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Language Classrooms - Multicultural classrooms (Why is she so quiet in the classroom?) - Classroom participation

4 important questions on Language Classrooms - Multicultural classrooms (Why is she so quiet in the classroom?) - Classroom participation

What is active participation?

An optimal learning condition in teachers' professional development manuals. It maximises learning opportunities and thus contributes to learners' success. Quietness, reticence and passivity are seen as problematic and deficient and frequently attributed to a lack of willingness to take part on the learners' behalf.

What is a difference of the distribution of turns and the quality of contribution between native speakers and L2 learners?

Non-native speakers' turns tend to be brief, less forthcoming, often inaccessible to others, and provide only minimal responses.

Why is the validity of often-cited binary contrast between native speakers of English and L2 learners in their participation patterns in classroom discussion questionable?

There is significant within-group variation: each group is internally heterogeneous and includes members who are outspoken and those who are reluctant to participate; one individual student's non-participation may have different causes or meanings across classroom contexts or in the same classroom context over time, and therefore needs to be examined in a specific context.