Uncovering Peer Interactions as a Resource for Learning

Abstract

This chapter explores the potential of peer interactions as a resource for both content and language learning. It defines peer interactions as communicative activities that occur between peers without intervention from teachers. Although peer interactions demonstrate less institutionalized interaction patterns, they are still framed by socioculturally influenced objectives and education norms, which influence their construction and subsequent foreign language use. Although this chapter merely scratches the surface of the complexity of peer interactions, it suggests nevertheless that two separate layers of interactions may be present in classrooms: First, a more dominant and observable “superordinate layer” and second, “a subordinate layer” that involves a network of peer interactions found below the surface of the first. Within this framework, I suggest that there are four types of peer interactions available for exploration: (1) interactions with more capable peers, (2) interactions with equal peers, (3) interactions with less capable peers, and (4) inner resources. In this chapter, each of these types are explained against the background of sociocultural theory and supported by classroom examples from researchers who have acknowledged the existence and value of these types of interaction.