The Influence of IRF Questioning Model to the Development of the Student’s Communicative Competence

【Abstract】： The IRF （Initiation-Response-Feedback） questioning model of classroom teaching， proposed by the Birmingham School in the late 1970s， has been considered as the typical exchange pattern between teacher and student. For most English language learners， classroom is the main environment for the students to communicate with each other about the language they are learning. Teacher talk is the main source of target language input as English learning usually takes place in classroom environment. Teacher should pay attention to improving the students’ communicative competence. The IRF questioning model contains three parts： teacher’s initiation， student’s response and feedback which would be useful to improve student’s communicative competence.

【Key Words】： IRF exchange pattern English teaching influence

development of communicative competence

1. The definition of IRF

Sinclair and Coulthard are the famous representatives of the Birmingham School.[1] The Birmingham School holds that the interaction of the teacher and student in the classroom contains five parts： lesson， transaction， exchange， move and act. Among these， exchange is the basic unit of the interaction between teacher and student. The typical exchange constitutes of three moves which is initiation， response and feedback or follow-up. For English students， communicative competence means not only taking part in the classroom activities successfully， but also being fluently in communicating with each others in the foreign language. Therefore， most of the students have low ability and confidence to speak English without planning. For the IRF questioning model， the English class is student-centered. According to Zhou Xing and Zhou Yun： “In student-centered language classrooms， proportionately more referential questions are asked than display questions.” It is the same as the opinion of Brock： “Referential questions could increase students’ language production， and then facilitate language acquisition.”[2] The IRF questioning model would require teachers to regard themselves not only like a language instructor， but also an interaction participator and communication facilitator.

2. The features of IRF and its influence to the students

The IRF questioning model plays a very important role in improving students’ communicative competence. Firstly， students can actively take part in the the classroom activities and improve their communicative competence through the process of classroom interaction； secondly， in English class， the referential questions proposed by the teachers will be significant to the students’ language production and they can also gain their confidence in speaking with others in public； lastly， during the process of express their own ideas， the student can find their own language proficiency and then improve themselves through continually self-adjusting. Three main features in classroom interaction will be introduced in the following.

2.1 Comprehensible input and its influence

The comprehensible input means that the materials learners have learned should be a bit more difficult than the knowledge they have grasped. Then the students would not be confused or nervous for the teachers’ difficult utterance. In the IRF questioning model， teacher’s initiation plays a very important role in a successful classroom interaction. According to Krashen， It is much easier for students to learn the target language if they are given comprehensible input.[3] Therefore， teachers’ initiation is vital importance in the respect of the students’ input of target language.

2.2 Referential questions and its influence

The referential questions are questions you ask someone but you do not know the answer. Therefore， in English classroom， the more the referential questions are proposed， the more language production the students’ can made. The referential questions can facilitate their language production and produce more complex language. The practice of this kind of interaction is more like a natural communication.

2.3 Comprehensible output and its influence

Comprehensible input plays a very important role in the process of language acquisition， it is the same as comprehensible output. It is known to us all that during the process of expressing their ideas in the English classroom， the students are more easily to find their language deficiencies. The students can aware of the problems in their study of second language. Therefore， it is a process of self-adjusting and self-improvement.

3.Conclusion

First of all， as for the amount of the teachers’ comprehensible input in the English class， the students are more likely to taking part in the classroom interaction. Furthermore， in the students-centered classroom， more referential questions are proposed to stimulate more interaction. The students can increase their language production and then facilitate language acquisition. The students can develop the ability of critical thinking in answering the questions and they can also use their own experiences to organize the answers. Under the guide of the IRF questioning model， students have more opportunity to produce comprehensible output. Environment plays a very important role in the process of the target language learning. The teachers encourage students to involve into the classroom activities and bring forward their own thoughts and interests. Under this circumstance， the students are more easily to express what they want to present. Therefore， the students’ communicative proficiency will be improved if the IRF questioning model is employed in the classroom communication.

注釋：

[1]范文芳， 馬靖香.中國英語課堂上的IRF會話結(jié)構(gòu)與交際性課堂教學模式探究[J].中國外語，2011（1）.

[2]周星，周韻.大學英語課堂教師話語的調(diào)查與分析[J].外語教學與研究，2002（34）.

[3]Krashen，S.D.The Input Hypothesis： Issues and Implications[M].London： Longman， 1985.

References

[1] Krashen，S.D.The Input Hypothesis： Issues and Implications[M].London： Longman， 1985.

[2] 范文芳， 馬靖香.中國英語課堂上的IRF會話結(jié)構(gòu)與交際性課堂教學模式探 究[J].中國外語，2011（1）.

[3] 周星，周韻.大學英語課堂教師話語的調(diào)查與分析[J].外語教學與研究， 2002（34）.