A Study of Peer Interaction in College English under the Integration of Modern Information Technology and Language Environment——Taking Vocational College as an Example

The tourism college of Changchun university,Changchun,China Email:snailcindy@163.com

[Abstract]With the diversity of classroom learning environment and learning mode,especially the popularization of Internet learning,compared with native/non-native language interaction and teacher-student interaction,the Study of Second Language Acquisition(SLA)pays less attention to peer interaction.Based on the study of college English interaction between teachers and students in web-based classroom,this paper examines the relationship between interactive factors and interactive behaviors in voluntary collections,such as task type,interaction mode,language level,learner relationship,teaching intervention and whether they can lead to the changes of language acquisition in the Language-related fragments Language-related episodes,LREs,meaning negotiation and corrective feedback.

[Keywords]Modern Technology;Language Environment;Peer Interaction

Introduction

In the early 1980s,American scholars Joyce&Showers first proposed the concept of“peer coaching”.They believed that changing the design and organization method of early teacher training mode may help teachers transfer the training content into teaching practice.In the past,it may be wrong to attribute the inefficiency of teacher training to teachers themselves.They assume that teachers may need some continuous help and feedback to apply new teaching strategies and methods in the classroom.In their subsequent research,they verified this hypothesis and confirmed the effect of peer assistance:teachers can maintain mutual trust and dependence with their colleagues or peers.They plan teaching activities together,provide feedback and share experience with each other.Teachers with“peer helpers”are more likely to use new teaching strategies and methods than those who work alone.In practice,it is also found that,compared with the teacher evaluation provided by management and students,peer evaluation is more helpful for teachers to improve their teaching behavior.Joyce and Schowers suggested that schools should let teachers organize and participate in peer support groups so that teachers can help each other,support each other and grow together.

Native/non native language interaction research(Fernández-García & Martínez-Arbelaiz,2014)and teacherstudent interaction(Xu&Kou,2014;majlesi,2018)have achieved a lot.In the late 1990s,peer interaction research has been widely concerned.Compared with native/non-native language interaction,learner interaction pays more attention to the language form of the target language(Sato & Ballinger,2016); high level foreign language learners can provide rich structured language input and produce more corrective output(Sato & Lyster,2007); compared with teacher-student interaction,peer interaction can generate more effective feedback and request strategies,Increase language processing time(Xu&Kou,2018;Loewen&Sato,2018);reduce classroom anxiety and improve interactive comfort(Hai,2014).

Peer interaction is supported by cognitive school and sociocultural school.Based on the interaction hypothesis,the cognitive school holds that learning takes place in the brain.Interaction can provide effective language stimulation,emphasizing input,meaning negotiation,feedback and output.This paradigm emphasizes the influence of cognitive factors on language acquisition,and mostly focuses on quantitative research,pursuing the objectivity and universality of the research results.Sociocultural school holds that learning occurs in social interaction,and then internalizes to form language development,emphasizing mediation,adjustment,zone of proximal development(ZPD)and scaffolding.This paradigm emphasizes the decisive role of social factors in the development of language learning.Most of them focus on qualitative research and pursue the contextualization and transferability of research results(King &Mackey,2016).Although cognitive perspective is still the mainstream,social and cultural perspective has been favored by more and more researchers,and the combination of the strengths of the two schools has become the consensus of many scholars.Among foreign scholars,Leedy et al.(2019)divided research methods into description,experiment,quasi experiment,qualitative,mixed and action research.According to Gass & Mackey(2011),the research framework of SLA can be divided into psychology based,cognitive based,linguistic based,interaction based,sociological based,survey based and classroom based,and summarizes dozens of data collection methods.Domestic scholars Wen&Wang(2004)divided them into quantitative research and qualitative research.

Research overall design

Research significance

Peer interaction is an important part of second language acquisition(SLA)research.In the early stage,descriptive research has been given priority to,and experimental research has been increasing in recent years.With the social and Cultural Camp of second language acquisition research joining and growing,the number of qualitative research has increased rapidly and has the potential to catch up with and surpass.Sociocultural schools seek to explore the relationship between peer interaction and second language acquisition from the perspective of language socialization,among which conversation analysis has been favored by more and more scholars(Jakonen,2018;Kunitz,2018).At the same time,the data collection methods of peer interaction research are also more diversified,among which audio-visual,productive task,questionnaire and interview are the most widely used.With the diversity of classroom learning environment and learning mode,especially the popularity of Internet learning,the interactive objects and interactive methods have changed greatly.The research on peer interaction under the integration of modern information technology and content language environment will become a new research direction and trend in the future.

Research objectives

In this study,10 teachers and 100 students of the second year of College English in vocational colleges are selected as the research objects,and the research time is one semester.The research objectives are as follows:1.The relationship between interaction influencing factors and interactive behaviors,such as task type,interaction mode,language level,learner relationship,teaching intervention,etc.,lead to the change of language related episodes(LREs),meaning negotiation,corrective feedback,repair and other interactive behaviors.2.Whether interactive behavior causes changes in language acquisition.

