ABSTRACT
The study attempted to investigate
the patterns of interaction in English language JSS2 classroom in Mainland
Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. The study equally reviewed some
important and extensive literatures under sub-headings. The descriptive
research survey design was applied in the assessment of respondents’ opinions
towards the subject matter.In this study, two null hypotheses were formulated
and tested with the application of the Pearson Product Moment Correlation
Coefficient Statistical tool at 0.05 level of significant. Also, the simple
percentage frequency counts were used to analyze the questionnaire responses of
the selected respondents together with the research questions for teachers and
students respectively. A total of 100 (one hundred) respondents, 50 (fifty)
male and 50 (fifty) female teachers were selected for this study. At the end of
the data analyses, the following results were obtained thus: There is a significant relationship between the patterns of
interaction and students’ performance in English language JSS 2 classroom and
there is a significant relationship between classroom interaction and
barriers to students’ learning in the English language classroom. Based on the
conclusions reached at the end of this study, the following recommendations are
made by the researcher: Teachers should not discriminate against their students
in the school. They should ensure that all their students are loved and
preferred. This will help all the students in different ways in the school.
Rather, teachers, irrespective of their gender, should ensure that they do not
give preferential treatment to their students so as to avoid being biased
against those students they dislike and giving undue advantage to their
favourites in the school. Treating students equally by teachers will enhance
interactions between the teachers and their students.
Keywords: Patterns, Effectiveness,
Interaction, Classroom Teaching and Learning
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGES
Title page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract v
Table of
Contents vi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem 5
1.3 Purpose of the study 6
1.4 Research Question 6
1.5 Research Hypothesis 7
1.6 Significance of the Study 7
1.7 Scope of the Study 8
1.8 Operational Definitions of Terms 9
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE
REVIEW
2.0
Introduction 10
2.1 Concept and
Nature of Interaction. 11
2.2 Objectives/ Types of Classroom Interaction 16
2.3
Concept and Nature of Classroom Interaction in English Language 16
2.4
Socio-cultural Perspective of Second Language Acquisition 18
2.5
The IRE (Initiation-Response-Evaluation in English the Language 20
2.6
The IRF (Initiative-Response-Follow-Up in English Language. 24
2.7 The IC
(Instructional Conversation) in the English Language 34
2.8 Summary of
Literature Review 42
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.0
Introduction 44
3.1
Research Design 44
3.2
Population of the Study 44
3.3 Sample and Sampling Technique 44
3.4 Research Instrument 45
3.5
Validity and Reliability of the Instrument
45
3.6
Data Collection Procedure
3.7 Procedure
for Data Analysis
CHAPTER
FOUR: DATA ANALYSES AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS
4.0 Introduction 47
4.1 Description of Data
According to Sex, Age, Qualification, Marital Status and 47
Class Taught.
4.2 Analyses
of Teachers’ Reponses to Answer the Research Questions 49
4.3 Analyses
of Students’ Reponses to Answer the Research Questions 55
4.4 Testing
Hypotheses 59
4.5 Summary
of Findings 61
CHAPTER
FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Introduction
62
5.2 Summary
of the Study 62
5.3 Conclusions
63
5.4.1
Recommendations 63
5.5
Suggestions for Further Studies 63
REFERENCES 65
APPENDIX
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Interactions in language classrooms are
important social activities for students through which they not only construct
knowledge, but also build confidence and identity as competent language users.
Learners learn through talking, in other words through verbal interaction.
Classroom is the major medium through which teachers teach and students
demonstrate what they have learned.
In an in-depth ethnic study of teacher-student interaction, it was
found out that students develop multiple identities through their classroom
interaction with their language teachers. The study took place in an ESL
classroom where native English language teachers are available. Luke and Lin
(2007:188) present a telling story about how students negotiate identity and
cultural resources, which are "translated into non-institutionally
sanctioned language practices and identities" Perhaps, the social
knowledge students bring into the classrooms might be those
"non-institutional language practices", which schools and teachers
are supposed to build on in order to enhance their learning.
The pattern of classroom interaction employed largely depends on the
teacher’s own teaching philosophy and training. Some teachers stress the
grammar-translation method and teach English through the students' native
language. Others use a more communicative method in which grammar constructions
are not overly explained. Community language learning is another strategy for
language teaching. Here, the teacher avoids lecturing and allows students to
correct and learn from each other.
Some teachers advocate "the silent way,"
strategy where the teacher says as little as possible and the students are encouraged
to discover the language on their own. However, most teachers do not strictly
stick to one teaching method or strategy, but rather combine different aspects
of several strategies to create effective classroom interaction. Student needs
input from a source who knows the target language, and that is why the silent way
is not a very effective teaching method. Students will not learn to produce a
language without input and exposure, and both vocabulary and grammar are
important tools for language learners (Adams, 2003).
