Classroom Interaction

CLASSROOM INTERACTION

1.      Definition of Classroom Interaction

Interaction is occurred everyday in the classroom activities between the teacher and the learners. Interaction commonly defines as a kind of action that occurs as two or more objects has an effect upon one another. The idea of a two-way effect is essential in the concept of interaction, as opposed to a one-way causal effect.

Education with its correlated activities of teaching and learning process

Is involves interaction between teacher and students as channels of realizing its objectives. Interaction occurs every day in teaching and learning process. It is managed by everyone, not only by the teacher in the classroom, but also the students. This interaction is usually used to express their ideas together.

Classroom interaction could be referred to as a process of passing down a vital information from professional teacher who has undergone a rigorous training to the learners in the classroom. it could be referred to all interaction that take place between the teacher and the learner in an organize classroom.

While Markee & Kasper (2004) state, Classroom interaction: Classroom interaction as a form of institutional talk is locally managed but cooperatively constructed speech exchange system.

From those definitions, we conclude that Classroom interaction is a process of passing down important information from teachers to the learners in the learning process.

Moreover, Allwright and Bailey (1991:25) stated that through classroom interaction, the plan produces outcomes (input, practice opportunities, and receptivity). The teacher has to plan what he intends to teach (syllabus, method, and atmosphere). So, the classroom interaction has important role in teaching learning process. It can be seen from the figure below.

Figure 1. The relation between plans and outcomes

Furthermore, Rivers (1987:6-9) stated that the teacher in teaching learning process should not be too focus on the best method, the teacher should be looking for the most appropriate approach, design of materials, or set of procedures in a particular case. The teacher is being flexible, while keeping interaction central; interaction between teacher and learners, learners and teacher, learner and learner, learner and authors of texts, learner and the community that speak the language. The teacher should not be directed and dominated in the classroom. Interaction cannot be one-way, but two-way, three-way or four-way.

2.      The Role of The Teacher in The Classroom Interaction

In a traditional classroom the teacher had the dominant role of an all-knowing leader who ‘filled’ students’ empty heads with knowledge. #is role has changed and the teacher has now got many roles depending on different classroom situations. In a broad sense, he is a ‘facilitator of learning’, which includes the following (Littlewood 1981, 92):

·         A general overseer of learning, who coordinates the activities so that they form a coherent progression from lesser to greater communicative ability.

·         A classroom manager, who is responsible for grouping activities into lessons and for their overall organization.

·         A language instructor, who presents new language, controls, evaluates and corrects learners’ performance.

·         In free communicative activities he will act as a consultant or adviser, helping where necessary. He may move around the classroom and monitor student’s progress, strengths and weaknesses.

·         Sometimes he will participate in an activity as a ‘co-communicator’ with the learners. He may encourage learners without taking their main role.

These roles are frequently interrelated and some others (e.g. assessor, observer as explained in Harmer 2001) could be added. #e roles of a consultant or co-communicator encourage classroom interaction most, but they need the support of other roles (e.g. for organising and controlling activities).

3.      Kind of Classroom Interaction

a.      Drill

First form of interaction (teacher – learners) is established when a teacher talks to the whole class at the same time. He takes the role of a leader or controller and decides about the type and process of the activity. The primary function of such interaction is controlled practising of certain language structures or vocabulary. Mostly, they are in the form of repeating structures after the teacher (the model). This type of practice is also referred to as‘a drill’.

b.      Pair Work

Students get an assignment, which they have to finish in pairs. The teacher holds the role of a consultant or adviser, helping when necessary. After the activity, he puts the pairs into a whole group and each pair reports on their work.

c.       Group Work

As with pair work, the teacher’s function here is that of a consultant and individual groups report on their work as a follow-up activity. The last two ways of organization are particularly useful for encouraging interaction among students. In large classes, they present the only possibility for as many students as possible to use the foreign language. The research has shown (long et al. 1976 in Nunan 1991, 51) that students use more language functions in pair- and group-work than in other forms of interaction. It has also been proven that students perceive them as the most pleasant ways of learning, because they feel relaxed and subsequently communicate better (Phillips 1983 in hatch 1992, 93). Such work encourages independent learning and gives some responsibility for learning to students. It approaches real-life communication where students talk to their peers in small groups or pairs. Nevertheless, whole-class organization should not be completely neglected since it is still more appropriate for guided and controlled activities.

d.      Reading aloud

Reading aloud is a classroom activity in which one person is reading while others listen. Reading aloud may be performed by the teacher or student. Reading aloud may be performed by a single person or by a group taking turns. This form of highly structured classroom interaction allows all students to be focused at exactly the same point in a reading. This allows students to easily focus on vocabulary and pronunciation.

