International Journal of Educational Research Open (Dec 2023)
Teachers’ strategies to promote learners’ engagement: Teachers’ talk in perspective
Abstract
This study investigated Iranian EFL teachers’ strategies to promote learners’ engagement via teachers’ talk analysis. Participants comprised 10 EFL teachers within the age range of 21 to 45 and the teaching experience of 1 to 16. To collect data, a video of a whole class time lasting 90 minutes for each teacher was obtained. To analyze the data, the discourse analysis in line with Walsh (2011) was employed. In so doing, the exchanges above the sentence level in which the learner initiated an interaction wherein a learning-engagement opportunity was embedded plus the teachers’ talk in addressing that opportunity via employing an engagement-promotion strategy were taken into consideration. The results indicated that teachers drew on various strategies to foster different dimensions of engagement. Teachers used strategies such as employing encouraging language chunks, asking learners to search the net, offering rewards, and using motivational strategies to promote learners’ behavioral engagement. As for promoting emotional engagement, teachers suggested trying positive thinking, goal setting, self-talk, and self-assessment. With regard to promoting cognitive engagement, teachers recommended being more collaborative, using self-assessment for learning strategies, seeking more information about learning strategies, and highlighting the importance of learner autonomy. With respect to agentic engagement promotion, teachers offered strategies such as thinking about language learning needs, talking about language learning needs with the teacher and others, and respecting learners’ voice. The results are discussed and implications for teacher educators and EFL teachers are provided.
