Cơ hội học tập ngoại ngữ được tạo ra qua sự tương tác trong lớp học bởi giáo viên mới và giáo viên nhiều kinh nghiệm chỉ có phần mở rộng tạo ra cơ hội học tập

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER L2 LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES IN CLASSROOM INTERACTION CREATED BY NOVICE AND EXPERIENCED TEACHERS: DOES ONLY F MOVE MATTER? Supervisor: Nguyễn Chí Đức, PhD Student: Bùi Quỳnh Trang Course: QH2014.F.1.E2 HÀ NỘI – 2018 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP CƠ HỘI HỌC TẬP NGOẠI NGỮ ĐƯỢC TẠO RA QUA SỰ TƯƠNG TÁC TRONG LỚP HỌC BỞI GIÁO VIÊN MỚI VÀ GIÁO VIÊN NHIỀU KINH NGHIỆM: CHỈ CÓ PHẦN MỞ RỘNG TẠO RA CƠ HỘI HỌC TẬP? Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Nguyễn Chí Đức, PhD Sinh viên: Bùi Quỳnh Trang Khóa: QH2014.F.1.E2 HÀ NỘI – 2018 I hereby state that I: Bùi Quỳnh Trang, QH2014.F.1.14E2, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (English Language Teacher Education) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature Date 03/05/2018 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS When I decided to conduct this research project, I was eager to prove myself and wished to experience as much as possible in this last project of my undergraduate life However, reality struck me with hardship since day one, for my research skills were too weak, yet qualitative research was too much of a challenge to a student researcher It was my supervisor, Dr Nguyễn Chí Đức, who guided me through every step along the way slowly but firmly and enlightened me with his cool manner and his careful scaffolding when I got stuck From him I have learned from the most basic concepts of a qualitative study to how to be a real teacher and most importantly, to believe that I am capable Thanks to his guidance, I have achieved much more than completing this project Though no words could explain my gratitude towards Mr Chí Đức, I still want to send him my sincere thanks for everything that he had done to help me thrive and an apology for the difficulties that he had to endure to make my journey easier I also want to thank all my supportive research participants in the University of Languages and International Studies, who had allowed me to join their classes as an observer despite all the inconvenience I brought I could never have completed this study without them and I hope that they find my research findings beneficial to their teaching and learning in some ways Special thanks also go to my Defense Committee, anonymous examiners for their contribution to the completion of this study, to my former research methodology teachers, Ms Hải Yến and Mr Hải Hà and my former research partners for giving me a good start with research and making me less diffident along the way Next, my gratitude is extended to my closest friends, Thao, Duy, Ngan, and Phuong Anh, who never seemed to run out of kind words to cheer me up though they might be in much more challenging situations than I was Finally, I send my gratitude to my beloved parents, who have been the pillars of support for me and my endless inspiration This research is a reminder of their support and love for me iii ABSTRACT This study investigates the interactional patterns of the novice and the experienced teachers in EFL classrooms and uncovers the difference of learning opportunities created from classroom interaction by each group of teachers Through video taping and observing 10 EFL classes of English majored university students, the researcher examined the teachers’ employment of the IRF sequence (Initiation – Response – Follow-up) in their classroom talk The study has found that due to the significance difference in the way the teachers used the IRF sequences in their talk, the experienced teachers were able to generate more learning opportunities in terms of cognitive development, lexical acquisition and lesson involvement than their novice counterparts Moreover, not only teachers but also students were capable of creating learning opportunities for themselves when they are empowered Also, the research recommended a new way to view the IRF sequence in future studies about classroom interaction iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii ABSTRACT iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLES viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Background and statement of the research problems Research aims and research questions Potential contributions RESEARCH DESIGN 4.1 Sampling 4.2 Data collection 4.3 Data analysis 5 Structure of the paper CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Classroom interaction and the IRF sequence L2 learning opportunities from classroom interaction 2.1 Definition of a learning opportunity 2.2 Learning opportunities created through the IRF sequence in classroom interaction CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 13 Research Aims and Research Design 13 The research context 15 Research questions 16 Participants 16 4.1 Novice teachers 17 4.2 Experienced teachers 18 4.3 Students 18 v Data collection instruments 19 5.1 Video and audio recordings 19 5.2 Observation 19 Data collection procedure 20 6.1 Data collection phase 21 6.2 Data collection phase 21 Data analysis procedure 22 