The experience of an adult ESL learner. TESL Canada Journal, 12(1), 15-28.

In this article the emotive, social aspects of learning ESL in small group settings are explored. The feelings and beliefs of one learner, an adult Japanese woman, are captured as she reflects on her classroom experiences. It is argued that her conscious reflection about her negative emotions and their sources allowed her to act on them, resulting in enhanced second language learning. It is also argued that it may be as important to help learners deal with the social dimensions as the cognitive dimensions of second language learning in order to experience success as a second language learner.

Szostek, C. (1994). Assessing the effects of cooperative learning in an honors foreign language classroom. Foreign Languages Annals, 27(2), 252-261.

Oral proficiency and communication are the principal desired outcomes of  today’s foreign language (L2) instruction. Recent research in theoretical linguistics has recommended increased use of the target language, the use of cognitive, metacognitive, and prosocial strategies, and cooperative learning to help achieve oral proficiency and communication within the classroom. This paper describes a 21-day research action project involving two Spanish II Honors classes and several cooperative learning techniques. The project included: 1) assessing student attitudes toward participating in group work as identified by before and after questionnaires; 2) implementing a variety of specific cooperative learning activities; 3) determining what successes and problems occurred in the cooperative learning groups and activities; and 4) observation of the classroom activities by colleagues, Four co-operative learning models were incorporated into the project. Student Team Learning, Group Investigation, Think-Pair-Share, and Three-Step Interviews. Results suggested that students’ activities throughout the term of the study and their responses to the final questionnaire all validate the use of cooperative learning on an effective strategy in the honors foreign language class. Since there was no control group, the findings are of necessity qualitative and subjective. However, this makes them no less valid. The study demonstrates unequivocally that cooperative learning is an effective methodology in the honors foreign language classroom.

Takahashi, E. (1998). Language development in social interaction: A longitudinal study of a Japanese FLES program from a Vygotskyan approach. Foreign Language Annals, 31, 392-406.

This study reports the results of a three year-long qualitative observation study of a Japanese FLES (Foreign Language in Elementary School) program. The observation was analyzed from the sociocultural point of view led by Vygotsky. A Vygotskyan approach treats learning through social guidance and motivation as central to an account of language development. The analysis of the three protocols illustrates the following four findings important in the sociocultural theoretical framework: (1) the assistance given in the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) allowed the learners to outperform their current linguistic skills; (2) as the learners’ language use developed, they became more capable of providing mutual assistance during classroom activities; (3) the learners were enabled to participate in classroom activities in a more dynamic, student-centered manner; by collaboration in scaffolding; and (4) the way the learners provided mutual assistance reflected the way the teacher offered them assistance, which indicates that the learners’ learning and development were largely influenced by the social interaction established in the given classroom environment.

Tan, G., Gallo, P. B., Jacobs, G. M. & Lee, C. K.-E. (1999). Using cooperative learning to integrate thinking and information technology in a content-based writing lesson. The Internet TESL Journal, 5(8). http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/Techniques/Tan-Cooperative.html

Cooperative learning can be defined as a range of concepts and techniques for enhancing the value of student-student interaction. The article begins with separate discussions of how cooperative learning promotes effective instruction of thinking skills and creativity, and of information technology. Thinking skills and creativity are promoted when students interact with their peers to brainstorm, explain, question, disagree, persuade, and problem-solve. Cooperative learning offers many tools for structuring this type of thinking interaction. Educational applications of information technology are enhanced by peer interaction in cooperative learning groups, as students can engage in peer tutoring, model effective behaviours, communicate electronically, and take on a range of roles while working at the computer. Next, the authors describe a content-based writing lesson for secondary school students in Singapore in which cooperative learning is integrated with thinking and creativity, and with information technology. Explanations are provided of how key cooperative learning concepts are embodied in the lesson. Materials used in the lesson are made available. 

Tang, C. (1996). Collaborative learning: The latent dimension in Chinese students' learning. In D. Watkins, & J. Biggs (Eds.), The Chinese learner: Cultural, psychological, and contextual influences (pp. 183-204). Hong Kong: Comparative Education Research Centre and the Australian Council for Educational Research.

* This chapter discusses the nature and extent of collaborative learning in the Hong Kong context and its effects on the learning process and on learning outcomes. It describes a specific type of collaborative learning called Spontaneous Collaborative Learning (SCOLL), which is initiated and self-structured by students and is effected through both Chinese cultural characteristics and the students' perceptions of the demands of the learning context and the nature of the task. The chapter suggests that the positive effects of SCOLL are more apparent and strongly supported in students' preparation for assignments than for tests, and that SCOLL provides a context for the development of social study strategies which facilitate a deep-learning approach. It also suggests that the need to work collaboratively is very much a latent dimension in Chinese students' learning.