Research framework

The Network Salon talks during the epidemic period will guide teachers to share teaching experience together,so as to promote the professional development of teachers.Through the organization of teaching salon activities,teachers can have in-depth talks with colleagues on the problems existing in teaching,so as to realize the sharing of teaching and research experience.Teachers are willing to combine with each other to form a teaching and research group to determine the teaching and research tasks,reasonably divide the work,study together,and sort out the results,so as to communicate in the teaching salon activities.Teachers can write teaching reflection notes,summarize teaching experience and teaching methods.The salon is also suitable for students.

Study more in one lesson to improve teaching quality and promote teachers’professional growth.“One lesson with more research”is carried out through three links:self design practice,peer mutual promotion and reflective processing practice.

Professional dialogue to promote teachers' professional growth directly.Professional dialogue refers to teachers'exchange and discussion with colleagues on various issues involved in teaching activities in the professional field,so as to understand each other and reach a consensus on some issues.

With the support of modern electronic equipment,the accuracy and credibility of data collection can be improved through observation method.For example,observation tables,audio and video recordings,and(non)instant conversation records are used to search for the relationship between interaction influencing factors and interactive behaviors.

Finally,through interviews and questionnaires,the conclusion is drawn:whether interactive behavior causes changes in language acquisition.

Research contents

According to the English teaching and research section of our school,we launched online teaching salon talks during the epidemic period,guiding teachers to share teaching experience,and then promote the professional growth of teachers.Through the organization of teaching salon activities,teachers can have in-depth talks with colleagues on the problems existing in teaching,so as to realize the sharing of teaching and research experience.First,create atmosphere and environment.We should strengthen the construction of teaching and research groups,formulate teaching and research plans,organize teaching and research activities,create a strong teaching and research atmosphere,and a supportive environment for the development of teaching salon activities.Teachers are willing to combine with each other to form a teaching and research group to determine the teaching and research tasks,reasonably divide the work,study together,and sort out the results,so as to communicate in the teaching salon activities.Teachers can write teaching reflection notes,summarize teaching experience and teaching methods in order to communicate in teaching salon activities.Second,meticulously organize and strengthen management.Every salon should determine the theme of the activity,so that teachers can make careful preparation.Teachers participate in a certain number of teaching salon activities every week.Every time they participate in teaching salon activities,they must put forward outstanding problems existing in teaching and participate in the discussion of improvement measures.Teachers should be recorded and summarized.Third,expert guidance and scientific guidance.Teachers can speed up their professional growth by getting the professional guidance of experts.The school pays attention to inviting experts to exchange experience and broaden their horizons;professional teaching and research personnel are invited to participate in the teaching activities of the school,discuss the main problems of teaching research,and modify the management measures of teaching and research work under the guidance of professional teaching and research personnel.

Combined with the language environment of“stop classes,teach online”,we should carry out more research in one lesson,improve the teaching quality and promote the professional growth of teachers.“One lesson multi-research”is carried out by self-design practice,peer mutual assistance promotion,and reflective processing practice.The specific steps are as follows:to prepare lessons independently by one teacher and to attend classes by other teachers; to evaluate classes among peers,to affirm achievements,to find out shortcomings,to put forward measures,and to reflect on their own teaching with others,to learn from each other and to improve together;on the basis of reflecting on peer suggestions,the teacher once again designs and practices,and other teachers listen to the class again and evaluate the class again.This kind of“one lesson and more research”takes improving the efficiency of classroom teaching as the starting point,listening and evaluating courses as the main way,and taking teaching reflection as an important content.

Professional dialogue to promote teachers’professional growth directly.Professional dialogue refers to teachers’exchange and discussion with colleagues on various issues involved in teaching activities in the professional field,so as to understand each other and reach a consensus on some issues.Professional dialogue is a better form of drawing on the strength of others and groups.The“dialogue”of teachers’interaction and wisdom sharing is the effective operation mechanism of“research community”.Research shows that extensive communication among teachers is the most effective way to improve teaching ability.The process of dialogue is a kind of perspective blending achieved by teachers from their own understanding of the original knowledge background through multiple interactions.The result of perspective blending is the continuous reorganization and reconstruction of teachers' cognitive structure,so as to produce and create new knowledge and new ideas.The process of dialogue is also a process of learning how to teach,how to study and how to cooperate.

