Exploring EFL Learners’ Pre-Class Textbook Use and Web-Based Peer Learning: A Qualitative Case Study

Web-based peer learning (WPL) is widely recognized as effectively complementing students’ learning activities. However, its role in students’ textbook use, which is an important aspect of students’ knowledge construction, is still unknown, particularly with respect to pre-class textbook use. To fill this knowledge gap, this qualitative case study explored WPL’s role in pre-class textbook use (i.e., textbooks used before in-class instruction of a new text) of 15 students enrolled in an English-as-a-foreign-language reading course at a university in China. A thematic analysis of multiple data resources (e.g., interviews with students and students’ web-based activities) collected over a semester was conducted. The results showed that in addition to improving their reading literacy, the students’ WPL helped them retain the content learned from their pre-class textbook use, contributing to their continued motivation for consuming and re-consuming new texts. WPL also helped the students gain an in-depth, comprehensive understanding of the text, overcoming individual knowledge limitations. WPL’s positive role was found to be specifically a result of its technological affordances, which assisted the students in synchronously/asynchronously and collaboratively conducting the multidimensional deconstruction of texts on the web platform, motivating them to visit and revisit the textbook content. However, the results showed that the students’ use of WPL as a follow-up during their pre-class textbook use was initially constrained, although this became negligible as their knowledge increased through using the platform as well as through teacher assistance. The results indicated that WPL was useful in promoting positive experiences in constructing knowledge from pre-class textbook use and reuse, which increased as the students became accustomed to peer and teacher support. These results have implications for textbook research and materials development, especially in language teaching contexts.