The Impact of Seating Arrangement on Interaction and Speaking Skills in EFL Students

Abstract

Seating arrangement has been defined as how students and their seats are arranged to facilitate tasks, activities, and communication. Most teachers tend to use the traditional or row seating arrangement in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms, and it could be related to their lack of knowledge of all existing types of seating arrangements or how to implement those arrangements according to the students’ needs. The objectives of this research synthesis are to determine which types of seating arrangements are the most effective and to analyze the positive and negative effects as well as learners' perceptions of using different types of arrangements. In this research synthesis, twenty articles related to seating arrangement were selected and analyzed. The findings showed that the Horseshoe/U-shape seating arrangement was the most effective to improve students’ interaction and speaking skills since students can face each other. However, the other types of seating arrangements also demonstrated positive aspects in improving the student’s performance in oral activities and participation. Moreover, different perceptions were observed in terms of confidence, spontaneity, enthusiasm, and activity.