Guiding Theories and Research

In the following sections, I provide a contextual understanding of the social-constructivist

theory in light of my action research which attempts to answer the question, How can I

encourage non-native English speakers to increase their oral participation in a basic-skills

English class made up of both non-native and native speakers? Furthermore, I delineate

important internal factors that play a role in second language acquisition (SLA) such as the

learners affective domain, a sense of inhibition, and language ego. In addition, Blooms

Taxonomy provides an explicit framework from which I can understand the importance of higher

order thinking in western institutions of education and how, as an instructor, I can support my

students to reach higher order thinking.

Social-Constructivist Theory
My action research question emerged from the lack of oral participation from non-native

English students in the accelerated English basic-skills class, which is made up of non-native and

native speakers. Language learning does not stop from learning grammars and mechanics in

English, but through social interaction it is considered as purely external process (Vygotsky,

1980, p. 79). The social-constructivist theory supports enhancing speaking skills because

language is all about interaction and sharing thoughts to clear out the doubts and skepticism as

well as to share ideas in order to support one another. Furthermore, it is though social interaction

that students are able to scaffold their learning from one another to have movement in learning as

they will learn how to be independent learners. Learning is not always a result from the

instructor, but also between classmates by connecting conversational language to academic

discourse, both written and spoken (Walqui, 2006, p. 167). According to the social-constructivist

perspective, teachers should be facilitators nurturing context to face real-world issues and to

believe in themselves (Brown, 2014, p. 92). Having the concept of social interaction in learning,
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in the accelerated English basic-skills class, many professors aim towards developing critical

thinking that involves an interactive process. Even with this expectation, non-native English

speakers tend to speak significantly less than native English speakers. In some aspects, the

expectation does not meet for the non-native English speakers due to lack of scaffolding in terms

of structure and process. Because higher order thinking skills are deeply embedded in western

institutions of education, to those who are unfamiliar with the education system in western

cultures, it is difficult to adapt to the teachings. The teaching style of eastern cultures relies on

dictation, which deeply emphasizes heavy input that minimizes the negotiation of learning and

the process of discovery. If the non-native English speakers are fully adjusted to dictation, they

need to learn and be explicitly told how to participate in the social interactions to develop their

critical thinking skills.

Scaffolding. Provided that higher order thinking skills, such as how to participate in a

western classroom needs to be explicitly told, Aida Walqui (2006) explains the conceptual

framework of scaffolding. Based on her explanation on scaffolding, she mentions six main types

of instructional scaffolding: modelling, bridging, contextualization, building schema, re-

presenting text and developing metacognition (p. 170). First, the students need to have clear

vision of what is expected from them. In order for the students to have clear vision, it is

important for the instructor to model the sample before assigning the task. With this intention,

the students will see and hear how the activity is expected to work. Second, the instructor needs

to connect the students prior knowledge to their new knowledge in order for them to have a firm

understanding and meaningful learning. Meaningful learning is created by relating it to personal

experiences, especially an incident that happened to make it unforgettable. Third, the instructor

needs to contextualize the textbook because the usage of colloquial and academic languages
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different. To illustrate, effective teachers bring complex ideas close to the students world

experience (Walqui, 2006, p. 173). Fourth, schema building helps the prior and new knowledge

connection through varies types of activities. This helps the students think from the top down

having a general knowledge of the broad picture before studying the detail as well as from the

bottom up, using vocabulary, syntax, rhetorical devices, etc. (Walqui, 2006, p. 174). Allowing

students to see the same concept from different perspectives will support critical thinking skills

by guiding the students to make connections and relations to their experience. Fifth, it is

important to go back to the text and ask the students to manipulate the different genres in

English. For instance, if they are reading an article, the task might be to transform the article to a

play. This will challenge the students understanding and the ability that he/she can perform.

Lastly, developing metacognition is important in higher order thinking. Walqui (2006) notes

metacognition as the ability to monitor ones current level of understanding and decide when it

is not adequate (p. 176). All of the previous five steps were important in connecting the new

knowledge to the prior, relating it to ones experience, and transforming the text. However, if the

students cannot follow and monitor their own thinking, higher order thinking will be critically

challenged due to not being able to connect the idea with his own experience. In order for the

students to recognize their own metacognition, it is important to interact with their peers to

organize their thoughts and ideas.

