FOREIGN LANGUAGE INTERACTION ANALYSIS

FOREIGN LANGUAGE INTERACTION ANALYSIS One way to begin to look at your role as an initiator of interaction in the classroom is to look at yourself (and other teachers) in terms of a well known taxonomy for describing classroom interaction. More than two decades ago, the work of Flanders (1970) and, more specific design of Gertrude Moskowitz (1971, 1976) gave us some categories for observation of classes known as the FLINT (Foreign Language Interaction) Model (see Talble 11.1) How is a model like this helpful in developing interactive language teaching? There are several practice uses. First, it gives you taxonomy for observing other teachers. You can also calculate how much classroom time is devoted to each. Then you can evaluate the wisdom of certain choices made by the teacher or look at the overall distribution of time and ask yourself (or your teacher) about the appropriateness of such distribution. Second, it gives you a framework for evaluating and improving your own teaching. For example, how well do you balance teacher talk and student talk? While FLINT model includes seven categories for teacher talk and only two for student talk, don’t let that fool you into believing that your own talk should dominate. Depending on the objectives of the lesson, the level of the time we teachers tend to talk too much, without allowing enough time for students to respond to us or to initiate talk. A careful consideration of all seven of the teacher-talk categories can also serve as a blueprint for your teaching behavior in the classroom: Am I accepting student’s feelings in a non threatening way? Am I offering sufficient praise? Am I learning too much? Do I give my students opportunities to initiate language on their own? Third, the FLINT model, especially the first seven categories, helps to set a learning climate for interactive teaching. In Chapter 5, the rubric of intrinsically motivating classrooms we discussed the importance of learners being brought into the