**4.6 Participation**

As seen in the previous section some students turn their cameras off to prevent participating in the discussion. This has been mentioned by teachers as a challenge they encounter, the lack of learners' participation. To be able to solve this challenge, teachers need to understand the reasons behind leaners low participation. According to learners focus group possible factors were mentioned that might be one of the reasons behind learners' lack of participation. Those factors are learners' knowledge, language anxiety. When teachers were asked about their perspective, they only mentioned that learners might not be prepared or not motivated, they were not quite aware of non-native learners' language anxiety. This shows the importance of the need for teacher to include learners as part of their reflective practice process. Teachers need to interact to learners to find out their perspectives and point of view of certain matters.

Extract 5.

*Researcher: "why do you think some students don't engage in breakout rooms?"*

*Teacher: "some students are not really motivated, as it is quite hard to motivate and encourage learners to take part especially in an online situation.*

*Researcher: what do you think helps encourage learners to take part in breakout rooms?"*

*Teacher: "sometimes when students are given preparational task to do, so when they prepare for the class topic, they often more encouraged to take part and discuss."*

In this dialogue form the teacher individual interview, it can be seen that teachers are facing challenges in motivating learners to take part in interactions during VLE. The teacher in the dialogue has also mentioned preparational tasks, which will be looked at in this section.

Preparational task that is given to students for some classes for preparation for breakout rooms discussion, UK teachers had a strong opinion towards the importance of preparation task to enhance learner's interaction in breakout rooms as well as the international students from Newcastle university that were involved in this research. However, a teacher from Saudi Arabia claims that this point could also be a cultural difference, as preparation task in Saudi do not seem to be effective. This is because learners in Saudi Arabia do not seem to complete the preparational task set. However, this does not seem to be the case as teachers from Newcastle university also state that learners do not often complete the pre task, especially if it was reading a chapter prior to the class. Therefore, one of the reasons behind learners not engaging in preparation task could be because of task type of the class preparation.

Extract 6.

*Teacher A: space to explore the information that they have learned as prep and I do think it yields better breakout room responses, or better teaching in general, better learning online in general and so yeah, I would agree with assigning preparational task.*

*Teacher B: I just wanted to comment on this specific comment about the prep work, I would say it does not work with these for my students maybe it's a cultural difference, which I think could be usually. I am not really sure what are the reasons behind this.*

*Teacher c: well for my students they usually do complete the tasks I ask them to do before the class but some time when its pre-reading chapters or watching pre-recorded videos that are quite long, they do not complete it.*

*Teacher A: Yeh I feel it could be according to the type of task given to them.*

Learners' views on the preparation task are similar to what UK teacher have suspected. They have stated that when preparation takes a long time, they often not complete it, however they complete tasks if it was monitored by the teacher and had a deadline. They gave an example of quizzes, which teachers can utilise the zoom affordances to create these tasks for learners to ensure the completion of these preparation tasks. Using the quiz option teachers are able to design quizzes prior to class time and give few minutes at the beginning of class for learners to complete the task and be able to discuss their answers at breakout rooms.

The breakout room from the observation data did not include a preparation task before the class. For this reason, students spent two minutes to read and familiarise

#### *Students' Interaction in Breakout Rooms DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108184*

themselves with the task on hand. If students were prepared prior to the class, they would likely have had time to generate more ideas for discussion which will have resulted in more effective interaction. As well as complete their discussion, which they did not have a chance to do so. As said earlier task type has an effect on student's completion of the pre-task, for this reason teachers need to develop their technological competence for them to be able to provide task that suits the online classroom environment, because materials used in the traditional classroom cannot be used directly in a VLE. One task most students agreed that it was difficult to complete at breakout room is reading comprehension. Students were asked to read a chapter during breakout room time and answer comprehension questions. The issue with this task is the overload, learners have limited time in the breakout room therefore reading a chapter with their classmates and answering 4–5 questions is a lot for breakout room time. This task can be adapted to the online environment by assigning pre-reading for learners with the questions. During the breakout rooms learners could discuss their answers together.

