banner

December 2005
Volume 9, Number 3

Contents  |   TESL-EJ Top

"Sharing Time" with Young Learners

Rana Yazigi
Emirates National School,
United Arab Emirates
<ranayazigihotmail.com>

Paul Seedhouse
University of Newcastle upon Tyne,
United Kingdom
<paul.seedhousencl.ac.uk >

Abstract

Although "Sharing Time" is a popular and widespread activity in English for Young Learners (L2) classrooms around the world, there have so far been no research studies of the interaction that is generated and its relationship to learning processes. The aims of this study were to find out how interaction is organized during "Sharing Time" and what kinds of learning it promotes. Audio recordings of 18 complete sessions of Sharing Time in a second grade class in a private English-medium international school in Abu Dhabi were fully transcribed and qualitative analysis of the transcripts was undertaken together with a simple coding system. The focus of the interaction is found to be on topic, meaning, and fluency, rather than form and accuracy. The teacher has no prior knowledge of the topic of the interaction and works collaboratively with the learner to develop the topic and sometimes upgrades the learners' structure and vocabulary. Sharing Time conforms to a social constructivist learning model.

Keywords: EFL, ESL, Young Learners, Sharing Time, Classroom Interaction, Social Constructivism

Full Article (HTML)  |  Full Article (PDF)


© Copyright rests with authors. Please cite TESL-EJ appropriately.

Editor's Note: The HTML version contains no page numbers. Please use the PDF version of this article for citations.