Interaction in the classroom entails the conversation between
teacher and students, as well as among the students, in which active
participation and learning of the students becomes vital. This also
accommodates conversations as part of the socio-cultural activities through
which students construct knowledge collaboratively. Conversations between and
among various parties in the classroom have been referred to as educational
talk (Mercer and Dawes, 2008) or presentational talk. Presentational talk is
the one-way lecture conducted by the teachers in the classroom, which
contributes little to encouraging and engaging students in a communicative
dialogue.
Exploratory talk is a purposeful conversation, often deliberately
designed by teachers, which provide opportunities to students to engage in
hesitant, broken, and full conversations enabling them to try out new ideas, to
hear how they sound, to see what others make of them, to arrange information
and ideas into different patterns. When students engage in interactions, they
produce symmetric dialogue context where everyone can participate, get
respected and get the decisions made jointly.
Students' participation in interaction, therefore, helps them enrich
their linguistic resources and build the confidence to communicate with others
in English (Adeleke, 2004).
Interaction in the classrooms' is emerging as one of the leading
conventions to enhance the students' linguistic resources as well as equipping
them with appropriate skills for communication. On the other hand, pattern is a
kind of arrangement, design or outline whereby teacher and student interact
within the classroom context. In the classroom, teachers and students are seen
as members of the contexts in which spoken language are taught. Patterns of
classroom interaction in the English language are one of the bases of learning
in any society and its importance cannot be overemphasized.
According to Nwosu (2001), it is learnt that the knowledge and
skills that allow individuals to continue to participate in these activities
through our relationships with more experienced or trained people.
Through repeated participation with various forms of
assistance such as coaching, scaffolding, modeling and catching, individuals
internalize what they learn from our social interaction and transform it into
our own version of knowledge and abilities. In other words, a knowledgeable
participant provides support with which the learner or beginner can participate
in social interaction, thereby extending the learner current skills and
knowledge to a higher level of competence (Barnes, 2000). Classroom interaction
as a classroom activity and practice, enhances the development of the two important
language skills which are speaking and listening among the teacher and
learners. This helps the learner to be competent enough to think critically and
share their views among their peers.
Learning is not considered as the internal assimilation of
structural component of language systems, rather it is a process of changing
patterns of participation in specific social practices within communities of
practices. In this respect, the classroom is considered a very important social
setting. In this setting language is acquired by learners during activities
that are created through the face-to-face verbal interaction between teachers
and students and among students.
It may be true that the content and processes of language learning
are fundamentally related to the instructional practices created in the
classroom and that the learning is initiated and facilitated by teachers most
of the time. However, it would be better to assert that both teachers and
students establish the norms and expectations for realization of their roles
and relationships as teachers and learners. In the classroom, teachers and
students are seen as members of the contexts in which spoken language has
social and educational junction. In the language patterns of classroom
communication systems, the role of language extends beyond communication of
mere information to the establishment and maintenance of relationships in the
classroom (Allports, 2002).
In the past, the traditional approach of teaching was solely adopted
by most of the teachers; where the learners used to be dependent only on the
lecture delivered by the teacher. They were not exposed to enough practice of
speaking on their own and hence the interaction among the students in the
classroom was almost absent. But as the education system changed with time so
has the teaching methods. Through classroom interaction, the learners will be
able to get themselves involved with concepts, ideas and various other devices
and products for language and culture learning (Jung, 2000).
The roles of the teacher during these
sessions are passive yet very crucial. It is the responsibility of the teacher
to create a learning atmosphere inside the classroom. It is through interactive
sessions that the teacher can extract response from learners and motivate them
to come out with new ideas related to the topic. Learners' learn through
talking, in other words, through verbal interaction. In addition to teacher
talk, which has been considered to account for most of classroom discourse, the
importance of student talk in the target language also has been increasingly recognized
in language as a second learning.
According to Jung (2000), through talk, learners learn both the
structural components of a language and its communicative application and also
share in the co-construction of knowledge. The teacher's role is crucial since
teachers integrate every
element under their rule to create or facilitate an appropriate learning
environment in the classroom. Teachers can foster classroom conditions that
encourage or restrict successful student participation. The teacher is the one
who should be aware of differences among learners in order to diagnose needs,
apply the proper level of learning support at any given time, and withdraw it
at the right time. It can be found that the significance of the teacher's role
reflected on his/her utterances with the students.
This study is set to investigate the patterns of interaction in
the classroom as a second language among senior secondary school students in
Lagos State, Nigeria.
1.2 Statement of the Problem:
Interaction plays the primary and
important function in a classroom which is to integrate teachers and students
together to achieve the goals and objectives of the classroom interaction as
essential for working in secondary schools (Alamezie, 2004).
Interaction between teachers and students serves to support
secondary school students as they go into higher institutions of education for
further learning. Thus, teachers and students must interact effectively for
students to realize their potentials. Teachers must explain the required work
students must complete in order to succeed and improve the students’
interaction in classroom and beyond. It has also been noticed that teachers do
not interact with one another about students and also do not discuss how
students learn in other subjects, this shows that interaction has not been
effective in schools (Adeoye, 2002).
