Effectiveness of pair work activities in ESL classrooms at the tertiary levels of Bangladesh

Abstract

The research is based on a small scale study which explores the effectiveness of pair work at the tertiary level of Bangladeshi classrooms. It focuses on the students’ and teachers’ attitudes regarding the effectiveness of pair work activities in classroom settings and investigates to what extend it is proved to be effective for the students. It also finds out the difficulties to implement pair work which may hinder the success of language learning. Survey questionnaires and observation checklist are employed as the instruments for data collection procedure. From the findings, it is identified that majority of the students consider pair work activities as effective technique which enables them to learn by sharing knowledge. Moreover, majority of the teachers recommend pair work activities for its enormous benefits though certain challenges encounter to implement the activity successfully. Effectiveness of pair work varies depending on the learning atmospheres, contexts and the learners learning styles.