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS 23 Key features in classroom interaction created by the novice and the experienced teachers 23 1.1 Novice teachers 23 1.2 Experienced teachers 27 Learning opportunities created through the interactional patterns by the novice and the experienced teachers 35 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATION 39 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND LIMITATION 43 REFERENCES 45 APPENDIX 1: TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO DATA 47 APPENDIX 2: SAMPLE SIGNED CONSENT FORM 54 APPENDIX 3: SAMPLE OBSERVATION NOTE 55 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a Foreign Language F: Follow-up I: Initiation L2: Foreign or second language R: Response S1: The first student S2: The second student Ss: Students T: Teacher vii LIST OF TABLES Table Overview of the learning opportunities in the previous studies Table Two groups of teachers and the number of classes observed in the research project 16 viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Background and statement of the research problems Most of the research in the field of language learning was constructed based on one idea that language development has a close connection with interaction according to Vygotsky (1978) in his Sociocultural Theory Ellis (2000, as cited in Hall and Walsh, 2002) claimed that “Sociocultural Theory assumes that learning arises not through interaction but in interaction” (p.186) This means that our acquisition of language, thinking and communication skills comes from our daily social interaction (Hall and Walsh, 2002) In this way, if language classrooms are considered small communities where teachers and students interact, language learning stems from the interaction between them, especially in classrooms of a foreign language, where students have limited exposure to the target language outside of their language classrooms This assumption makes the link between L2 learning and teacher-student interaction worth studying to uncover many language learning opportunities that might be created from this type of interaction As language acquisition starts with interaction, learning opportunities that can be created within interaction are pivotal to foster L2 development Within the field of classroom interaction, there has existed a line of research that focuses on investigating the application IRF sequence (Initiation – Response – Follow-up) as units of classroom talk These investigations, which employed a quantitative approach to looking at learning opportunities created by classroom interaction, shared one similar conclusion that classroom interaction did not often create enough opportunities for students to learn In a study on teachers’ use of positive feedback in the F move, Wong and Waring (2009) pointed out that the abuse of such a practice prevented learners from scrutinizing their answers and engaging further in discussion Moreover, in another study that also focused on classroom interaction in an EFL class in China, when the teacher performed the IRF sequence strictly, very little teacher-student interaction happened and there was no room for F move came only to confirm students’ responses or give direct feedback The cases of extended F moves were scarce if the I move was not open This pattern was clearly evidenced in the classroom interaction constructed by the novice teachers On the other hand, if the I move initiated an open issue and the turn-taking designation was set free as in the case of the experienced teachers, students became more active in giving, elaborating and even challenging their own answers Such a R move was often diverse in language structures, represented high-order thinking skills and included different unexpected/novel ideas, which, in turn, cultivated a favorable condition for further discussion in the F move In this very case, teachers and students did not hold fixed roles as the inquirer and responders, respectively Students could initiate a question that required teacher to respond instead The discussion above confirms that each move in an IRF sequence is heavily dependent on another other This finding is novel to the literature of this field as there has not existed any study which viewed these three moves as one complete and inseparable structure In fact, they only centered on expanding the F move Therefore, it is highly recommended for future research that the IRF sequence be studied as three interconnected moves and so that their findings can be more well rounded The present study also showed that the experienced teachers created more learning opportunities through their classroom interaction patterns than their novice colleagues Such opportunities were not only related to language use but also cognitive ability Therefore, it is highly recommended that language teacher training programs spend a certain amount of time to train novice teachers’ awareness of the importance and suitable methods of designating classroom interaction patterns that are deemed to foster language learning In short, this study has filled all research gaps stated in Chapter First, it suggested that not only did the F move affect the quantity and the quality of learning opportunities as reported in most previous