Teacher-Students Interaction: An Evaluation of an EFL Classroom
Introduction
According to Powell, “He who has no inclination to learn more will be very apt to think that he knows enough.”
Classrooms are social settings; teaching and learning occur through social interaction between teachers and students. As teaching and learning take place, they are complicated processes and are affected by peer-group relationships. The interactions and relationships between teachers and students, and among students, as they work side by side, constitute the group processes of the classroom.
Group processes are especially significant in twenty-first century schools. Group projects and cooperative teamwork are the foundations of effective teaching, creative curriculum, and positive classroom climate. Interpersonal skills, group work, and empathy are important ingredients of modern business, where employees must communicate well for their business to be productive and profitable. Group processes are also significant in modern global communities, where citizens must work together for a safe and secure world. Thus, along with teaching academic curriculum, teachers are expected to help students develop the attitudes, skills, and procedures of democratic community.
Teacher-student relationships provide an essential foundation for effective classroom management—and classroom management is a key to high student achievement. Teacher-student relationships should not be left to chance or dictated by the personalities of those involved. Instead, by using strategies supported by research, teachers can influence the dynamics of their classrooms and build strong teacher-student relationships that will support student learning.
Smith (1990) said, “Teachers who love their students are of course by that very fact teaching their students the nature of love, although the course may in fact be chemistry or computer science.” He thoroughly endorses out-of-class contacts between students and faculty, “because they reveal something to the student about reality that can, I suspect, be learned no other way. Such contracts demonstrate that ideas are ‘embodied.’ They do not exist apart from a person, remote or near at hand, who enunciates, who takes responsibility for them by declaring them, by speaking about them.” Or in the words of Woodrow Wilson, “We shall never succeed in creating this organic passion, this great use of the mind until (we) have utterly destroyed the practice of merely formal contacts between teacher and pupil.”
Literature Review
Wubbels and his colleagues (Wubbels, Brekelmans, van Tartwijk, & Admiral, 1999;
Wubbels & Levy, 1993) identify appropriate dominance as an important characteristic of effective teacher-student relationships. In contrast to the more negative connotation of the term dominance as forceful control or command over others, they define dominance as the teacher’s ability to provide clear purpose and strong guidance regarding both academics and student behavior. Studies indicate that when asked about their preferences for teacher behavior, students typically express a desire for this type of teacher-student interaction. For example, in a study that involved interviews with more than 700 students in grades 4–7, students articulated a clear preference for strong teacher guidance and control rather than more permissive types of teacher behavior (Chiu & Tulley, 1997). Teachers can exhibit appropriate dominance by establishing clear behavior expectations and learning goals and by exhibiting assertive behavior.
Class Description
The present study observed a class of thirty students of Sylhet Women’s College. The teacher was a Bangladeshi male with several years teaching experience at Bangladeshi government colleges. The goal of this class is to teach the students’ conversation, reading, listening and writing skills. Their English ability level is intermediate. During the observation period, the students appeared motivated and attentive, and they seemed to be enjoying the class. The researcher observed class being out of the notice of the students.
Identification of Problem
It is observed that the students didn’t respond willingly to the teacher’s questions and did not participate in class discussions. Students also never asked the teacher questions outside one-on-one situations. Thus the teacher received little oral feedback Most of the learners sit looking straight ahead using minimal facial expressions, gestures and verbal utterances. The teacher said, “I want the students to be more demonstrative and more overtly communicative in their feedback. I want these behaviours: I want the students to ask me questions, make comments and to respond with nods and shakes of the head, with sounds of agreement or sounds of understanding. Also, I want them to be both reactive and proactive”.
Investigation
The present researcher observed the 2nd year of Higher Secondary Class. In the first 30 minutes, the class went through an intermediate level oral dialogue. The students first listened to the dialogue read out by the teacher with their books closed, then again with the books opened. Next, they did a dictation exercise consisting of 15 short sentences based on the dialogue. The teacher then talked about the sociolinguistic and grammar points of the exercise and went on to probe for comprehension:
Teacher: Do you have any questions? Do you understand everything? Students: (no response from the students) Teacher: Okay, how many people were speaking? Students: (no response) Teacher: How many people were speaking? Students: (no response) Teacher: There were two. Two people. Were they friends or strangers? Students: (no response) Teacher: Should I read out the dialogue again? Students: (no response from any body) Teacher: Should I translate the dialogue into mother tongue? Students: ( looking at one another)
The teacher asked a few other questions which also drew no response or reaction from the students. The students then had to answer some questions about the conversation in their book. Most of the students seemed to have little trouble doing this, and if there were any questions, they readily asked the student sitting next to them. The second half of the class was devoted to pair work using the phrases and vocabulary from the taped dialogue in role play. The students seemed to enjoy this, and most tried to create their own
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Tags: Classroom, Evaluation, Interaction, TeacherStudents
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