Tang, G. M., & Tithecott, J. (1999). Peer response in ESL writing. TESL Canada
Journal, 6(2), 20-38.

This paper explores the value of peer response groups in English as a second language (ESL) writing classes. It reports on some of the findings of a study (Tithecott, 1997) conducted in a small university college in Western Canada with 12 international students from Asia to investigate: (1) what the perceptions of students were with regard to peer response and whether their perceptions changed over time; (2) what kind of activities students engaged in during peer response sessions; and (3) whether or not and how students changed their writing as a result of participating in response sessions. Research methodology included examining and analysing student journal entries, audio tapes of peer response sessions, and the drafts and final versions of student writing. Results show that Asian ESL students tended to be positive about peer response and that they became somewhat more positive as the semester progressed. Although they appreciated the benefits of peer response, they had some concerns about peer feedback. Some students revised their writing using peer comments. During the peer response sessions students engaged in a variety of social, cognitive and linguistic activities as they worked to accomplish the assigned task.

Tibbetts, J., et al. (1993). Team learning training packet for a three-session workshop. Washington, DC: Pelavin Associates, Inc. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 368 947

*** This training packet on team learning is 1 of 10 developed by the Study of Adult Basic Education (ABE)/English as a Second Language (ESL) Training Approaches Project to assist ABE instructors, both professionals and volunteers. The packet is intended to stand alone and encompasses a three-session workshop series with activities scheduled for participants to accomplish between sessions. Ideally, the sessions should take place about 1 month apart. Introductory materials include information about the series and the training packet, a workshop overview (objectives, time, materials checklist, preparations checklist), and workshop outline for each session. Trainer notes for each session include a checklist of tasks to be completed before the session and an outline of activities with necessary materials and times. The following topics are covered in the sessions: learning in groups and teams; cooperative learning; choosing appropriate team strategies; criteria for planning and managing teams; individual roles in groups; and evaluation of team learning. Time is allowed for preparation for the home task and feedback on the home task. Trainers' supplements, including sample answers, follow. Other contents include masters for all handouts and transparencies needed in the sessions.

Tomei, J., Glick, C., & Holst, M. (1999). Project work in the Japanese university classroom. The Language Teacher, 23(3), 5-8.

* This article describes how projects are done in a freshman English class in Japan. Advantages claimed for projects include encouraging recycling of skills, enhancing motivation as students choose their own project topics, sparking creativity, helping teachers act as facilitators rather than lecturers, and simplifying lesson planning as students play a role in generating materials. Over a 15-week term in which class meets once a week, the first five sessions are spent helping students to develop presentation skills. Then, students do two projects of five weeks each. The projects are build around surveys in which project teams interview classmates and develop 7-10 minute presentations based on their findings. The article provides details of a 5-class schedule for each project. Students evaluate other groups' presentations, and these evaluations are factored into course grades.

Toohey, K. (1998). “Breaking them up, taking them away”: ESL students in grade 1. TESOL Quarterly, 32, 61-84.

This article describes a longitudinal ethnographic research project in a Grade 1 classroom enrolling L2 learners and Anglophones. Using a community-of-practice perspective rarely applied in L2 research, the author examines three classroom practices that she argues contribute to the construction of L2 learners as individuals and as such reinforce traditional second language acquisition perspectives. More importantly, they serve to differentiate participants from one another and contribute to community stratification. In a stratified community in which the terms of stratification become increasingly visible to all, some students become defined as deficient and are thus systematically excluded from just those practices in which they might otherwise appropriate identities and practices of growing competence and expertise.

Touba, N. A. (1999). Large classes: Using groups and content. English Teaching Forum, 37(3), 18-22.

* The article describes the author’s use of group activities in three tertiary level settings in Egypt. Two of the settings involve people studying education; the other involves people studying nursing. Class size ranges from 60-90. The author notes although some educators use large class size as a reason to avoid use of groups, she has found some success. With the education classes, she states:

Perhaps one of the most positive outcomes of their experiences in these classes is that they witness the success of group work when classroom management is conducted properly. This is especially important because they are all practising teachers who, until now, were reluctant to use such techniques in their own classrooms.

Trometer, R. (1994). Making the Connection II: Designing the language lab to meet educational objectives. IALL Journal of Language Learning Technologies, 27, 50-54. 

*** Discusses four objectives that guided the design of the teaching and learning areas of the Language Learning and Resource Center of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. These objectives are classrooms contiguous to the language lab, accommodation of small-group work, a flexible facility, and access to the outside world.

Trottier, G., & Knox, G. (1992). The ABC’s of cooperative learning in French as a second-language. Contact, 11(2), 15-18.

This article describes the rationale for and the principles and practices involved in using cooperative learning in the teaching of French as a Second Language. Principles explained are: positive independence, individual accountability, face-to-face promotive interaction, explicit teaching of collaborative skills, and processing of group interaction.

