CR discussions to foster fluency and Self - Directedness

This study examines the implementation of videotaping collaborative reasoning discussions to develop oral fluency and self-directed skills in 9-th grade students from a public high school and 10-th grade students from a private French-speaking school in Colombia.The researchers gathered data from pre- and post-questionnaires regarding the participant¿s beliefs about self-directedness and oral fluency, post-discussion rubrics to assess students¿ oral performance after participating in CR discussions, which were videotaped for further recall, students¿ journals with reflections about their participation in the research project, and classroom observation conducted by the practitioner researchers.The outcomes of the study differed for each context. The researchers concluded that one of the reasons for such improvement was the priority students give to learning English. Additionally, videotaping discussions was a very useful tool for students to enhance the development of self-directedness, since they were able to reflect on their own oral performance and to set goals for working on their limitations.Collaborative reasoning discussions also promoted peer support and peer motivation.