Poster-Mediated Collaborative Presentations and Interactional Language Development in Tertiary EFL Classrooms: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Poster-mediated collaborative presentations have emerged as an effective instructional approach for promoting communicative competence and learner engagement in tertiary English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. However, limited qualitative research has examined how poster-based collaborative activities facilitate interactional language development through multimodal communication and peer collaboration. This study explored the role of poster-mediated group presentations in supporting language learning among 30 undergraduate EFL students at a university in Bangladesh. Working in groups of three to five, the participants designed printed posters and multimedia presentations on contemporary topics, including artificial intelligence, environmental sustainability, deforestation, social crime, and exam stress. A qualitative research design was adopted, and data were collected through classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, students’ reflective journals, and analyses of poster artifacts. Thematic analysis revealed four interrelated themes: increased learner interaction, conceptual organization and collaborative meaning-making, enhanced affective engagement and motivation, and improved academic vocabulary use and oral communication. The findings indicate that poster-mediated collaborative presentations created authentic opportunities for learners to negotiate meaning, organize knowledge visually, develop speaking confidence, and engage in purposeful communication. By integrating visual, textual, and oral modes of communication within collaborative learning tasks, poster presentations supported both linguistic development and learner autonomy. The study concludes that poster-mediated collaborative presentations represent a valuable pedagogical approach for fostering interactional language development in tertiary EFL classrooms and recommends their wider integration into language curricula, teacher education, and communicative assessment practices.