QIF Language Arts Pre-Service Teacher
Education Development Programme
Workshop 1: Day 4
Focus on Meaning in Classroom Interaction
10th December, 2011
Review: Principles of Social Constructivism
1. Focus on learning not on performance.
2. View learners as co-constructors of meaning and knowledge.
3. Establish learner – teacher relationships that are built upon the
idea of guidance not instruction.
4. Engage learners in tasks that are seen as ends in themselves
and which build upon previous learning.
5. Promote assessment as an active process of uncovering and
acknowledging shared understanding.
6. Recognise that the contexts in which learning takes place will
play an important part in shaping the quality and depth of
learning.
Classroom Talk: Following up students’
contributions
Look at the following sample of classroom interaction from the
Tanzania transcript:
T Where was the picture taken? Yes, please?
S1 In the aeroplane.
T In the aeroplane. Good, yes. In the aeroplane.
What do the letters I, R and F stand for?
Initiate
Respond
Follow up (or Feedback)
I
R
F
Purposes of the teacher’s follow-up moves
Follow up moves are not so common in every day conversations
outside the classroom. Yet they are very common indeed in
classroom talk between teacher and students.
What are some of the functions and purposes of a teacher’s
follow up move?
Look at the I-R-F exchanges on the handout, and try to
determine the teacher’s purpose behind the follow up move (in
bold) in each case.
Form-focused and Content-focused follow
up
The ‘F’- move
Form-focused
Evaluative
Directed at individual
student
Backward-looking
To promote accuracy
Content-focused
Discoursal/ Conversational
Directed to whole class
Forward-looking
To encourage fluency
Follow-up ‘Acts’ in the language class
Accept/ Acknowledge, e.g. ‘Yes’, ‘OK’, Thank you’
Repeat/ Echo: T repeats what S has said, usually to confirm it is
acceptable
3. Praise, e.g. ‘Good’, (either alone, or added to Act 1 or 2)
4. Query T queries the S contribution, e.g. by repeating it with a rising
intonation
5. Seek clarification: often following 4.
6. Reject/ Correct: T indicates that the S contribution is incorrect and takes
steps to correct it.
7. Recast/ Reformulate: T reformulates/ ‘tidies up’ S contribution in
acceptable English and moves on
8. Elaborate: T elaborates on the student contribution, e.g. To explain, clarify
or embellish what the S has said
9. Comment: T adds some comment of his/her own in response to what the
S has said. Can include explanation of a language point
10. Follow up Question: T asks Q in response to what S has said
1.
2.
Task: Identifying follow-up acts in a transcript
Look at the Tanzania transcript and the table showing the
follow-up moves. In your groups, try to complete the table by:
1. Identifying whether each follow-up move is ‘form-focused’
or ‘content-focused’
2. Identifying the follow-up acts the teacher uses in each
move.
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Strategies for effective, interactive follow up
Good teachers:
• Listen to what students’ say
• Show interest in the content of what they say (as well as being
aware of how they say it)
• React and are responsive
• Exploit opportunities to engage with students as coconversationalists
• Balance focus on meaning with focus on form, according to
the aim of the activity
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Looking at lesson transcripts
Look at the two lesson transcripts provided (one from
Egypt, and the other from Tanzania).
1. Comment on the ways each teacher follow up on their
students’ contributions and the follow up acts they use.
2. In whose class would you rather be a student, and why?
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Using lesson transcripts in our teacher
education classes
How could you make use of lesson transcripts as material in your own
teacher education classes?
How can you get hold of examples of classroom interaction?
Could you ask your students to record and make transcripts of their
own classes during their Teaching Practice?
How would such an exercise benefit their professional development?
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Learner-centred teaching
Some dimensions of L-C teaching:
• Learner engagement: focus on learning, not teaching
• Learner needs, including special needs
• Learner interests
• Learner wishes
• Learner goals
• Learner differences, including Learning styles
• Individualisation
• Personalisation
• Inclusion and Respect for diversity
• Collaborative learning
• Role of teacher
Collaborative reconstruction task:
Dictogloss
1. A short, dense text is read to the learners (twice) at normal speed.
2. Learners make notes while it is being read.
3. In small groups learners pool their notes and try to reconstruct text.
4. Each group presents its own reconstructed text.
5. The various versions are analysed and compared, and amended in
light of discussion.
6. Learners compare their versions with the original.
Dictogloss example
from Thornbury 1997
Original Version
There was a young woman from Riga
Who went for a ride on a tiger
They returned from the ride
With the woman inside
And a smile on the face of the tiger.
Dictogloss example (cont.)
Reconstruction 1 (Individual Student)
There was a woman from Riga who were on a
tiger to make a ride. When they come back the
woman was in tiger and tiger was smiling.
Dictogloss example (cont.)
Reconstruction 2 (Group of 3 students)
There was a woman from Riga who go for a
ride on a tiger. The tiger come back with the
woman inside and a smile on the tiger.
Dictogloss example (cont.)
Reconstruction 3 (Whole class: 9 students)
There was a young woman of Riga who went for a
ride on a tiger. The tiger returned with the woman
inside and a smile on its face.
Reference:
Thornbury, S. (1997) ‘Reformulation and
reconstruction: tasks that promote noticing. ELT
Journal 51/4: 326 - 335
Texts for dictogloss
GARLIC, THE GREAT HEALER
All through history people have used garlic for
healing. People used it in India and China
over 5000 years ago. Because it is a natural
medicine, it is a safe antibiotic. During World
War I, for example, doctors used garlic juice
because it helped stop infection.
• (from Wajnryb 1990: 32)