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ELT Journal Advance Access published online on March 27, 2009
ELT Journal, doi:10.1093/elt/ccp019
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.

Help seeking in English language learning

Barbara Skinner and Mary Catherine Madden

Barbara Skinner has worked as an English language teacher and is currently the course director of the MA TESOL programme at the University of Ulster. Her research interests include TESOL teacher development, international students in higher education, and EAL
Mary Catherine Madden was an MA TESOL student at the University of Ulster. She now has a post in a primary school, teaching English to parents and children from Eastern Europe and the Philippines. She lives with her husband and three children in Magherafelt, Northern Ireland

Email: b.skinner{at}ulster.ac.uk


  Abstract

An examination of literature on the issue of help seeking (HS) has revealed a common theme: students will not always ask for help, even when they are aware that help is needed. The purpose of this action research study was to examine HS and help avoidance in the context of setting tasks in two types of English language-learning environment: a formal classroom situation and an informal community group. This action research study aimed firstly to explore whether and how instances of HS to understand tasks set could be increased, and secondly to examine the effects the two very different language-learning environments had on students’ HS. It was found that changes in HS behaviour were small and that regardless of interventions to support HS, learners will only seek help when the environment in which they are learning is relaxed and informal.

Final revised version received November 2008


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