Investigating the Relationship between Interpersonal EFL Teacher’s Behaviours and Students’ Talk

Abstract

The current study is an investigation of the relationship between interpersonal EFL teacher’s behaviours and students’ talk. It is hypothesised that there is a positive relationship between interpersonal EFL teacher’s behaviours and students’ talk. In order to test this hypothesis, two research instruments were applied; a classroom observation and a students’ questionnaire. The former was implemented to investigate the different interpersonal teacher’s behaviours, students’ talk features, and amount of classroom talk in OE sessions. Besides, a students’ questionnaire was administered to 64 out of 268 first year EFL license learners at Mohamed Seddik Ben Yahia University, Jijel. Its purpose is to reinforce the data obtained from the first research tool concerning the interpersonal teacher’s behaviours. Interestingly, the findings of this study have confirmed the suggested hypothesis; in which the students talked more when their teacher was either highly cooperative or exhibited nearly identical degrees of cooperativeness and domination. However, when the teacher displayed a high degree of domination, he/she hindered the students from talking. Consequently, the previous stated results are significant in raising EFL teachers’ awareness about their interpersonal behaviours and their impact on the students’ talk. Moreover, the findings would help creating an interactive supportive learning environment. As for further studies, the researchers recommended implementing this research in other contexts, such as secondary schools.