An action research report on improving teacher-student communication in
an English classroom at secondary one level.
Liu Siu Ying
In teaching English to secondary one students, teachers have found that they
are passive and not enthusiastic about interacting verbally with the teacher or among
each other. In most of the cases, teachers’ questions are typically responded by one
or two students, despite encouragement given on teachers’ part. Obviously, there are
times when no students are responding to teachers. Such a situation can be very
frustrating to both parties. This action research paper aimed to investigate this
problem and search for some methods to create a more interactive classroom where
teachers and students could have effective and meaningful communication.
Action Research Defined
Richards, Platt & Platt (1992) have stated that the purpose of an action
research is to ‘increase the teacher’s understanding of classroom teaching and
learning and to bring improvements in classroom practices.’ It involves small-scale
projects in the classroom. Wiersma claimed that ‘(A)ction research is usually
conducted by teachers, administrators, or other educational professionals for solving
a specific problem or for providing information for decision making at the local level.’
In few words, action research is concerned with trying to improve one specific point in
a teacher's technique in a particular classroom using empirical measurement.
Class Description
We observed the 43 students in 1E Class at POH Tang Pui King Memorial
College. The class was divided into two groups, group A and B, with approximately
equal number and ability in communicating in English. 4 lessons were spent on each
group during the observation period. The action research attempted to demonstrate
that students are more motivated and attentive to English learning if they work in pairs
and are taught the importance of asking questions and interacting with teachers
Investigation
Two groups were taught an article about Ocean Park. In the first lesson, they
listened to the taped article first with their books closed, then again with the books
opened. Next, they did a dictation exercise consisting of about 15 short sentences
based on the article.
Then, the teacher went on to probe for comprehension by asking the following
questions:
1. Do you have any questions about the article?
2. What are the names of the two pandas?
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3. Where do they live?
4. How did the writer think about the roller coaster?
5. Do you like Ocean Park? Why?
Students in Group A had to work on their own to figure out the answers to the
questions. They were encouraged to seek help from the teacher if necessary.
However, before attempting to respond to the questions, Group B students were
taught the importance of making interaction with the teacher in the lesson. They were
also told to work in pairs first before disclosing the answers to the teacher.
Outcome
Two different types of feedback were obtained from Group A and Group B.
As usual, Group A was unresponsive to the teacher. Most of the time, they were
staring at the eyes of the teacher, not daring to show any movement.
However, Group B responded differently. After asking the five questions and
receiving no significant reaction from students, the teacher explained the importance
of responding to the teacher in learning English. The teacher then distributed a note to
students which was a quote from Helgesen & Browngood (1994).
‘It is good and important to answer the teacher's questions and interrupt with
questions of your own. It means that you are interested and paying attention. In
English, it is your job to ask questions if you don't understand.’ (p. 3)
The teacher made students read it and explained some difficult words. They
were encouraged to be more active in the class. Secondly, they were told to work in
pairs to discuss the questions. The students seemed to enjoy this and most tried to
create a dialogue with their classmates. When the teacher asked students the five
questions again, the students were more responsive and active. The class
atmosphere was markedly different from that in Group A.
Conclusion
The research results showed that class interaction could be improved by
raising students’ awareness of the importance of interacting in English in the lesson.
Pair work may also boost students’ confidence in expressing themselves as they
tended to be more willing to speak English to their partner rather than in front of the
whole class. The face issue was involved at this point. Nonetheless, some areas of
this action research were not as successful as hoped. For instance, the students
needed to be prompted with eye contact and a repeated question from the teacher to
answer a question, and when they did not understand something, they still did not
interrupt the teacher with a question.
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Reference

Helgesen, M. & Brown, S. (1994) Active listening: Building skills for understanding. Melbourne:
Cambridge University Press.

Richards, Platt & Platt (1992) Long Dictionary of Applied Linguistics: Cambridge University Press.

Wiersmar, W. (1994) Research Methods in Education: The University of Toledo.
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