PEER SUPPORT AND LEARNING OF LEXICAL CHUNKS IN MIXED-AGE PEER INTERACTIONS OF EFL YOUNG LEARNERS

Abstract

This study investigated the nature and extent of support provided by six primary school English as a foreign language (EFL) learners (10 to 12 years old) during mixed-age (M-A) peer interactions on common classroom tasks targeting lexical chunks. Grounded in sociocultural theory and drawing on audio recordings of pair work, video recordings of the whole class, pre- and posttests and analysis of students’ written work, the primary aim of this study was to examine moment-to- moment interaction and identify the types of support that peers provide to one another within M-A peer interactions. The secondary aim was to draw links between peer support and learning outcomes. The findings reveal that peers provided cognitive, linguistic, and social-emotional support to each other. However, the nature and extent of this support differed widely across pairs and appeared to be a major factor in mediating learning outcomes. The implications for further research and pedagogy are discussed. This study contributes to the interactional research in instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) by showing how young learners (YL) in EFL classrooms support each other during their interactions and how their support promotes language learning.