Young Learners’ Interaction with Teachers in Classrooms Taught by Native Speakers and by Taiwanese Teachers of English

• Main Authors: Hsin-Yu Fu, 傅信餘
• Other Authors: Charles Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/75879191109599083568

碩士 === 銘傳大學 === 應用英語學系碩士在職專班 === 100 === As English education to children is considered indispensable, private English language schools have become more and more popular in Taiwan. A major attraction these programs have for learners and their parents is the emphasis on communicative competence and the classroom interaction they aim to provide to enhance it. The importance of classroom interaction in those contexts is obvious. Much research on classroom interaction has been conducted in EFL settings and has made great contributions to the practices of teaching practitioners. Studies (Amin, 2000; Braine, 1999) show that native English speakers without teaching qualifications are even more likely to be hired than qualified and experienced non-native English speaker teachers (NNESTs). They have been regarded as of higher value than NNESTs in EFL classrooms. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate views of learners, parents and teachers on English teaching by NESTs and Taiwanese teachers (TTs) and, in particular, their views on classroom interaction. It also compared the interaction between young learners (YLs) and NESTs and the interaction between YLs and TTs. Four classes taught by two NESTs and two TTs respectively were observed, and four young learners, their parents and the four teachers were interviewed in this research. Data for analysis included the digitally recorded observations, digitally recorded interviews, and field-notes taken during the observations. The results show no significant differences among the views of NESTs, TTs, parents and young learners on English teaching and classroom interaction, but the two kinds of teachers do differ in their questioning behaviours and error correction. TTs used a substantial amount of display questions while NESTs used an equal amount of display and referential questions in the classroom. On error correction, a feature of classroom interaction, recasts are the most often used corrective feedback. The study has implications for teachers and English language programs. Keywords: NESTs, NNESTs, classroom interaction, questioning behaviour, error correction