An interesting point addressed by learners in relation to the software that was used for the reading task mentioned earlier, is that learners was asked to use a shared document to answer the questions. Students were able to see other groups working, which encouraged and motivated learners to work together as group to complete the task before other groups. It also allows learners to access the document later and look at other groups answers and ideas.

#### **4.7 Language anxiety**

Students' participation in breakout rooms discussion is also affected by learner's language anxiety, as the participants of this research are non-native speakers of English studying in an English university, that has both native and non-native speakers of English.

Extract 7.

*Student B: Yeh I agree with this comment, some students maybe their English is not good enough, and if you if you have a person who is a native speaker of English in the breakout room That kind of doubles up.*

The observation data shows that two non-native learners were not participating at all in the breakout room discussion [70]. This could be because learners are pressured in terms of their English language level, as student in this course will be or are English language teachers. In addition, from the focus group data it has been stated by international students is that in their countries they look at how native their accents sound like. Rather than looking at how well they can interact and use language to get their message across. As it has been mentioned in the previous section that the task given was on English for academic purpose (EAP) and the learners who have participated have had more experience in working as EAP teachers, so they had more to say. This could possibly intimidate other learners from participating.

However, we cannot say for sure that the reason behind this is due language anxiety. Because in the same breakout room there was a native student that also did not participate and a non-native student that have participated. However, another possible explanation not related to language anxiety that could have had an effect, is that learners do not want to disturb the structural organisation of turn-taking. Therefore, learners tend to stay quiet until the speaker mutes their microphone. Especially if learners had their cameras off learners will not be able to know if they are done with their turn until their

microphones are switched off. These are all assumptions; it would have been best if the researcher was able to conduct post-observation interview with learners to find out why the three learners did not participate in that class.

Teachers need to be aware of the pressure that many international students go through to speak up and interact with other students, due to their language proficiency level. This is essential in particular when they are setting up breakout rooms to think and plan a head which students goes to which breakout room. A suggestion by one student was raised that teachers should include one confident student in each group to encourage shy students to speak up.

Extract 8.

*"teachers should assign A person that will be in charge of calling other people to talk, maybe that could encourage the communication in the breakout rooms."*

However, from the observation data it can be clear that assigning roles automatically happens by students themselves, in the recording the native student took the role of being in charge. This can be good or bad, if the student in charge is able to encourage other learners to share their views by using CIC, this could be a good way to create effective learners' interaction. However, if native learners take charge and answers all the questions by themselves or with only one confident speaker, as it has been observed in the recording, then this could be an issue. As if this occurs it would be hard for non-native students to participate and hence to learn.

Extract 9.

*Student B the first one, match the pre sessional course. °i thought °.*

*Student A: it might be foundational because it says undergrad.*

*Student B: But I noticed that there is entry requirements if a student's fail to meet the entry requirements, which means he should attend the pre sessional course.*

*Student A: I thought pre sessional course is for masters though,*

*Student B: oh, yeah, for masters.*

It is apparent from the extract above that student A, who is a native student was able to clarify a point for student B who is non-native student. But student B disagrees learners starts negotiating for meaning, which not only encourages participation but also active learning this is a theme that have been identified and will be looked at later.

#### **4.8 Monitoring**

Another challenge that the datasets have revealed is related to monitoring, teachers are experiencing challenges to monitor learner's interaction in breakout rooms. They have mentioned the challenges they face while monitoring. One of those challenges is that learners stop talking when the teachers enter the breakout room. Secondly, the challenge of getting around all the breakout rooms. One point that have been raised by a teacher in the focus group is that in a real face to face classroom teachers can monitor from far and monitor close to groups that seem that they need help however this is not the case in SOL as teachers do not have the ability to monitor from far. However, this could be a point that the zoom system develops in the software. Which is add the feature

#### *Students' Interaction in Breakout Rooms DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108184*

of "CCTV". As one student suggested. Not to only help teachers monitor all groups but also to not interrupt learner's interaction as learners have stated that teachers going in and out of breakout rooms can be distracting for them. However, potential complication may arise for example some students may not feel comfortable being observed in this way. It may require written consent from the students, for example, to be ethically viable.

Extract 10.

