Exploring Teachers’ Perceptions of EFL Students’ Engagement in Collaborative Learning: Implementation Issues and Suggestions

The evolving landscape of collaborative learning in English education for the last two decades has witnessed a notable research surge in diverse contexts. Nevertheless, empirical evidence suggests a noticeable dearth of attention or very limited emphasis, particularly within the setting of Arabic-na...

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Main Authors: Ali Abbas Falah Alzubi, Mohd Nazim, Jalal Ahmad
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Qubahan 2024-03-01
Series:Qubahan Academic Journal
Online Access:https://journal.qubahan.com/index.php/qaj/article/view/383
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author Ali Abbas Falah Alzubi
Mohd Nazim
Jalal Ahmad
author_facet Ali Abbas Falah Alzubi
Mohd Nazim
Jalal Ahmad
author_sort Ali Abbas Falah Alzubi
collection DOAJ
description The evolving landscape of collaborative learning in English education for the last two decades has witnessed a notable research surge in diverse contexts. Nevertheless, empirical evidence suggests a noticeable dearth of attention or very limited emphasis, particularly within the setting of Arabic-native speaking countries on exploring English teachers’ perceptions concerning students' engagement in collaborative learning. Therefore, this study aims to identify teachers’ perceptions of EFL students’ engagement in collaborative learning with a special reference to implementation issues and solutions to address the challenges. The descriptive survey design was employed to attain the study objectives. A sample of (45) EFL teachers chosen following the convenient sampling method answered a closed-item questionnaire and did an interview. The results revealed that EFL teachers highly perceived implementing collaborative learning among university students in EFL classrooms. Also, the respondents’ teaching experiences did not impact their perceptions of implementing collaborative learning in EFL classrooms. In addition, gender did not play any role in affecting the respondents’ answers to implementing collaborative learning in EFL classrooms. Finally, the analysis of interview contents showed that the problems that teachers face in implementing collaborative learning include diverse language proficiency, cultural differences, impartial participation, personal conflicts, limited class time, access to resources, and lack of professional development. Additionally, the participants suggested differentiated teaching, encouraged participation, efficient time management, language skill grouping, and EFL-specific teacher training to make a collaborative learning environment effective.
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spelling doaj-art-3fd47ad62378479a95105385238bb52e2025-02-03T10:12:11ZengQubahanQubahan Academic Journal2709-82062024-03-014110.48161/qaj.v4n1a383383Exploring Teachers’ Perceptions of EFL Students’ Engagement in Collaborative Learning: Implementation Issues and Suggestions Ali Abbas Falah Alzubi 0Mohd Nazim1Jalal Ahmad2Department of English, College of Languages and Translation, Najran University, Najran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Department of English, College of Languages and Translation, Najran University, Najran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; English Skills Department, Preparatory Year, Najran University, Najran, Saudi Arabia.The evolving landscape of collaborative learning in English education for the last two decades has witnessed a notable research surge in diverse contexts. Nevertheless, empirical evidence suggests a noticeable dearth of attention or very limited emphasis, particularly within the setting of Arabic-native speaking countries on exploring English teachers’ perceptions concerning students' engagement in collaborative learning. Therefore, this study aims to identify teachers’ perceptions of EFL students’ engagement in collaborative learning with a special reference to implementation issues and solutions to address the challenges. The descriptive survey design was employed to attain the study objectives. A sample of (45) EFL teachers chosen following the convenient sampling method answered a closed-item questionnaire and did an interview. The results revealed that EFL teachers highly perceived implementing collaborative learning among university students in EFL classrooms. Also, the respondents’ teaching experiences did not impact their perceptions of implementing collaborative learning in EFL classrooms. In addition, gender did not play any role in affecting the respondents’ answers to implementing collaborative learning in EFL classrooms. Finally, the analysis of interview contents showed that the problems that teachers face in implementing collaborative learning include diverse language proficiency, cultural differences, impartial participation, personal conflicts, limited class time, access to resources, and lack of professional development. Additionally, the participants suggested differentiated teaching, encouraged participation, efficient time management, language skill grouping, and EFL-specific teacher training to make a collaborative learning environment effective. https://journal.qubahan.com/index.php/qaj/article/view/383
spellingShingle Ali Abbas Falah Alzubi
Mohd Nazim
Jalal Ahmad
Exploring Teachers’ Perceptions of EFL Students’ Engagement in Collaborative Learning: Implementation Issues and Suggestions
Qubahan Academic Journal
title Exploring Teachers’ Perceptions of EFL Students’ Engagement in Collaborative Learning: Implementation Issues and Suggestions
title_full Exploring Teachers’ Perceptions of EFL Students’ Engagement in Collaborative Learning: Implementation Issues and Suggestions
title_fullStr Exploring Teachers’ Perceptions of EFL Students’ Engagement in Collaborative Learning: Implementation Issues and Suggestions
title_full_unstemmed Exploring Teachers’ Perceptions of EFL Students’ Engagement in Collaborative Learning: Implementation Issues and Suggestions
title_short Exploring Teachers’ Perceptions of EFL Students’ Engagement in Collaborative Learning: Implementation Issues and Suggestions
title_sort exploring teachers perceptions of efl students engagement in collaborative learning implementation issues and suggestions
url https://journal.qubahan.com/index.php/qaj/article/view/383
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