An Analysis Of Interactions Between Teachers And English Language Learners In English As A Foreign Language: Implications Of Undergraduate Classroom

Abstract

Equal peer interactions can enable students to create zones of proximal development for each other, with their interactions giving rise to ideas, which are then shared with peers and then further advanced and developed through collaboration. Classroom interaction has been a central issue in teaching and learning English in the era of communicative language teaching. Classroom interaction involves teacher and students as interactants in using foreign language. In the classroom, com­munication is mostly initiated and maintained by the teachers. They, as a key holder of classroom communication, play prom­inent roles to manage the classroom participation and stimu­late student language production. Their perspectives related to language classroom practices need to be discovered to com­prehend what actually happens in the classroom. The aim of current study was to develop a deep understanding of interaction in language classroom in foreign language context. Interviews, as major instrument, to twenty experienced English language teachers from eight undergraduate institutes were conducted in [1]Pakistan, completed by focus group discussions and class observation or recordings. The gathered data was analyzed according to systematic design of grounded theory analysis method through 3-phase coding. A model of classroom interaction was formulated defining several dimensions in interaction. Classroom interaction can be more comprehended under the background of interrelated factors: interaction practices, teacher and student factors, learning objectives, materials, classroom contexts and outer contexts surrounding the interaction practices. The developed model of interaction for language classroom is notably to give deep descriptions on how interaction substantially occurs and what factors affect it in foreign language classrooms at undergraduate level from teachers’ perspectives. The researchers’ conclusion with suggestions and recommendations was also summed up at the end of the study.