An analytical study of verbal interaction in EFL linguistics and literature online classes with reference to learners’ gender

الملخص EN

A classroom is the appropriate situation where teachers and learners come in contact with each other.

Here, communication forms the paramount element by means of which the two parties, i.e.

teachers and learners, exchange information, express needs and feelings, produce inquiries, provide feedback, etc.

Verbal interaction refers to the speech-based communication.

It outlines the level of learners’ engagement and involvement in the ongoing teaching and learning activities in traditional classrooms and in online sessions which have been very prevalent nowadays due to the spread of covid-19 virus.

Based on this, this research aims at identifying and comparing the frequency of the occurrence of verbal interaction in Linguistics and Literature online classes at university level.

It further aims at specifying the role of learners gender, male or female, in verbal interaction in online classes.

To bring about these aims and validate the hypotheses that there are no differences between online Linguistics classes and online literature classes in terms of the frequency of the occurrence of verbal interaction and between male students and females students in terms of the frequency of their involvement in verbal interaction in online classes, the researcher has observed 90 online classes, 45 Linguistics and 45 Literature,; each a class of a duration of at least 40 minutes.

On analyzing the data collected via observation, it has been found out that there is more verbal interaction in Linguistics online classes compared to the Literature ones and that male students are more engaged and involved in verbal interaction in online classes compared to their female counterparts.