Speaker
Abstract section 3: Content/method
The study involved 196 third-year technical college students with CEFR A1–B1 English proficiency. Working in small groups, students completed a collaborative project while participating in three in-class workshops focused on initiating discussions, managing turn‑taking, summarizing key points, and using common facilitation expressions. The workshops emphasized procedural understanding and practical application through hands‑on activities integrated into regular coursework.
Abstract section 2: Contribution/research questions
This study offers a new instructional model by implementing facilitation workshops within a required English course, combining project-based learning with an expert-supported, hands‑on textbook. It contributes empirical insights into how students perceive facilitation tasks and highlights factors, particularly English proficiency and topic complexity, that may influence the smoothness of facilitation. The study expands limited research treating facilitation as a teachable skill for students.
Abstract section 1: Relevance
Effective facilitation is widely recognized as essential for productive discussion, yet instructional approaches that train students—not only teachers—to act as facilitators remain insufficiently developed. Traditional discussion instruction has tended to emphasize speaking-related skills such as fluency, speech quantity, and communication strategies, leaving limited attention to the abilities needed to guide, coordinate, and manage the flow of interaction. As learner-centered pedagogies continue to grow, there is a clear need for instructional models that explicitly cultivate facilitation skills within foreign language learning environments.
Abstract section 4: Outcomes/results
Survey results indicated high student satisfaction and improved understanding of how to facilitate discussions in English. Student comments reflected three themes: recognizing the difficulty of selecting appropriate facilitation phrases, gaining clearer awareness of facilitation processes, and reflecting on academic content discussed. The findings suggest that both students’ language proficiency and the cognitive demands of the topic can affect the smoothness of facilitated interactions. The study calls for further research on selecting suitable discussion topics and identifying effective instructional support, particularly within CLIL contexts integrating language and content learning.
Abstract section 5: References
Burke, P., & Hewett, L. (2013). Effective meeting. ALC Education.
Tsai, K. J. (2025) .Fostering ‘talk to learn’ in an EFL classroom. Cogent Education, 12(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2025.2516389
| Title | Facilitation Skills in Student‑Led Discussions |
|---|---|
| Teaching Context | College and university education |