*Student D: If they had like a CCTV they could see With the cameras on who what group is struggling and what group will be working like I do not think the audio will be a problem, but yeah I think that that could."*

One of the points raised is the use of shared document such as one drive or Google doc to help with monitoring. Some teachers have mentioned that this is something they normally use to help with the monitoring. But not all teachers felt confident in using technical software during breakout rooms. To avoid technical issues, which will be discussed in further detail later in this chapter.

### **4.9 Classroom interactional competence**

Walsh and Li [10] highlights the strategies teachers can create space for learning through interaction in traditional PiP classroom, which could also be applied to SOL. The qualitative datasets revealed that teachers were aware of the importance of interaction in creating effective learners' interaction. One of the responses have said that they believe that teacher's interaction is important as they feel it effects learners' engagement in breakout rooms. They have stated that it is crucial for teachers to be trained on how to interact with learners that it would encourage their interaction in breakout rooms. This finding is similar to Walsh's [71] research findings where he emphasised on the importance of teacher online interactional competence.

Extract 11.

*"I think we need if we are going to have breakout groups and if staff are going to join them, then, how do we interact effectively within them is important. Because the way we interact and have a really big impacts on what the students do and they're learning outcomes, you know, and so I think it's really important that stuff kind of made aware of effective interaction practices for breakout groups. How to encourage students effectively."*

In the observation data Student B was able to create space for learning by using one of the features of CIC, which is using and talking about their experience in relation to the task they are completing. From the observation it is also apparent that when teachers enter breakout rooms to monitor learners' interaction it discouraged learners form continuing their interaction. However, student A wanted to discuss and share his thoughts on student A response but decided not. A possible justification could be because of the presence of the teacher. It is believed by teachers that at these times being able to interact to learners in a way that encourages them to speak and take part, will be helpful. According to Walsh and Li [10] strategies such as extended wait time, scaffolding and shaping learner responses and so on are all strategies that could help in achieving effective learners' interaction. From the observation it is apparent that the teacher spent 2 minutes talking and sharing her opinion on the point the learner addressed. This means learners only had 4 minutes in the breakout room for discussion and to complete the task.

Extract 12.

*16. Student B: I heard heard ((teachers comes in)) ((student A turned his microphone on to talk but decided not as soon as the teacher entered)) from some of the some of my classmates that they were they were taking the class of 12 weeks before before the master degree. So that could be pre sessional. (0.6) And which may last for up to a year. That could happen. Some of my friends who study in Germany have this experience that they normally have in that language course lasting for a year or even two.=.*

*17. Teacher: =It's I mean, it's happening more and more as universities are wanting to get more students in, there'll be lowering the entry requirements. So instead of saying, you know, come and do a six-week course, and work on your IELTS before, there'll be finding different ways to let in students who do not have the English will come for a whole year that way we can charge you extortionate fees for a whole extra year. And we can take you with a heart, a lower entry requirement, which means we are accessible to more people. And not that I'm cynical at all, it's a business move.*

In terms of the teacher role in breakout room, she could have taken this opportunity to promote effective learner interaction by using interactional strategies. However, in her first turn she only agreed to the learner's response and in her next two turns she interreacted with the learners. The breakout room included a learner with a muted microphone and camera was switched off, the teacher did not interact with the learner to attempt learner participation [72]. Another interactional strategy that could have promoted learner interaction, is not to interrupt learners turn (see line 19 and 20) but to allow learner extended turn, which will able the teacher to make full and useful response afterwards [9].

However, during the breakout room confident learners took the role of the teacher and used interactional strategies to help each other, which promoted in effective learners' interaction. The interactional strategies learners have used included error correction, seeking for clarification and scaffolding, shaping responses and error correction.

Extract 13.

