Running head: OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS

Observing interaction patterns in a college classroom

Victoria C. Galindo Diago

Especialización en Enseñanza del Inglés - Universidad del Norte

OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 2

Observing interaction patterns in a college classroom

What is learning without interaction? Interaction is essential since it gives

the learners multiple reasons to use the language, helps them develop skills such as social and

linguistic, serves as a way to make knowledge meaningful, and facilitates learning. Therefore,

it is important to observe how every single person interacts in the classroom because it sets

the bases of how learning processes are going, and it also serves as a way to monitor the

teachers’ practices. The present report aims to analyze the diverse patterns of interaction

observed in a college classroom: Firstly, the report introduces the context of the classroom.

Secondly, some relevant concepts are explained to set the theoretical framework. Then, the

data collected during the observation is analyzed and, finally, some conclusions are

presented. The present analysis pretends to study the existing patterns of interaction and how

effective those patterns were for the learning process in the classroom.

So, what is the context? An English (English 1 / A1) class at a private university in

Cartagena was observed in order to analyze some classroom interaction patterns. The group

of students was composed of 24 students (teenagers – young adults). During the course, a

textbook was used by the teacher and the students (Project Success 1 – Pearson Education

Intl.) with a complementary platform on internet (MyEnglishLab – Pearson Education Intl)

where the teacher assigned activities for the students to practice at home or in the English

laboratory at university. The students had four English classes per week, 50 minutes long,

and they must attend the English laboratory 30 hours per semester.

To review the main concepts involved during the observation, a brief review on the

IRF concept, which was the dominant pattern during the observed class, is presented as

follows: The IRF pattern is well known for being one the dominant patterns of interaction in

the classroom (Hall, 2012) in which the teacher initiates (I), the student responds (R), and the

teacher gives feedback o continues with a follow-up action (F). It is also well known that the
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 3

initiation (I) is usually an instruction or question the teacher makes and serves to present the

topic of the class and the given concepts. Then, it implicates the student response (R), where

students show what they understand and what they can do with the provided contents. Finally,

the feedback serves for the teacher to evaluate whether the student is accurate/proficient or

not (Hall, 2010). This interaction pattern has been widely criticized and, as informed by the

British Council (2015), an overuse of this pattern “can limit:

- the potential of a 'handover' (an autonomous learner)

- individual agency (being able to challenge and negotiate a concept)

- expression of identity (bringing their home culture or cultural 'niche' into their

classroom participation)”

because this pattern is more focused on what the teacher expects from the students.

Besides, keeping the IRF in a classroom with heterogeneous skill levels can be difficult

because it restricts the interventions from students with low performance, and increases their

anxiety levels. However, and as mentioned before, the IRF pattern has been commonly used

since the teacher can monitor how the students are progressing by questioning them, and

then, provide immediate feedback so the students can track their progress, too. Another

advantage of IRF is that it provides opportunities for the teacher to expand and make

elaborations on the contents of the class by giving further explanations (Su, 2017).

In the analyzed class, the observer detected IRF patterns, expansion and elaboration,

which is a type or input modification; and, recasts, a type of indirect correction. During the

class, there were found 52 complete IRF cycles. During the same time, indirect correction

was used 5 times in the form of recasts and input modification was used 8 times in the form

of expansions and elaborations.

The following is an example of a complete IRF cycle:

OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 4

3. Teacher: Sooo… (Shows the first of

N flashcards – A woman carrying a bag with
F,
vegetables) you guys tell me, what do you see
I
here? What is there on the picture? (Pointing at
the board).
4. Students 1, 2, 3, 4: Shopping (almost
R
inaudible).
5. Teacher: Shopping? Hmmm… You
four agree that it’s shopping, right? May be but,
F,
guess what? We have a verb! An action! RECAST
I
(Louder) And the verb is CARRY. You know
what carry is?

