The comparative impact of reasoning gap tasks and opinion gap tasks on young EFL learners’ classroom engagement

Subject Areas : Curriculum Design and Development

Azadeh Khanzadeh Darabi ¹ , Alireza Memari Hanjani ²

1 - Department of English Language, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 - Department of English Language Teaching, College of Humanities, Islamshahr Branch, Islamshahr, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2023-09-01 Accepted : 2024-02-25 Published : 2024-03-10

Keywords: Classroom Engagement, Opinion-gap Tasks, Reasoning-gap Tasks, Task-based Language Teaching,

Abstract :

This study examined the differences between the effects of reasoning gap tasks and opinion gap tasks on young EFL learners’ classroom engagement. The participants comprised 63 Iranian young EFL learners within the age range of 9 to 12 years old. These 63 learners were selected out of an initial number of 100 male and female EFL learners at the intermediate level based on their performance on a Flyers test. The 63 selected participants were divided into two intact groups consisting of 31 learners in the opinion-gap task experimental group and 32 learners in the reasoning-gap experimental group. Then, an engagement checklist was used by two raters in the two groups as pretest. After that, for ten sessions each lasting for 90 minutes, in one of the groups, the researcher carried out opinion-gap tasks while reasoning gap tasks were implemented in another experimental group. Upon finishing the treatment, the two raters used exactly the same checklist and obtained the posttest engagement scores. The analysis of the data through the parametric test of paired sample t-test indicated that both task types significantly impacted young EFL learners’ classroom engagement. Besides, the results of Mann-Whitney U Test revealed that there was no significant difference between the effects of reasoning gap tasks and opinion gap tasks on young EFL learners’ classroom engagement. Based on the results, EFL teachers are recommended to use both task types to enhance EFL learners’ classroom engagement.

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