*Student A: pathway might be pathway.=.*

*Student B: =Actually, I do not quite understand what's what's the pathway.*

*Student A: Like it. It's very, it's kind of like a British thing because I know people that have done this before they went to undergrad degree. They had to do this course because they did not have Like a levels which are our high school exams, they had to go into a different course. And when they pass that course then they could go and do the undergraduate degree. So the course I guess it was called like a pathway.*

*Student B: (0.2) Okay, I thought that that was GCSE or something.*

*Student A: No GCSE is not for uni. GCSE is for a levels and a levels is for uni. But it's kind of like that you have to do the GCSE. So you can do the A levels, you have to do the a level. So you can go to uni it's like a pathway.*

In this extract, Student B had trouble to understand the terminologies, therefore he was asking for clarification. Student A, who is native defined both of terms Student B found difficulties with. This shows how including both a mix of native and

#### *Students' Interaction in Breakout Rooms DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108184*

non-native students in the same breakout rooms has a positive effect. Native students can help with explaining topics that are related to the British context, for example, in this extract the topic was British education system. The second extract shows an example of shaping learner response, which is also between a non-native student and a native student.

Extract 14.

*Student B: Some of the next one ((teacher leaves breakout room)) ° normally may last for up to a year ° one after individual session where students can take [workshop.] normally may last for up to a year °.*

*StudentA: [Writing support workshops].*

*Student B: Writing support workshop.*

However, in the focus group students have not mentioned the importance for them to have native students in the breakout room. But learners have reported that they feel encouraged when they are in a breakout room with confident and active students. As shown in extract 14 student did not specify the background or level of the student but the student, they have mentioned was an international non-native student. Assigning groups for breakout rooms is also an aspect that has an effect on learners' interaction. As including learners that are active as students have suggested as being encouraging for us to participate. Teachers should consider different strategies of grouping learners that could encourage learners' interaction as well as active learning, which is the next theme that was identified.

#### **4.10 Active learning**

Both students and teachers believe that it is important for teachers to use more of breakout rooms. As it enables learning to be active learning more than passive learning, which according to some teachers does not help with achieving deeper learning. Extract 15.

*Teacher: moving away from a kind of monologue. You know and getting students to engage more, and I think having breakout groups. is a really good way of having Students engage with these ideas and hopefully that for getting a deeper learning, then you get from just listening.*

In fact, some students have also stated that they preferred parts of lessons when they get to discuss with their classmates as they learn more from talking to each other. Some mentioned that the time they get in the breakout rooms is very limited and they can only discuss together for few minutes and they would prefer it to be longer. Extract 16.

*Student E: I feel the use of breakout room is an advantage at class as it makes us do something rather than just listen to the teacher for one or 2 hours. But we never have enough time to interact and finish the work.*

But the issue is how teachers are able to encourage learners to participate in breakout rooms to achieve active learning. Because simply using breakout rooms does not ensure active learning as it is apparent in the observation data recording. It shows that students only have 6 minutes to discuss and complete task. This is not enough time for learners to discuss and interact, teachers need to make sure to give extra time for learners. Because some learners may encounter connection problems that could takes them longer to enter breakout room or unstable connection in the middle of their conversation. In addition, monitoring during breakout rooms take time from learners' discussion.

Extract 17.

*lStudent B: (0.4) So now the question falls on your foundation, Graduate Diploma pathway.=.*

*Student A: = I think the first one is foundation.*

*Student B: Yeah. Yes.*

*Student A: Because in (0.1) oh never mind (Breakout room time has ended).*

The extract above from the observation data, shows that students were going to use CIC and clarify their reason behind their answers (see line 43), which not only create space for learning but learners would also achieve higher order thinking skills and deeper thinking. Therefore, teachers should take this into consideration, because the extract shows the importance of active learning in attaining deeper learning. As this issue is not apparent in traditional face to face classrooms. For this reason, teachers should apply different timings and strategies for small group from traditional face to face classroom small group work. This also relates to the task type, and how they can design or use tasks that are easier to complete in the time given. This issue of task type relates to syllabus design and using different technological systems and features of zoom to help achieve active learning in breakout rooms. This will be looked at in more detail in the following theme.

#### **4.11 Teachers' technological competence**

In terms of the affordances of Zoom, some teachers have stated that they avoid trying different features on zoom because they are too afraid. They normally send questions in the chat box for learners to answer or ask learners to take a screenshot of the PowerPoint slide that has the questions or an activity for them to complete. But they are aware of the importance of using these different types of features to motivate and boost learner's interaction.

