Does EFL teacher talk promote effective classroom interaction ? : an application of self evaluation of teacher talk at the tertiary level

Abstract EN

Classroom interaction has long been considered pertinent to the acquisition/ learning of any second or foreign language.

Thus, tremendous scholarly concern has shifted from discussing the most effective methods/ approaches to teaching to the characteristics of teacher talk by assuming that it is the chief variable which more likely affects learners' comprehension and production of the target language.

Starting from this principle, the aim of this paper is to analyze and evaluate the features of EFL teacher talk in the Algerian context, and to find out the extent to which they meet the requirements of an effective talk that promotes students' involvement.

To this end, two experienced EFL teachers at Larbi Ben M' hidi University, Oum El Bouaghi, were chosen to be the participants in the study.

Their talk was observed during three successive sessions.

The talk was then analyzed according to observation sheets comprising the interactional features proposed by Self Evaluation of Teacher Talk (SETT) designed by Walsh (2006).

The analysis is based on the premise that teacher talk embraces interactional features which may either foster or hinder the acquisition of the target language.