چکیده

Contradictions in Using Group Work in EFL Classrooms: Activity Theory Perspective in an Autoethnographic Study Roqayeh Enferad1*, Baqer Yaqubi2, Seyyed Ghasem Hassani3 1MA Candidate in TEFL, University of Mazandaran; Email: R.Enferad@stu.umz.ac.ir 2Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Mazandaran; Email: Yaqubi@umz.ac.ir 3Assistant Professor of TEFL, University of Mazandaran; Email: g.hassani@umz.ac.ir Abstract Although many empirical studies have documented the benefits of group work for L2 learning, some have suggested that putting learners together into groups does not automatically create the dynamics expected of group work. In this regard, different studies have explored the conflicts that arise among group members working together, mostly from an etic perspective. Drawing on my own lived experiences of group work as the locus of my autoethnographic study, this article attempts to seek out the origin of contradictions that I had faced as an EFL learner. Data collection consisted of multiple sources, including my personal journals, cultural artifacts, memo writing, and interview data. To analyze the data, after initial coding, I used selective coding to sort and categorize the initial codes relevant to the elements in Engestrom s (1999) activity model, including subject, tool, object, outcome, rule, community, and division of labor. The findings indicate that there have been contradictions within and between the elements of my activity model: members’ dissimilar levels of expectations of other group members, teachers’ insufficient knowledge of group dynamics, lack of transparent rules for enacting group work, dissimilar perception of the roles to be enacted in the group by the members, and indiscriminate grading system. The findings of this study may open new windows of opportunities for the teachers to use the potential of contradictions for developing well- formed groups to minimize the conflicts arise in student groups to achieve the effective learning. Keywords: group work, contradictions, Engestrom’s activity model, autoethnographic study

کليدواژه ها

group work, contradictions, Engestrom’s activity model, autoethnographic study

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