Developing Interaction in ESL Classes: An Investigation of Teacher-Student Interaction of Teacher Trainees in a Sri Lankan University

Abstract

This study examines the possibility of using of IRF (Initiation-Response-Follow-up) sequence of teacher-student interaction in Sri Lankan ESL (English as a Second Language) classes for developing longer interactional exchanges which are believed to be useful for language development. Usually, in Sri Lankan ESL classes, teachers ask more display questions and a few referential questions. As a result, teacher-student interaction occurs only occasionally and they follow the traditional IRF pattern with an evaluation at the third move. Teachers could develop longer interactional exchanges by giving follow-up questions or prompts at the third move of the IRF sequence so that students respond, elaborate, explain or prolong their responses. This study examines how the teacher trainees on their teaching practice of a TESL degree programme at a university interacted with their students in ESL classes and how they changed their pattern of interaction to sustain more student interaction. Using lecture discourse data as the basis of the analysis, this study evaluated the changes after an intervention that focussed on training the teacher trainees in developing longer interactional episodes. The results revealed that there was only a slight improvement in the way teacher trainees maintained interactions in the lessons after the intervention. Hence, this study enlightens the possibility of utilizing interaction for language development through intensive teacher training.