The cycle starts with the feedback word of another IRF cycle. Then the teacher asks a

question about a picture on the board. The question used by the teacher was closed-ended and

the used feedback to make indirect corrections was a recast. Recasts are very common among

English teachers and can be defined, according to the Longman Dictionary of Teaching and

Applied Linguistics, as:

‘a type of negative feedback in which a more competent interlocutor rephrases an

incorrect o incomplete learner utterance by changing one or more sentence components while

still referring to its central meaning.’

In this cycle, the teacher repeated what the students said in order to give feedback and

introduce the correct content and meaning. This recasting practice was common during the

class and is also common in most English language classes, but its effectiveness needs to be

investigated more thoroughly (Banaruee, Khatin-Zadeh, & Ruegg, 2018) since there are not

many studies that prove it. This method of indirect correction form worked during the class

and the students remembered the concept during the future classes.

The second example of a IRF cycle is the following:

103. Teacher: So, exactly, the correct F,

answer is unload. Remember what unload is? I
104. Student: (makes mimics)
R
descargar?
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 5

105. Teacher: yes! But like “descargar

F,
mercancía” because “descargar información” is… EE
I
(mimics like asking a question)
106. Students: DOWNLOAD! R

In this example, the teacher uses another closed-ended question, but the students

answer in their native language. The teacher tries to ensure that the students use and reinforce

the given concepts in L2 through explaining an example for the students to make mental

connections. This explanation to make students remember the given concept is an

expansion/elaboration (EE). Expansions and elaborations are an input modification method

reported by Saville-Troike (2006), and serve to provide “…models of contextually relevant

utterances which may exceed non-native speakers immediate ability to produce” (p. 108). It

was another effective strategy that worked with the students since they were able to recall the

concept throughout the next classes.

Another interesting example of classroom interaction can be the next:

15. Teacher: Very good! Next one is easy-peasy! What are

F, I
these?
16. Students: (Scattered) Box. Box. Box. R
17. Teacher: Box? How many do you see? (Starts counting
F, I
with her fingers)
18. Student 5: One, two, three… R
19. Students: Four box! R
20. Teacher: Box? Remember: one box, four???? (gesture of
F, I
question).
21. Students: (Loud and clear) BOXES! R

In this cycle of IRF, which is actually two cycles, an example of scaffolding can be

observed. This term can be defined as “a process of ‘setting up’ the situation to make the

child’s entry easy and successful and then gradually pulling back and handing the role to the

child as he becomes skilled enough to manage it” (Bruner, 1983: 60). Scaffolding serves as a

form for the teacher to guide their students to learn in a more autonomous way which
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 6

promotes the students’ academic and linguistic development, as indicated by Walqui (2006).

Furthermore, in accordance with Wood (1988), scaffolding has three main characteristics that

can be seen in the example: scaffolding is contingent, collaborative and interactive. We can

see contingency because there are actions relying on other actions, collaboration due to the

collective achievement of the correct concept, and interaction, of course, since there are more

than one person engaged with the process. Another important characteristic of scaffolding is

that it occurs within the zone of proximal development (ZPD), which is the distance between

what students know and what they can learn potentially (Vygotzky, 1978). The teacher works

with the students’ ZPD and is able to scaffold them to the concept she wants them to acquire.

This type of classroom interaction worked since students got to know what the teacher

wanted without being explained inductively.

To sum up, the analysis of the class revealed that there was a total lack of other input

modification and indirect correction methods. The learning process throughout the class can

be considered as limited since interaction in L2 was almost null. Despite that, students

interacted with the teacher and they learned the concepts and were able to use them during

the next classes, which demonstrates they somehow learned. There is a tangible learning

process in which students were able not only to acquire certain concepts but recall them and

use them in future tasks. In spite of the lack of interaction in the target language, there was

interaction and it facilitated the students’ learning process. Without interaction, students do

not feel the necessity of using the language and they will not use it if they do not feel it is

necessary. Learning a second language and learning in general can be a complex process, but

interaction only makes it easier and helps learners see how necessary knowledge for life is.

