Why teacher-learner
interaction is important?
Teachers
are the resource people in education who bring their knowledge into practice to
build up an educated society. As we experience as learners, our interaction
with the teacher plays a role in creating that positive or negative environment
in the classroom. Having a wall between the learners and the teacher will not
only help the teacher to identify the mentality of the learner within the
classroom and the learner to open up with the teacher to share their ideas,
problems, or opinions. So, in a less interactive classroom, the teacher comes,
teaches, and goes, and the learners just sit down without going for any
questions or clarifications, and even without understanding the lesson, and at
the end, there is no teaching or learning that has happened in that classroom.
How to increase the
intellectual interaction among teacher and the learners?
Pianta
et al. (2012) has categorized classroom interaction among learners and teacher as emotional support, classroom organization and instructional support.
Classroom Organization
Classroom organization is an important aspect in
teacher-learner interaction in an ESL classroom, as in the classroom, the
learner acquires new knowledge, learns and solves language problems through
interaction. Therefore, the space that both the teacher and the learner get
within the classroom for communication decides their intellectual interaction.
If English is a second or a foreign language, the
native language plays a major role, and within the ESL classroom, it needs time
to use English. Instead of being teacher centered and controlling the learners,
deciding who speaks and what is said, giving freedom to learners to speak would
increase their chance to use English more frequently in the classroom. As we
know, usually in an ELT classroom, our answers will be yes or no or a single
word. Instead, the teacher could ask more descriptive questions, making the
learner speak more, and the teacher could elaborate on that answer, creating
more interaction with the learner. An engaging classroom rather than the
traditional teaching, in which the teacher sits in one place, reads out or
teaches all the time, would result. The teacher could use gestures, changes in
vocal tone, and speed to help the learner understand more easily. In the
meantime, the teacher needs to confirm whether the learners understand through
questions or clarifications. It’s obvious that the more the teacher’s use of
language in the classroom is gentle and simple, the more the learners
understand the teacher and interact with them.
Emotional Support
In
the classroom, the learners sometimes need emotional support from the teacher,
and the teacher-learner emotional bonding is important for their intellectual
interaction. This includes the teacher paying more attention to the students
who need support. In acquiring knowledge, especially in ESL classrooms, there
are lower-achieving students who need extra effort, time, and support to
acquire the language, and the teacher's being an emotional supporter could help
the learner learn more easily. The teacher could understand the learners by
listening to them actively and helping them with the academic problems or the
anxiety they go through. Appreciating their ideas or academic progress,
creating a positive environment in the classroom, making the learning more fun
using games or activities like brainstorming or buzz sessions, debates, peer
reviewing tasks, etc., would help the learner interact with the teacher in a
more stress-free manner.
Instructional Support
Instructional support is how the teacher arranges the
classroom activities and curriculum in an effective way. This reduces the
learners' struggling in the learning process, as with the support teacher
identifies if a learner is at a risk of failing and provides assistance to
them. The teacher helps the learners to understand the tasks they are assigned,
gives feedback, helps them to identify their goals, etc. Therefore, positive
instructional supports like giving clear feedback on the strengths and
weaknesses of the learners, helping them to work with their weaknesses, and
building more learner-friendly curriculum and activities would increase the
teacher-learner interaction.
Conclusion
As it is emphasized,
through these aspects the teacher could build up interaction with the learner
and it is vital to have a positive interaction with the learners, in order to
transfer the knowledge more productively.
Rifasha J.A.F
The article well describes the importance and strategies of teacher-learner interaction. The simple and clear explanation creates a comparative image on a less-interactive and well-interactive ESL classroom. The three ways to interaction is presented according to the theoretical ideas as mentioned. Although intellectuality is not directly elaborated the line,"...our answers will be yes or..." gives the essence of intellectual interaction. The descriptive words to teacher's presentation, audibility etc. are highly effective to attract the attention of the reader. Activities for interaction are presented by the writer to make the idea of intellectuality more comprehensive for the reader. According to the article intellectual interaction is identified as a sole responsibility of the teacher in the ESL classroom. An interesting article...
