Abstract

This study draws on Sociocultural Theory to explore how 12 adult EFL learners engaged in pair work, how their willingness to engage was demonstrated in pair activities, and what other factors influenced that willingness. Six pairs engaged in seven different activities and were interviewed after all activities were completed. Each pair’s type of interaction and each learner’s perception of the interactions were analysed. Five distinct types of pair interactions were found from the pair work data, and most pairs showed more than two types of interactions when performing activities with the same partner. The interview data revealed that learners’ willingness to engage with each other in pair work influences the nature of pair work and that willingness is influenced by the perceived difficulty of the activity and social considerations such as the partner’s attitude and proficiency level. These findings suggest that what influences learner engagement is not the pair work per se but what learners bring to the pair work.

摘要

这项研究基于社会文化理论，探讨了12位成年EFL成年学习者如何进行配对工作，如何在配对活动中证明他们的参与意愿以及其他哪些因素影响了这种意愿。六对参加了七项不同的活动，并在所有活动完成后接受了采访。分析了每对互动的类型和每个学习者对互动的看法。从配对工作数据中发现了五种不同类型的配对交互，大多数配对在与同伴进行活动时显示出两种以上的交互。访谈数据显示，学习者在配对工作中彼此交往的意愿会影响配对工作的性质，而这种意愿会受到活动的感知难度以及伴侣的态度和熟练程度等社会因素的影响。这些发现表明，影响学习者参与度的不是配对工作本身，但学习者带给他们的工作。