Hence, teachers must ensure that there are plenty of ways for everybody to interact in the

classroom. Interaction makes learning possible and, more important, makes knowledge

tangible.
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 7

References

Banaruee, H., Khatin-Zadeh, O., & Ruegg, R. (2018). Recasts vs. direct corrective feedback

on writing performance of high school EFL learners. Cogent Education, 5(1),

1455333. Retreived from:

https://scholar.google.es/scholar?hl=es&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=banaruee+et+al+cogent+e

ducation+recast&btnG=#d=gs_cit&u=%2Fscholar%3Fq%3Dinfo%3A_-

sii5T05qwJ%3Ascholar.google.com%2F%26output%3Dcite%26scirp%3D0%26hl%3

Des

British Council, 2015. Initiation-response-feedback (IRF). Retreived from:

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/initiation-response-feedback-irf

Bruner, J. (1983) Child’s Talk . New York: Norton.

Hall, J. (2012). Teaching and researching language and culture. Pearson Education. Harlow,

UK.

Hall, J. K. (2010). Interaction as method and result of language learning. Language

Teaching, 43(2), 202-215

Saville-Troike, M. (2006). Social contexts of second language acquisition. In Introducing

second language acquisition (pp. 99-132). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University

Press.

Su, C. Y. (2017). Investigating the Effectiveness of an Interactive IRF-Based English

Grammar Learning System. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in

Learning (iJET), 12(11), 63-82. Retrieved from:

https://scholar.google.es/scholar?hl=es&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Investigating+the+Effecti

veness+of+an+Interactive+IRF-

Based+English+Grammar+Learning+System&btnG=#d=gs_cit&u=%2Fscholar%3Fq
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 8

%3Dinfo%3AXwrHwDDcIJwJ%3Ascholar.google.com%2F%26output%3Dcite%26s

cirp%3D0%26hl%3Des

Vygotsky, L. (1978). Interaction between learning and development. Readings on the

development of children, 23(3), 34-41.

Walqui, A. (2006). Scaffolding instruction for English language learners: A conceptual

framework. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 9(2), 159-

180.

Wood, D.J. (1988) How Children Think and Learn. Oxford: Blackwell.
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 9

Appendix: Observed Class Transcription

Name and type of institution: Universidad Tecnólogica de Bolívar

(University/College), Undergraduate Level.
Date and time: Friday, March 1st, 2019, 12:00 – 12:50 pm.
Level: English I (A1).
Students’ characteristics: 24 Teenagers (16-18 years old). Most of them are Civil
Engineering undergraduate students.
Name of textbook used: Project Success 1 with MyEnglishLab. Pearson Education
International.
Contextualization: The day before, learners had started studying the 3rd unit of the
book (Unit 3: Oscar is in charge) and saw two out of the eleven lessons each unit has.
Last lesson was about traffic signs and students were assigned an activity in which they
had to work in pairs to elaborate a drawing to explain a traffic sign that had to be different
from the ones on the book. Next class, the teacher would ask some students to do a short
presentation for their classmates.

IRE/F RECAST EE
1. Teacher: (Enthusiastically
greets her students and asks them to
make a brief presentation about last
class’ homework. After 10 minutes she
starts a new lesson). Guys! Right now, I
we’re going to watch a video but, first,
we’re going to see some new
vocabulary to understand the video, as
usual, ok?
2. Students: Ok (Almost
inaudible. It is 1:20 pm. They are
R
usually hungry and sleepy at this time
of the day).
3. Teacher: Sooo… (Shows
the first of N flashcards – A woman
carrying a bag with vegetables) you
F, I
guys tell me, what do you see here?
What is there on the picture? (Pointing
at the board).
4. Students 1, 2, 3, 4:
R
Shopping (almost inaudible).
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 10