Dialogue. Speaking of interaction, Schein (1993) draws attention to the importance of a

dialogue. In his study, he emphasizes the importance of problem solving and conflict resolution

within group discussion because it is critical for students to understand how different dialogues

work. In terms of problem solving in group discussion, students come to disagreements and face

problems in understanding each other due to culturally over-trained not only to think in terms of
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certain consensually validated categories but to withhold information that would in any way

threaten the current social order (p.41). The term, social order, means by how students present

themselves by their name, title, demeanor, and tone of the voice. Hence, when students are

participating in group discussion, it is important for them to recognize their cultural background

and how they were trained in their educational background because that will affect their speaking

skills. Because students are different in social order, education, and culture, it is important to

have metacognitive moments (Walqu, 2006). It is necessary for the students to monitor their own

thinking to critically challenge themselves. Schein (1993) defines dialogue by how it is focused

on the thinking process and how our perceptions and cognition are performed by our past

experiences (p. 44). The purpose of dialogue relies on allowing the group members to reach

higher order thinking through consciousness and creativity in finding the commonality between

the text and their experience. Through social interaction and through finding the commonality,

the students will have time to self-analyze in order to understand their thought process, ideas,

assumptions, and how this is all related to the theme of culture. These skills happen through

social interaction, mostly in group discussion or in class discussion, where the students learn the

language through an external process. As language learning can happen in both internal and

external, in external learning, the whole group is the object of learning and the members share

the potential excitement of discovering, collectively, ideas that individually none of them might

ever have thought of (Schein, 1993, p. 44).

Lev Vygotsky. The social constructivist theory is heavily rooted in the work of the

Russian Psychologist, Lev Vygostky (1980). This action research emerges from his theory.

Vygotsky (1980) mentions how learning happens through social interaction and how the

acquisition of many specialized abilities for thinking about a variety of things (p. 80). Learning
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starts from knowing the students actual development level, which is a level that has already been

accomplished, and how the student can develop his or her level through social interaction.

Vygotsky created the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which is the distance between the

actual development level and the level of potential development the learner can develop through

problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers (p. 86). He

highlights that it is not simply through adult guidance, such as a teacher, that learners can benefit.

In fact, students can learn from their peers through developing their independent problem solving

skills from social interaction. Because learning happens through an external process, discussing

and sharing ideas and thoughts from what the students already know, provokes mediation which

is central to learning.

Second Language Acquisition Theories

As the social constructivist theory is important in terms of the external learning process,

the internal process is based on the determination of the learners. Although second language

acquisition shares some aspects with the external process, such as output hypothesis, there are

internal factors, such as affective domain, sense of inhibition and language ego, that significantly

impact the way learners acquire language.

Output Hypothesis. While input within learning is important, output of learning is also

significant. Based on Stephen Krashens (1984) acquisition-learning hypothesis, the input

signifies I+1, which translates into having an input level one above a students level of

competence to challenge their learning. Having said this, when there is input, there needs to be

an output in learning. As the input signals the collection of knowledge, the output hypothesis is

what causes the input. It is through reading, writing, speaking, and listening, which is called fruit

of performance (Brown 2014), that output can be seen. As Kees De Bot (1996) notes, output

serves an important role in SLA because it generates highly specific input the cognitive system
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needs to build up a coherent set of knowledge (p. 529). Through the fruit of performance, the

output signifies the importance of sharing and discussing in class to build up the student

reasoning and critical thinking skills that they have developed to increase their knowledge.

Affective Domain. In second language acquisition, the affective domain is an important

factor in the learning process. The affective domain includes self-efficacy, motivation, and the

willingness to communicate, which have been seen to support ones learning of another language

(Brown, 2014). According to Brown (2014), the affective domain emphasizes the learning

objectives such as feeling and emotion. Because cognitive learning relates to emotional factors

and vice versa, the affective domain needs to be supported for the students to succeed. Within the

affective domain, self-efficacy plays a role. As a language learner, the student needs to believe in

himself/herself that they can do well. Without self-efficacy, it is hard to assume that the learner

will do well due to a lack of self-confidence and self-esteem. Furthermore, through self-efficacy,

the willingness to communicate (WTC) is taken on. It is through self-efficacy that the learner

earns confidence and, therefore, speaks to communicate with classmates and with instructors. In

order to have a high WTC, learners need social support such as friends, family, and teachers to

boost their confidence and to draw attention to their interests (Brown, 2014). As these factors

increase, the learners will increase their speaking skills exponentially. These factors are not only

suitable for English classes, but also towards language learners in all different areas of education.

