Berkeley SIT TESOL Certificate Course
Chapter 2 Interactions in the Classroom Preview: In the first theme we explored factors that affect individual students’ learning. In this chapter we will continue to explore the how students learn but now looking at it through the lens of how different types of interactions between students and with a teacher can affect student learning. One interesting study focused on the effect that such interactions can have on student learning. In this study an instructor paused for two minutes on three occasions during each of five lectures: the intervals ranged from 12 to 18 minutes. During the pauses, while students worked in pairs to discuss and rework their notes, no interaction occurred between instructor and students. At the end of each lecture, students were given three minutes to write down everything they could remember from the lecture (free recall); 12 days after the last lecture, the students were also given a 65 item multiple-‐choice test to measure long-‐ term retention. A control group received the same lectures (using the same anecdotes and visual aids) and was similarly tested. In two separate courses repeated over two semesters, the results were striking and consistent: Students hearing the lectures while the instructor paused did significantly better on the free recall and the comprehensive test. In fact, the magnitude of the difference in mean scores between the two groups was large enough to make a difference of two letter grades depending upon cutoff points!
Ruhl, K. L., Hughes, C. A., & Schloss, P. J. (1987, Winter). Using the pause procedure to enhance lecture recall. Teacher Education and Special Education, 10, 14-18. Clearly, interaction among students in the classroom can have a dramatic effect on student learning. In this study the teacher opted to use pairwork and pauses to allow students to discuss what they learned from their lecture interaction with the professor. What other types of interactions and arrangements of students can support student learning? As you read the following story, consider different possibilities. Nino is teaching a history class to a group of twenty senior high school students. The chapter in the textbook focuses on the lives of several important figures in the history of the country. She lectures them about the lives of the people and explains key dates and events in their lives. Students listen quietly and some take notes. Later, she quizzes them by asking questions to the class. She has several students, Mari, Peter, and Lasha, who always raise their hands in these activities. She lets them answer most of the questions but also calls on some of the quieter students like George to answer. George often won’t answer or mumbles the wrong answer. Nino likes George and sometimes talks to him outside of class, but decides that he just isn’t a very good student. Later she is amazed to hear the literature teacher comment on what a great memory George has for characters and events in books. What makes George able to participate and learn so well in the literature class? Adapted from “Understanding Teaching through Learning” by Josh Kurzweil and Mary Scholl.
Berkeley SIT TESOL Certificate Course
Points of view In this section we will discuss different types of interactions between teachers and students. As you read try to make connections to different types of interactions you have experienced in your classes and in the activities learning Georgian. Take a moment and consider what you know about the following questions. • What different whole-‐class, individual, and pair/group work activities have you done in the Georgian lessons and in workshop sessions so far? • How can these interactions help students learn? Whole class activities In this pattern the teacher often (but not necessarily!) plays an active role. When all students need to focus on the same thing or can benefit from hearing each other’s ideas, this type of interaction can be very effective. Consider how these types of activities can affect student learning. Keep in mind that these activities are not necessarily meant to be done in this particular order. Type Description Activity example Eliciting The teacher finds out what the The teacher (or book) first students already know about the asks you to think about content by and gathering how you like to take notes. students’ ideas. They can add more where appropriate. Explanations The teacher tells about the The teacher (or book) content while the students listen, demonstrates the ask questions, take notes, and/or meaning of Georgian do some task. words such as “hello” and “goodbye” with pictures and gestures. Modeling The teacher (and students) The teacher alone or with demonstrates how to do an one or two students plays activity before students engage in the Dice Game (= roll the a group activity. dice and say the number) for a short time in front of the class. The teacher may also give verbal instructions at this time. Whole class The teacher (or a student) leads The teacher does a Choral practice/check an activity in which all students in Response activity in the class can participate. which, s/he guides students to work on pronouncing new words by having students say them as a class and/or individually in front of the group. S/he can also point Adapted from “Understanding Teaching through Learning” by Josh Kurzweil and Mary Scholl.
