Language Learning

As set out in section 3, students were required to achieve a certain level of Chinese as language learners during the module. They pointed out in their reflective journals and final group reports that coteaching was a factor in supporting their learning of Chinese. Two factors in particular which helped peer learners to increase their level of the Chinese language were coteachers’ teaching and peer learners’ own intention to study hard. Coteachers’ level of Chinese increased through their preparation of coteaching content. Despite the positive feedback, certain elements also had negative impact on the learning of both peer learners and coteachers.

Coteachers’ varied teaching techniques helped peer learners to understand Chinese from different angles and in refreshing ways. According to peer learners, the variety of teaching techniques encouraged them to learn. ‘All the sessions were well-prepared and very varied in their content and in the approaches of all the teachers. It was interesting to see all of the different personalities and techniques and learn in a different way from each person’ (Group 1). The fact that both coteachers and peer learners were classmates allowed coteachers to understand their peers’ needs easily. In this sense, coteachers were able to create suitable teaching content, enjoyable class activities and a positive classroom atmosphere.

‘For the most part the activities chosen by the coteachers were practical and well-focussed. As these exercises were designed by fellow learners, they seemed to suit our needs well in that they anticipated our difficulties and the likely gaps in our knowledge. Peer-led sessions also contained an element of novelty and fun’ (Group 2).

According to coteachers’ feedback, their participation in coteaching enhanced their knowledge level of the Chinese language. When they were aware that their contribution to coteaching would benefit their peers, they felt encouraged to learn. ‘Revising content for a specific purpose - in this case having to clearly articulate it for others - is a much more effective way of assimilating content than silently looking through notes without really feeling under pressure to properly use the content’ (Mona: week 3). Coteachers put a lot of effort into studying individual words, phrases and pronunciation outside of the classroom. As they recalled, these efforts helped them to master their teaching content. ‘Having us independently source the meaning of target vocabulary was motivating and was certainly engaging... The amount of time required to engage in this task helped us to retain the vocabulary afterwards’ (Group 2).

Despite coteachers’ capability to conduct coteaching, a few factors hindered peer learners’ learning. They consisted of coteachers’ teaching pace, teaching content and pronunciation competence. Some coteachers’ teaching went too fast for peer learners to follow. ‘I felt this week that the class moved too fast and we covered too many new things and didn't get to practise each of the new things enough’ (Kay: week 2). Occasionally coteachers introduced too much content in their teaching. ‘I found that having too much information in the one lesson hindered my learning as well as being very tired’ (Matthew: week 2). Coteachers’ pronunciation was also a hindrance to peer learners’ mastering correct sounds of words. ‘Pronunciation varied hugely from [co]teacher to [co]teacher and this hindered the learning of the tones, which are crucial to the Chinese language’ (Group 5). One negative impact aspect was that coteaching sessions distracted a few coteachers from participating in the main section of the Chinese class. Their minds were switched off for a while. ‘I found that my concentration for this lesson was focused mainly on the first part of the lesson when we were teaching. For the rest of the lesson I was not as focused or concentrated’ (Barry: week 2).