Extract 18.

*Researcher: And I can I ask what would be the reason behind not using these features?*

*Teacher F: probably a bit scared because you know, sometimes we are scared that technology might go wrong, and then you know and. Yeah I think that's one thing and because zoom is all quite new. You know, for me, it's the first time to teach like this. I guess I am taking fewer risks.*

The dialogue above is from an individual interview, whereas during the focus group discussion not many teachers mentioned their technological competence being

#### *Students' Interaction in Breakout Rooms DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108184*

a challenge. One explanation for this could be because of there were different teachers from different universities, therefore they did not know each other's well, which made them uncomfortable in sharing their weaknesses to others. Some teacher s in the individual interview, believed that they did not have the technological competence to not only use different online platforms to help mediate learners' interaction, but also the zoom features itself.

However, some teachers were more confident in trying to use different features. For example, the countdown notification. One teacher mentioned another way of taking advantage of this feature by using it to send questions for the task at a certain time. This shows that even without workshops, the more the teachers use the zoom system the more effective they get with this teaching system. Students' datasets report that some teachers do not allow participants to use all the features of zoom. Students in traditional face to face classroom can point and look at the same paper however in an online situation it is more difficult, as learners are not looking at the same screen. They have their websites and documents at different views, therefore its important for teachers to allow the "screen share" feature for students.

Extract 19.

*Student B: Yes, I agree with share screen we can easily highlight on the document and everyone can see.*

*Student C: Yeh in terms of technology, I feel teachers need to be creative because for task they give us a number of questions to answer on a word document. Which we most of the time one person answers by themselves so they should use technology and websites to make tasks more interesting.*

*Researcher: Can anyone give me an example of an activity from a module that was effective?*

*Student B: for example, we had to rate different online EFL tasks, so the teacher asked to work in group and each student rates on of the task and share our opinion in our breakout rooms.*

Students in extract 19 have given two different tasks that they felt engaged with the most. The first task asked learners to rate tasks in online websites, this is not just easy to access but also very relevant to the situation learners are studying in. This could be a reason why universities need to develop their syllabus and course modules to suit the environment learners' studying in and to make it relevant to the situation. The second task students favoured was based on watching a video and sharing their perceptions. Some issues can arise from using videos as activities in breakout rooms. First of all, it is time consuming, learners should be given the link to video prior to the class as a preparation task to prevent any time wasting. In addition, internet connectivity can disturb learners' completion of the task. Learners have also added that some teachers either forget or do not allow screen share which could be an issue when using videos in breakout rooms. As learners will not be able to play the video at the same and due to different internet connectivity strength among learners.

In terms of teacher technological competence, most of the teachers in this research belief that it important for the teacher to be very skilful in using technology to deliver classes online. As well as being aware of the different software's and apps that can be used in line with Zoom to deliver professional quality classes to students. As it is

shown from the findings some teachers were able to adapt through the shift of the online environment, whereas other has not been able to grasp the basics of online teaching, therefore another mode of reflective practice that joins teachers together to share their experience is needed. As teachers that have been able to overcome online teaching challenges can share their strategies to other teachers.

Teachers in this research both from Saudi and UK universities feel strongly about the need of workshops and technological interventions for teachers to help them with the shift of online teaching to deliver quality lessons. As most teachers when asked about their level of technological competence stated that they do not feel or did not feel ready to teach online, one teacher commented that they felt interacting to each other and sharing their experience similar to the focus group that was conducted for this research helps them find different strategies that could work to solve their challenges.

### **5. Teachers' and learners' perception of breakout rooms**

In the SOL environment, it is inevitable that there will be a lack of learner's interaction, but the use of breakout rooms has shown a great advantage in creating effective learners' interaction as well as creating active learning. This study has shown that learners have favoured the use of breakout rooms and belief that it indeed encourages effective space for learner's interaction. However, Nambiar [33] research suggest differently, which students in that study perception of interaction in SOL were negative, their responses suggests that they felt in a traditional classroom there were more opportunities for learners' interaction. In this study students were in favour of SOL they also felt the use of breakout room did help with their learning. However, as seen in the previous chapter, students have reported some issues that have occurred during breakout rooms. These issues will be looked in more detail in relation to previous literature in this chapter.

