Teaching through Peer Interactionprepares teachers to use peer communication in the classroom. It presents current research of peer interaction and language learning for teachers, including background on the role of peer interaction in classroom language learning, guidelines for adopting and adapting peer interaction opportunities in real classrooms, and perspectives on teachers' frequently expressed concerns and questions about peer interaction. Practical and comprehensive, this text brings together information on peer communication across the different skill areas, for different learners, in different contexts and includes discussion on assessment. The text is replete with sample activities, tasks, and instructional sequences to aid teachers' understanding of how to use peer interaction effectively in a range of classroom settings, making it the ideal textbook for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in language education programs, as well as in-service teachers. cation programs, as well as in-service teachers.

Teaching through Peer Interaction prepares teachers to use peer communication in the classroom. It presents current research of peer interaction and language learning for teachers, including background on the role of peer interaction in classroom language learning, guidelines for adopting and adapting peer interaction opportunities in real classrooms, and perspectives on teachers’ frequently expressed concerns and questions about peer interaction. Practical and comprehensive, this text brings together information on peer communication across the different skill areas, for different learners, in different contexts, and includes discussion on assessment. The text is replete with sample activities, tasks, and instructional sequences to aid teachers' understanding of how to use peer interaction effectively in a range of classroom settings, making it the ideal textbook for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in language education programs, as well as in-service teachers.

"Teaching Peer Interaction prepares teachers to use peer communication in the classroom. It presents current research of peer interaction and language learning for teachers, including background on the role of peer interaction in classroom language learning, guidelines for adopting and adapting peer interaction opportunities in real classrooms, and perspectives on teachers' frequently expressed concerns and questions about peer interaction. Practical and comprehensive, this text brings together information on peer communication across the different skill areas, for different learners, in different contexts and includes discussion on assessment. The text is replete with sample activities, tasks, and instructional sequences to aid teachers understand how to use peer interaction effectively in a range of classroom settings, making it the ideal textbook for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in language education programs" --

This volume represents the first collection of empirical studies focusing on peer interaction for L2 learning. These studies aim to unveil the impact of mediating variables such as task type, mode of interaction, and social relationships on learners’ interactional behaviors and language development in this unique and pedagogically powerful learning context. To examine these issues, contributors employed quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods designs as well as cognitive, social, and sociocognitive theoretical frameworks. The majority of the studies are classroom based and were conducted in a rich array of settings covering five continents and encompassing a wide range of learner L1s and target languages. These settings include second and foreign language classrooms from primary to university level, content-based programs, online contexts, and after-school programs. To span the divide between research and practice, each study includes a section suggesting pedagogical implications.

Peer Interaction and Second Language Learning synthesizes the existing body of research on the role of peer interaction in second language learning in one comprehensive volume. In spite of the many hours that language learners spend interacting with peers in the classroom, there is a tendency to evaluate the usefulness of this time by comparison to whole class interaction with the teacher. Yet teachers are teachers and peers are peers – as partners in interaction, they are likely to offer very different kinds of learning opportunities. This book encourages researchers and instructors alike to take a new look at the potential of peer interaction to foster second language development. Acknowledging the context of peer interaction as highly dynamic and complex, the book considers the strengths and limitations of peer work from a range of theoretical perspectives. In doing so, Peer Interaction and Second Language Learning clarifies features of effective peer interaction for second language learning across a range of educational contexts, age spans, proficiency levels, and classroom tasks and settings.

Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) involves children in school consciously assisting others to learn, and in so doing learning more effectively themselves. It encompasses peer tutoring, peer modeling, peer education, peer counseling, peer monitoring, and peer assessment, which are differentiated from other more general "co-operative learning" methods. PAL is not diluted or surrogate "teaching"; it complements and supplements (but never replaces) professional teaching--capitalizing on the unique qualities and richness of peer interaction and helping students become empowered democratically to take more responsibility for their own learning. In this book, PAL is presented as a set of dynamic, robust, effective, and flexible approaches to teaching and learning, which can be used in a range of different settings. The chapters provide descriptions of good practice blended with research findings on effectiveness. They describe procedures that can be applied to all areas of the school curriculum, and can be used with learners of all levels of ability, including gifted students, students with disabilities, and second-language learners. Among the distinguished contributors, many are from North America, while others are from Europe and Australia. The applicability of the methods they present is worldwide. Peer-Assisted Learning is designed to be accessible and useful to teachers and to those who employ, train, support, consult with, and evaluate them. Many chapters will be helpful to teachers aiming to replicate in their own school environments the cost-effective procedures described. A practical resources guide is included. This volume will also be of interest to faculty and researchers in the fields of education and psychology, to community educators who want to learn about the implications of Peer Assisted Learning beyond school contexts, and to employers and others involved in post-school training.