Berkeley SIT TESOL Certificate Course
Class share
Class discussion
out student pronunciation that is correct. The teacher sets up a situation in After a pairwork which students share information discussion of an article with the rest of the class. students come together as a group and offer ideas. The teacher (or students!) can The teacher asks people to facilitate a discussion in which share their opinions and students discuss their thoughts ideas about how and experiences about a topic or competition can help or activity they have done. hinder student learning.
Whole class activities can bring a clear focus to a class, offer students a chance share ideas, and help to clarify important aspects of the content. That being said, it is also important to be aware of several key factors that can hinder student learning in this interaction pattern. If the teacher dominates too much, students can slip into a passive role. As noted the first chapter, learning is an active process and in a whole class interaction individual students participation can become quite minimal. Likewise, the teacher needs to be aware of which students are participating and how much. In addition, participating in a whole class activity can be a very public display which can create anxiety in many students and reduce their comfort with making mistakes or sharing their ideas. On the other hand, students can learn a great deal about each other and the content through well-‐organized whole class activities. Individual student work Students can often benefit from individual think time before and after different types of interaction. Example of an activity How it can help students In the Magazine Picture Mingle activity, • Students have time to prepare the you chose the pictures you wanted to materials that they will use in the talk about. discussion. • Students have time to think about In the Movie Ticket warm up, you wrote which things are most important down your favorite movie. to them and which they were willing to share. • Students have time to prepare emotionally for the type of personal interaction they were going to have. Having students take time in the • Students can use whatever Georgian lesson to review numbers on strategies they already have. their own. • Students have time to internalize new material with risking failure Reviewing the list of numbers at home to in front of a group. Adapted from “Understanding Teaching through Learning” by Josh Kurzweil and Mary Scholl.
Berkeley SIT TESOL Certificate Course prepare for the second
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Writing a reflection at the end a lesson or activity (Ex. at the end of a language lesson, asking students what they need to work on.
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Students can focus on their own specific needs. Students have time to think about what they had learned and can assess their own progress. Students can make goals about what they need or want to work on. By thinking about what they learned students review the content again which can help them internalize the content.
Students can often benefit from having time on their own to think, prepare, or reflect. When working with students, teachers may incorporate techniques such as pausing after asking a question and allowing some silence while students think or write about what to say. A student may know a lot, and still have difficulty offering answers and ideas on the spot. Imagine a teacher asks you: “What was the most important moment in your country’s history?” You might need some time to consider that question before responding. Likewise, if you were supposed to debate with your classmates about why that moment in history was the most significant, time prepare some ideas with your group would probably result in a better debate. After such a debate, it might also be useful to have some time to note down ideas and information that you learned or thought about.
Adapted from “Understanding Teaching through Learning” by Josh Kurzweil and Mary Scholl.
Berkeley SIT TESOL Certificate Course Pair work and Group work By having students working with one or more partners on some kind of activity or extended task, teachers can maximize individual student participation. For example, the Listen and Point activity with the telephone keypad in the Georgian lesson, when done in pairs, allows each student to speak and think about vocabulary items much more than if they were to take turns as a whole class. The teacher can move around the classroom, monitoring student progress (i.e. observing students with attention to what they are doing well and need help with). Teachers might choose to offers some support at the moment or note down the problem area and focus on it later. Below are some other ways in which pair and group work can benefit students. Students can also Students are more The interactions The social aspect engage in peer likely to feel safe feel more private of working teaching. Students taking risks and and can help together and can learn from each experiment with students feel getting to know other and the act of content. They feel comfortable each other can teaching can help less exposed when sharing their ideas, motivate students re-enforce the making mistakes opinions and to learn more. content. and asking experiences. questions. Ex. By changing Ex. One student Ex. In our partners when might clarify how to Ex. Students might workshops we often asking for telephone pronounce the be more willing to have you talk with a numbers, students number four (otkhi) make a mistake partner before can meet several in Georgian. saying numbers if sharing ideas with different students. the whole class isn’t the whole group. listening. Through pair and small group work each student in the class can actively engage in the content and learn in ways, which suit him or her. In addition, these activities can lead to friendships and positive group dynamics based on shared experiences. There are several factors which are critical for students to be able to work on their own. They must have clear focus or task and must have the appropriate space and materials to interact with each other, otherwise they can end up being off-‐task or doing nothing. It is also important to remember that may need time to get accustomed working with each other.
