A Case Study of Computer—based Teacher—Student Interaction outside Class

楊麗冬

Abstract This case study examines the interaction through emails between a professor and one of his third-year students outside of the classroom to explore the problems in the teacher-student interaction. It shows that confronted with difficulties， the student turns directly to her teacher， yet failing to make her specific difficulties known， and the teacher spares no pains to exemplify the doing of assignments， yet knowing little about his students knowings and unknowings. At the end of the article are some enlightenments： seeking help after self-attempting and helping after knowing.

Keywords teacher-student interaction； interaction

0 Introduction

The teacher-student interaction is one of the frequent practices and plays a decisive role in teaching， especially language teaching. Since 1970 the Birmingham School， led by Sinclair， has started a systematic study of classroom language exchange， and proposed a typical structure of classroom discourse， Initiation-Response-Feedback （I-R-F）. The literature concerning second language acquisition and applied linguistics reveals that many studies on classroom interaction have been conducted， but comparatively， few research into the teacher-student interaction outsider classroom was done. Therefore， the electronic written interaction by email will be analyzed， aiming to explore the problems of the computer-based interaction outside classroom and produce some implications for English teaching.

1 Literature Review

1.1 Definition of interaction

Since Georg Simmel， a German sociologist and philosopher， firstly used the term “social interaction” in his book Sociology， “interaction” became one of the important concepts in sociology， social psychology， education etc. The definition of interaction varies from scholar to scholar. Interaction refers to the mutual action or the reaction process between person and person or between group and group， including personal self-exchange process， such as questioning and answering by oneself[1]. According to Gao[2]， there are general and narrow definitions of the teacher-student interaction： Generally， this concept， in a broad sense， refers to all the interaction and mutual influence between the teacher and his students both in class and outside the classroom， which leads to psychological and behavior change in both sides in the same or reverse direction. The teacher-student interaction， in a narrow sense， is confined to the interaction and mutual influence between the teacher and his students in class teaching.

1.2 Theoretical basis

When the teacher guides his students to actively participate in various communicative activities， creates the environment in which students can freely exchange information and express ideas， and offers the opportunity to use target language to do things， the interaction of this kind can promote language learning[3]. As an important step in the teacher-student interaction， the teachers feedback， such as evaluating， correcting and guiding etc.， is not only a major source of students language input， but also facilitates greatly their language output[4]. The American linguist， Krashen[5] argued that the learner must， in language acquisition， be input adequate understandable language materials before the inner language program works， and it is the language input， slightly beyond his comprehensible capability， that can promote the learners language acquisition.

2 Research design

2.1 Subject

One professor， Dr. Wu and one of his juniors， Lao， an English major， were randomly selected form Zhejiang Normal University. Thus， it could be assured that the research findings demonstrate the real teacher-student interaction condition outside the classroom.

2.2 Data

E-mails in English were collected. One was from Lao； the other was from prof. Wu.

After learning a chapter， Pragmatics： Some Basic Notions， prof. Wu left students with the assignment： “Try to identify the sentence meaning and the utterance meaning in each case”， the two sentences are from the article， ”Do Your Children Believe in Santa Claus？” in New York Times. When Lao met difficulties in doing the assignment， she emailed to prof. Wu for help， and he wrote back to her.

3 Data analysis and discussion

3.1 Students questioning

The practice that Lao emailed in English Prof. Wu for help， suggests： Lao was actively trying to do the exercise， and she was using English to do things. Thus， she not only solved her problem but also improved her English writing skills， and even communicative competence. This act reveals that Lao has an awareness of using English in everyday life， and she knows using English is an effective learning way. On the other hand， Laos email in English made her teacher have to use English to react， as well， and promoted the teacher to reflect his teaching. This interaction benefited both the student and her teacher， and stimulated both to advance together.

However， Laos letter also disclosed some of her weaknesses in overcoming difficulties. For instance， this sentence “While I was reviewing， I came across some difficulties. Thus， I ask you for help.” failed to demonstrate whether she really tried to use her mind or consult some materials before turning to Prof. Wu； if she tried， what efforts she made； and what specific problem she had Prof. Wu could not have identified how much Lao understand what he taught and what problem happened in his teaching？ The way of Laos asking for help shows that she does not know it is necessary to inform Wu what effort she has made， and only when Prof. Wu is clear about her concrete obstacles， can he assist her to move forward.

3.2 Prof. Wus response

“When you do this class work， you may consider the following 4 steps： Step 1 Determine what to do； Step 2 Determine how to do …”These 4 steps clearly imply Wus thinking way of solving problems： He divided a complex problem into 4 specific questions， and then answered the questions one by one. Thus a difficult task was turned into minor problems. That is， he was trying to present Lao how to make challenges easier. Prof. Wu wholly did one of the two exercises， in detail， step by step， which demonstrated Lao how he was doing the work. This practice suggests that prof. Wu is considerate and patient to answer his students questions， and he is responsible for his students. Finally， prof. Wu left one exercise with the student to finish independently. While exemplifying how to do a difficult assignment， he also left Lao with an opportunity of practice.

Conversely， it is found that prof. Wus response reveals some shortcomings. First， after receiving Laos help-asking email， he directly showed her how to do the assignment without asking any questions， that is， he assisted her without knowing her specific difficulty. Possibly， what he offers fails to match what she wants. Second， prof. Wus direct problem-solving way could not facilitates them knowing each other. If Wu had asked her what her specific problem was， such as， “Do you know the meaning of the utterance meaning？” or “Can you understand the sentence from the article？” etc.， Lao had to answer him in English. On the one hand， Lao presented her concrete difficulties， as well as practiced English； on the other， prof. Wu would be clear about what she needs， more importantly， he would have gotten to know what problem had happened in his teaching and how to further enhance his teaching.

4 Conclusion

This case study assumes a pattern of teacher-student interaction， Initiation-Questioning-Response： the teacher assigned homework， one of his students questioned， and he responded. This mode shows that the student is more active than the conventional mode of interaction， Initiation-Response-Feedback， reflects. Currently， above and over classroom interaction， there are various forms of teacher-student interaction outside of the classroom， such as face-to-face exchange， and phone-based or computer-based communication etc.， which supplement positively the classroom interaction， and benefit greatly both learning and teaching. Notwithstanding， there remains some problems in teacher-student interaction outside class： the student does not make sufficient efforts before asking for help， or inform the teacher what she has done and what is her specific problem， or have an awareness of solving problems independently. On the other hand， the teacher often answers students questions directly without knowing the students real needs.

It is safe to say that the computer-based interaction， like email or QQ outside class can definitely promote teacher-student communication， and foreign language teaching. Students had better ask their teacher for help after an attempt of solving difficulties independently， namely， carefully consulting related materials and seriously thinking， and present their concrete problems in questioning； and the teacher is expected to assist his students after knowing well their needs. This study just involves one case， and cant reflect the general condition of teacher-student interaction outside class.

References：

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[4] Chaudron，S.Second Language Classrooms Research on Teaching and Learning[M].Cambridge： Cambridge University Press，1988.

[5] Krashen， S. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition [M].Oxford Pergamum. 1982.