Oral Collaborative Tasks: Positive and Negative Impacts on Young English Learners

Sammanfattning: Studies have shown that when young EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners participate in oral collaboration tasks, it may have both positive and negative effects for them. Nearly all of the research done in this area has been carried out on older learners, which makes the information related to younger learners relatively narrow. In the last decade, however, research done with young learners has gradually increased. This has led to elementary school teachers being given a wider range of knowledge regarding oral collaborative tasks and their impact on their students. Through a handful of selected research carried out on young English learners, this study’s aim is to highlight both positive and negative impacts that oral collaboration tasks may have on students in elementary school (K3). All of the research from our selected articles was conducted through observation in the classroom, in which two of them included students’ own perceptions. Different factors can have an influence on oral collaboration tasks, such as patterns of interaction, task content, attitudes and feelings, and the teacher’s role.