ReplyDeleteThe article is well descriptive and very well organised. Even to a person who is not much familiar with the subject, will get a clear idea about what is being said. Very practical examples has taken to describe several aspects of teaching-learning process. The activities that the teacher could use in the teaching process seems highly effective. However, apart from the mentioned activites, the teacher could arrange several gaming rounds as well as the teacher can organise discussion rounds in order to have effective interaction with the students.
ReplyDeleteThis can be considered a concisely written article that has finely described the importance of teacher-student interaction and what strategies can implement to increase the teacher-student interaction in an ESL classroom. At the very beginning, it well described why teacher-student interaction is important for the betterment of the students in an ESL classroom and finely explained the difference between an interactive and less interactive classroom. The writer has used three major ways of increasing interaction between the teacher and student using the theory of Pianta el at in 2012 and how they become a great support in creating an effective classroom background with a proper teacher-learner interaction.
ReplyDeleteGreat Share!!
This article has precisely described the importance of teacher- learner interaction and three ways of increasing intellectual interaction among learners and the teacher in the ESL classroom. The use of easy diction brings light to the article. It is very comprehensible and well organized the facts. Here it is rightly pointed out that, it is the teacher who creates the classroom environment positive or negative as well as very practically it is highlighted the real condition of the positive interactive classroom and the less interactive classroom. Thus, this is a very interesting article which can gain a comprehensible idea about intellectual interaction among the learners and the teacher in an ESL classroom.
ReplyDeleteHey Rifasha. Your article is a very interesting read in this teaching-learning space blog. I agree with your idea on the main role of teacher-learner interaction in the classroom. I also think teacher-learner interaction also helps to motivate the learners and reduce their fear of the teacher. It will help to create a positive environment in the classroom. To increase the intellectual interaction among the learner and the teachers, you have presented three categories. For classroom organization, I think the example you presented (questioning) is a strategy we can use for intellectual interaction, not the ways that we can organize the seating methods in a classroom to increase intellectual interaction. Overall, I think you have presented your views on the other two categories (emotional support and institutional support) clearly. Thanks for sharing your views.
ReplyDeleteIt clearly provides a better idea to the readers why teacher and learner interaction is important. The language reader uses to describe the language. Here mention the positive and negative results in less interactive classrooms. Teaching and learning both are unsuccessful if both parties don't have that relationship. In the part, how to increase the intellectual interaction between teacher and the learner is significant and clear. Because the writer briefly describes that part. the reader can easily come across the idea of how to increase intellectual interaction.
ReplyDelete: The most interesting thing is writer includes the conclusion and it conveys the idea of how this intellectual interaction affects students and teachers in a positive way.
Hello Rifa, your article is worth reading. A well- organized, well-structured, and concisely written post with a simple language, but it is direct. it is acceptable that teacher is responsible to build teacher- learner interaction in the classroom in order to enhance student motivation and familiarity. but, it should be reminded that, students also have responsibility up to some extend in the process of interaction among teacher and leaner. it is not a one man show. both should be cooperated. anyway your details are interesting, and you have positively contributed for the upliftment of the topic. Great effort!
ReplyDeleteA well descriptive article which highlights the importance of teacher-student interaction in an ESL classroom. She has simply explained things which are essential for intellectual interaction. It helps the reader to understand the responsibility of the teacher to motivate his or her students to improve their four skills. Through the explanation of classroom management and instructional support, the reader can have a clear idea how to increase intellectual interaction in an ESL classroom. Thanks for sharing this post.
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ReplyDeleteHi Rifasha, You have done an excellent job of dividing the major issue into two sections. First, you explained what intellectual connection was and how to promote it between teachers and students by presenting pertinent information. You have provided some activities that can be followed up to increase intellectual interaction in your blog as well which conveys your ideas accurately. As I think it will be more effective if you can use interactive activities to teach them other than the boring things. Your choice of layout for the blog is excellent. Although the topic was presented simply, this article contains a wealth of information. Excellent effort, Rifasha!
ReplyDelete