research, but the I and the R move also mattered Second, open I moves, together with an open turn-taking designation, 41 entailed more learning opportunities in the R move, which, in turn, cultivated better learning opportunities in the F move Put differently, such three moves were heavily interdependent This finding is useful for both future research and teacher training practice Finally, as consistently shown in the collected data of this research project, the experienced teachers created more learning opportunities than their novice counterparts thanks to their open IRF sequence as well as their free turn-taking designation In such an interactional pattern, students were empowered to take hold of their learning process and therefore benefited more from this process 42 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND LIMITATION The present research project has shown that the learning opportunities in L2 learning can be generated by three groups of participants, novice and experienced teachers and even L2 learners themselves The novice teachers’ typical interaction patterns are direct I move that leads to short and expected responses from students Consequently, the F move is also limited in length and content and rarely expanded On the contrary, the experienced teachers focus on initiating an open I move, thereby harvesting free and creative responses from their learners and help the teachers form a more meaningful F move The experienced teachers have been found to create more learning opportunities for L2 students than their novice counterparts These opportunities include the use of complex sentence structures, development of cognitive ability and incidental focus on forms The reasons for the difference in the quantity and quality of the learning opportunities created by two groups was the different application of the IRF sequence When the I move is open, it makes way for the R and the F to be expanded Thanks to this, students are empowered to initiate and make questions, no longer passively receive ideas The findings have brought new insights into the research field of the IRF sequence Former research tended to view the IRF as three separated moves; they considered the I and R limited in content Teachers initiate turn and students response to it; only the follow-up was investigated and opportunities seemed to only come from this last move However, this present research has proved that learning opportunities can be formed since the I move if the teacher makes it open The I move can also be initiated by the students themselves, when they are empowered to contribute freely Also, their responses to such open I moves will be more diverse and include more complex structures Therefore, the I and R matter, since when these two moves are open, they set a favorable condition for students and teachers to construct and modify the F move more purposefully According to this finding, a recommendation for future research of this field is that researchers should study 43 these three moves in interconnected manner and carefully examine the effect each move has on another move in the sequence The relationship among the IRF sequence can impose a grand influence on the outcome of the interaction In addition, teachers training programs can take this present research into consideration and modify their focus in classroom interaction training for novice teachers It cannot be denied that the research findings above are subjected to some limitations The present research had attempted to collect the data from students’ interaction to compensate for the weakness of the fixed camera and add up to the findings about teachers’ interaction However, due to the limited quantity and quality of recorders and the reluctance of some students in giving consent, the data from students were not able to support and triangulate the findings Therefore, it is recommended for the future research to aim at collecting data from student interaction as this can be rich sources of information and covers many learning opportunities for L2 learning Moreover, the difference in teaching contents of the lessons between the novice and experienced teachers might affect the teaching style of both groups of participants The novice group was observed teaching reading and writing lessons, while the experienced group was only observed in their speaking and listening classes The choice of lessons was limited by the consent of participants and also the conflicted teaching timetable of the faculty Therefore, the findings might not be generalized to represent all teachers in different teaching content 44 REFERENCES Anderson, L W., & Krathwohl, D R (2001) A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives New York: Longman Creswell, W J (2014) Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed method design California: SAGE Publications Dolson, E D (2014) Opportunities for Incidental Acquisition of Academic Vocabulary from Teacher Speech in an English for Academic Purposes Classroom Retrieved from Portland State University PDXScholar Hall, J.K., & Walsh, M (2002) Teacher-student interaction and language learning Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 22, 186-203 Jiang, Y., & Wei, J (2013) An Empirical