The Features of Mediation in Efl Classroom Interaction: Teacher Perspectives

Abstract

The classroom is a place where the teacher, as an expert and the knower, teaches students through interactions influenced by several sociocultural backgrounds. Moreover, the teacher plays a role in mediating language learning processes by providing effective mediation. In brief, mediation can be defined as all objects delivered by the teacher to mediate the students to bring their current ability to the targeted performance. This current research serves to describe the features of mediation applied by English teacher in one lower secondary school in the EFL classroom context. This qualitative-based inquiry applied classroom observation and interviews as instruments to explore how the teacher mediated language learning in the classroom particularly for beginner-level students in one private school in Jakarta. The findings showed that the features of shared intention are the most salient to be mediated. This indicates that the teacher is very concerned with helping and facilitating the students to perform tasks. In addition, in mediating values, challenges, change and competence, the teacher creates engaging classroom discourses, selects particular tasks, and nurtures a positive classroom climate. Moreover, the teacher sets herself as a mediator as well as mediation as an ideal form of behavior and language model in the class.Keywords: English; foreign language; mediation; sociocultural view.

Dil Öğretiminde Aracılık

“…At this stage, the definition of mediation becomes crucial. Mediation, in its broadest sense, refers to carrying out an action (Walqui, 2006); utilizing a suitable tool to solve a problem or accomplish a goal (Williams & Burden, 2007); ‚involving a third factor (tool) in the interaction between two entities, events, or individuals‛ (Kozulin, 2018, p. 23); the process by which individuals employ culturally constructed concepts and activities to regulate their own and others' social and mental activities or the external world (Lantolf & Thorne, 2006); ‚the facilitating role adopted by an individual to enhance and streamline the communication process‛ (Deniz, Öztürk & Çekici, 2021, p. 349); ‚the interaction between learners and the learning environment through the language instructor who assumes the role of human mediator‛ (Brown, 2002, p. 2); and all the objects presented by the teacher to help learners progress from their current abilities to the desired performance level (Sundari, 2020). Moreover, mediation can be described as ‚the actions taken by competent educators and parents to promote elevated levels of cognitive functioning in their children or students‛ (Haywood & Lidz, 2007, p. 42).…”

“…According to Seng, Pou, and Tan (2003), individuals surrounding students, such as parents, facilitators, or teachers, play a deliberate role in explaining, emphasizing, interpreting, or expanding the learning environment, allowing the learner to construct a meaningful inner understanding of the context or the experienced world. ; Sundari (2020) states that adults, parents, or educators assist students in managing tasks, offering task-related guidance, and assessing the students' comprehension of the subject matter, thus, they act as mediators. Seng (1997) highlights that the human mediator intervenes between the learning organism and the world of stimuli to interpret, guide and give meaning to stimuli.…”

“…According to Thoms (2012), Sociocultural Theory proposes that the language proficiency is acquired within social interactions, where individuals participate in communicative practices under the guidance and support of a more skilled participant. Sundari (2020) highlights that this guidance and support can be termed as mediation, which is a pivotal concept in Sociocultural Theory explaining the development of knowledge through psychological instruments. These psychological instruments can be languages, artifacts, signs, and symbols (Lantolf & Poehner, 2008).…”

Mediation Skills in Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language

“…In the literature, mediation is defined as "the facilitating role of a person to consolidate and streamline the communication process" (Deniz, Öztürk, & Çekici, 2021, p. 349); "the involvement of a third factor (tool) in the interaction between two objects, events, or people" (Kozulin, 2018, p. 23); the use of a tool to perform an action in the most general sense, which is at the center of Vygotsky's theory of learning (Walqui, 2006); the process by which people use culturally constructed artifacts, concepts, and activities to organize the material world or their own and each other's social and mental activities (Lantolf & Thorne, 2006); "interaction of the learner with the learning environment through the language trainer who plays the role of a human agent" (Brown, 2002, p. 2); "what good teachers and parents do when they promote a high level of mental function in their children (and students)" (Haywood & Lidz, 2007, p. 42); and as all the objects offered by the teacher (Sundari, 2020) to help students bring their current abilities to the targeted performance. In mediation, the speaker acts as an intermediary and helps others understand information that is linguistically inaccessible.…”

“…The mediator is, on the other hand, defined as the person who makes a text, concept, or communicative situation, which is not understood or misunderstood by the researchers, understandable (Deniz, Öztürk, & Çekici, 2021); as another important person who plays a deliberate role, such as emphasizing, interpreting, or expanding the environment around the learners, for the "parent, facilitator, teacher, or student" to create a meaningful internal model of the context or the experienced world." (Seng, Pou, & Tan, 2003); or as an adult, parent, or teacher (Sundari, 2020) who helps students control task elements, provides guidance to do tasks, and evaluates students' understanding. Dendrinos (2006) expresses that a mediator is a social actor who watches the interaction process of the agent and takes action when some kind of intervention is required to assist the communication process and sometimes to influence the outcome; a facilitator at social events where two or more interacting parties have a communication breakdown or a communication gap between them; and a meaning-maker who functions as a meaning-creating agent, especially when he intervenes in negativities related to consensus, reconciliation, or meaning.…”