The most common way for teachers to carry out is school-based professional dialogue,which mainly includes:(a)information exchange.Teachers exchange information with each other in the form of information conference,reading report meeting,etc.;(b)experience sharing.Advanced experience refers to the successful,typical and effective teaching experience.Teachers reflect on their own teaching by sharing experience and learning from others' experience.The main way to share experience is to hold experience exchange meeting.The best way to learn the advanced experience from other places is to inquire online,which is convenient and economical;(c)special discussion.Organize teachers to speak freely about some problems,put forward various opinions and opinions,enrich each other's thoughts,and jointly improve the understanding of problems.For example,seminar on the change of students'learning style;(d)reading educational journals and dialogue with peers.It is not only the basic condition for teachers'growth,but also the basis for the formation and development of teachers'educational thoughts.The formation of educational wisdom,in a certain sense,is the process of crossing the bridge composed of these classic works;(e)online dialogue.Teachers communicate and discuss with peers and experts through Internet.Some topics in the new curriculum reform can be collected and put on the Internet to make the teacher's dialogue more targeted; the form of online dialogue can be opened regularly,even weekly.

Research methods

Observation

Observation data collection is inseparable from the progress of science and technology.The popularization of various advanced electronic equipment improves the accuracy and credibility of data collection.With the popularity of electronic technology and the Internet,recording,video recording or(non)instant conversation recording are more commonly used.

(a)Audio and video recordings

Peer interaction can occur at any level of language learning,such as listening,speaking,reading,writing and translation,but it is ultimately expressed in the form of discourse.Therefore,data collection cannot be separated from classroom recording and video recording.Most of the classification and frequency statistics of interaction behaviors are transcribed through recording,and then researchers discuss,code and classify them.Recording transcribing needs to be done in whole or in part according to the research purpose and research content.Compared with audio recording,video recording can record the expression,action and body language of the interaction,even including the interactive environment and atmosphere.Based on network teaching,teachers need to have video recording software for online video recording.It should be noted that audio and video recording is easy to interfere with the normal classroom order.When learners realize that they have been recorded and recorded,they may show the expected behavior and affect the validity of the study.

(b)(non)instant conversation record

The development of network technology challenges the traditional classroom peer interaction.More and more interaction occurs in the network or online classroom,namely computer-mediated communication(CMC),which is divided into synchronous and asynchronous,text-based and video/audio based.The development of network makes it easy to save and analyze the conversation records,text records and video records in online classroom.

Introspection

Introspection is a research method to explore people’s thinking process,inner feelings and reasoning.It comes from cognitive psychology and is often used by peer interaction.This way of data collection allows the subjects to report or recall the event at the time of occurrence or within a short period of time,mainly including thinking aloud,stimulating recall and logging.In this paper,we take a diary to record the self-report of language learning experience in the first person.It generally records the emotional factors,learning strategies and subjective feelings in the process of learning,which are not easily known to outsiders.

Interview

Set the topic of“whether interactive behavior causes changes in language acquisition”and extract students and teachers'interviews to understand the use and effect of peer feedback strategies.

Conclusion

Comparison of sample papers on peer interaction in College English under the integration of modern information technology and language environment.The research shows that among the respondents,students think that setting task points and changing interaction modes in the classroom can promote the understanding of language input,and also affect the interactive behavior.In the peer interaction activities,teachers can increase the understanding of teaching links,the understanding of learner relationship,the reasonable allocation of task types and the improvement of language proficiency through the interactive behaviors of meaning negotiation,corrective feedback and repair.

College English peer interaction can be well integrated into the curriculum objectives of vocational education.The content of English Teaching in vocational colleges is different from that of undergraduate teaching.It is not only to teach knowledge,but also to focus on the cultivation of students'language application ability and the practicability of solving problems in the future industry.Therefore,in the process of Vocational English teaching,English language teaching and vocational skills training should be effectively combined,which requires peer interactive education in the classroom,targeted strengthening of skills training,reasonable design of teaching programs,ability-based professional courses into employment oriented courses,so as to create more employment development space for vocational college students and create“popularity”Vocational College English classroom,let each student become the best of their own.

College English interaction can stimulate students'interest in English learning and improve the efficiency of language acquisition.Students generally reflect that online teaching salon talks,this activity can not only combine students with their majors voluntarily to form a study group,but also determine their career direction and tasks,interact with students in different departments and colleges,reasonably divide labor,study together,sort out the results,and communicate in the salon activity.Video recording was carried out in the whole activity.After the activity,the diary was compared to correct the language learning,listening and speaking according to the video recording; the reading and writing of the language were repaired according to the log comparison; the language translation ability was improved after meaningful negotiation.

The interactive language learning mode of professional dialogue has become the most effective way for teachers to improve their teaching ability.Under the language environment of "no suspension of classes,online teaching",teachers should carry out more research on one course and talk with experts to improve the teaching quality and promote the professional growth of teachers.This paper uses interview and introspection to test whether the arrangement of task type and interaction mode in teaching activities is reasonable,and how to design teaching media suitable for learners' characteristics in different vocational colleges according to students' language level,so as to gain effective classroom.

Acknowledgements

Research project of Jilin Higher Education Institute:College English Peer interaction under the Integration of Modern Information Technology and language Environment No:JGJX2020D600; Changchun University Tourism Institute Innovation and Development Project“Schubert’s Curriculum orientation in the Independent College English classroom”.