Pakistan Journal of Educational Research and Evaluation (PJERE), Vol 8, No 1 (2020)

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A Conversation Analysis of Teacher Talk and Learners' Involvement in a Pakistani ESL Classroom

Muhammad Ahmad, Dr. Aleem , Shakir, Amna Arshad

Abstract


This study aimed to investigate the amount of teacher talk, frequently asked teacher questions, and the quality of teacher talk in terms of facilitation to language acquisition in an ESL classroom. A teacher and 53 students of grade 10, from a public sector school, participated in the study. Data were collected for observation in the form of audio-recording and evaluated through conversation analysis. Resultantly, teacher talk was observed to dominate in the classroom, convergent questions were asked in maximum percentage, and teacher talk was observed being obstructive to language acquisition. These results lead to conclude that: classroom is dominated and directed by the teacher talk; content-based and limited response questions are in teacher’s frequent use; and teacher talk poses hindrance to interaction and negotiation process in the EFL classroom. The study proposes to: create a right balance between teacher and student talk; make skillful use of convergent and divergent questions; and enhance the quality of teacher talk to facilitate language acquisition in.

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