Classroom interaction in a private English language school

1、contentsabstract- 4 -acknowledgements- 5 -chapter 1 introduction- 6 -1.1 introduction- 6 -1.2 english education in formal schools in taiwan- 6 -1.3 young learners english education in private english language schools- 8 -1.4 reasons for choosing this topic- 9 -chapter 2 literature review- 11 -2.1 in

2、troduction- 11 -2.2 the young learners and native speakers of english- 12 -2.2.1 the young learners- 12 -2.2.2 the native speakers of english- 12 -2.2.3 the problematic nature of the nest/nnest label- 14 -2.3 teacher-learner interaction- 15 -2.3.1 learner aspect- 16 -2.3.1.1 motivation- 16 -2.3.1.2

3、reception and production- 16 -2.3.2 teacher aspect: teacher talk- 21 -2.3.2.1 questioning behaviour- 23 -2.3.2.2 error correction- 27 -2.4 summary- 30 -chapter 3 methodology- 31 -3.1 introduction- 31 -3.2 research questions- 31 -3.3 research backgrounds- 32 -3.3.1 the school- 32 -3.3.2 the teachers-

4、 34 -3.3.3 the learners- 37 -3.3.4 the parents- 38 -3.4 methodology- 38 -3.4.1 qualitative methodology- 38 -3.4.2 case study approach- 39 -3.4.3 methods to collect data: observation and interview- 41 -3.4.3.1 unobtrusive observation- 41 -3.4.3.2 semi-structured interview- 44 -3.4.3.3 digital recordi

5、ng and field-notes taking- 46 -3.4.4 data analysis- 48 -3.5 ethical issues- 49 -3.6. conclusion- 50 -chapter 4 data analysis and presentation of findings- 51 -4.1 introduction- 51 -4.2 learners parents and teachers perspectives on classroom interaction.- 52 -4.2.1 learners perspectives- 52 -4.2.1.1

6、on their preferences for a specific kind of teacher- 52 -4.2.1.2 on their views to teachers merits and speaking english with teachers- 54 -4.2.2 parents perspectives- 55 -4.2.2.1 on their views of nests and tts teaching style- 55 -4.2.2.2 on their views of childrens interest in a particular kind of

7、teacher- 56 -4.2.2.3 on their expectation of childrens learning outcome- 57 -4.2.2.4 on their views on which kind of teachers motivate learners.- 58 -4.2.3 teachers perspectives- 59 -4.2.3.1 on their roles in the language classroom and classroom interaction- 60 -4.2.3.2 on their approaches to teachi

8、ng and promoting teacher-learner interaction- 63 -4.3 the real interaction behaviour observed in the classroom.- 66 -4.3.1 teachers questioning behaviour- 66 -4.3.2 error correction- 77 -4.4 summary- 87 -chapter 5 conclusions- 89 -references- 93 -appendix 1 interview questions- 100 -(to learners)- 1

9、00 -(to parents)- 101 -(to teachers)- 102 -appendix 2 interview extracts- 103 -part a (learners perspectives on english teaching and learning and classroom interaction) (english translation)- 103 -part b (parents perspectives on english teaching and learning and classroom interaction) (english trans

10、lation)- 107 -part c (teachers perspectives on english teaching and learning and classroom interaction: on their roles in the language classroom and classroom interaction)- 112 -part d (teachers perspectives on english teaching and learning and classroom interaction: on their approaches to teaching

11、and promoting teacher-learner interaction)- 114 -appendix 3: observational field notes- 116 -part a (field notes concerning the teachers questioning behaviour)- 116 -part b (field notes concerning the teachers error correction)- 118 -appendix 4: observational transcript.-119-abstractprivate english

12、language schools have become more and more popular in taiwan, as english-language acquisition is considered indispensable by parents, business professionals and scholars. this is due to the fact that taiwans economy is export-oriented and increasingly integrated with the international community. lea

13、rners are able to receive english teaching from both native-english-speaking teachers (nests) and taiwanese teachers (tts) in private english language schools. this dissertation looks at the young learners, parents and teachers perspectives on english teaching and learning and classroom interaction

14、in a private english language school. it also investigates both the nests and tts real interactive practice in their classrooms. it argues that although there are no significant differences between the views of nests and tts on classroom interaction, the two kinds of teachers do differ in some of th

15、eir approaches to english teaching and the promotion of classroom interaction. four classes taught by two nests and two tts respectively were observed and four young learners, their parents and the four teachers were interviewed in this research. digital recording was used during the observations an

16、d interviews and field-notes were taken in the observations.chapter 1 introduction1.1 introductionthis research is chiefly concerned with classroom interaction in a private english language school in taiwan. it aims to compare young learners interaction with native-english-speaking teachers (nests)

17、and that with taiwanese teachers (tts) in the same school. in this chapter, the background of english education in both formal schools and private sectors will be covered first. the reasons for choosing this topic will be presented next. the last section explains how the dissertation is organised.1.