Tsui, A. B. M. (1996). Reticence and anxiety in second language learning. In K. Bailey, & D. Nunan (Eds.), Voices from the language classroom (pp. 145-164). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

* The chapter begins with a discussion of the difficulty of getting ESL students to respond in class, particularly Asian students. The author then presents a classroom action research project to which 38 Hong Kong teachers – mostly secondary school English teachers – contributed. These teachers collected data by audio- or videotaping some of their lessons, and kept diaries recounting what occurred in these lessons and their reflections on the lessons. Reasons for student reticence appeared to be low L2 proficiency, low confidence, fear of making mistakes, fear of being derided for their mistakes, lack of wait time on the teachers’ part in the face of student silence, uneven allocation by teachers of speaking turns to students, and students’ lack of understanding of teacher questions or instructions. The author believes that anxiety is a key underlying factor in student reticence, linked to all the above reasons for reticence. She then reviews literature on second language learning anxiety. The chapter’s final section discusses strategies the teachers employed to overcome students’ anxiety about speaking in class. Some strategies seemed to succeed, while other appeared to be unsuccessful: increase wait time (unsuccessful); make questions more comprehensible (mixed results); accept a variety of answers (successful); let students discuss in groups first (successful); focus on content instead of form (successful); and establish good rapport with students (successful). 

Turnbull, M. (1999). Multidimensional project-based second language teaching: Observations of four Grade 9 core French teachers. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 56, 7-30.

This article reports the results of detailed observations conducted in four Grade 9 core French classes during one school semester in one school district in Eastern Canada. These observations were part of a field-based process-product study conducted to examine reform in core French teaching. Results from classroom observations suggest that the four teacher participants were implementing multidimensional project-based (MPB) teaching in different ways in their core French classes. Two of the teachers organized their teaching around a final project that created an authentic context for the student activities. The other two teachers did not choose to teach towards a project, but did many of the prescribed activities. The teachers’ uses of French and English and the amount of student input in activity choice are also discussed.

Ushimaru, A. (1992). EFL learners talking to each other: Task types and the quality of output. JALT Journal, 14(1), 53-66.

The notion of  “comprehensible output,” or language production pushed toward the target norm (“pushed output”), is relevant in the EFL context, where learners of English typically interact with other learners. The study reported in this article investigated whether interlocutors in nonnative speaker-nonnative speaker (NNS-NNS) interactions reformulate their utterances in more grammatical language in response to signals of incomprehension, as they do in talking to native speakers. The study observed how NNSs behave linguistically under different task conditions, with subsequent reformulations. It was found that pushed output does occur to some extent in NNS-NNS interaction, but this did not coincide with the degree of overall grammaticality. 

van Lier, L. (1996). Interaction in the language curriculum: Awareness, autonomy & authenticity. London: Longman.

* In this book, the author addresses three issues in second language instruction - awareness, autonomy, and authenticity (the 3 As) – which form a foundation for his proposed curriculum. Regarding awareness, he criticizes both behaviourist and nativist perspectives that ignore the concept, and, at the same time, argues that awareness involves much more than the narrow kind of grammatical consciousness-raising activities. Awareness, he contends, entails a broader perspective on language, such as the role of language in society, language variation and linguistic tolerance, and the relation between language and thought. Further, and perhaps most importantly, awareness involves consciousness of the why, what, and how of the learning process. To be autonomous, learners need to be able to choose the what and how of the curriculum, and, at the same time, they should be intrinsically motivated and should feel responsible for their own learning and for the learning of those with whom they interact. Authenticity does not concern whether instructional materials were originally created for native speakers or were specially written for learners, nor whether the instructional tasks are similar to tasks that learners will need to perform outside the classroom. Instead, an authentic language learning activity is one which learners have chosen on their own to do, one relevant to the lives, and one to which they feel a commitment. The 3 As cannot exist without each other: "Awareness without autonomy is pointless, autonomy without awareness is disastrous, authenticity without autonomy is a contradiction in terms, and so on" (p. 135). The importance of these three curricular principles lies not just in their role in promoting second language learning, but equally in their role in helping learners become people who embody the 3 As in all aspects of their lives. 

Varonis, E. M., & Gass, S. (1985). Non-native/non-native conversations: A model for negotiation of meaning. Applied Linguistics, 6, 71-90.

This paper builds upon the research investigating conversational interactions between native speakers (NS) and non-native speakers (NNS) by focusing on interactions among non-native speakers. We examine NS/NS, NS/NNS, and NNS/NNS conversations, noting that negotiation of meaning is most prevalent among NNS/NNS pairs. We propose an explanation for this phenomenon and set up a model to describe it in terms of 'pushdowns' from and 'popups' to the main discourse. Finally, we suggest the importance of NNS/NNS conversation and especially the function of negotiation in second language acquisition.

