Peer feedback has been proposed as a way to boost student feedback literacy and learners’ evaluative judgment. However, the notion of peer feedback and its related processes present numerous challenges for teachers and learners. By adopting the principles of Exploratory Practice with my undergraduates studying academic and business English, I explored why my learners did not seem to view peer feedback as worthwhile, unpacking their attitudes and beliefs in this area of practice using both traditional surveys and the idea of classroom meta-dialogues. I attempted to develop evaluative judgment skills and proactive recipience by tailoring peer feedback processes around oral presentations, a central course component and assessment task for both groups of learners. Survey responses, classroom discussion (the meta-dialogues), observation, and reflection revealed that, overall, my learners were positively predisposed to peer feedback whilst, at the same time, only moderately enthusiastic about the usefulness of the actual peer feedback they received. In a minority of cases, learners resisted peer feedback processes strongly, reflecting the complex interplay of linguistic, cultural and affective factors that represent peer feedback in practice. My learners, at first, struggled to be proactively recipient but helped to identify tensions around tailoring peer feedback. I reflect on the learner resistance encountered and the personal implications for my own teaching. I also suggest ways that language teachers can scaffold proactive recipience and enact tailored peer feedback in a way that is inclusive of both composers’ and recipients’ needs. Finally, I provide a practitioner vantage point on peer feedback, contributing to a diversity of research perspectives in this area.
This study describes a teacher-researcher's experience of scaffolding his business English learners in identifying, formulating, and exploring language learning puzzles using the principles of exploratory practice. Adopting both qualitative and quantitative methods, the teacher-researcher reflected upon the learner-initiated and learner-centred inquiry as it played out in his uk university setting. Learners' perspectives revealed an enthusiasm for puzzling, especially when connections were established with their wider world. However, tensions also emerged, including the opaqueness of the scaffolding role and the mind-set shift required from learner-researchers and the teacher-researcher alike. Practical recommendations for teacher-researchers in similar contexts are provided: the need to highlight connection-building between learner puzzles and learners' wider lives and the importance of recognising distinctions between puzzles and problems.Key words: Business English, exploratory practice, learner puzzles, teacher research.Este estudio describe la experiencia de andamiaje de un docente-investigador con aprendices de inglés de negocios mientras investigaban sus preguntas de aprendizaje o "puzzles" usando la práctica exploratoria. Adoptando métodos mixtos el docente-investigador reflexionó sobre el proceso investigativo de sus aprendices universitarios. Las perspectivas de los aprendices fueron entusiastas, especialmente entre aquellos que establecieron conexiones entre "puzzles" y su experiencia vivencial, pero también revelaron tensiones con la facilitación del "puzzle", incluida la opacidad del andamiaje y el cambio de mentalidad del docente-investigador y los aprendices-investigadores. Se hacen recomendaciones para docentes-investigadores en contextos similares: la necesidad de resaltar la conexión entre "puzzles" y la experiencia de los aprendices fuera de la clase y la importancia de distinguir entre "puzzles" y problemas.
The inherent coloniality of ELT, as both driver and product of Anglophone political power, poses particular challenges for ELT teachers and learners looking to engage with decolonizing agendas. With only scant evidence of these agendas translating into ELT practice, I explored decolonial options, counter-hegemonic actions, with my undergraduate business English learners, adopting a form of practitioner research known as exploratory practice, and centring enquiry on our use of business news articles for a key course component. My learners revealed the potential of decolonial options, and the reflective, exploratory process exposed our language ideologies, with a vocal minority of students resisting any end to the established English-only policy. Suggestions are offered for fellow ELT teachers working in similar settings and who are interested in exploring their own use of authentic materials through a decolonizing lens.
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