18、2 english education in formal schools in taiwanenglish has long been one of the compulsory subjects in both junior and senior high schools in taiwan. since 1968, students in junior and senior high schools are supposed to take english lesson on a three to six hours per week basis. because english is

19、one of the subjects tested in senior high school, college and university entrance exams, english teachers in junior and senior high schools have placed emphasis on helping students to pass those exams and thus the focus of teaching is on english grammar, reading and writing rather than listening and

20、 speaking. in recent years the taiwanese government has stressed the importance of english education as the age of students starting to learn english in formal schools was brought down to the fifth grade in the elementary school in 2001 and again to the third grade in 2005. according to the ministry

21、 of education (2004), the objectives of english curriculum in the formal school are as follows:l to cultivate students basic english communicative competence so that they can use english in the real context of life; l to develop students interest in and methods of learning english so that they can l

22、earn spontaneously and effectively; l to increase students understanding of the culture of english-speaking countries so that they can compare and respect the cultural differences. however, even though the government has sensed the importance of english education and advanced english education in fo

23、rmal schools, parents are still anxious to send their children to private english language schools as in those schools students are able to receive teaching from both nests and tts whilst in formal schools the students can only be taught by tts. meanwhile, the number of students in the class of a fo

24、rmal school is different from that of a private school. in formal elementary schools a teacher has to instruct around thirty-five students whereas in private english language schools there are only about fifteen students in each class. thus, the learners in private sectors are more likely to get a l

25、arger share of teachers attention and to have more interaction with the teacher. in the next section, i will talk briefly about the young learners english education in private english language schools. 1.3 young learners english education in private english language schoolsdue to the fact that engli

26、sh proficiency is deemed more and more important in taiwan, parents pay much more attention to their childrens english education than before. this phenomenon only accounts for the situation that many private english language schools have mushroomed in recent decades in taiwan. private english langua

27、ge schools are set up to serve students of different age. here ill focus on talking about the kind of private language school for young learners investigated in this research, “an-ching ban.”an-ching ban, transliterated from chinese, refers to the school established for the purpose of taking care of

28、 children. the students going to an-ching ban are mainly primary school pupils whose parents cant look after them after the primary schools finish at noon. this kind of day-care centre, because of the expectation from parents, has taken english class into its curriculum and young learners learning e

29、nglish in this kind of school has become very common in taiwan. over a period of time, english class has become the main consideration when parents choose an-ching ban. the english teachers in an-ching ban are mainly native speakers of english, but some taiwanese english teachers also take part in t

30、he teaching. the english class in an-ching ban, often lasting for two hours a day, is conducted twice weekly during weekdays. the main purpose of the teaching in an-ching ban is to help students to gain basic communicative competence. 1.4 reasons for choosing this topicwith the economic development

31、and globalization of taiwan, private english language schools have become more and more popular in taiwan. however, there is a heated argument over whether the teachers should be native-english-speaking teachers or local teachers. medgyes (1992: 344) points out that once the native/non-native dichot

32、omy is accepted, the question “whos worth more: the nest or the nnest?” often becomes evident. this issue will be covered later in section 2.2.3. having observed this issue, i would like to find out more about learners interaction with both kinds of teachers in the private english language school. t

33、hrough doing this research on comparing young learners interaction with teachers in classrooms taught by native-speakers and by taiwanese teachers of english, i hope to gain some insights into what both kinds of teachers do to promote classroom interaction and later reflect on my own teaching. to re

34、iterate, the focus of this dissertation is on comparing classroom interaction between young learners and nests and that between young learners and tts in a private english language school.in order to provide background to this focus, in the following chapters of this dissertation, ill first provide

35、some literature review on the definition of young learners and native speakers of english and on the teacher-learner interaction including both learner aspect and teacher aspect. then, ill present an account of my research questions, research backgrounds, methodology, approaches and methods for coll

36、ecting data. also some ethical issues will be discussed in this section. after that, i will analyse the data i collected and discuss my findings based on the literature i have reviewed. finally in the conclusion, ill make a brief summary of my findings and some recommendations in terms of promoting

37、classroom interaction.chapter 2 literature review2.1 introductionchaudron (1988: 10) states that in recent years some features of classroom interaction such as “turn-taking, questioning and answering, negotiation of meaning and feedback” have played a greater role in second language classroom as a r

38、esult of “scaffolding,” behaviours which indicate that through conversation linguistic structures are provided and prompt learners to recognise and produce those structures or associated forms. moreover, according to tsui (1995), classroom interaction is of vital importance in situations where the u

