Paper Presentation Examining types of task engagement through social interactions by low and high proficiency level EFL learners more

Sat, Jun 5, 10:45-11:15 Asia/Tokyo

There has been a broad expansion of the use of social interaction to help provide environments for discussions among learners in recent years. This work has attracted a great deal of attention from researchers (e.g., Garrison, Cleveland-Innes & Fung, 2010; Meskill, 2013; Lai, Yeung & Hu, 2016; Lin, Warschauer & Blake, 2016; Peeters, 2018). There are an increasing number of studies suggesting that such social interaction outside of class appears to provide many of the conditions necessary for fostering learning (Lomicka & Lord, 2016), not the least of which is establishing a supporting platform from the teacher and peers. While there are several studies that have started to explore this potential in language learning contexts (e.g., Álvarez Valencia, 2016), results thus far have been rather mixed, with learners showing positive attitudes but limited interaction (Tran, 2016, 2018). A variety of studies have been investigated in order to figure out how to develop learner’s engagement by not only providing learner training (Stockwell & Hubbard, 2014), but also providing suitable tasks (Ellis & Shintari, 2014), or providing peer interactions as well (Philp & Duchesne, 2016). The current study investigates the types of task engagement reflected through activities done through social interactions by low and high proficiency level EFL learners. The means of technology tools is Line App in Japan. Also, the students will share Google Docs for group work. The study was carried with 31 beginner learners and 22 intermediate learners of English at a private university in Tokyo over a 14-week period. The results are discussed in terms of how cognitive, behavioural, social, and emotional dimensions of engagement expressed through the ways students participated in the social interaction. Summary: The study investigates the types of task engagement reflected through activities done through social interactions by low and high proficiency level EFL learners in terms of how cognitive, behavioural, social, and emotional dimensions of engagement expressed through the ways students participated in the social interaction.