Students' computer-based workshops in mandatory classes of English for students majoring in psychology and linguistics: A comparative experimental study

Abstract

This article addresses the issue of developing and using students’ workshops in English. In the article, such workshops are defined as the fullest form of peer-teaching in which one or several students (workshop organizers) guide their group-mates in performing extra-linguistic learning activities conducted in the target language. The research describes workshops as one of the most efficient ways of involuntary (subconscious) target language acquisition achieved through extra-linguistic practical (experiential) activities performed by way of communication in the language to be learned. The article reports the results of a comparative experimental study in which students of a non-linguistic major (Psychology) and students majoring in English as a foreign language on which their career option (Applied Linguistics) is based were practicing workshops in English in their mandatory classes on that language. The results of the experimental study clearly demonstrate and prove that workshop practice was quite successful in both cases not only in what concerns the involuntary (subconscious) development of learners’ target language communication skills. No less evident was the development of some of the students’ psychological qualities (emotional intelligence) important for their further studies and professional careers.