39、se of the target language is seldom available outside the classroom and students access to the target language mainly lies in their participation in the classroom. malamah-thomas (1987) suggests that in the language classroom, the internal process of learning will result naturally from the external

40、interaction which occurs between the two kinds of people who participate: the teacher and the learners. he further points out that classroom interaction functions as an enabler whose intention is to provide conditions for learning (ibid). therefore, its evident that classroom interaction plays a fai

41、rly important role in language teaching and learning. in this chapter, the literature on young learners and what constitutes a native-english-speaking teacher will be covered first. this is followed by the literature on the interaction between the teacher and learners which will be divided into two

42、parts: the learner aspect and the teacher aspect. 2.2 the young learners and native speakers of english2.2.1 the young learnersrixon (1999) defines young learners (yl) as children from about 5 years old to 12 years old and argues that the definition of young learners matches roughly with children wh

43、o study in the primary stage of education before entering secondary school in the british educational system and those of other countries. she further states that according to many teachers experience, children at around the age of 11 or 12 start to alter in many aspects of life and learning (learni

44、ng of a foreign language included.) the students involved in this research are all children aged from nine to twelve years old and are therefore qualified to be called young learners. 2.2.2 the native speakers of englishenglish now has become an international language, people in more and more countr

45、ies speak english as their first language; therefore the term native-speaker must be defined more carefully. the common-sense understanding of the term is that it includes “people who have a special control over the language, insider knowledge about their language” (daives, 1991:1). however, this ma

46、y be insufficient to define the term.tay (1982:67) defines a native speaker as: “one who learns english in childhood and continues to use it as his dominant language has reached a certain level of fluency.” language expertise, language loyalty, inheritance and affiliation have been used to clarify t

47、he concept of native speaker (rampton, 1990). according to boyle (1997), if we combine the ideas of tay, rampton and daives, we might be able to choose five elements which seem to be essential to being a native speaker:(1) inheritance/birth/early start;(2) expertise/proficiency/fluency;(3) continual

48、 use as dominant language;(4) loyalty/allegiance/affiliation;(5) confidence/comfortable identification.(boyle, 1997:167)according to the elements listed above, two of the teachers chosen for this research can be regarded as native-english-speaking teachers since both of them started and continue usi

49、ng english confidently and fluently, having loyalty to it and seeing it as their identification since childhood.2.2.3 the problematic nature of the nest/nnest labelaccording to maum (2002), the term nonnative-english-speaking teachers (nnests) has caused some debate among elt professionals. some hol

50、d that it is required that nests and nnests be distinguished because their distinctions are actually their merits and therefore worth noticing whilst some disagree with the dichotomy and feel that drawing a distinction among teachers according to their status as native speakers or not leads to the s

51、uperiority of the nests and discrimination in hiring practices (maum, 2002). medgyes (1992) points out that nests and nnests differ significantly in their teaching practice as a result of their divergent language background but a teachers effectiveness does not depend on his or her being native spea

52、ker of english or not. both the nests and nnests “serve equally useful purposes in their own terms” (medgyes, 1992: 349) in this dissertation, the terms native-/nonnative-english-speaking teachers are adopted as i consider the differences between these two kinds of teachers do exist and can be of be

53、nefit to learners in various aspects.2.3 teacher-learner interactiontaking on krashens (1977) distinction between conscious learning and naturalistic acquisition in second-language learning, tsui (1995) argues that classroom interaction can facilitate both conscious learning and unconscious acquisit

54、ion through teachers instruction and students real use of the language. according to tsui (1995: 11), teachers play an important role in the learning process as teachers language use in the classroom has influence on “the nature of the interaction, which in turn affects opportunities for learning.”

55、meanwhile the importance of learners involvement in classroom learning cannot be overlooked. tsui (1995) states that students participation in classroom interaction is one of the vital forms of involvement. as a result, the literature on both the learner aspect and the teacher aspect will be reviewe

56、d. in the following section, learners motivation and their reception and production will be discussed first. the teacher aspects including questioning behaviour and error correction will then be reviewed. 2.3.1 learner aspect 2.3.1.1 motivationellis (1994: 36) points out that motivation is widely re

57、cognised as “of great importance for successful second language acquisition.” he further states that motivation influences the degree to which learners persist in learning the target language, the learning acts they commit and the learning outcome they achieve (ibid.). it includes “the attitudes and

58、 affective states” which may make an impact on the effort made by learners to learn the target language (ellis, 1997: 75). johnson (1995) argues that learners need and desire to communicate constitutes one of the important roles of the ideal conditions for second language acquisition. learners motivation, which results in a variety of learning behaviours when they are learning in the language classroom, thus plays an important role in classroom interaction. in the next se