Interactive learning

As a teacher and a learner in secondary and tertiary institutions, I have come to realise that working with peers and knowledgeable adults results in the development of skills and advanced knowledge. This is because sharing of ideas, views and opinions arouse the inner character that has been internally hidden and not realised by oneself. In support of this view, Little (1998:16) explains that the natural mode of development and experiential learning is interaction with other people, and our capacity to learn on our own derives from our experience of learning with and from the others. Little further confirms that such view has profound implications for our understanding of language and cognition as well as learning, and beyond that, of what it is to be human. Gauvain and Cole (1997:35) expand on Little’s point of view by asserting that an essential feature of learning is that learning creates the ZPD suggested by Vygotsky, that is, learning awakens a variety of internal developmental processes that are able to operate only when the learner is interacting with people in his or her environment and in cooperation with his peers.

It becomes obvious that learning an additional language for academic and communication purposes requires interaction with individuals who have knowledge in that particular target language for assistance and practice. Therefore, the classroom becomes a place where interaction opportunities in EFAL should be carefully created and planned in order to enable the learners to construct their own learning in an

62

enjoyable manner. Moreover, one of the most important things that the EFAL teachers can do for learners is to give them the conviction that they can use the additional language to influence the world around them. Hence, learners benefit a lot from a teacher with self-efficacy since they observe efficacious strategies and in turn, utilise them and grow to be efficacious learners too. In fact, Backlund (1988:177) argues that if the learners develop that belief, they will attempt to use language to attain goals more readily, they will be less reluctant to participate in classroom activities, and they improve their behaviour in other aspects of their education and in aspects of their social life. Hence, teachers can better the situation in the classrooms by implementing language tools or activities that equip learners with the practice of English as their additional language.

The most obvious step is, when implementing the classroom interactive activities mentioned by Gosh (2010:1), firstly to ensure the environment is appropriate to permit the interaction to take place. Teachers should strive to create an atmosphere of excitement and curiosity before the commencement of each learning activity. Atta- Alla (2012:1) maintains that the school environment for learning must be safe and structured, with ample opportunities for long periods of reading, writing, and carrying on task- or topic-oriented conversations in the classroom. According to the Transnational Teaching Quick Guide (2014:1), teachers can create a dynamic learning environment that accommodates individual learning needs by using interactive activities. In addition, The Quick Guide upholds that such activities should provide learners with opportunities to share ideas, test their thinking, and examine different perspectives on issues. In these environments, teachers can serve as models by engaging in all of the activities with their learners, concludes Atta-Alla.

Secondly, the teacher should be prepared to facilitate the learning construction and give guidance wherever possible. Moreover, Roof and Kreutter (2010:5) note that giving learners clear expectations and modelling, and reinforcing their expectations may effectively influence learning in the classroom. They also assert that by providing learners with ample opportunities to respond to the lesson, the teacher may positively impact learner engagement and lesson effectiveness. Likewise, the recent guide of Saskatchewan Ministry of Education (2013:1) advises that, as teachers guide learners’ learning, they must consider the goals and outcomes of the

63

curriculum, the background, abilities, interests, and learning styles of individual learners, and the learning resources available.

Thirdly, the activities and learning and teaching materials should be of appropriate nature for the effective learning to occur. In addition, the Florida Department of Education (2012:1) claims that healthy learning occurs when the learner is meaningfully engaged in the activity. The researcher also confirms that a learner’s attention span tends to be longer during activities and with topics that are of interest of him or her. Likewise, the Quick Guide (2014:1) confirms that the quality of teaching relies on the teacher’s ability to structure and design class activities that are engaging and support learning. Furthermore, the Transnational Teaching Quick Guide states that the range of activities the teacher uses should accommodate all learning styles and encourage learners to assume responsibility for their learning. It is also important that the teacher integrates local content and examples that will be relevant to and meet the needs and interests of local learners. Consistent with constructivist perspective, the learners base their learning on the background knowledge of their real life as to construct their own knowledge in understanding what is learnt.

With reference to learning materials, Saskatchewan Ministry of Education (2013:1) maintains that the provision and effective use of high-quality learning resources facilitates learners’ construction of understanding through inquiry so they are better able to explore, question, identify, organise, analyse, synthesise, and evaluate information. The Saskatchewan Ministry of Education therefore continues justifying these resources to enhance deeper understanding of the subject matter and promote information literacy and lifelong learning.

Additionally, Saskatchewan Ministry of Education indicates that if learners are to become lifelong learners, they must have the ability to access information in real and virtual environments, and the critical thinking skills to use that information ethically, creatively, and wisely. In this way learners will become confident, capable learners who achieve the learning outcomes described in the curriculum. In order to realise this, it is essential that learners have access to a wide range of high-quality resources that complement the curriculum.

64

It should be clear now that according to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education (2013:4), learning resources play a significant role in shaping learners’ views about themselves and the world. Therefore, it is important that these resources portray respect and dignity for both genders, for those in specific cultural groups, for people with varying physical and intellectual abilities, for people of various ages, and for people of differing sexual orientation.

In fact, classroom interaction is an essential part of enhancing communication competence. Therefore, verbal practice should be encouraged in order to enrich learners’ vocabulary to enable them to communicate in the target language. In reality there are several challenges such as limited exposure, lack of practice opportunities, and lack of confidence. The early work by Dam (1998:31) suggests the following that facilitate effective classroom interaction activities:

3.2.2.1 The organisation of the classroom

The classroom seating should be organised in a way that learners can face each other and allow them to feel that they are on the same level. The seating should also enable the learners to take part in the activities in a collaborative and cooperative manner. In fact, Nunan (1999:83) affirms that learners seated in groups become skilled at cooperating with others, and express their own opinions, ideas, and feelings guided by the teacher. They also learn how to solve language problems in a systematic way and decide what language to use in the different situations that their teacher presents in the class, according to Nunan. Likewise, Dam (1998:31) suggests that learners are seated in groups of four to six, which means that each learner faces three to five peers and all of them face the teacher. This has a number of advantages, like quick discussions and exchange of views within a group; learner activity and peer tutoring; individual learner involvement and support as it is less threatening to talk in a small group than in an open forum; and the possibility of transferring focus from the teacher (traditionally, ‘the entertainer’) to the participants, and thus facilitates learner-learner interpretation. The lesson plan should be designed in the way to suit the organisation of the classroom that has been discussed above.

65 3.2.2.2 The structure of a lesson plan

The lesson plan, according to Dam (1998:33), should encourage the development of pair, group, and whole class interaction. It should explicitly issue unambiguous instructions to the learners. In summing up, Dam (1998) further points out that the lesson plan should clearly indicate: the teacher’s responsibility, the learner’s responsibility and should allow the opportunity for a joint session where learners can share their experiences and the knowledge they have gained. So therefore, the lesson plan should also give the teacher an opportunity to reflect back on what needs to be clarified as learners share their experiences concerning the lesson. Furthermore, the lesson plan should specify the resources to be utilised during the lesson, as has been indicated in the preceding part of this chapter, so that learners could have access to high-quality resources that complement the curriculum; therefore, the selection of resources should be authentic for interaction to take place.