Inhibition. As Brown (2014) notes, inhibition relates to a defense mode to protect the

ego. Through inhibition, thick and thin language ego come in where most second language

acquisition involves some degree of identity conflict as learners take on a new identity with their

newly acquired competence (p. 148). According to Ehrman (1993, 1999), thin ego refers to

openness and not being afraid to make mistakes. In contrast, thick ego applies to not allowing
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any mistakes and not granting oneself the ability to be carefree in language learning. The learners

who are open and vulnerable with thin ego boundaries will tend to succeed faster than thick ego

learners. Furthermore, through language ego, anxiety plays a major role in second language

acquisition. Many language learners go through the fear of anxiety in presentations or in public

speaking due to the fear of making mistakes and receiving criticism. Specifically, anxiety is

associated with feelings of uneasiness, frustration, self-doubt, apprehension, or worry (Scovel,

1978, p. 134). English language learners (ELLs) from the basic skills class with native English

speakers might experience anxiety due to the difference in speaking skill level and the fact that

they are taking classes with native speakers. The ELLs might want to listen to native English

speakers to gain listening skills to support their speaking skills or they might be shy and

unwilling to communicate due to a lack of confidence, which produces anxiety. Knowing what

ELLs fear, and the unlikelihood for them to succeed, how can I support non-native English

speakers to speak as freely as native English speakers?

The Expectations around Academic Discourse in Classrooms

Many activities aimed to engage students through oral participation have been shared

with instructors and researchers, such as role-playing, leading small groups discussion, making

presentations, and participating in debates to enhance and support English language learners to

improve on their speaking skills (Murphy, 1991).

One well-known reading activity that promotes academic discourse in the classroom is

the Literature Circle. The Literature Circle activity was introduced as a classroom activity to

deepen knowledge of readings through the use of various lenses (Daniels, 2002). Part of the

activity is for all the members of the group to choose a role, such as summarizer, discussion

director, illustrator, and literary luminary, and share what they found and analyze the book. The

instructor gives out the role sheets so the students have a specifically assigned role. As each
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member picks the role and finishes the task, the group members rotate as a cognitive task and

interactive process for the group discussion. No matter how well the activity is structured, when

the roles are given to the students, many non-native English speakers tend to give the speaking

roles to the native English speakers. For instance, when I was observing my accelerated English

basic-skills class, I noticed how the teacher gave the freedom to choose the roles within the

group. The non-native speakers had a choice to defer to the native speakers on those speaking

roles and resigned the roles to those who felt more comfortable. However, the purpose of the

literature circle is for all of the students to engage in each assigned roles and circulate as they

move onto different chapters. All of the members in the group should have a chance to engage in

each role, yet the purpose of the activity was not met in the class I observed due to lack of oral

participation from non-native students. Through observations in my class, I came to the point

where I wanted to understand how I might be able to assist the non-native speakers and

encourage them to take on the speaking roles more confidently.

Furthermore, based on second language acquisition theory, Krashen (1982) shares

acquired and learned system in language learners performance. According to Krasehn (1982), a

learned system is what the non-native students, or language learners, go through to gain the

language through grammar or the systematic rules of the language. On the other hand, the

acquired system links to how ELLs learned their first language. When a child learns his/her first

language, he/she does not learn the language through grammatical rules and system, rather

he/she acquires the language naturally by listening and through natural communication. Having

said this, non-native students are still in the process of learning the language and might need

more support in grammatical rules and reasoning. Furthermore, some non-native speakers face

challenges in intercultural communication because of the unspoken rule (Richards, 2006).

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Richard (2006) emphasizes the unspoken rule as the spoken language in terms of the language

that is embedded in colloquial languages. To those who have learned English in an academic

background, they will be more accustomed to the formal, written form of the language. In fact,

many non-native students are so accustomed to speaking the way they write that when it comes

to speaking, there might be some miscommunication due to colloquial languages in discussion.

Above all, these texts will help me to find the methods to support the non-native students

to increase their oral participation. Furthermore, the assistance of second language theories will

also help me understand the research problem and how I can develop a grounded plan of action

for my study.