Study on Interaction in EFL Classrooms in Middle Schools in Western Areas of China Sino-US English Teaching, 10(9), 665-675 Kim, Y (2010) Scaffolding Through Questions in Upper Elementary ELL Learning Literacy Teaching and Learning, 15(1 & 2), 109–137 Li, H (2013) Student Initiatives and Missed Learning Opportunities in an IRF Sequence: A Single Case L2 Journal, 5(2) Merriam, B S., & Tisdell, J E (2016) Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation (4th Ed) San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Miri, M., & Quassemi, Z, (2015) Delving into EAP teachers’ classroom behavior: Construction or obstruction of learning opportunities in EFL context The journal of teaching English for specific and academic purpose, 3(1), 149164 Ong, A K K., Hart, E C., & Chen, K P (2016) Promoting Higher-Order Thinking Through Teacher Questioning: a Case Study of a Singapore Science Classroom New Waves Educational Research & Development 1, 19(1), 1-19 45 Sert, O (2017) Creating opportunities for L2 learning in a prediction activity System 70, 14-25 doi:10.1016/j.system.2017.08.008 Sinclair, J.McH., & Brazil, D (1982) Teacher talk Oxford: Oxford University Press Tsui, B M A (2003) Characteristics of Expert and Novice Teachers In Chapelle, A C & Hunston, S (Ed.), Understanding Expertise in Teaching: Case Studies in ESL Teaching (pp 22-41) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Vygotsky, L S (1978) Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes (Cole, M., John-Steiner, V., Scribner, S & Souberman, E., Eds.) Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press Wong, J., & Waring, Z (2009) ‘Very good’ as a teacher response ELT Journal, 63(3), 195-203 doi:10.1093/elt/ccn042 Xie, X (2011) Turn allocation patterns and learning opportunities ELT Journal, 65(3), 240-250 doi:10.1093/elt/ccq064 Yaqubi, B., & Rokni, M D (2012) Teachers’ Limited Wait-Time Practice and Learners’ Participation opportunities in EFL Classroom Interaction Journal of English Language Teaching and Learning, 4(10), 127-161 Zainal, Z (2007) Case study as a research method Jurnal Kemanusiaan, Retrieved from http://psyking.net/htmlobj- 3837/case_study_as_a_research_method.pdf Zhu, H M (2016) Learning Opportunity and EFL Teachers’ Questions Open Journal of Social Sciences, 4, 210-219 doi:10.4236/jss.2016.43027 46 APPENDIX 1: TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO DATA Novice teachers Excerpt 1.1 Context: The teacher was analyzing a sample instruction writing and pointing out the problems in the paragraph T: Okay, what are the problems? Can you name some? S1? S1: Time linkers T: Time linkers Can you see any time linker all over the text? No So one of the thing you should have in your writing is that you have to what? Add time linkers So that the audience can know what is the order of the steps? Right? What else? Ss: … T: What? Sorry? S1: I think the paragraph lacks a topic sentence 10 T: Lack a topic sentence Ok Good idea Alright What else? S2: it is confusing? T: it is confusing? Why? S2: uh…There are so many irrelevant words T: There are so many irrelevant words? Such as? What are the irrelevant 15 words? S2: You should… T: You should? Ok We have a lot You should, you need to, uh what else? S3: You have to… T: You have to Yeah, you can, (Ss: You want to) you want to Excerpt 1.2 T: One of the moves of the of the writing instruction is that what kind of sentence should be used What kind of sentences should we use? 47 S1: short sentence T: Short sentences? Okay So we should be really concise and clear? What else? Should we write many full sentences and use many “you” like this? We should use what? S2: Imperative T: Imperative forms of sentences Do this, don’t that Okay? Imperative forms start with a? S3: a verb T: a verb or if it is the negative form it starts with don’t Ok What else? Keep a look at this “Actually, before that, you have to….” ((read from the paragraph)) What’s wrong with that? S3: the order T: The order? What order? S3: time order T: uh huh, good So for the instruction writing, we have to put all the steps in the time order in the exact time order that things will happen Okay? It’s not like you write something and then write it like this “Actually, we have to this” Experienced teachers: Excerpt 2.1 Context: The teacher and students were having a post-listening discussion about green cities T: How cities can be environmentally friendly? S1: It doesn’t have pollution T: How can cities don’t have pollution? S2: It doesn’t have….