Classroom Teacher-Student Conversational Interaction And Its Effect On Students' Oral English Proficiency

Language learning never takes place in isolation, but in context. It is argued that classroom Teacher-Student (T-S) conversational interaction can set the scene for potential language learning. However, the issue has not been addressed deeply and comprehensively in general, and seldom pursued in China in particular. The purpose of the present study is threefold.Firstly, within the interactionist theoretical framework, this study attempts to describe the characteristics of T-S conversational interaction and whether these interactional characteristics constitute optimum environments for second language acquisition, from three aspects (negotiation, teacher questions and students' immediate output, teacher feedback and students' immediate output).Secondly, the study intends to address the effect of conversational interaction on learners' interlanguage use (defined as immediate output in this study).Thirdly, this study tries to investigate whether there is any significant effect of classroom T-S conversational interaction on students' interlanguage development (defined as oral English proficiency in this study).The study reveals that:Firstly, by and large, the classrooms with the investigated interactional features do not produce favorable acquisition environments.Secondly, some features of classroom T-S conversational interaction do facilitate students' immediate output.Thirdly, classroom T-S conversational interaction has statistically significant effect on students' oral English proficiency.The results of the present study, on the one hand, can illuminate pedagogy, namely that teachers are expected to create optimum environments through interaction in order to develop learners' interlanguage competence and help them become autonomous learners, and on the other hand, are able to prove that the classroom is a productive place for the investigation of learners' learning process. The thesis consists of six chapters.Chapter 1 is the theoretical background of the present study. It mainly deals with the differences and similarities of two interactionist theories: one is psycholinguistic interactionist theory, and the other social interactionist theory.Chapter2 provides a selective literature review of empirical studies of T-Sinteraction, after a brief introduction of classroom-based research.On the basis the previous chapters, chapters is concerned with theoretical and analytical frameworks for the present study.Chapter4 is the first part of the present study. It mainly addresses two issues: one is whether classroom T-S conversational interaction creates favorable environments for second language acquisition; the other is whether interaction facilitates students' immediate output.Based on the results of chapter4, chapters furthers the investigation of classroom T-S conversational interaction. It deals with the effect of interaction on students' oral English proficiency.The last chapter, chapter6 is the conclusion part. It is concerned with the major findings, pedagogical implications, and limitations of the present study, and suggestions for the future research.