The first question in this study sought to explore the challenges teachers encounter during their use of breakout rooms in their lessons. The second research question looked at students' perceptions, as this will give insight into the diversity involved. It enables the researcher to compare and contrast between the participants involved. Therefore, combining both research questions, result in rich data.

All participants of this research students and teachers (UK and Saudi universities) agreed that challenges occur during the process of monitoring breakout rooms. Teachers (UK and Saudi universities) stated that it is difficult for them to monitor every group. This has also been mentioned in previous research as challenge teacher faced during SOL. As seen from the findings some teachers felt the use of shared documents was an advantage as they used this to monitor learner's participation. But others were not confident with technology to be able to use these features. In addition, monitoring through shared document misses some aspects of teacher monitoring. As through shared documents teachers are only able to monitor that learners are on task, but they cannot promote effective learner interaction.

It has been suggested by Lee [55] that teachers should use graduate school assistants to help with breakout rooms monitoring. This could be a good strategy to test out, in addition to following a structure for monitoring as Greyling and Ahmad [52] suggests. This has also been mentioned by a teacher during a focus group he stated that following a structure to monitoring breakout rooms helps make the monitoring process more organised. Students also believe monitoring during breakout room sessions is a challenge, they suggest that there is a need of a zoom system update to

#### *Students' Interaction in Breakout Rooms DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108184*

allow teachers to monitor all breakout rooms at the same time. Students believe that this could also help with participation as if learners know their monitored, they will be encouraged to participate. These findings are consistent with those to Cavinato et al. [53], their findings suggest updating Zoom to allow teachers to view rooms similar to a CCTV view is important.

In regard to the time of breakout rooms, which has also been reported as an issue by leaner. Previous research also supports this [40, 45, 53]. Cavinato et al. [53] states that learners may take longer in the online environment to complete activities and their discussions may also take longer. A possible justification for this is that some learners as seen in the results encounter technical and connectivity difficulties which could interrupt their interaction. A possible strategy to overcome this challenge is to extend class times and give more breaks for learners, to prevent "Zoom fatigue". Another strategy suggested by Robinson et al. [73] is limiting tasks into only one or two questions for learners to be able to complete the task in the allotted time.

Students in the focus group and individual interview reported issues regarding student's participation. This finding is consistent with that of Martine [29]. A possible explanation for low learners' participation may be related to the NNS student's assumption of thinking they are less knowledgeable in that context. As from the observation recording obtained in this study, the breakout room context was on UK education system, which is not similar to Chinese education system. Another possible justification could be related to cultural beliefs. The international students in the observation recording were Asians, according to Martine [29] in Asian cultures silence is valued and disagreeing with others is regarded unappropriated. It has also been stated by learners in focus group and individual interview that they sometimes are discouraged from participating when there are native speakers in the breakout room due to language anxiety. This issue has not been mentioned by teachers, which shows the importance of students feedback. Khan et al. [74] findings report that student feedback in teachers' evaluation system improves on the quality of teaching.

The analysis of the datasets show that learners' participation is closely related to learners' cameras being off. This is consistent with the findings of Palmerin [75] and Gherhes et al. [76], their findings suggest that learners do not turn their cameras on when they are not prepared for the lesson. This highlights the importance of including preparational task for students prior to Zoom classes to achieve learners' engagement and participation. Palmerin [75] add that teachers creating strong trust relationship with learners results in learner's participation during SOL.

Teachers as well as students from Newcastle university reported that when some learners had their cameras off, they felt it was difficult for them to interact to "black screens". This finding is consistent with Castelli et al. [77] their findings suggest that teachers find it awkward to interact with learners when they turned off their cameras, they described their feelings as "talking to yourself ". However, by taking a student-centred approach, teachers need to make decisions based on what is best for learners. As it has been stated by one of the Saudi teachers, that this is concerned with students right of choice, Therefore, teachers should not force learners to turn their cameras on, but they can offer information and alternatives. First of all, as suggested by Castelli et al. [77] teachers can ask learners to add the preferred name on display in Zoom instead of their university name or initial. This will help teachers and other students to call each other with their names as it will build rapport between the participants.

