A. Definition
of Classroom Interaction
Classroom interaction
as a form of institutional talk is locally managed but cooperatively
constructed speech exchange system (Markee & Kasper, 2004). It is one of
the platforms where any reality about classroom phenomena is produced and can
be observed at the same time.
The term classroom interaction
refers to the interaction between teacher and learners in the classrooms. According to Brown (2001), interaction is at
the heart of communicative competence. When a learner interacts with another
learner he/she receives input and produces output.
Classroom interaction is considered
a productive teaching technique. According to Allwright (1984), it is the
process whereby classroom language learning is managed. In the classroom
interaction, both the teachers and students can create the learning
opportunities, which motivate the students’ interest and potential to
communicate with others.
In
conclusion, classroom interaction is all interactions between the participants
in the learning process; the teacher and students, who influence each other to
create a good classroom environment in order to reach the learning’s goal.
B. Purpose of Classroom Interaction
The purposes of classroom interaction are as follow:
•
This type of
interaction helps the learners to identify their own learning methods.
•
This
interaction will guide the learners to communicate with their peers easily and
will give them an exposure to the vase genres of language learning.
•
It will help
the learner to come face to face with the various types of interaction that can
take place inside the classroom.
•
Classroom
Interaction aims at meaningful communication among the students in their target
language.
•
It also aims
at probing into the learner’s prior learning ability and his way of conceptualizing
facts and ideas.
•
This
practice will help the teacher to have a detailed study of the nature and the
frequency of student interaction inside the classroom.
C. Example of Classroom Interaction
D. Types of Classroom Interaction
Here are the types of classroom
interaction:
a. Collaborative Learning
Collaborative learning
is a situation in which two or more people learn or attempt to learn something
together. Unlike individual learning, people engaged in collaborative learning
capitalize on one another’s resources and skills (asking one another for
information, evaluating one another’s ideas, monitoring one another’s work,
etc.). Collaborative learning is a method of teaching and
learning in which students team together to explore a significant
question or create a meaningful project. A group of students discussing a
lecture or students from different schools working together over the Internet
on a shared assignment are both examples of collaborative learning.
b. Discussions
Discussions can be an excellent strategy for
enhancing student motivation, fostering intellectual agility, and encouraging
democratic habits. They create opportunities for students to practice and
sharpen a number of skills, including the ability to articulate and defend
positions, consider different points of view, and enlist and evaluate evidence.
c. Debate
Engaging in collaborative discourse and
argumentation enhances student’s conceptual understandings and refines their
reasoning abilities. Stage a debate exploiting an arguable divide in the
day’s materials. Give teams time to prepare, and then put them into
argument with a team focused on representing an opposing viewpoint.
Advantages include practice in using the language of the discipline and
crafting evidence-based reasoning in their arguments.
d. Reading
Aloud
Reading aloud is a classroom activity
in which one person is reading while others listen. Reading aloud may be
performed by the teacher or student. Reading aloud may be performed by a single
person or by a group taking turns. This form of highly structured classroom
interaction allows all students to be focused at exactly the same point in a
reading. This allows students to easily focus on vocabulary and pronunciation.
d. Story-telling
Storytelling
is the sharing of stories and events through words, sounds and visual images.
An effective storyteller captures the attention of listeners and accomplishes
the goal of telling the story, which may be to
entertain, convey information, teach an important life lesson, or persuade
listeners to take action of some kind. Storytelling techniques may incorporate
a combination of tone usage, animated sounds and gestures, and digital tools. Storytelling can be a powerful tool in the
classroom. It is often helpful to begin with the teacher playing the role of
storyteller or by inviting a professional storyteller into the classroom. But
it is when the students become the storytellers that storytelling makes its
greatest contribution to the classroom.
e. Conversation
with learners
Classroom
conversation is a form of classroom interaction in which students in the class
discuss a given topic. The conversation may be held across the whole class or
in smaller groups. Conversation is an important form of classroom interaction
because it helps students develop their language skills. In a conversation,
students may apply the skills and knowledge they have acquired in the class,
making classroom conversation a practical form of interaction.
