Pre-modified input or interactionally modified input?

If classroom input is to become

optimally comprehensible, it should no longer be the teachers sole prerogative to ask questions...All participants in classroom interaction should ask questions, and those questions should seek to clarify and confirm input thereby making it comprehensible...

Any teacher or method that facilitates a

realignment of the traditional roles of teacher and student, so that students can take greater initiative or assume more responsibility for their own learning, is likely to encourage in-class oral interaction, which in turn can increase comprehension of input
Pica, T (1987) The impact of interaction on comprehension Tesol Quarterly 21/4

Scott Thornbury (1996) Teachers research teacher talk :ELTJ 50/4 1996

If, as is argued by proponents of a communicative approach, acquisition is facilitated by the negotiation of meaning in interaction, it follows that learners should, at least some of the time, be asking the questions. A high proportion of student initiated questions would suggest a healthy distribution of the ownership of classroom discourse, which in turn would tend to promote more investment on the part of the learner.

Classroom activities where learners ask questions

Learners interview each other/the teacher/people outside about a topic and then present the information they have gathered in some way Guessing games Teacher in role Learners write their own comprehension questions for a reading or listening text Interrupting the teacher (during storytelling for example) Learners bring their language queries to class

Teacher Beliefs

Which teacher beliefs about learning does the use of this activity demonstrate?
Empowering learners to ask questions is useful in a language class Empowering learners to take responsibility for the content of classes is useful. Using material which is personalised may be more motivating and engaging for learners. Material which is co-constructed through dialogue may be of great benefit to learners. Doing an activity through writing rather than speaking, may encourage more noticing of language. Doing activities in groups, rather than individually, may promote more learning. It is important that learner texts have a motivated audience.