Findings of previous research report that most students turn their cameras on during breakout rooms session. A possible explanation for this, is because in breakout rooms students are in smaller group and breakout sessions are only for limited time. This is not consistent with findings of this research as students from the focus group reported that in breakout rooms there are times that other students do not turn their cameras on. However, Castelli et al. [77] suggest an alternative solution for cameras off issue, which is recommending learners to add their photos on their profile display in zoom. This will help learners and teachers to build a complete picture of other learners in the class. This will also help in creating a community and a strong relationship between students. Castelli et al. [77], Mottet [78] and Falloon [79] all highlight the importance of creating this community between students, especially in online education as learners can feel lonely. In this research context students are studying online during a global pandemic which alone is a challenge for students as they can be isolated, and this could affect their health. The findings of Irawan et al. [80] report that learners mental health has highly been affected by the shift of face-to-face classroom to SOL. The findings show students dealing with anxiety problems especially learners with low income, as they had to deal with expenses as well as being isolated alone and the new experience of studying online.

Task type also affects learner's participation, students' datasets report similar views to those Whear [50] reports in her blog. Learners' perceptions on the tasks used by teachers were not creative and engaging enough. Both students from this research and in Whear [50] blog have mentioned the example of questions and answers task as a "boring task". Teachers are also aware of the importance of using more creative type of task to achieve more effective learners' interaction in breakout rooms. Teachers from this research have reported that the task used in traditional face-to-face classroom cannot be used in online environment. This is consistent with the findings of Chan et al. [81], which suggests that teachers should use digital enhanced learning model to adapt face to face materials to suit online teaching environment. The DEL model includes four different frameworks (see **Figure 2**).

The DEL framework combines four frameworks that is used to evaluate the online tasks used in the VLE. The first framework in the model is Dial-e which consists of ten task design ideologies for teachers to follow to achieve the pedagogical aims of the class. The second model is TPCK, which includes a self-assessment tool for teachers to assess their technological competences This will help with teachers overcome the challenges they reported (see chapter 4) in regard to their technological competence. The third model is BRDT, which is based on blooms taxonomy model (1956). This model is concerned with learners critical thinking, which is especially important for students of higher education as stated in chapter 1. The BRDT model aims to answer the question of what type of activities would engage learners thinking skills in VLE. Finally, the fourth model is SAMR, includes different levels of the integration of technology from no tech to redefinition, which is the highest level that refers to using tech to create new tasks that is inconceivable in PiP classroom [81]. The combination of these framework in one model, enables teachers to develop their task design to suit the VLE and to achieve effective learners' interaction during breakout rooms that will achieve the lesson pedagogical goals.

#### **5.1 Creating space for learners' interaction**

This section will mainly answer the third question of this study, which is how teachers can create space for learners' interaction in SOL. The findings of this study *Students' Interaction in Breakout Rooms DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108184*

**Figure 2.**

*The digitally enhanced learning (DEL) model cited from Chan et al. [81].*

reported the factors that have worked for teachers in this study during Covid-19, which has also been seen in previous literature. The main strategy that has been mentioned by both teachers and students in this research is the importance of breakout rooms in creating space for learner's interaction. Teachers and students believe that creating breakout rooms help encourage learners to interact and discuss effectively together on the task set. But to achieve effective use of breakout room there is number of aspects that teachers and education organisation need to take into consideration.

#### *5.1.1 Groups and assigning roles*

The observation data findings revealed that combining native and non-native students in the same breakout room results in effective learners' interaction. As native learners take the role of the teacher and use interactional feature to help create opportunities for effective interaction. There is no research that support these findings, However, previous research in online small group work report findings that confident students take the lead, the findings are consistent with those in this research as their findings report that learners with good English proficiency often take the role of being a group leader [55]. The students in Lee [55] research have highlighted the importance of assigning roles as their believed that it gets tiring for outgoing students. Lee [55] findings also suggest the positive effect of grouping learners with similar language level together. This could be indeed a good strategy as it could give the courage and confidence for shy and quite students to talk, without worrying about their language level. The analysis of the data set reports that learners are asked to report back to the main room, without being assigned. But Robinson et al. [73] highlight the importance of assigning roles such as a recorder and a reporter, as it encourages productivity in the breakout rooms. To prevent responses from the same

students every class, teachers can use this strategy and give those roles to different students at every class.