f. Role
Play
Role-playing
is an activity in which students take on given or chosen roles and act out a
scene with others. This form of interaction lends itself to almost any
situation, and the only restriction is a student's imagination. Role-playing
allows students to demonstrate their creativity and knowledge about their
roles, and it allows students to think outside of the constraints of the
classroom and consider how they might apply the learned material to the real
world. This form of interaction can integrate different subjects into one
activity.
g. Question-and-Answer
Question-and-answer
is a traditional form of classroom interaction in which a teacher or student
explains and poses a question for the other. Questions asked by the teacher are
usually for the purpose of assessment, while questions asked by the students
are usually for obtaining new information. The Socratic method is also a form
of question-and-answer interaction. The Socratic method is a form of asking
questions with the intent of leading students to discover the answer
themselves. Question-and-answer as a form of interactive learning allows
students to have a large influence on the agenda of the classroom, because it
allows them to freely express their thoughts and feelings.
h. Jigsaw
Jigsaw
is a strategy that emphasizes cooperative learning by providing students an
opportunity to actively help each other build comprehension. These can be done
in one of two ways – either each team works on completing a different portion
of the assignment and then contributes their knowledge to the class as a whole,
or within each group, one student is assigned to a portion of the assignment
(the jigsaw comes from the bringing together the various ideas at the end of
the activity to produce a solution to the problem). In a jigsaw the
activity must be divided into several equal parts, each of which is necessary
to solving a problem, or answering a question. Example activities include
implementing experiments, small research projects, analyzing and comparing
datasets, and working with professional literature. The advantages of the
jigsaw include the ability to explore substantive problems or readings, the
engagement of all students with the material and in the process of working
together, learning from each other, and sharing and critical analyzing a
diversity of ideas.
E. Teaching Steps using Jigsaw
According to our group, the most interesting type of
classroom interaction is jigsaw. It gives the students some advantages as
follow:
•
It is an efficient way to learn the material.
•
Builds a depth of knowledge
•
Discloses a student's own understanding and resolves misunderstanding
•
Builds on conceptual understanding
•
Develops teamwork and cooperative working skills
Below are the teaching steps using jigsaw:
- Divide students into 5- or
6-person jigsaw groups. The groups should be diverse in terms of gender,
ethnicity, race, and ability.
- Appoint one student from
each group as the leader. Initially, this person should be the most mature
student in the group.
- Divide the day's lesson into
5-6 segments. For example, if you want history students to learn about
Eleanor Roosevelt, you might divide a short biography of her into
stand-alone segments on: (1) Her childhood, (2) Her family life with
Franklin and their children, (3) Her life after Franklin contracted polio,
(4) Her work in the White House as First Lady, and (5) Her life and work
after Franklin's death.
- Assign each student to learn
one segment, making sure students have direct access only to their own segment.
- Give students time to read
over their segment at least twice and become familiar with it. There is no
need for them to memorize it.
- Form temporary "expert
groups" by having one student from each jigsaw group join other
students assigned to the same segment. Give students in these expert
groups time to discuss the main points of their segment and to rehearse
the presentations they will make to their jigsaw group.
- Bring the students back into
their jigsaw groups.
- Ask each student to present
her or his segment to the group. Encourage others in the group to ask
questions for clarification.
- Float from group to group,
observing the process. If any group is having trouble (e.g., a member is
dominating or disruptive), make an appropriate intervention. Eventually,
it's best for the group leader to handle this task. Leaders can be trained
by whispering an instruction on how to intervene, until the leader gets
the hang of it.
- At the end of the session,
give a quiz on the material so that students quickly come to realize that
these sessions are not just fun and games but really count.
REFERENCES
Allwright,
R. L. 1984. The Importance of Interaction
in Classroom Language Learning. Apllied
Linguistics 5 (2).
Brown, H.
D. 2001. Teaching by Principle: an
Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy.
(2nd Ed.). NY: Pearson Education.
Markee,
N. & Kasper, G. 2004. Classroom Talks: an Introduction. The
Modern Language Journal 88 (4).
