Peer-Led Group dialogues between majority and language minority students in the Norwegian upper secondary EFL classroom. A Case study.

Abstract

This master’s thesis explores the didactic benefits and challenges of using peer-led mixed group dialogues between majority and language minority students in the upper secondary Norwegian EFL classroom. The study implements ideas from intercultural competence theory, transformative learning theory and linguistic theory, which are explored in the empirical data collected in a mixed-methods case study design. Key findings are that peer-led mixed group dialogues can promote intercultural competence, transformative learning processes and language skills. For example, the students most often dealt successfully with the instability of the dialogues. The results also indicate that the dialogues strengthened some participants’ confidence to speak English. The most important challenge is believed to be sufficiently raising the students’ awareness of the uniqueness of learning situation they were in, and the learning outcome of participating in the dialogues.