| Body | Kai Liu is an MA student in the Language Teaching Specialization Program at the University of Oregon.
Facilitating interaction in the classroom enables learning and supports development of communicative competence. In a communicative activity, the teacher is often considered a facilitator, guide, and resource. With careful attention to task design, feedback, and facilitation, student-student (S-S) interaction can increase the quantity and quality of interactional opportunities. In addition, expert-student interactions can be included to provide comprehensive opportunities for communication. Drawing on previous work, the following presents steps to facilitating interaction in the classroom.
Before class:
- Establish learning objectives and select a task accordingly (e.g., role plays, info-gap, interviews, decision making, games). The task should always match the communicative objective.
- Determine the dimensions of interaction. Think about the following questions: Will there be E-S and S-S interaction? When and how will each type of interaction occur?
- Choose a grouping technique/strategy. Think about the following questions: Is pair work or group work better? Do I need to pre-assign groups based on, for example, students' proficiency levels, L1 background, learning styles?
During class:
- Initiate interaction by asking display and/or referential questions to activate students' existing knowledge.
- Set-up the activity with explicit instructions and models. You may want to tell students the purpose of the activity, time limit, tasks, rules, and how to debrief in the end. Asking students to restate the rules or respond to a model is a good way to ensure understanding.
- Model the task. If the task is complex or new to students, be sure to model the task by demonstrating the steps yourself or with the help of a couple of students.
- Monitor the activity. Circulate among groups to make sure all groups are on task. Pay attention to the target feature you want students to focus on. You can make a few suggestions but do not correct errors during the task.
- Debrief. Ask each group to report on their progress. Tell students if you only want one group leader or all the group members to present. Before one group presents, tell other groups to what to pay attention to (e.g., differences to your group finding, what you agree and disagree). If time permits, students can also share the challenges they encountered and the strategies they used. The whole-class discussion is also a great time for the teacher to provide corrective and affective feedback.
After class:
- Reflection: Did students interact with each other the way you expected them to? If not, what caused the problem? How to solve them next time?
- Revise: What modifications would you like to make to the task to improve interaction?
References
Brown, H. D. (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy. (3rd ed.). (pp. 211-240). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.
Long, M., & Porter, P. (1985). Group work, interlanguage talk, and second language acquisition. TESOL Quarterly, 19, 207-228.
McDonough, K. (2004). Learner-learner interaction during pair and small group activities in a Thai EFL context. System, 32, 207-224.
Ortega, L. (2009). Understanding second language acquisition. (pp. 60-62). London: Hodder Education.
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