Vicens, W. (1995). Let me tell you about our team. TESOL Journal, 4(4), 35-36.

* This article describes a teambuilding activity designed to develop and maintain supportive relations among members of cooperative learning groups. In the activity, students identify and explain commonalities among group members, e.g., they all like reading or they all enjoy goofing off. The author suggests that teambuilding be done at regular intervals in classes where cooperative learning is employed.

Villamil, O. S., & De Guerrero, M. C. M. (1998). Assessing the impact of peer revision on L2 writing. Applied Linguistics, 19, 491-514.

This study sought to investigate the impact of peer revision on writers’ final drafts in two rhetorical modes, narration and persuasion, among 14 Spanish-speaking ESL college students. Two questions were addressed: (1) How were revisions made in peer sessions incorporated by writers in their final versions? (2) How were troublesources revised according to different language aspects (content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics)? An analysis of audiotaped interactions, first drafts, and final drafts revealed that 74 per cent of revisions made in the peer sessions were incorporated. In addition, writers made many further and self revisions after the sessions. These revisions suggest a pattern of behaviour conducive to self-regulation among writers. Results also show that students focused equally on grammar and content when revising in the narrative mode and predominantly on grammar in the persuasive mode. Organization was the least attended aspect in either mode. Only 7 per cent of false repairs were found overall. The study suggests that peer assistance can help L2 intermediate learners realize their potential for effective revision, to the extent their linguistic abilities permit. It is the authors’ belief that peer revision should be seen as an important complementary source of feedback in the ESL classroom.

Wachholz, P. B. (1997, November). When they don't all speak English: Addressing writing problems in multilingual peer response groups. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Mid-South Educational Research Association, Memphis, TN. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 415 718 

*** This study investigated how writing groups function in a multilingual university classroom, the kinds of responses students in such groups give one another, and how students respond to peers' suggestions about writing. Subjects were 11 students of varied linguistic background in a freshman composition class. Data were gathered over 10 weeks through observation, analysis of student writing samples, student interviews, and field notes of casual conversations and ancillary reactions. Results suggest both positive and negative aspects of peer response techniques. The groups helped students respond to their own writing as they sensed audience needs, and students talked to explore and enlarge understanding of their own writing. Limitations included students' reluctance to offer negative criticism, tendency to drift away from appropriate tasks, potential for falling prey to inaccurate or bad advice, exaggerated emphasis on mechanics over content, and overlooking problems in the papers. Students inexperienced in peer response groups were uncertain of their role. In some cases, native-speakers were condescending or dismissive of limited-English-proficient students' needs. It is concluded that the data raise concerns about authority, rules, roles, and relationships that must be addressed if response groups are to function effectively in a linguistically diverse classroom.

Wajnryb, R. (1990). Grammar dictation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

* This book describes the dictogloss technique and provides lesson materials for using the technique with second language students. Dictogloss differs from regular dictation in that with dictogloss the teacher reads the text at normal speed, leaving students only enough time to take brief notes. From these notes, students in groups attempt to reconstruct a new roughly similar version of the original text, rather than an exact replica. Finally, the students’ texts are analyzed for similarities and differences with the original text and those of their peers. Dictogloss has been used by Swain and her colleagues to study group interaction.

Wan, Y. (1996, March). Implementing cooperative learning techniques in second language teaching. Paper presented at the International Conference on Teacher Education in Second Language Teaching, Hong Kong. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 396 526)
         
*** A workshop for language teachers focusing on cooperative learning techniques is described. First, an example of the effectiveness of cooperative learning is  demonstrated using a simple classroom game requiring interaction to solve a problem. The activity provides an opportunity for learners to practice questioning techniques in an authentic situation, builds a supportive and non-competitive learning environment, requires participants to use cognitive skills, and can be modified to achieve various objectives or teach a variety of topics. Considerations in making classroom cooperative learning activities effective are then outlined, including formation of roles and rules for cooperative groups, and shifting the teacher's role from instructor to facilitator. Forms are offered for individuals to assess their own contributions to the group effort, and for group members to rate each other’s participation. It is concluded, based on the response of workshop participants, that the method fosters not only active learning but also a strong desire for cooperation with others.

Warschauer, M. (1996a). Comparing face-to-face and electronic communication in the second language classroom. CALICO Journal, 13, 7-26.