#### *5.1.2 Preparation tasks*

A second suggestion to create space for effective interaction is setting preparation task, that not many previous research studied the impact and the importance of using preparation tasks on learner's participation. But it has been favoured by both teacher and students from this study. In addition, the observation recording shows the importance, as learners spent the beginning of the breakout room reading and familiarise themselves with the task. This could have been done before class to make use of breakout room time for learners' interaction [40]. According to [40] if students complete preparational task they make better use of breakout room time. Previous research that was based on traditional face to face teaching looked at preparation task before class, the study reported that assigning preparation task for students lead to 90% of student's active participation [82]. These findings are also consistent with those of Bassett et al. [83] where they explored the effect of assigning preparational task on learners' engagement during flipped classroom. Their findings suggest that preparational had a great impact on learners' participation as well as exam scores.

#### *5.1.3 Reflective practice and workshops*

The results revealed that teachers are in need for workshops to develop teacher's technological competence. This is consistent with the findings of Elsayary [84] research. It is believed that the use of videoconference will be still be included in higher education courses even after the global pandemic. For this reason, teacher training courses should include in their curriculum, a teacher technological competence development as well as e-classroom interactional competence. As the findings of this study suggest that teachers do not behave in breakout room in a way that would encourage learner's participation. According to Moorhouse et al. [40] teachers are in need of specific interactional competence to madidate and assist learners learning in VLE, as well as to facilitate learners interaction online.

In regard to teacher's technological competence, previous research shows that teachers were not ready for the online teaching shift [85]. The use department of education emphasise on the importance of teachers developing their technological competence "fluent users of technology; creative and collaborative problem solvers; and adaptive, socially aware experts throughout their careers" ([86], p. 34). This study supports these findings and show that teachers are in need of workshops and training on using the specific affordances of Zoom and other platforms to provide effective learners' interaction in breakout rooms. Findings of previous literature also support these findings and [43] highlight the importance of offering training for teachers to help them provide multiple modes of interaction for learners on Zoom [40, 43, 87].

## **6. Conclusion**

This research aimed to identify the challenges faced by teachers in using breakout rooms and how they can create space for learner's interaction in breakout rooms.

#### *Students' Interaction in Breakout Rooms DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108184*

As well as looking at learners' perspectives on the use of breakout rooms. The research methods that were adopted included two focus groups (teachers and students) followed by an individual interview and one breakout room observation. After data collection the researcher have conducted a thematic analysis on the focus group and individual interviews. For the observation data the researcher conducted a conversation analysis following Seedhouse [8].

Based on the qualitative analysis, it can be concluded that learners feel positive about the use of breakout rooms. But there are many challenges that may arise for teachers during their use of breakout rooms. The First challenge and most importantly is regarding teachers' technological competence, which this research and previous research report that teachers were not ready for the shift to VLE. Another challenge was regarding teachers' interactional competence. As it has been reported in the literature review teachers' interactional competence is important in creating space for learning by encouraging learners' interaction. The data from the datasets suggests that teachers are not using CIC effectively to encourage participation in breakout rooms. Other challenges that were reported in this research that was in line with previous literature findings are; monitoring, task type, learners' cameras off. The results indicate that teachers can create effective learners' interaction by setting preparational task before SOL and modifying their teaching materials such as task types. As well as developing their use of technological and interactional competence. Based on these conclusions' education organisations should arrange workshops for teachers to develop their use of Zoom for teaching. Teachers should also consider adopting reflective practices with other teachers to share strategies that have or have not worked for them. As well as listening to learners' point of view as part of their reflective practice process. The implications of findings of this study could be useful for future research, as they contribute to the literature by exploring learners' interaction in breakout rooms during SOL. Walsh [9] highlights the importance of reflective practice for teachers, which the findings of this research also do.
