THE ROLE OF COLLABORATIVE LEARNING IN ENHANCING COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE AMONG ESL/EFL LEARNERS

Аннотация

This study argues that collaborative learning plays a pivotal role in enhancing communicative competence among ESL/EFL learners by fostering interactional authenticity, social negotiation of meaning, and learner autonomy, which are often lacking in traditional language classrooms.In the context of English as a Second or Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) instruction, fostering communicative competence remains a central objective of language education. This paper explores how collaborative learning — through group tasks, peer interactions, and cooperative projects — enhances learners’ communicative competence by promoting authentic use of language in social contexts. Drawing on Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory and communicative language teaching (CLT) principles, the study synthesizes findings from classroom-based research and empirical studies. The analysis reveals that collaborative learning environments provide opportunities for meaningful negotiation of meaning, increased learner autonomy, and improved fluency and accuracy. The paper concludes that designing structured, goal-oriented collaborative tasks can significantly strengthen communicative competence, especially in settings where learners have limited exposure to authentic English communication.