Is it inevitable for teachers to talk more? Analysing classroom interaction using IRF in CFL classroom

Classroom interaction promotes students’ language acquisition and plays a vital role in classroom teaching. Yet, an excessive amount of teacher talk in classroom interaction has always been a concern. Inspired by Tsui’s (1995) Seventeen-Category System, this study investigated the classroom discourse and triadic dialogue (IRF pattern) of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) classrooms in England. It aims to examine how the teachers employed the IRF pattern to construct or reduce students’ language learning and use of target language in CFL classrooms. Three Year 10 lessons were observed in a secondary school in England, with the student’s language proficiency at the lower intermediate level. The findings revealed that the language teacher dominated the initiation and types of interactions, and the student’s responses were mechanical and repetitive. Thus, the learning opportunities for the students to use the target language were highly restricted. In addition, classroom interaction is dependent on the content and the teacher’s choice of language. The study raised concern about revisiting the use of the target language in Chinese Mandarin classrooms as well as increasing the awareness of the teacher in terms of using various types of questions to increase learning opportunities.
課堂互動促進了學生的語言學習，在教學中發揮了重要作用。然而，教師過多的話語量一直受到學者的關注。本研究以 Tsui（1995）十七類系統（Seventeen-Category System）為理論框架，以及啟動—回應—反饋三段式對話（IRF 模式），分析教師與學生的課堂互動。同時，本研究旨在了解教師 IRF 模式的運用，是促進還是窒礙學生在課堂上的語言學習及目標語的使用。研究對象為英國一所中學，共三節對外漢語課堂，學生的漢語水平屬於中下水平。結果顯示，教師主導了課堂互動的啟動和類型，而學生的回應大部分是機械且重複的，限制了他們使用目標語的機會。此外，課堂互動還取決於教學內容和教師的語言選擇。本研究建議教師應重新審視對外漢語課堂中目標語言的使用，以及提高使用不同類型的提問的意識，從而增加學生的學習機會。 Copyright © 2022 香港教育大學中國語言學系、哥倫比亞大學中文部、中華書局（香港）有限公司.