5. Teacher: Shopping?
Hmmm… You four agree that it’s
shopping, right? May be but, guess
F, I RECAST
what? We have a verb! An action!
(Louder) And the verb is CARRY. You
know what carry is?
6. Students move their heads
saying no. Teacher starts doing
R
gestures like the woman on the
flashcard.
7. Student 5: Ahhh… Como
R
cargar?
8. Teacher: Yes, but in
English. The woman on the photo is
CARRYING (stresses on this word) a
F,I
bag with vegetables, ok? So,
everybody is going to repeat with me,
carry (slow and clear).
9. Students: (loud and clear, a
R
little less sleepy) Carry!
10. Teacher: Good! And…
What is this? (Pointing at the board
F, I
and showing another flashcard of a
man unboxing cans at a supermarket).
11. Student 2: Arreglar? R
12. Student 3: Organizar? R
13. Teacher: Hmm organizing?
Arranging? May be but, this guy is
UNPACKING (shows the verb
UNPACK) you see, he is taking cans F, I RECAST
from a box that was closed so he is
unpacking (emulates the action), right?
So, repeat with me, UNPACK!
14. Students: (in a better mood)
R
UNPACK!
15. Teacher: Very good! Next
F, I
one is easy-peasy! What are these?
16. Students: (Scattered) Box.
R
Box. Box.
17. Teacher: Box? How many
do you see? (Starts counting with her F, I RECAST
fingers)
18. Student 5: One, two,
R
three…
19. Students: Four box! R
20. Teacher: Box? Remember:
one box, four???? (gesture of F, I RECAST
question).
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 11

21. Students: (Loud and clear)

R
BOXES!
22. Teacher: Very good! So,
F, I
repeat, BOXES!
23. Students: (increasing their
R
stamina) BOXES!
24. Teacher: So, one box?
(Making a repetition gesture with her F, I
hands)
25. Students: ONE BOX! R
26. Teacher: Four boxes… F, I
27. Students: FOUR BOXES! R
28. Teacher: Great! Easy, right?
F, I
So, what is this?
29. Student 1: (Inaudible) R
30. Teacher: LOUDER
F, I
PLEASE!
31. Student 1: (Inaudible,
R
again)
32. Teacher: Without fear! (In a
I
cute tone of voice)
33. Student 1: (a little more
R
confident) Broccoli.
34. Teacher: Perfect. Broccoli.
Do you guys like broccoli…? Because F, I
I love it!!!
35. (Some students say yes,
most of students say no, making a
I
disapproval gesture) It is very healthy,
come on, with me, Broccoli!
36. Students: (With
disapproving-broccoli face) R
Broooccoli
37. Teacher: Excellent! Now!
What is this? (Now the teacher does a F, I
disapproving face)
38. Student 2: (Inaudible) R
39. Students: (Start laughing)
R
HAHAHAHAHAHHAAH!
40. Teacher: What? I
41. Student 3: Watermelon!
R
(Confident, sure of his answer)
42. Teacher: Eh, nope.
Watermelon is what we call “patilla o
sandía” in Spanish… But this is not a F, I
watermelon, this is a MELON, like in
Spanish! Easy, isn’t it?
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 12

43. Students: MELON!! R

44. Teacher: Do you like the
I
melon?
45. Most of students: Yes!!!!! R
46. Teacher: I hate it haha! You
know what? We can also call it a
F, I
CANTALOUPE! So, everybody,
CANTALOUPE!
47. Students: (Struggling)
R
CAAN-TALU
48. Teacher: Again!
I
Cantaloupe!!!
49. Students:
R
CANTALOUPE!!!!
50. Teacher: All right. What do
we have in this picture, darlings? F, I
(Shows the next flashcard)
51. Student 6: Canasta!!!!!!!! R
52. Teacher: Yiuupp but… how
F, I RECAST
do we say “canasta” in English?
53. Student 5: (Insecure)
R
Basket?
54. Teacher: Exactly. So we
have a basket but, not a normal one: a
F, I
SHOPPING basket. Ok? So,
everybody: SHOPPING BASKET!!!
55. Students: (Happy)
R
SHOPPING BASKET!
56. Teacher: Nice! You know?
The word “basketball”, you know, the
F, I
sport? It comes from basket! Balón
más canasta… BASKETBALL!!
57. Students: (Some are
R
surprised) Ohh!
58. Teacher: Ok so, let’s go to
F, I
the beginning! What is this?
59. Students: CARRY!! R
60. Teacher: Great! And this? F, I
61. Student 2: (hesitating)
R
Unpack?
62. Students: UNPACK! R
63. Teacher: Good! And… F, I
64. Students: BOXES! R
65. Teacher: Good!!!!
F, I
Now…???
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 13

