2. QUESTIONS AND ELICITING
Activity 3: Read the following article by Scott Thornbury.
In the article, Thornbury suggests that, in general terms, a communicative classroom is
one in which the characteristics of everyday communication can be found. What does he
suggest those characteristics are or are not. Think particularly about referential
questions, content feedback, wait time, and student-initiated talk. In your personal
profile, write in your own words a summary of the most important points Thornbury
talks about here. Sometimes it can be difficult to understand academic-style articles,
particularly in another language. Try to write as if you are explaining it in easy terms for
someone else. Rather than writing directly on your page, upload a word document with
your response.
Points to consider in this paper, according to my reading, are:





A bottom –up approach, are aims to raise teachers´awareness of the discrete
features of their classroom talk, through the recording, transcription, and
analysis of lesson sequences.
Features of communicative classroom talk, I think in all classroom, should be:
referential questions (are genuine questions: those for which the teacher does not
know the answer, rather than display questions, whose primary purpose is to
allow the students to display their knowledge of language)
Content feedback: The communication that best promotes student participation
(as) in the classroom is the communication of such feedback. Communication
considered as a circular process allows the teacher to select and combine the
elements of speech translated into messages, plus the students' own messages
that getting feed back with this type of communication encourage student
participation.
Wait time: I've always believed that the best time to wait for a response from a
student, is to consider the ”Método Socrático”, which reads as follows
1. You are presented with a question to a particular student waiting for the
student to answer.
2. If not, the teacher will be choosing students to give the expected answer
3. The teacher expects at least 15 seconds before sending a student to
answer the question. It makes students think about the question and not
passively rely on others who are faster in providing answers. When the
timeout happens, the teacher selects one student at random to answer the
question.
4. and was elected student poses a question, if this student can not answer
after 15 seconds should not be asked to follow the same student, because
he intimidates the student, therefore, calls for another of his colleagues
will help .
Student-initiated talk: when teaching foreign language should keep in mind is
that not only have to teach words and grammatical structures but we also have to
teach them to use, in our case, English properly and fluently in different contexts
and situations of everyday life. This means to motivate students and lead to the
same interest and positive attitude towards language: if they are motivated want
to learn to use in everyday communication. We have to make our students feel
safe and happy while learning English. First, it is essential that students are
aware of the importance of language in the environment of their lives, their great
presence, the number of people who speak in the world, etc. For this, the
professionals’ education can to design and develop educational play activities.
Other ways to motivate students to want to learn English and like this language,
is to create an environment in class English, English corner dedicated