Investigation On The College Students' Perception Of Teacher Mediation And Peer Mediation In English Writing Classes

For ESL college learners(English as the second language),the ability of English writing is one of essential components in their comprehensive English abilities.English writing provides an effective method for international communication.It gains much attention in the research on the process of English teaching and learning.However,the main mode of English writing teaching remains very simple.In a normal College English writing class,the teacher gives occasionally some tips of writing and the students accept them and practice many times;so the teacher-centered English writing teaching is dominating and college students passively learn English writing skills.To help to transform the teacher-centered mode in English writing classes,this study investigated college students' perception of teacher mediation and peer mediation in English writing class from the sociocultural theory perspective.The function of mediation is to help children move through ZDP to get the higher development.In the mediation theory,it is the role of teachers and competent peers to help learners find ways of moving into their next understanding of the language but not just give tips to them.From the mediation theory,teachers and competent peers are just mediators;so learners are the center in the process of learning and teaching.The previous research on mediation mainly focused on teacher mediation and ignored importance of peer mediation,and they were not subject or task specific.The theoretical framework of this research was based on Feuerstein's twelve criteria of mediation: “significance,purpose beyond the here and now,shared intention,a sense of competence,control of own behavior,goal-setting,challenge,awareness of change,a believe in positive outcomes,sharing,individuality,and a sense of belonging”(Williams & Burden,2000).The subjects were 82 sophomores from different majors who had taken the English writing course as a compulsory course.They were students studying law,administration and management,social engineering,ideology and politician,psychology,and labor and social security.Their English proficiency was quite different.The sample was chosen because the teacher of them consciously adopted much mediation and group interaction in her teaching,and mediation was realized in their interaction.This study employed four instruments: questionnaires,interviews,students' written reflection on the classes,and College English Test Band 4(CET-4).The research was mainly concerned about three questions.“1)What is the students' perception of importance of teacher mediation and peer mediation in the English writing class? And is there any difference of perception between the two different proficiency groups? 2)What is the students' perception of actual use of teacher mediation and peer mediation in English writing class? And is there any difference of perception between the two different proficiency groups? 3)Is there other task-specific mediation the students need in the process of English writing learning?”The research results are as follows.1)The students considered all the features of teacher mediation important in the English writing class,especially shared intention and control of own behavior,and they regarded a sense of belonging in teacher mediation as the least important.The students did not treat peer mediation as very important in the English writing class,in particular,a belief in positive outcomes and purpose beyond the here and now.2)The students' perception of teacher mediation was significantly different from that of peer mediation in the English writing class.3)In the students' perception,the real use of teacher mediation was very often in the English writing class,especially use of shared intention,control of own behavior,a belief in positive outcomes,while the real use of peer mediation was not often except use of shared intention,challenge,and a sense of belonging.4)English proficiency did not significantly affect the students' perception of importance and real use of mediation in the English writing class.5)The students required subject-specific mediation,increase in diversity of group activities,and strategy training.From the research,it gives some suggestions to the teachers teaching college English writing,including changing the students' idea on teacher mediation and peer mediation,advocating a sense of belonging in class,adding diversity to group activities,and offering strategy training to students before group work.