Learning spaces for international EFL students: A multi-perspectival study

Over the last decades, the focus of research in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) has been on shifting understandings of how students learn (Murray and Lamb, 2018). However, our understanding of where students learn, i.e. in terms of classroom environment, layout and organisation, has also been changing alongside this evolution in educational objectives and approaches (Park and Choi 2014). With increasing competition in higher education, spaces are also part of the efforts of universities to create inclusive, engaging and attractive student experiences. The COVID 19 pandemic and shift to remote learning added a further dimension to the study of learning spaces. With all of this in mind, the current research investigates the spaces for international students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) using perspectives from teachers, students (Manca et al. 2020) and design stakeholders (architects, buildings management, university admin/managers etc.) at a university language centre in the west of Ireland. While it is located in a higher education institution, the centre has a semi-commercial remit and attracts students from all over the world – individuals and groups – who bring different experiences of culturally specific learning spaces. Using insights from instructional proxemics and Grounded Theory (Humberstone 2002; Flick 2018), the research explores how users, who come from different cultural backgrounds, perceive, evaluate, and negotiate the idea of learning spaces, both physical and virtual. The study also explores their perception of other nonformal (e.g. the library, the café, home etc.) and virtual spaces (e.g. online platforms). This is based on the experiences of learning they have already had in different environments before and during the pandemic - in comparison to their actual experience - in the language centre and the university spaces as well as their expectations. The findings of this research reveal that the perception and experience of learning spaces have been influenced by the development of pedagogy and the COVID-19 pandemic which resulted in preferences for learning spaces to encourage collaboration and socialization. Moreover, the findings reveal that learning spaces need to be inclusive and flexible. Therefore, furniture, the dimensions of the classroom, technology integration, as well as the acoustic attributes of the space are all important to consider in terms of designing the optimum learning experience for students and teacher. Furthermore, teachers need to be aware of cultural diversity in the negotiation of their classes. Additionally, this research concludes that learning spaces refer not only to the classroom, but also encompass informal spaces and virtual spaces.