Classroom comparisons
Five principles for classroom teaching
The principle of saying what you mean and meaning what you say
The principle of listening
Teach what is teacheable
Getting right in the end
Grammar aquisition: Focusing on past tenses and conditionals
The implications of classroom research for teaching
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Classroom comparisons
Ways of teaching foreign languages
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3.2 Classroom comparisons
In this activity we are going to look at transcripts from two classrooms, one using a traditional audiolingual, structure-based approach to teaching, and the other a communicative approach. Audiolingualteaching is based on the behaviourist theory of learning which places emphasis on forming habits and practising grammatical structures in isolation. The communicative approach, in contrast, is based on innatist and interactionist theories of language learning and emphasizes the communication of meaning. Grammatical forms are only focused on in order to clarify meaning. The theory is that learners can and must do the grammatical development on their own.
With each transcript, there is a little grid for you to check off whether certain things are happening in the interaction, from the point of view of the teacher and of the students. Before you begin reading the transcripts, study the following definitions of the categories used in the grids:
1 Errors
Are there errors in the language of either the teacher or the students?
2 Error correction
When grammatical errors are made, are they corrected? By whom?
3 Genuine questions
Do teachers and students ask questions to which they don't know the answer in advance?
4 Display questions
Do teachers and students ask questions they know the answers to so that learners can display knowledge (or the lack of it)?
5 Negotiation of meaning
Do the teachers and students work to understand what the other speakers are saying? What efforts are made by teacher? By the students?
T eacner/student interactions
In the following excerpts, T represents the teacher; S represents a student.
Classroom A: An audiolingual approach
(Students in this class are 15-year-old Uzbek speakers.)
| Errors | Teacher | Student |
| Feedback on errors | ||
| Genuine questions | ||
| Display questions | ||
| Negotiation of meaning |
T OK, we finished the book - we finished in the book Unit 1, 2, 3. Finished Workbook 1, 2, 3. So today we're going to start with Unit 4. Don't take your books yet, don't take your books. In 1, 2, 3 we worked in what tense? What tense did we work on? OK?
S Past
T In the past—What auxiliary in the past?
S Did
T Did (writes on board '1-2-3 Past'). Unit 4, Unit 4, we're going to work in the present, present progressive, present continuous—OK? You don't know what it is?
S Yes
T Yes? What is it?
S Little bit
T A little bit
S ... .
T. Eh?
S Uh, present continuous
T Present continuous? What's that?
S e-n-g
T i-n-g
S Yes
T What does that mean, present continuous? You don't know? OK,
fine. What are you doing, Mahmud?
S Rien
T Nothing?
S Rien—nothing
T You're not doing anything? You're doing something.
S Not doing anything.
T You're doing something.
S Not doing anything.
T You're doing something—Are, are you listening to me? Are you talking with Manzura? What are you doing?
S No, no—uh—listen—uh—
T Eh?
S to you
T You're you're listening to me.
S Yes
T Oh—(writes 'What are you doing? I'm listening to you' on the board)
S Je-
T What are you—? You're excited.
S Yes
T You're playing with your eraser—(writes 'I'm playing with my eraser' on the board). Would you close the door please, Bernard? Claude, what is he doing?
S Close the door
T He is closing the door, (writes 'He's closing the door' on the board) What are you doing, Khamid?
S I listen to you.
T You're listening to me.
S Yes
T OK. Are you sleeping or are you listening to me?
S I don't – firty-fifty, half and half.
T Half and half, half sleeping, half listening.
Classroom B: A communicative approach
(Students in this class are 10-year-old Native language speakers. In this activity, they
are telling their teacher and their classmates what 'bugs' them. They have
written 'what bugs them' on a card or paper which they hold while
speaking.)
| Errors | Teacher | Student |
| Feedback on errors | ||
| Genuine questions | ||
| Display questions | ||
| Negotiation of meaning |
S It bugs me when a bee string me.
T Oh, when a bee stings me.
S Stings me.
T Do you get stung often? Does that happen often? The bee stinging many times?
S Yeah.
