A Study Of Peer Dialogue During Group Presentation Preparations In College English Classes Based On Sociocultural Theory

There has been an increasing demand for talents with team spirits and cooperative abilities around the world since international exchanges started on the rise,which calls for universities to carry out a variety of cooperative learning activities to develop team spirit and cooperative ability in students.Group presentation,as one of the cooperative learning activities,is now widely employed in college English classes.However,few studies have been done on preparations before group presentations,especially on peer dialogue,which as an irreplaceable means of communication during preparations.In addition,peer dialogue directly affects presentation results and the cultivation of team spirit and cooperative ability of students.Based on the sociocultural theory,this study focused on peer dialogue during the preparations of group presentation in college English classes in an attempt to explore: 1)types and features of peer dialogue during the group presentation preparations: 2)problems in peer dialogue during the group presentation preparations and possible causes of these problems.By observation,reflective journal and interview,peer dialogue data were collected during the group presentation preparations of 13 groups of freshmen(each group with 5-6 students)from the advanced English classes of Shandong Normal University.Through qualitative analysis of collected data,the following findings were obtained: 1)Types of peer dialogue during the group presentation preparations are as follows.In terms of the form,peer dialogue is typically of two kinds: one-way dialogue and two-way dialogue;while in terms of the content,peer dialogue can be categorized into on-task dialogue and off-task dialogue.And on-task dialogue can be further divided into nine types: questioning,proposing,evaluating,regulating,correcting,explaining,interrupting,arguing,and affective supporting.In general,peer dialogue appears to be equal,interactive,coadjutant,automatic,generative,intentional,and recurrent.2)Problems existing in peer dialogue during the group presentation preparations mainly include low involvement,discourse hegemony,low efficiency,and unpleasant emotional experience.And students themselves,teachers,and objective environment are suggested as crucial influencing factors of the problems in the peer dialogue during thepreparations.At last,based on the findings,the author put forward suggestions and pointed out the limitations of the present research,as well as the suggestions for further study.