Abstract:

This paper presents the findings of a phenomenographical qualitative research which was conducted to explore five post-graduate Libyan students’ conceptions of the role of facilitator in the language classroom .These students were enrolled for an MA programme in Applied Linguistics which was led by the researcher. The data was collected from their responses to the question “What do you think about the role of the facilitator in the language classroom?” in one of their term assignments. This qualitative data was analysed by using Marton’s (1981) phenomenographical approach of data analysis. The outcome space of this investigation includes five conceptions ranging between the traditional role of knowledge transmitter to the new role of a real facilitator of students’ independent learning. The analysis revealed that there is a strong link between these students’ conceptions of this phenomenon and their classroom experience of it. The findings of this research are significant for English teacher education and training as they add insights about how real facilitators can be trained for effectively for foreign language classrooms.

Keywords:

Facilitator, Conception, Outcome Space.