Investigating the Communicativeness of EFL ClassesthroughClassroom Interaction Analysis

Abstract

The study in hand examined the role of classroom interaction in developing the communicativeness of EFL classes through analyzing components of teacher talk and learner language. Its aim is to make the learners involved in communication inside the classroom through asking different types of questions, offering feedback in order to make the interaction and communication go on between the participants. It sheds light at the neccessity of turntaking system for learners when they are engaged in activities or asked questions. The study is divided into two chapters. the first one isdevoted for the theoritical part and it tackled the issue of communicativeness of EFL classes and classroom interaction, and the second is delt with the practical part. It is hypothesised in this study that if EFL teachers made use of the strategies of questioning, turn allocation, and learners’ turntaking in classroom interaction, learners would be able to communicate and interact successfully. The research methodology adopted for this piece of research is purely qualitatitive. It aims at examining the importance of classroom interaction in developing the learners’communicative skills. The study was conducted with 100 third year EFL learners from 267 learners and twoteachersat the university of Jijel. It wasbased on audio and video recordings of different Oral Expression sessions. The required data were gathered through the use of Conversation Analysis. The obtained results showed that classroom interaction is an effective pedagogical tool for improving the learners’ communicative skills, and that teachers opt for using referential questions because they solicit more answers from the learners. They also showed that positive feedback isbeneficial for learners’ oral achievements. The teachersused to avoidturn allocation technique which proved its limitation to learner-learner interaction and prioritized turn taking system to induldge in authentic-like communication and to be risk takers in taking the spontaneously. By the end some research implications were suggested.