Teacher-Assisted vs. Peer-Assisted Performances and L2 Development: A Mixed Methods Approach

The present study compared the impact of teacher-provided and peer-provided oral assistance in the acquisition of English wh-question forms. Participants were 90 female Iranian EFL learners who constituted the 3 groups of the study: teacherassisted, peer-assisted, and a control group. Participants in the experimental groups received assistance either from the teacher or a peer during task-based performances to make wh-questions, whereas those in the control group performed the same tasks with no assistance. The study took a mixed-methods design. Results from the quantitative pre/posttest analysis showed that both teacher-assisted and peer-assisted groups significantly improved in receptive and productive knowledge of the L2 forms compared to the control group, but no significant difference was observed between the 2 groups' degree of language development. Results of the qualitative microgenetic analysis revealed that the peer-assisted group outperformed the teacher-assisted group at the first 2 time points of the experiment. The finding that peer-provided assistance was effective with equal or greater benefits as compared to the teacher-assisted group calls into question the traditional belief that L2 learners are incapable of assisting peers in EFL classrooms.