Classroom Interaction for Language Teachers by Walsh Steve;

Author:Walsh, Steve;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TESOL Press
Published: 2014-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Extract 7

1 T:

So, can you read question two, Junya.

I

2 L1:

(Reading from book) Where was Sabina when this happened?

R

3 T:

Right, yes, where was Sabina.

F

4

In Unit 10, where was she?

I

5 L1:

Er, go out …

R

6 T:

She went out, yes.

F

In Extract 7, we can see how the teacher opens the exchange and marks a new phase of activity with the discourse marker “so,” which is typical of all teacher-learner interaction and occurs very frequently in classrooms all around the world. This opening remark, or initiation (I), leads to the question in line 1, which prompts the student response [R] in line 2. In line 3, we see how the teacher offers feedback (F) to what the learner has said (“Right, yes”). Feedback is an important feature of the three-part exchange because it allows learners to see whether their response has been accepted or not. Frequently, feedback entails some kind of evaluation, such as good, right, ok.

In line 3, the cycle begins again, with the next initiation (“where was Sabina when this happened?”), which is then clarified in line 4 (“in unit 10, where was she?”). In line 5, we see the learner’s grammatically incorrect response (“she go out”), followed in line 6 by the teacher’s feedback and correction. This second IRF sequence follows very logically from the first and was probably followed by a third. Based on this very brief extract, we can make a number of observations about IRF, the most commonly occurring exchange structure in any classroom:

It enables us to understand the special nature of classroom interaction.

It enables us to understand why teachers talk so much more than learners: For every utterance made by a learner (R), teachers typically make two (I, F).

It allows us to see how, if overused, classroom interaction can become very mechanical, even monotonous. Teachers need to be aware of this.

While the IRF sequence is both commonly found and appropriate at certain times, there are other types of exchange that are more desirable and useful to learning. We’ll come back to this point later.

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