(not clear) ((The whole class started laughing)) 48 T: What? What you mean? Again, my question is how can cities be environmentally friendly? You said that it doesn’t have pollution It is easy to say it can be not polluted But how can a city not have pollution? S2: It have many green trees 10 T: It has…it HAS many green trees Ok One way But is that enough? S1: It uses renewable resources T: It uses renewable …(S1: energy energy) energy sources Such as? S1: The sun, the wind T: The sun, the wind Ok 15 S3: It can use wave T: Wave Yeah very good You’ve got a lot of ideas about energy Wave is also a good source of energy What else? Is that enough to have a green city? S4: I can see the star at night 20 T: okay you can see the stars at night Uhm… (The whole class laughed) Ok How… how a green city means that you can watch star at night? S4: When the city is not clear because of pollution so it cant show the star at night T: The sky is not clear right? So you cant see the star at night So… but how 25 can you make the sky clear at night so you can watch stars? S:… T: So you’re saying that watching the stars at night is one of the demonstration, the effects when you have green city rather than the how right? It is the benefit or the demonstration of the green city Green city 30 means that you can watch stars at night But we are talking about how Like using renewable resources… S4: Removing the heavy manufacturers from the city 49 35 T: yes, they relocate heavy manufacturing out of the inner city So you have three methods already: planting trees, using renewable energy sources, removing and relocating heavy manufacturer S5: Using public transport T: Using public transportation If you use public transportation you can still have the exhaust fumes from the vehicles from the buses S2: It can reduce T: Yeah it kind of reduces But it doesn’t remove the exhaust fumes Yes? S1: They limit the use of nonrenewable resources such as coal or gas T: So they don’t use? (S2: they limit the use…) Yes, they limit the use very good So they use renewable resources and limit the use of gas and coal Excerpt 2.2 Context: The teachers had students make sentences about how to become a billionaire using have to, must, should and don’t have to T: OK Group How to be a billionaire? S1: You don’t have to be born rich T: You don’t have to be born rich S1: You shouldn’t look down on other people T: You shouldn’t look down on other people S1: You mustn’t break the law T: Yes S1: You should invest money effectively T: You should invest money effectively 10 S1: And you have to make mistakes T: You have to make mistakes? S1: Because you can’t be a billionaire without making mistakes 50 T: Everyone, you have to make mistake What you think? That’s ok? S1: Yes, yes 15 T: You have to… Actually, of course, it is unavoidable to make mistakes But you say you have to make mistakes It’s like they are compulsory S1: yeah it is It is compulsory to make mistake to be a billionaire Ss: No,no… T: Really? Any research for that? 20 S1: So can you tell me any billionaire that don’t make any mistake in their life? To become a billionaire it is compulsory to make mistakes so that they can learn from their mistakes S2: So I think it would be better if you use “You have to learn from the mistakes.” 25 T: yes, yes It means like you have to accept the mistakes and learn from the mistakes It would be better Excerpt 2.3 Context: The teacher was giving instruction about a production activity after teaching structures to reach agreement T: Now I’d like you to speak in groups and you will have to use the structures to discuss and reach an agreement You are going to set up a company to promote tourism Alright? Tourism You need to decide the name and the location of the company What type of tourist you will organize, and where they will go How you will promote with tourism? How the company will be different from other tour companies? Ok now you will work in your groups I will give each group a paper You write down the place I think you should use mind mapping Remember when you are planning, use the structures that we have learned Ok? 51 Excerpt 2.4 Context: After the group discussion following the I move in Excerpt 2.3, each group presented about their company The Teacher was giving comments after the presentation of the last group T: Is that all? How can you make your company different from others? S1: Maybe the special service T: Maybe? What’s that? S1: As I said my company provides a person T: A partner right? S1: Yeah a partner to go with you if you don’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend I think it is the difference from other company T: Alright thank you (the class clapped) Excerpt 2.5 Context: The teacher had students make sentences about how to have a successful interview using “should”, “have to”, must and don’t have to In this excerpt, the groups were giving their answers S1(from group 1): You should dress formally T: You should dress formally I think “appropriately” is a better choice right? S2 (from group 3): You shouldn’t wear inappropriate clothes T: *nod* You shouldn’t wear inappropriately S1:…clothes T: Clothes….((The whole class started laughing)) You shouldn’t wear inappropriately clothes? 52 S1: No “ly” T: Ah no “ly” So say the sentence again S1: You shouldn’t wear inappropriate clothes 53 APPENDIX 2: SAMPLE SIGNED CONSENT FORM 54 APPENDIX 3: SAMPLE OBSERVATION NOTE 55 ...ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP CƠ HỘI HỌC TẬP NGOẠI NGỮ ĐƯỢC TẠO RA QUA SỰ TƯƠNG TÁC TRONG LỚP HỌC BỞI GIÁO VIÊN MỚI VÀ GIÁO VIÊN NHIỀU... BỞI GIÁO VIÊN MỚI VÀ GIÁO VIÊN NHIỀU KINH NGHIỆM: CHỈ CÓ PHẦN MỞ RỘNG TẠO RA CƠ HỘI HỌC TẬP? Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Nguyễn Chí Đức, PhD Sinh viên: Bùi Quỳnh Trang Khóa: QH2014.F.1.E2 HÀ NỘI – 2018... teacher training programs The result might raise the awareness of teacher training program developers about the importance of classroom interaction On the other hand, in-service teacher training