Investigating Interactions in the Thai EFL Classroom: A Case Study of Experienced vs Novice Teachers

Abstract

The case study research aimed to investigate the interactions in the classrooms of experienced and novice teachers teaching fundamental English subject. The research questions were a) What are patterns of classroom interactions as evidenced by novice and experienced teachers? b) How are speech functions used in the negotiation process as observed in the classrooms? The participants were 73 grade 12 students and 2 teachers from a school located in the Northeastern part of Thailand. There were 2 research instruments employed to gather the data which were classroom video recordings of the lessons and semi-structure interviews. The data were analyzed following Sinclair and Coulthard’s discourse model (1975, 1992) to compare the frequencies of utterances, exchange structures, and speech functions used in both classrooms. The findings reported the different amount of frequency of utterance between the two classes. The analysis of classroom exchange structures also showed various structures produced in both classes, reflecting the employment of different teaching approaches by the two teachers. Moreover, the different teaching methods employed and learning atmospheres crated in the two classrooms were also evidenced from the use of speech functions to communicate in the classrooms. The results also reflect to the teacher different beliefs in language teaching which have the impacts on their classroom management.

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