One of the supposed benefits of computer-mediated communication is that it can result in more equal participation among students. This study tested that claim by comparing equality of student participation in two modes: face-to-face discussion and electronic discussion. In a counter-balanced, repeated measures study, small groups of ESL students conducted discussion face-to-face and electronically. Amount of participation was calculated per person for each mode and was correlated to factors such as nationality, language ability, time in the U.S., and student attitude. In addition, a global measure of equality of participation was calculated and compared across the two modes. The findings showed a tendency toward more equal participation in computer mode and revealed some factors which correlated with increased student participation in that mode. The study also found that students used language which is lexically and syntactically more formal and complex in electronic discussion than they did in face-to-face discussion, thus demonstrating another possible advantage of computer-mediated communication.

Warschauer, M. (1996b). Computer-mediated collaborative learning: Theory and practice (Research Note No. 17). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center.

* Computers provide many new means for students to collaborate with each other. This paper discusses this computer mediated collaboration in terms of theoretical underpinnings and issues, practical applications, and the intersection of theory and practice. 

Warschauer, M. (Ed.) (1996c). Telecollaboration in foreign language learning. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center.

* This volume contains 14 papers on various aspects of how computers can facilitate the learning of second languages. Topics include motivation, networked computers, hypermedia, email, MOOs, and electronic bulletin boards. The editor notes that computers can promote collaborative learning, creativity, and authentic communication, but emphasizes the necessity of good pedagogy if the potential educational benefits of computers are to be realized, “The experiences of the language laboratories of the 1950s teach us that new technologies will not revolutionize, or even improve, language learning unless they are well understood and intelligently implemented” (p. ix). 

Warschauer, M. (Ed.) (1996d). Virtual connections: Online activities and projects for networking language learners. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center (University of Hawaii Press).

Computer networking has created dramatic new possibilities for connecting language learners in a single classroom or across the globe. This collection of activities and projects makes use of email, The World Wide Web, computer conferencing, and other forms of computer-mediated communication for foreign and second language classroom at any level of instruction. Teachers from around the world submitted the activities compiled in this volume – activities that they have used successfully in their own classrooms.

Warschauer, M. (1997). Computer-mediated collaborative learning: Theory and practice. Modern Language Journal, 81(4), 470-481.

The rapid growth of the internet, arguably the fastest growth of any technology in history, has caught the attention of language teachers. The number of regional and national presentations related to online language learning has expanded geometrically in recent years. Many state and national meetings and special symposia have been devoted to this theme. Yet this growing interest in computer-mediated collaborative language learning has not yet been matched by sufficient attention to research and theory. One purpose of this article is to explore the nature of computer-mediated communication (CMC) by using a conceptual framework that starts with well-known theories of input and output and leads to sociocultural learning theory. Another purpose is to examine classroom accounts of CMC’s potential for promoting collaborative language learning, with specific reference to five features that distinguish CMC from other communication media: (a) text-based and computer-mediated interaction, (b) many-to-many communication, (c) time-and-place-independence, (d) long distance exchanges, and (e) hypermedia links. In some cases these accounts constitute rigorous research studies; in other cases they are teachers’ personal narratives. Because the entire field of CMC is so new, a broad survey of this type can help identify issues and trends that may deserve further attention and research.

Warschauer, M., Turbee, L., & Roberts, B. (1996). Computer learning networks and student empowerment. System, 24, 1-14.

A major development in computer-assigned language learning has been the expanded use of the computer as a medium of communications. This, in turn, allows for computer learning networks of students within a class or across classrooms who share information and documents, hold electronic discussions, do collaborative writing and organize cross-cultural exchanges. Proponents of computer learning networks claim that they are an excellent tool for fostering new social relations in the classroom, resulting in greater student empowerment. This paper examines whether computer networks are indeed an effective tool for empowering second-language learners, focusing on three aspects: autonomy, equality and learning skills. It concludes that computer learning networks do have the potential to empower students when they are used appropriately, and provides some pedagogical suggestions for the effective use of computer networking in the second- and foreign- language classroom.

Washburn, N., & Christianson, K. (1996). Teaching conversation strategies through pair-taping. The Internet TESL Journal, 2(3). [Originally published in TESL Reporter, 28(2), 41-52, 1995]

* This article describes a technique used with false beginner/low intermediate students of English at a university in Japan. First, students are taught conversation strategies, such as those used to negotiate for meaning. One means of teaching these strategies is for students to watch videotapes in which more advanced students employ the strategies. Next, students form groups of two and once a week tape record a conversation of between 3-15 minutes on a topic of their own choosing. One advantage of the taping is that is allows teachers to observe students' progress without having to eavesdrop on the groups. The authors believe such eavesdropping may disrupt fluency and discourage risk-taking. The tapes are then evaluated by the teacher, with both group members receiving the same grade. The authors report that in thousands of minutes of tapes they have identified only one case in which a student inaccurately corrected their partner, and in this one case the miscorrection was rejected by the partner. The article includes sample evaluation sheets and examples of how various conversation skills are taught. 

