The Effects of a Peer-Mediated Learning Intervention on Reading Comprehension and Reading Self-efficacy in Secondary EFL Classrooms in Germany

Mediation means that the mediator; very often a parent, a teacher, or a more competent peer places him/herself between the learner and the stimuli in the external world and modifies that stimuli for the learner to aid his/her learning (Feuerstein & Feuerstein, 1991, see also Daniels, 2015). Peer-mediated learning (PML) means that one of the peers becomes the mediator to act as an intermediary between the teacher and another learner or learners who do not understand the learning content, or the language of instruction, or are unable to understand each other directly. This is important because the less proficient students may considerably benefit from such mediation which a single teacher may not be able to provide to all students in one class. Most studies have explored the effectiveness of PML with English language learners in countries where English is an official language (Cole, 2018), while research on PML in foreign language classrooms is missing. Building on research on peer interaction among young and young adolescent learners in L2 classrooms (Adams & Oliver, 2019) and PML in language literacy and educational psychology (Martin-Beltrán, Daniel, Peercy & Silverman, 2017; Tzuriel & Shamir, 2007), this study implemented a pedagogical intervention lasting three months and explored the effects of PML on L1 German young adolescent EFL secondary learners’ (N=75) reading comprehension and reading self-efficacy. It employed a quasi-experimental research design and the data was collected by reading comprehension pre-and post-tests, tests throughout the intervention, and self-perception questionnaires. Despite the perceived novelty of this approach, PML led to significant improvement in reading comprehension and higher reading self-efficacy for mediators and learners. This study advances foreign language (FL) research by providing important insights into the potential of PML to enhance foreign language learning. Pedagogical implications are discussed.