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Cooperative learning tasks in a Grade 6 intensive ESL class: Role of scaffolding

Although a number of studies have investigated classroom-based peer interaction with adults and high school students, research pertaining to children in the elementary grades is scant. Drawing on sociocultural theory, the present study investigated how children in an intensive elementary level Grade 6 class for English as a second language (ESL) scaffolded each other while carrying out cooperative learning tasks. Interactions for two teams were analysed. As in the case of older learners, children were shown to be capable of engaging in linguistically oriented scaffolding. Although a variety of scaffolding strategies were in evidence, the two most frequently used pertained to request for assistance and other-correction. As in the Foster and Ohta (2005) study, the present analysis suggests that the strategies typically associated with negotiation of meaning within an interactionist perspective were rarely used. To explain how the children were orienting to the tasks, the importance of the classroom culture and the structure of the cooperative learning tasks were evoked.