66. Students: (Dissaproving-

R
broccoli face) Broooocoli.
67. Teacher: AGAIN! E, I
68. Students: BROCCOLI! R
69. Teacher: Haha ok ok! And
F, I
this?
70. Students: Melon, melon. R
(The teacher asks for a second
because another teacher knocks the
door and interrupts the class. The other
teacher asks her to stop loud
repetitions because her students were
complaining about the “noise”. The
teacher starts whispering to her
students about the situation and they
all start feeling hungry and sleepy
again.)
71. Teacher: (whispering) Ok.
I
What is this one?
72. Students:(Inintelligible
R
whispers)
73. Teacher: (a little louder)
I
What?
74. Students: Basket! R
75. Teacher: Good. A
SHOPPING basket. Very good! Now,
as usual, we have our third lesson and
we have, of course, a new video right
here, ok? With this video we’re going
to learn how to ask for help, right? It is
something we all usually do. For
example, you always ask teachers for
help when you have homework… like
when you ask me to help you access
MyEnglishLab, right? Haha… Asking
for help is a really really REALLY
F, I EE
common activity we have to do every
single day, ok? So, first, let’s look at
this photo before watching the video.
(The teachers goes back to page 36 on
the book and points at a preview
photo). This is Oscar, do you
remember him? (There are characters
who appear all around the book) and
this is Wen, ok? Oscar is the boss and
Wen is an employee, right? (So slow
and clearly repeats the preview
question from the book) WHEN – DO
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 14

– YOU – ASK – FOR – HELP?

Cuándo pides ayuda tú?

76. Students: (Inintelligible –

R
They say something in Spanish)
77. Teacher: Ok, when else?
For example, when you don’t F, I EE
understand a lesson…
78. Student: Cuando no
R
encuentras un producto en el súper!
79. Teacher: Good! When you
cannot find a product… when you
need to CARRY (makes mimics)
something, etc. There are
LOOOOOOOOOTS of situations in
which you need help, right? Now, let’s F, I EE
play the video and you know what to
do, ok? (On the book, they have to
circle the correct answer for a set of
questions about the video) So Lights,
Camera, Action!!!!
(Plays a video from the
ActiveTeach. Project Success Level 1,
Unit 3, Lesson 3: Listening and
Speaking, Ask for help. Length: 0:30).
Ok, guys, do you want me to
I
play it again? (makes mimics)
80. Students: Yeeeeeeeeee… R
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 15

81. Teacher: Ok, let’s play it

back… (plays the video back). Right,
let’s go back to page 36, right! I
Fulano1!! Can you please read the first
question?
82. Student: Yes, teacher!
Oscar asks Wen for… a) oranges, b) R
help, c) organic products?
83. Teacher: Very good! So,
who says oranges? Raise your hands, F, I
please! (mimics)
84. Students: (a few rise their
R
hands)
85. Teacher: Heeeeeelp?
(mimics raising her hand to encourage I
students)
86. Students: (most of students
R
say) HEEEELP.
87. Teacher: And Organic
I
Products??
88. Students: NOOOOO!
R
HELP!!!
89. Teacher: Great!! So Oscar
F
asks for HEEEELP.
90. Students: Heeeeeeelp R
91. Teacher: Good. Next
question, Sutano1!!! Read the next F, I
question!
92. Student: (Inintelligible) R
93. Teacher: Please, louder! I
94. Student: (Stays silent for a
R
few seconds, he seems to be thinking)
95. Teacher: Sutano1… I
96. Student: Oscar needs to
R
(silence, blank) a few boxes.
97. Teacher: Thanks! Who says
F, I
a) PACK? (mimics, raises her hand)
98. Students: (A few students
R
raise their hands)
99. Teacher: b) Hand? I
100. Students: (other few
R
students raise their hands)
101. Teacher: and c) unload? I
102. Students:
Yeeeeeeeeeee!!!! (most of them raise R
their hands)
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 16

