Peer interaction, cognitive conflict, and anxiety on a Grammar Awareness course for language teachers

This study explored some MA students’ perceptions of a Grammar Awareness course for language teachers. The aim was to understand how group tasks might help students build Grammar Awareness. Two cohorts of students were surveyed and interviewed. In this paper the survey responses are discussed in some depth. While the first cohort was left to organize their groups as they wished, the second cohort used a more structured, cooperative framework. The paper compares the two cohorts, and novice and experienced teachers, to see 1/ whether novice and experienced teachers benefitted equally or differentially and 2/ what effect the changes had. Central features of the pedagogy were the use of authentic texts and open ended group tasks. The intention was to create cognitive conflict as an impetus for engagement and in depth negotiations, leading to knowledge creation. The novice teachers on the whole found tasks and texts more difficult, and had greater problems focusing on the task. The more structured group work led to increased task focus in both groups, and more active participation by the TESOL students, and thus appeared to facilitate engagement with the language, but anxiety was high and increased for the TESOL students in the second cohort.