Text types: Texts for social interaction

Classroom interaction

Examples of effective classroom interaction

Classroom interaction can be between the teacher and one or more students, or between students. Teachers can use both kinds of classroom interaction to support language learning.

In this section we will look at a classroom interaction in which a teacher is helps a student learn English during a whole-class activity. The student has been doing a science experiment with magnets. She has been testing a group of objects to find out if they are attracted to a magnet and has discovered that one of the objects, a nail, is attracted. She also discovered that if she placed a piece of foil between the magnet and the nail, the nail was still attracted to the magnet.

The teacher supports the student's language learning in the following ways:

	She gives the student the opportunity to choose what to talk about.
	She does not simply give the student the right answer, but instead negotiates the meanings with the student. In this way the student's answers become more complete and understandable.
	She uses Questions to guide the student but does not tell the student what to say.
	She encourages the student to continue by reassuring her that she understands.
	She does not recast what the student says immediately, but instead waits until the student has had several opportunities to 'try out' what she wants to say and to improve her language on her own.

For an analysis of this interaction, click here:

The teacher uses several strategies to help the student learn English.

Firstly, she did not use a 'display' Question to test whether the student knew the 'correct answer, but instead used Questions which allowed the student to choose what to say. In interactions between teachers and students it is important to have a balance between these two types of Questions. Here are some Questions which allow students to choose what they say:

Then the teacher slowed down the interaction, not by speaking more slowly, but by interrupting and expanding the basic three-turn Initiation-Response-Feedback pattern with Tracking turns. In TURN 3 the teacher did not evaluate the student's Response in a Feedback turn, as this would close off the Initiation-Response-Feedback pattern immediately and the student would have no more opportunities to use language. She also did not recast or reformulate what the student said, but instead waited until TURN 11. This gave the student several opportunities to think about and try out what she was saying and how she was saying it.

Teachers can also increase the wait-time, ie the time they wait for students to respond to a Question, and doing so by just a couple of seconds helps students a lot. If students are given a longer wait-time to respond, they are usually able to say more and to say it more clearly, and are therefore better able to demonstrate what they understand.

When the teacher slows down the interaction and waits, students have to take more responsibility for output. And when the teacher uses tracking turns to ask for clarification, students are responsible for clarifying the meaning themselves. They therefore become less reliant on the teacher to provide the answers. Almost certainly most students will be able to say more if they are given more time during the interaction. Here are some Questions which give students more responsibility for output and clarification:

Can you say that again?

I don't quite understand, can you tell me that again?

Tell me a little more.

Can you just expand on that a little more?

What do you mean?

Can you explain it again?

Finally the teacher really listened to what the student was saying and responded to the meanings the student was making. She did not expect one 'correct' answer and also did not expect the student to practise a particular grammatical form. Instead she helped the student to say what she wanted to say more clearly and more effectively.

In this section we will look at an interaction between students working in a group. When students talk to each other, for example in pair work or group work, there are many opportunities for language learning. While they interact, they do the following:

	hear more complex language	To view the students' interaction, click on the graphic:
	practise using language themselves
	hear more repetitions and redundancies
	ask more questions
	take more responsibility for clarifying what they say
	learn from each other

In this interaction, the students do the following in their group:

	question and clarify each other's ideas
	help each other to find words
	repeat what others have said

Together the students are able to produce the noun group a block of foam. Through the interaction, all four students contribute to the group's understanding of the following piece of science knowledge: The position of the poles of two magnets affect whether or not they attract. 

The students are working together so closely that they finish each other's sentences. They are able to achieve a lot more when they are interacting with each other than any one of them could achieve working alone. Learning is enhanced through interactions like this in the classroom.