Waters, A. (1998). Managing monkeys in the ELT classroom. ELT Journal, 52, 11-18.

The value of adopting a learner-centred approach to ELT classroom management is nowadays widely accepted. However, one important means of achieving this, namely effective ‘monkey management’, or the correct assignment of responsibility for the next step in a problem-solving process (Blanchard et al. 1990), does not appear to have received the attention it deserves. This article attempts to show how the monkey concept can provide teachers with useful insights and practical procedures for developing a more learner-centred classroom management style. First of all, I outline the monkey concept, illustrate the typical behaviour of the monkey in ELT, and indicate some of the problems it can cause in the classroom. I then go on to consider why these problems occur. Finally, I discuss several strategies for coping successfully with ELT classroom monkeys and thereby facilitating a more learner-centred approach to ELT classroom management.

Weber, S., & Tardif, C. (1987, April). What did she say? Meaning in a second language classroom. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Washington, DC. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 286 353

*** A two-year ethnographic study of kindergarteners' experiences in a French immersion classroom focused on the processes by which children find and construct meaning through classroom interaction and communication processes. Data were gathered through classroom observation and videotapes. The initially unilingual English-speaking students were observed frequently during their kindergarten year and intermittently in first grade. Individual and group sense-making strategies observed include: attending to meaning; negotiation of meaning; relying on translation or mediation of meaning; participation, modeling, and imitation; anticipating routine sequence and patterns of interaction; using the filter of past experience; comparing first and second languages; good guessing or approximation; random guessing; sizing up people and context; attending to paralinguistic features in communication; relying on the reciprocity of communication; attending to meaning-context or meaning structures of the situation; and asking questions. Other findings include: the interaction and overlapping of teacher-talk and student-talk is important; there was a scarcity of natural, child-initiated communication during teacher-directed activities; and the central process for kindergarten students appears to be adapting to the demands of school life, with language-learning a secondary process.

Wells, G. (1998). Using L1 to master L2: A response to Anton and DiCamilla's 'Socio-cognitive functions of L1 collaborative interaction in the L2 classroom'. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 54, 343-353.

* This is a response to an article by Anton and DiCamilla, who used Vygotskian sociocultural theory to support the use of L1 in the collaborative performance of tasks in L2. Wells examines the paper critically from the perspective of the interplay between theory and application, and discusses some of the concepts that are most central to the arguments developed in the paper in the light of his understanding of the current debates concerning them. Wells concludes that Anton and DiCamilla's study is important because it suggests some modifications to the view of second language learning put forward by Vygotsky, and it sheds new light on issues that are currently under vigorous discussion among sociocultural theorists beyond the field of second and foreign language teaching and learning.

Wells, G., & Chang-Wells, G. L. (1992). Constructing knowledge together: Classrooms as centers of inquiry and literacy. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

* This book describes a collaborative three-year study of four schools in multilingual inner-city areas of Toronto, the theoretical framework that guided the researchers (flowing from the ideas of such students of collaboration as Bakhtin, Rogoff, and Vygotsky), and practical classroom applications of the findings for the literacy and higher order thinking. Chapter titles include: talk for learning and teaching; the literate potential of collaborative talk; language in the classroom - literacy and collaborative talk; creating classroom communities of literate thinkers; talk about text - where literacy is learned and taught.

Wenden, A. (1997). Designing learner training: The curricular questions. In G. M. Jacobs (Ed.), Language classrooms of tomorrow: Issues and responses (pp. 238-262). Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.

* This chapter focuses on learner training in second language education. The goal of this training is to help students to play a greater role in their own learning and to become better, more aware learners. Six questions are asked: (1) what are the overall goals of learner training? (2) what are the learning objectives of learner training? (3) how is it to be incorporated into language instruction? (4) what instructional methods should be used to implement learner training? (5) how will learner training change the role of the student and the teacher? (6) how should teachers be prepared to participate in learner training? Among the author’s many suggestions is the transfer of responsibility from teachers to learners via the use of simulation games and group projects. The impact of culture is also discussed.

Whitmore, K. F. (1997). Inventing conversations in second-language classrooms: what students say and how they say it. In J. R. Paratore & R. L. McCormack (Eds.), Peer talk in the classroom: Learning from research (pp.102-128). Newark; DE: International Reading Association.

