Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T14:10:58.872Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Classroom interaction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2024

Get access

Summary

Teacher-led interaction

Most classroom interaction is teacher-led (see 2 The lesson). And of all the types of teacher-led interaction, the most common is questioning, which has the aim of eliciting responses from students.

Questioning with individual oral responses

Questioning usually takes place within the IRF (Initiation–Response–Feedback) pattern: the teacher initiates the interaction through a question; a nominated student responds; the teacher gives feedback, in the form of confirmation and approval, correction, or rejection.

Teacher: What's the past simple of give?

Student: Gave.

Teacher: Good.

Note that the question may not be a grammatical interrogative: it may, for example, be an imperative (e.g., ‘Tell me …’) or just a declarative sentence (e.g., ‘You’re going to describe …’). The point is that it has the goal of eliciting response(s) from the students.

Pause for thought

What purpose do teacher questions serve in the classroom? Try to think of as many as you can, and then compare your list with the one on the next page. Was there anything you had forgotten? Is there anything you can add?

Comment

Purposes of teacher questions

  • • To provide a model for language or thinking

  • • To find out something from the students (e.g., facts, ideas, opinions)

  • • To check or test understanding, knowledge or skill

  • • To get students to be active in their learning

  • • To direct attention or provide a warm-up to the topic which is about to be studied

  • • To inform the class through students’ answers rather than through the teacher's input

  • • To provide weaker students with an opportunity to participate

  • • To stimulate thinking (logical, critical or imaginative)

  • • To probe more deeply into issues

  • • To get students to relate personally to an issue

  • • To get students to review and practise previously taught material

  • • To encourage self-expression

  • • To communicate to students that the teacher is genuinely interested in what they think

Any specific question is likely to involve more than one of these; for example, it might review and practise while simultaneously encouraging self-expression.

Types of questions

We can classify teacher questions according to various criteria:

Communicative authenticity. Are they genuine or display questions? Does the teacher really want to find out the answer, or are they simply checking if the student knows it? An example of a genuine question might be: ‘What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Classroom interaction
  • Penny Ur
  • Book: A Course in English Language Teaching
  • Online publication: 15 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009417594.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Classroom interaction
  • Penny Ur
  • Book: A Course in English Language Teaching
  • Online publication: 15 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009417594.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Classroom interaction
  • Penny Ur
  • Book: A Course in English Language Teaching
  • Online publication: 15 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009417594.004
Available formats
×