Redeveloping interactional practices in foreign language classrooms

Teachers collaborating with L1 students in higher education

Abstract

Developing collaborative skills can help foreign language (FL) teachers to provide diverse and meaningful learning opportunities that reflect today’s increasingly complex and changing communicative situations. This study examined how language teachers collaborated with L1 students to expand meaning-making practices in FL learning in higher education. Individual interviews were conducted with ten Language Centre teachers from three universities, two in Finland and one in the Czech Republic. The qualitative content analysis of the data showed that the teachers involved the L1 students actively across different levels of courses and activities to bring their knowledge, views, and experiences in the classroom. The result was an increase in interactional variety and a positive effect on student participation, particularly when the teachers gave space to learning opportunities afforded by the interactions. However, while collaborating with the L1P’s led the teachers to better understand the students’ needs and interests regarding the quickly evolving subject matter, their role in managing the more complex and shifting classroom situations grew more important. Therefore, creating authentic FL learning experiences with the L1 students requires teachers to combine efficient management skills with flexibility and a willingness to learn.

Keywords: foreign language learning, classroom interaction, relational expertise, mediation, affordance, higher education