Open AccessCollaborative Learning in a Japanese Language Course
Author(s) -
Megumu Doi Burress,
John Peters
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
sage open
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.357
H-Index - 32
ISSN - 2158-2440
DOI - 10.1177/2158244015581016
Subject(s) - performative utterance , reading (process) , action research , ethnography , thematic analysis , class (philosophy) , pedagogy , collaborative learning , psychology , mathematics education , sociology , qualitative research , linguistics , computer science , philosophy , social science , artificial intelligence , anthropology
This article describes ethnographic action research that exploredexperiences of the first author and her undergraduate students as they engaged incollaborative learning (CL) activities in a university Japanese language course. Thepurpose of the study was to generate new practical knowledge of CL for her, so that shemight subsequently improve her teaching practice. A thematic analysis of the interviewand descriptive data revealed that the incorporation of CL helped promote a comfortableenvironment and reduce the effects of the hierarchical authority of the instructor.While facing new challenges, the class also co-constructed its own knowledge about thereading content, language concepts, and cultural matters by working as a collaborativegroup. These findings are represented in the form of a performative text that invitesreaders to actively engage with the study’s findings