Group related factors in the classroom participation of second language learners

Abstract

This study investigates if two groups of EFL learners who differed distinctly in classroom participation, also differed in their proficiency in the target language, school success, socio economic status, personality and group cohesiveness with special reference to Turkish learners. The study was conducted on two third year evening classes in the English Language Teaching Department of Bursa Uludağ University in Türkiye. For the purpose of the study, the two groups were initially observed independently in order to code the total number of turns. Classroom participation was measured in terms of the amount of overall verbal participation in language as well as content courses which were also conducted in English. The group of subjects were classified into two main types depending on their amount of participation: Higher Participating Group (HPG) and Lower Participating Group (LPG). HPG and LPG groups were compared on five measures: the Eynseck Personality Inventory (EPI), a Cloze test, a Social Class Questionnaire, and a Socio-metric test. Additionally, the Course Grades of the subjects for the last four semesters were used to measure success. The data obtained from these different data collection instruments were statistically analyzed by t-tests for independent samples to see if the two groups were different in any of the measures. The findings of the study revealed significant difference only in the proficiency levels and socio-economic statuses between the groups and no difference was found between HPG and LPG in Course Grades, Personality or Group Cohesiveness.