T Often? (Teacher turns to students who aren't paying attention) OK. Salima and Bakhrom, you may begin working on a research project, hey? (Teacher turns her attention back to 'What bugs me')
S It bugs me (inaudible) and my sister put on my clothes.
T Ah! She—borrows your clothes? When you're older, you may appreciate it because you can switch clothes, maybe. (Teacher turns to check another student's written work) Mahliyo, this is yours, I will check.—OK. It's good.
S It bugs me when I'm sick and my brother doesn't help me— my—my brother, 'cause he—me—
T OK. You know—when (inaudible) sick, you're sick at home in bed and you say, oh, to your brother or your sister: 'Would you please get me a drink of water?'—'Ah! Drop dead!' you know, 'Go play in the traffic!' You know, it's not very nice. Doniyor!
S It bug me to have—
T It bugs me. It bugzz me
S It bugs me when my brother takes my bicycle. Every day.
T Every day? Ah! Doesn't your bro—(inaudible) his bicycle? Could his brother lend his bicycle? Uh, your brother doesn't have a bicycle?
S Yeah! A new bicycle (inaudible) bicycle.
T Ah, well. Talk to your mom and dad about it. Maybe negotiate a new bicycle for your brother.
S (inaudible)
T He has a new bicycle. But his brother needs a new one too.
S Yes!
T Hey, whoa, just a minute! Jean?
S Martin's brother has—
T Martin, who has a new bicycle? You or your brother?
S My brother.
T And you have an old one.
S (inaudible)
T And your brother takes your old one?
S —clutch—(inaudible) bicycle
T His bicycle! Ah! How old is your brother?
S March 23.
T His birthday?
S Yeah!
T And how old was he?
S Fourteen.
T Fourteen. Well, why don't you tell your brother that when he takes
your bike you will take his bike. And he may have more scratches
than he figures for. OK?
Characteristics of input in the two classrooms
Classroom A
1 Errors: Very few on the part of the teacher. However the teacher's speech does have some peculiar characteristics typical of this type of teaching, for example, the questions in statement form—often asked with dramatic rising intonation (for example, 'You don't know what it is?'). The students don't make many errors because they don't say very much.
2 Error correction: Yes, constantly from the teacher.
3 Genuine questions: Yes, a few, and they are almost always related to classroom management. No questions from the students.
4 Display questions: Yes, almost all of the teacher's questions are of this type. Interestingly, however, the students sometimes interpret display questions as genuine questions (T: What are you doing, Khamid? S: Nothing.)
5 Negotiation of meaning: Very little, learners have no need to paraphrase or request clarifications, and no opportunity to determine the direction of the discourse; the teacher is only focused on the formal aspects of the learners' language.
Classroom B
1 Errors: Yes, when students speak but hardly ever when the teacher does. Nevertheless, the teacher's speech also contains incomplete sentences, simplified ways of speaking, and an informal speech style.
2 Error correction: Yes, sometimes the teacher repeats what the student has said with the correct form (for example, 'he bugjszme'—pointing out the third person singular). However, this correction is not consistent or intrusive as intrustive as the focus is primarily on letting students express their meanings.
3 Genuine questions: Yes, almost all of the teacher's questions are focused on getting information from the students. The students are not asking questions in this exchange.
4 Display questions: No, because there is a focus on meaning rather than on accuracy in grammatical form.
5 Negotiation of meaning: Yes, from the teacher's side, especially in the long exchange about who has a bicycle!
Summary of the two classroom excerpts
You have no doubt noticed how strikingly different these transcripts from the two classrooms are, even though the activities are both teacher-centred. In the transcript from Classroom A, the focus is on form (i.e. grammar) and in Classroom B, it is on meaning. In Classroom A, the only purpose of the interaction is to practise the present continuous. Although the teacher uses real classroom events and some humour to accomplish this, there is no doubt about what really matters here. There is no real interest in what students 'are doing', but rather in their ability to say it. There is a primary focus on correct grammar, display questions, and error correction in the transcript from Classroom A.
In the transcript from Classroom B, the primary focus is on meaning, conversational interaction, and genuine questions, although there are some brief references to grammatical accuracy when the teacher feels it is necessary.
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