e.       Conversation

Classroom conversation is a form of classroom interaction in which students in the class discuss a given topic. The conversation may be held across the whole class or in smaller groups. Conversation is an important form of classroom interaction because it helps students develop their language skills. In a conversation, students may apply the skills and knowledge they have acquired in the class, making classroom conversation a practical form of interaction.

f.       Role-play

Role-playing is an activity in which students take on given or chosen roles and act out a scene with others. This form of interaction lends itself to almost any situation, and the only restriction is a student's imagination. Role-playing allows students to demonstrate their creativity and knowledge about their roles, and it allows students to think outside of the constraints of the classroom and consider how they might apply the learned material to the real world. This form of interaction can integrate different subjects into one activity.

g.      Question-and-answer

Question-and-answer is a traditional form of classroom interaction in which a teacher or student explains and poses a question for the other. Questions asked by the teacher are usually for the purpose of assessment, while questions asked by the students are usually for obtaining new information. The socratic method is also a form of question-and-answer interaction. The socratic method is a form of asking questions with the intent of leading students to discover the answer themselves. Question-and-answer as a form of interactive learning allows students to have a large influence on the agenda of the classroom, because it allows them to freely express their thoughts and feelings.

4.      Example of Classroom Interaction

	Competitive	Cooperative	Individualistic
Full Class	·         Students compete with other students by having the correct answer when it is their turn	·         Students are allowed call out hints or clued when a student is having difficulty finding the right answer	·         The entire class recites answers in unison
Group	·         Subgroups compete against each other as opposing teams.	·         Subgroups work on different but related aspects of a topic combining their results into a formal report to the class	·         Each subgroup completes its own assigned topic, which is different from the topics assigned the other sub-groups, no shared report is given to the class
Individual	·         Individuals compete with each other by having to respond to the same question. ·         The quickest most accurate response “wins”	·         Pairs of individuals cooperate by exchanging papers, sharing responses, or correcting each other’s errors.	·         Individuals complete seat work on their own without direct teacher involvement.

5.      Jigsaw

From many classroom interactions we choose group work as our choice especially Jigsaw method. Teaching English using Jigsaw method can improve students’ responsibility in group and can increase their speaking skill because they have to share the idea they have with other member. Beside that, Jigsaw method is one of group works that can make students interest because they can share the idea with other group called expert group. So, students will not get bored because they share the idea with many friends.

Jigsaw has first introduced and experimented by Elliot Aronson and colleagues in Texas University then have been adopted by Slavin and colleagues in John Hopkins University (Arends, 2001). This teaching technique has been developed as the cooperative learning method which is used to teach speaking, reading, listening and writing. Besides that, the language components can be taught by using this technique.

According to Arends (1997), jigsaw is a type of cooperative learning which consists of some members in a heterogenous group that have responsibility for mastering a part of material and have an ability to teach them to the other member from their group.

Jigsaw has designed to improve the students’ responsibility to their own learning and other learning. They are not only learn the given materials, but also they have to be ready to give and teach them to another group’s member. So, they depend on each other and work together cooperatively. (Lie, A, 1994)

In the jigsaw classroom, students in small groups depend on one another for information needed to learn a topic, complete a task, or solve a problem. Although each student’s information is dependently comprehensible, the ultimate learning goal is for every one in the group to have the whole set of information. It is therefore each group member’s task to share his or her piece of information so that all the students know all of the material. In jigsaw then, students are individually accountable for learning their own material and for sharing their information effectively with other group members.

In jigsaw techniques, students are divided into two groups, expert group and jigsaw group. Jigsaw group is a group of student who has a member with different knowledge and background. This group is combining of the expert group. Then, expert group is a group of student consisting of the member of different jigsaw group which is asked to study or learn some topics and finish the task which has related to their topic then explore them to the member of jigsaw group.

Jigsaw is one of the cooperative learning techniques, is based on group dynamics and social interactions (Sahin, 2010).  It means that the student must study in a group (Anonymous, 2010:30). Thesteps of jigsaw techniqueas follows:

1.             First, teacher divides the students into small groups. Each group consists of three to five students. These groups are called jigsaw group. Teacher gives a passage consists of some segments of the material to all students in jigsaw group.

2.             Second, each student in Jigsaw groups is assigned to choose a section or portion of the material. After that, students who choose the same section gather and make a new group called expert group. In this step, the researcher gives time to these “Expert Group” to discuss the main point of their segment.  They may share ideas, opinions, and comprehension about the material and try to solve their problem.  After that, they return to their jigsaw groups and explain the material to each other, until all of them in jigsaw groups comprehend the material.

3.             Finally, give a quiz based on the material to find out students’ achievement (Slavin, 2005; Mengduo and Xiaoling, 2010; Hersulastuti, 2010).