** Educational research about classroom discourse often deals with what children and teachers talk about, especially regarding issues like content area knowledge, reading comprehension, and behavior expectations. Sociolinguistic research regarding classroom discourse often focuses on the structure of language, including how turntaking occurs and what types of turns are taken by various speakers of different roles. This chapter discusses the relation between the content and structure of classroom discourse. This discussion shows that these connections exist in classrooms that are learning communities. In fact, in classrooms where learners’ talk is supported through more symmetric power and trust relationships between teachers and learners, the content and structure of discourse support and extend each other, inviting students to transform their thinking and change as language users and learners. In this chapter, two examples of classroom discourse involving multilingual and diverse learners illustrate this point. The first excerpts come from conversations in a literature study group in Caryl Crowell’s bilingual third-grade classroom in Tuscon, Arizona, USA. In order to support children’s search to understand the realities of the war in Iraq in 1991, children in Caryl’s class were invited to explore children’s picture books organized in a text set around the theme of war and peace. Their conversations taught Caryl and me, as a teacher-researcher collaborative team, the essential components of discourse in her room (Whitmore & Crowell, 1994). The second excerpts are from my teaching at the University of Iowa during a recent graduate course. In a seminar about second language learning and teaching, I joined nine teachers, who had interests ranging from early childhood to college teaching and who were from South America, four different Asian countries, and the United States. As the teacher researcher in this setting, I extended my previous understandings about classroom discourse dynamics in an adult university setting. An analysis of the speech data in both settings, Arizona and Iowa, reveals how each classroom invented its interactions as a speech community (Hymes, 1972). 

Wiles, S. (1985). Language and learning in multi-ethnic classrooms: Strategies for supporting bilingual students. In G. Wells, & J. Nicholls (Eds.), Language and learning: An interactional perspective (pp. 83-93). London: Falmer.

* This chapter stresses the value of bilingualism and suggests a number of implications of research for creating classroom that foster bilingualism: "the need to communicate; the importance of listening time; insisting on oral responses too early may hinder learning; children make excellent teachers and helpers; [bilingual] children must be integrated into regular school activities from the start; the regular classroom as a context for second language learning; and using language to learn the language." The chapter ends with a number of administrative questions to be considered. 

Wilhelm, K. H. (1997). Sometimes kicking and screaming: Language teachers-in-training react to a collaborative learning model. Modern Language Journal, 81, 527-543.

Discussions of collaborative classrooms rarely reflect upon the anxiety and ambiguity that can result for students who have not experienced this learning and teaching approach. This article describes a collaborative model as operationalized in a Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) teacher training course across two stages of course implementation--first in the piloted course, then in the revised course. Qualitative and quantitative data analyses of student reactions through both stages of course implementation led to identification of most positive and most negative student responses. Positive responses related mostly to learner-centered, experiential aspects of the course. Negative responses indicated learner confusion and stress. A number of changes were made to the course after piloting, and comparison of piloted to revised course implementation results indicated areas of improvement as well as areas of continuing concern. A number of implications are discussed for the benefit of instructors interested in collaborative models.

Wilhelm, K. H. (1999). Collaborative dos and don’ts. TESOL Journal, 8(2), 14-19.

* This article begins by maintaining that collaborative learning is appropriate regardless of the setting, the L2 proficiency level, the type of students, or the language skills begin taught. The bulk of the article describes how collaborative learning was applied to project-based instruction in ESL classes at a U.S. university. Key areas discussed are: developing trust and positive interpersonal relations among students; explaining and demonstrating student and teacher roles and responsibilities; modeling the collaborative learning approach; nurturing feedback, reflection, and negotiation; and utilizing well-balanced, appropriate grading systems. Applications of principles from whole language are also described.

Williams, M., & Burdon, R. L. (1997). Psychology for language teachers: A social constructivist approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

* This book brings together some of the most recent developments and thinking in the field of educational psychology with issues of concern to many language teachers. It deals with issues such as approaches to learning, motivation, the role of the individual, attribution, mediation, the teaching of thinking, the cognitive demands of tasks, and the learning environment. The book begins with an overview of educational psychology and discusses how language teaching methodology is influenced by different approaches to psychology. It identifies four important domains in language teaching: the learner, the teacher, the task, and the learning context, and discusses some recent developments in psychology in relation to each of these domains and their implications for language teaching, including the use of group activities.

Winter, S. (1989). Paired reading projects in Hong Kong: Second and Chinese language applications. School Psychology International, 10, 25-35.

Paired Reading (PR) is a tutoring technique used to encourage children's oral reading skills. Most reports involving clinical applications of PR have involved parent-tutors trained to work with low-progress readers. Peer-tutor applications have been reported recently. This paper outlines PR, its effectiveness and some of the reasons for its substantial impact upon educational practice in the UK. The paper also reviews some of the mechanisms which may underlie the effects of PR. It is suggested that the critical components of PR may be small in number and shared with other effective tutoring approaches. The paper also examines issues relating to the teaching of English as a Second Language (ESL) in the Hong Kong education system. There follows a discussion of the relevance of PR in ESL teaching and a report of a Hong Kong peer-tutored PR project which focuses upon this area. Finally, after an examination of Chinese orthography, this paper considers whether PR might be applied to languages other than English and describes a study involving an application of the technique to encourage Chinese reading skills of Cantonese-speaking pupils in Hong Kong.