For this reason of poor or non-interaction amongst teachers and
their students, the resultant effect is poor academic performance in the English
language in the schools. Lack of interactive classroom in the English language
among teachers and their students, has created a distance between the teachers
and the students, and subsequently lowered the academic standards in the
school. This study intends to assess the
patterns of interaction in teaching and learning of English as a second
language in the classroom among senior secondary school students in Lagos
State, Nigeria.
1.3 Purpose of the study:
The main purpose of this study is to ascertain the patterns of
interaction in the English language classroom as a second language among
secondary school students in Lagos, State, Nigeria. Other objectives of the
study include:
1.
To identify the patterns of
classroom interaction in a Junior Secondary School 2 English language classroom.
2.
To ascertain if there is a relationship
between classroom interaction and students’ performance in English language
classroom.
3.
To find out if there are any
identified barriers to the patterns of interaction in the English language JSS
2 classroom.
4.
To find out if there is any
strength or weakness of interaction patterns in the English language JSS 2
classroom.
5.
To determine the objectives of
patterns of interaction in the English language Junior Secondary School 2 classroom.
1.4 Research Question:
1. What are the patterns of interaction in
English language JSS 2 classroom?
2. What is the relationship
between classroom interaction and students’ performance in the English language
classroom?
3. What
are the barriers to patterns of interaction in the English language JSS 2
classroom?
4. What are the strengths and weaknesses
of interaction patterns in the English language JSS 2 classroom?
5. What are the objectives of the patterns of interaction in the English
language JSS 2 classroom be determined?
1.5 Research
Hypothesis
1. There is no significant relationship
between the patterns of interaction and students’ performance in English
language JSS 2 classroom.
2. There is no significant relationship
between classroom
interaction and barriers to students’ learning in the English language classroom.
1.6 Significance of the Study:
The findings of this study will be
beneficial to the followings: students, teachers, parents, school authority and
the society etc.
Students will benefit from the findings
and recommendations of this sudy in terms of having a better insight on the
essence and important roles of effective interaction in English language
classroom among senior secondary school students. The study will also assist
the students to be able to see the need for them to engage themselves in
effective and result-oriented interactions so as to maximize the benefits
therefrom.
The
study will also assist students to form the habits of intense interaction with
one another in order to be proficient in English language both in school and at
home. This study would also help to enhance interaction in the classroom
setting which would establish an open discussion and assist on the value of
each student contribution. The findings would also help the classroom setting to
adapt to a changing word of effective interaction.
Teachers in the English language will
benefit from this study as it will enable them to know or have deep insight on
the importance of interaction to efficiency in English language at the
secondary school level in Nigeria.
Parents will equally benefit from the
study as the finding of the study will enable students’ parents to be in the
know concerning interactions in the English language classroom in secondary
schools in Lagos State, Nigeria.
The School Authority will also have an
insight on the benefit of interactive pattern in the English language and its
positive effect on students’ spoken English, their academic performance and
general attitudes of students in the society.
The members of the society such as
stakeholders and the significant others in the society would derive some
benefits from the study as it will give them some good knowledge of the
importance of interactions among teachers and their students in the school and
the society.
Generally, the successful completion of
this study, it is hoped that it would help to enhance interaction in the
educational system which would establish an open school climate which allows
for lively discussion and insists on the value of each person’s contribution.
It is also hoped that education policy makers like Ministry of Education,
Teacher Service Commission of Lagos State (TESCOM), teachers and students would
benefit immensely from it.
1.7 Scope of the Study:
The scope of this research is to analyze the patterns of
interaction in an ESL classroom in selected schools in Mainland Local Government
Area of Lagos State, Education District IV. The research also will cover the
research design which is basically descriptive research design in which
questions will be used as instruments. Only the senior secondary schools will
be involved in the study.
1.8 Operational Definitions of
Terms:
The following
operational terms were defined in the study:
Patterns of Interaction- This means the way and manner classroom
interactions are carried out among teachers and students in the classroom at
the senior secondary school level in Nigerian schools.
Interaction: Interaction
is a kind of action that occurs as two or more objects have an effect
upon one another. It comes from Latin word "Inter", meaning
"between" and "Ago" meaning to do or to act-any
"action between" is considered an interaction, like the interaction
between a teacher and a student. This is also, a kind of action that occurs as
a result of group or individual discussion on a particular subject(s) and or
object(s) having an effect upon one another.
ESL- This means English as a Second
Language. This also connotes that English language is the language of
instruction as well as the lingua franca in the country.
Classroom: A classroom is a place where
a class of children or students are taught by a teacher.
Dynamics: Dynamics is defined as what
causes people to do what they do. It is also seen as causing a change to occur
in a situation.
Secondary
School: Secondary education is a sub-set of the
Nigerian education system. It is the six (6) year programme received by
children after primary education and before the tertiary stage. It is grouped
into Junior (first 3-year) and senior (last 3-year) secondary schools.
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