Sociocultural context as a foundation for collaborative work in EFL classroom

Abstract

The current research explored the sociocultural context as a basis for collaborative work in the English as a foreign language classroom. It examined how students’ cultural differences and commonalities, traditions, and social experiences contribute to successful interactions, communication, and participation in group-based tasks. Knowledge of these dimensions enables instructors to create assignments that reflect students’ inclusiveness, mutual respect, and productive cooperation. The research was qualitative and included interviewing five EFL teachers working at a UPSE university. The purpose was to inquire about their vision and experience in terms of the implementation of sociocultural contextualization in Collaborative Learning. Based on the results, it can be admitted that valuing the cultural diversity of students contributes to improving group dynamics and overall motivation in collaborative work. At the same time, the teachers faced several difficulties, from lack of time and opportunities for proper training to the continuing use of teacher-centric approaches that do not allow integrating into the principles mentioned above fully. These findings show that the programs should prioritize professional development in terms of raising awareness of pedagogical approaches and elements of the sociocultural context and take them into account when developing collaborative curricular activities. In this way, the report suggests that incorporating sociocultural context into EFL supports not only the development of students’ communicative proficiency but also nurtures the atmosphere of cooperation and students’ respect for this issue.