Student Engagement in Collaborative Discussions of English Language Learners

• In Event: 54.081 - Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: 54.081-4 - Teachers and Teaching: Understanding the Social and Cultural Context

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the influence of language and literacy backgrounds on Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs)’ engagement in Collaborative Reasoning (CR) discussions, and to examine whether direct observation of student engagement in discussions predicts student self-report of second language (L2) learning attitudes and motivation. A ten-indicator scheme was developed to assess student engagement in CR discussion systematically. The results showed that ELLs’ initial literacy skills and backgrounds were strongly related to their engagement in discussions. Direct observation of L2 anxiety strongly predicted student self-report of L2 use anxiety, indicating the validity of the current engagement observation method. The findings yield important implications for teachers to effectively identify and strategically work with ELLs with L2 use anxiety.

Authors

• Yang Liu, Western Kentucky University

• Jie Zhang, University of Houston - Downtown

• Huan Zhang