Classroom interaction : an investigation into the aspects of teacher-student talk in EFL classroom
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Date
2023
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Mouloud Mammeri University ,Tizi-Ouzou
Abstract
The present thesis explores different aspects of teacher-student talk embedded in the classroom interaction of Algerian EFL courses. It seeks to examine the effects of key teaching practices on the verbal behavior of students. The study tackles three main dimensions of interaction, namely: the impact of teachers' verbal behavior on the patterns of students' talk and the classroom climate, the effects of teachers' questioning techniques and wait-time on the length of students' production, and the influence of corrective feedback strategies on students' uptake. It adopts an ex-post facto design and employs a descriptive-correlation al method for answering the research question sand testing hypotheses. The process of data collection took place at two Algerian universities and the participants consisted of six teachers along with 108 third-grade students of EFL. The analysis relied on a database generated from real-time observations and transcriptions corresponding to the observed lessons. Three analytic frame works were used for coding data. Flanders interaction analysis category system (FIACS) was employed for examining the patterns of interaction. Long and Sato's (1983) taxonomy of functional questions was adopted for the categorisation of questioning techniques while Leyster and Rant's (1997) model was implemented for the classification of corrective feedback and up take. The data base consisted of 7522 coded categories of interaction, 905 functional questions, and 255 corrective feedback moves. The analyses of quantitative data were conducted via SPSS version 28, based on which different statistical tests were performed. A p-value of.05 (p< .05) was set as a threshold of statistical significance. The major findings indicated that despite the prevalence of teacher-talk in classroom interaction, a supportive socio-emotional atmosphere was consistently maintained during the delivery of EFL courses. It is important to highlight that, while many students showed willingness to participate in classroom discourse, their contributions primarily consisted of brief responses, as they generally with help from sustaining speech for prolonged periods. Though the referential questioning category had a significantly higher potential than its display counterpart in triggering students to extend their oral production, the latter were more commonly utilised during classroom in traction. Notably, only numerical differences were found between the lengths means of language output produced after different intervals of wait-time corresponding to basic epistemic questions. Teachers made effective choices by favoring output-eliciting corrective feedback strategies (prompts), as these selections led to higher frequencies of students' uptake in comparison to reformulations. A significant association was found between the nature of teachers' corrective feedback and the properties of the consequent uptake moves issued by students. Further research is still needed in the local context of Algeria to reach more definitive and conclusive findings.
Description
430 f. : ill. ; 30 cm. + CD Rom
Keywords
Classroom interaction, Verbal behaviour, Classroom climate
Citation
Didactics of Foreign Languages