Adapted from “Understanding Teaching through Learning” by Josh Kurzweil and Mary Scholl.
Berkeley SIT TESOL Certificate Course Type of participation The way in which student interact and learn can depend a great deal on how they are encouraged to participate and how much responsibility they have for their own learning. The teacher decides content………………………………………….………Students can choose the content Controlled Free The teacher decides the how to do the activity…………………..……Students decide how to do the activity
For example in when moving around the room and exchanging, students could choose how they wanted to interact and use the language they had learned. In contrast, when rolling the dice and saying numbers, the students have control over what they say and how they say it. Teachers can also decide how much control they want to give. For example, if the Card Slap Game is played in small groups, the teacher might prescribe exactly how to play the game by showing students how many cards they can grab and how to take turns. Alternatively, the teacher might show several options and let the students in each group decide how they want to play the game. Depending on the aim of the activity, the teacher can give more or less control to students in how the game is played. Although structure and clear focus is critical to an activity, students can also benefit from taking responsibility for what and how they learn. They can shape the activity to suit their learning styles and the act of making decisions can invest them in the activity creating more motivation. Student focus/aim As mentioned above, giving students a clear focus for in class activities can be critical to their learning and participation. It is important to keep in mind that there are many types of tasks which students can engage in. In the Class Share, the students might be able to personalize the signs by relating them to their lives and also by asking the teacher for the other signs they want to know. In this way, they are able to express their own ideas which can affect motivation and retention of the new words. In the Point and Say activity students are much more focused on the remembering the signs accurately. Their focus is on finding the “right” answer. In the Word Brainstorm, the students might wonder about the rules for which words have signs and which need to spelled. The teacher might later do an activity in which students discover more about sign language rules. Type of interaction One can also see activities ranging from cooperative in which students work together to help each other or accomplish a goal to competitive in which they try to win some type of game. For example in the Point and Say activity, students work together to remember the different signs. In contrast, the Slap Game has students review the signs by competing against one another. Many times a teacher can adjust Adapted from “Understanding Teaching through Learning” by Josh Kurzweil and Mary Scholl.
Berkeley SIT TESOL Certificate Course an activity to be cooperative or competitive. For example another option in the slap game might be to have students work in teams so that there is both cooperation and competition. As seen in the previous chapter, different types of learning activities will appeal to individual learners. While some students may become motivated by competition others may withdraw. Some students may like the inter-‐personal aspect of sharing ideas and experiences, whereas others become engaged by problem-‐solving and logical thinking. The key is to offer your students a variety of different types of interactions. This practice not only appeals to different individual learners, but can also keep the class stimulating and fresh. Take a moment to review by answering questions we posed at the beginning of the Points of View section. Thoughts to consider What connections do you make between the following quotations and your own ideas about classroom interaction and individual student learning. “Success in the language classroom depends less upon materials, techniques or linguistic analyses, and more on what goes on inside and between the people in the classroom.” -‐-‐ Earl Stevick (Working With Teaching Methods,) “We don't accomplish anything in this world alone ... and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something.” – Sandra Day O'Connor "Learning is a social process that occurs through interpersonal interaction within a cooperative context. Individuals, working together, construct shared understandings and knowledge." David Johnson, Roger Johnson and Karl Smith, Active Learning: Cooperation in the College Classroom, Edina, MN: Interaction Book Co., 1991.
Adapted from “Understanding Teaching through Learning” by Josh Kurzweil and Mary Scholl.