Abstract
I am an English Second Language (L2) lecturer teaching English Second Language students. Most of my colleagues are L2 lecturers teaching L2 students. My reading and study into the subject has revealed, that there are more L2 teachers and lecturers who teach L2 students in South Africa, and indeed in the world than there are native speakers of English. These considerations have prompted me to investigate English Second Language lecturers’ mediation of learning.
My study describes the methodological and pedagogical experiences of L2 lecturers mediating learning to L2 students and the effect of the combined cultural and language differences between the L2 lecturers and students on the mediation of learning.
The literature reviewed, related to research carried out in the United States of America, Hungary, Canada, India, Japan, Turkey, Hong Kong, Holland and Russia among others . The research design was an interpretive descriptive design which used a qualitative approach for data collection. Through observations and in depth interviews, I gleaned data about how the participants, seven English Second Language lecturers, have mediated learning to their English Second Language learners, in the Department of the University where I work.
The most notable findings of the research was that in mediating learning to L2 learners, the participants in the study (L2 lecturers) were to a large extent, linguistically competent, aware of the communicative and informative aspects of pragmatics and able to negotiate meaning with their learners at an appropriate level. They were also empathetic and culturally aware.
I conclude, by making recommendations, to improve the mediation of learning by English Second Language Lecturers to English Second Language learners.
Dr. E.U. Pather