Role of Contextual Factors in the Implementation of Mediation Descriptors with Higher Education Language Learners

Susana Lorenzo-Zamorano, Adolfo Sánchez Cuadrado, Joaquín Cruz Trapero, Marga Navarrete, Lucía Pintado Gutiérrez

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

This paper describes a project which involved a community of practice of five higher-education foreign language teachers at four different universities in three countries. The project had two main goals. Firstly, to broaden teaching practices in order to meet students’ needs and to help students become effective social agents. Secondly, to explore new ways of applying the innovative mediation construct that the CEFR Companion Volume offers to language learning. The project followed these steps:

1) After agreeing on the mediation descriptors to be used (from the scales Facilitating pluricultural space and Facilitating communication in delicate situations and disagreements), practitioners developed a mediation task in each educational setting.
2) The mediation tasks were implemented in class and evaluated by students by means of an online questionnaire.
3) The tasks were compared for similarities and differences in order to explore the impact that contextual factors might have had in the implementation of the two main mediation descriptor scales selected for the project, as well as other considered for relevance in the tasks – such as Processing text or Facilitating collaborative interaction with peers.
4) Students’ and teachers’ perceptions on the mediation tasks were investigated for pedagogical effectiveness.

This case study report outlines the mediation tasks created and discusses the main findings of the project. Firstly, the new mediation descriptors proved to be extremely useful to develop action-oriented tasks aimed at improving students’ mediation skills and social agency when acting as intermediaries. Moreover, the students’ feedback showed very positive results in terms of the achievement of learning outcomes, students’ involvement in the tasks and the development of mediation skills. As reported by the participants in questionnaires, their awareness of what mediation is, and what it implies, increased thanks to the task. The tasks also helped the students enhance their ability in appreciating others' ideas by showing empathy to finally establish consensus. Finally, a common instructional design was found in all of the tasks created in the project. This fact led to the conclusion that this design may be used as a template or task shell for future practitioners wishing to develop similar tasks.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationEnriching 21st century language education
Subtitle of host publicationThe CEFR Companion Volume, examples from practice
EditorsBrian North, Enrica Piccardo, Tim Goodier, Daniela Fasoglio, Rosanna Margonis-Pasinetti, Bernd Rüschoff
Place of PublicationStrasbourg
PublisherCouncil of Europe
Chapter2
Pages57-67
Number of pages11
ISBN (Print)9789287188465
Publication statusPublished - May 2022

Keywords

  • CEFR Companion Volume

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