The use of exploratory practice for teaching English speaking in a mixed-age group

Exploratory Practice (EP) is a theory that has been widely adopted in teaching language for the last couple of decades due to its strength in promoting the understanding of learners and its mutual development of teachers and learners. From a review of related literature, all researchers who adopted EP in their studies have mainly focused on formal classroom contexts. Few researchers have examined non-formal classroom contexts and no studies have looked at mixed-age groups of learners. To fill this gap, the main objectives of this thesis study are (1) to understand learners’ difficulties when studying English in a mixed-age group, (2) to know learners’ preferences on learning in a mixed-age English class, (3) to improve mixed-age learners’ English speaking skills by a designed program based on EP, and (4) to gather insight on the learners’ perceptions towards the use of the program.
This empirical study uses a mixed method approach with individual semi-structured interviews to identify the difficulties and preferences of learners in an agricultural rural remote area, NSB Village, Thailand. Data was analyzed through thematic analysis. Results show that the designed program based on EP helped mixed-age learners improve their conversation skills, grammar knowledge, vocabulary, and the appropriateness of language used in a given context. Moreover, almost all of the learners had positive perceptions toward the program used. This study gives an important example of the successful use of EP as a means of helping learners in a mixed-age, informal classroom context to improve their English skills.