Winter, S. (1996). Peer tutoring and learning outcomes. In D. Watkins, & J. Biggs (Eds.), The Chinese learner: Cultural, psychological, and contextual influences, (pp. 183-204). Hong Kong: Comparative Education Research Centre and the Australian Council for Educational Research.

* This chapter suggests that cooperative learning approaches, such as peer tutoring, have much to offer in the Chinese educational context. Peer tutoring draws upon values of collectivism and human-heartedness in Chinese culture, and offers an alternative to the more traditional teacher-centred pedagogy that dominates classrooms and possibly contributes to teacher exhaustion and burnout. The chapter presents evidence of the effectiveness of peer tutoring in the Hong Kong classroom by reviewing five recent studies on peer tutoring in English and Chinese, which all took place out of class time with relatively small numbers of students. The investigations emphasized cross-age tutoring involving adolescent tutors working with younger tutees and in a tutorial service capacity that focused on the needs of the tutees. All five studies were concerned with reading skills and were relatively short. The results suggest that peer tutoring can lead to improved achievement and attitudes. However, they also show that peer tutoring is difficult to organize in a way that ensures high motivation, attendance, and compliance among participant students.

Yang, J. P. (1993). "Kissinger went to China to drink tea": Collaborative storytelling in beginning Chinese. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, 28(1), 13-24. 

*** Describes collaborative storytelling as a means of combining communicative teaching methods with peer or group learning in a beginning Chinese course at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Vocabulary, grammatical patterns, socialization, and story cycles are noted. Stories are appended.

Yoshihara, K. (1993). Keys to effective peer response. CATESOL Journal, 6(1), 17-37.

More and more ESL writing teachers are trying peer response to give students a wider audience for their papers and to encourage revision. However, in many cases students do not respond effectively, and little revision takes place. This paper discusses some of the problems with peer response and suggests how a clear role, specific tasks, thorough training, and clear accountability procedures can help foster more effective peer response.

Yu, L. (1990). The comprehensible output hypothesis and self-directed learning: A learner’s perspective. TESL Canada Journal, 8(1), 9-26.

In the course of his diary study dealing with communication strategies, the writer of this paper has found that the way of acquiring a language is not merely as simple as ‘understanding the message’ as Krashen’s Input Hypothesis (1985) claims. Swain’s Comprehensible Output Hypothesis (1985) maintains that the development of a learner’s communicative competence does not merely depend on comprehensible input: the learner’s output has an independent and indispensible role to play. Swain’s thesis has proved to be of relevance to the writer’s experience as a self-directed learner. This paper discusses in detail the significance to language acquisition of pushing for comprehensible output. Three issues are discussed: (1) comprehensible output and negative input; (2) comprehensible output, (3) comprehensible output and comprehensible input.

Zhang, S. (1995). Reexamining the affective advantage of peer feedback in the ESL writing class. Journal of Second Language Writing, 4, 209-222.

Various arguments have been made on affective grounds to justify peer feedback in teaching composition in English as a first language (L1). Those arguments have had considerable influence on the teaching of English as a second language (ESL) writing. Based upon current assumptions about the affective values of teacher-, peer-, and self-directed feedback, hypotheses were formulated concerning the relative appeal of the three types of feedback in the ESL writing process. Eighty-one academically oriented ESL learners who had experienced the three types of feedback responded to a questionnaire, and their preferences were statistically analyzed. The results show that claims made about the affective advantage of peer feedback in L1 writing do not apply to ESL writing. ESL students overwhelmingly prefer teacher feedback. The findings are discussed in conjunction with the larger issue of the appropriateness of L1 writing theories as guidelines for ESL writing research and instruction.

Zhu, W. [Email: vzhu@chumal.cas.usf.edu] (2001). Interaction and feedback in mixed peer response groups. Journal of Second Language Writing, 10, 251-276.

With the growing number of foreign students on university campuses in the United States, mixed peer response groups consisting of both native English speakers and English as a Second Language (ESL) students are often seen in mainstream composition classes. Although writing researchers have examined various issues concerning peer response in first (L1) and second (L2) language settings, little research has centered on mixed peer response groups. The study reported here examined interaction and feedback in mixed peer response groups by inspecting participants’ turn-taking behaviors, language functions performed during peer response, and written feedback on each other’s writing. Data were collected from three mixed peer response groups, each with a non-native speaker and two or three native speakers. Transcripts of student discussion of peer writing as well as peer response sheets with students’ written comments were analyzed. Findings indicate that the non-native speakers as a group took fewer turns and produced fewer language functions during oral discussion of writing, particularly when they were performing the writer role, but they were comparable to the native speakers with respect to the number of global comments provided in writing.