103. Teacher: So, exactly,

the correct answer is unload. F, I
Remember what unload is?
104. Student: (makes
R
mimics) descargar?
105. Teacher: yes! But like
“descargar mercancía” because
F, I EE
“descargar información” is… (mimics
like asking a question)
106. Students:
R
DOWNLOAD!
107. Teacher: Right! Ok,
next! Tututututu (scrolling down on the
F, I
page), Perensejo!!!! Next question,
please!
108. Student:
Ehhhhhhhhh… (marked costeño
accent, very paused) Wen, needs, to, R
mov, the, chopin, car, to, the, (silence),
of, the, store?
109. Teacher: the shopping
cart, ok? (reinforcing pronunciation) F, I
So, what is the answer?
110. Students: Oranch!! R
111. Teacher: O RAN GES!
Remember, oranges! (Reinforcing F, I
pronunciation)
112. Students: (Repeating)
R
Oranges.
113. Teacher: Good, next!
F, I
Fulano2! Number four!
114. Student: ehhhhhhh…
R
(inintelligible)
115. Teacher: so, what is the
I
answer?
116. Students:
R
Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack
117. Teacher: Excellent!
Back! Nice! Now, let’s watch a
fragment from the video and let’s fill
in the blanks, right? (Plays a fragment F, I
from the same video for students to
complete the next exercise on the
book). Agaaaaaain?
118. Students: again, please!
(some of them mimic with their hands
to ask for a second play).
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 17

119. Teacher: (Plays the

fragment again) Now, who wants to be
Oscar? Who wants to be Wen? (The
teacher ask for volunteer students to
read the dialogue between Wen and
Oscar with the answers required by the I
book). (Sutano2 voluntarily raises his
hand) Sutano2, you’re going to play
Oscar, right? (Fulano1 raises his hand)
And you, Fulano1, are going to be
Wen, ok?
120. Student: (Fulano1)
Ticher, pero yo no sé la respuesta R
hahahaha (everybody starts laughing).
121. Teacher: Ohh my
Godness, ok, who wants to help
I
Fulano1? The others can help, right?
Let’s go! Lights, camera, action!
122. Students: (Sutano2 and
Fulano1 read the fragment without the R
answers)
123. Teacher: hmmmmm
I
what is the first answer?
124. Students: unload?
R
(shily).
125. Teacher: Good!
Unload! So, repeat! (the book suggests
to have the students repeat the
F, I
fragment) Remember we cannot do a
lot of noise, right? Can you help me
UNLOAD these boxes?
126. Students: (almost
inintelligible) Can you help me unload R
these boxes?
127. Teacher: Pero no tan
pasito, caraaaaaaaaamba! (everybody
F, I
starts laughing) Can you help me
UNLOAD these boxes?
128. Students: (louder) Can
R
you help me unload these boxes?
129. Teacher: YES! Where
F, I
do you want them?
130. Students: Yes! Where
R
do you want them?
131. Teacher: (slow and
clear) This box has organic O RAN F, I
GES.
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 18

132. Students: This box has

R
organic oranges.
133. Teacher: Please, put it
F, I
in the organic section.
134. Students: Please, put it
R
in the organic section.
135. Teacher: Ok. What else
F, I
do you need help with?
136. Students: Ok. What
R
else do you need help with?
137. Teacher: Can you take
these BOXES to the back? Thanks, F, I
Wen.
138. Students: Can you take
R
these boxes to the back? Thanks, Wen.
139. Teacher: Excellent!
Now, we have a pronunciation note (a
small section on every single listening
and speaking lesson on the book) and it
is about one of the MOST COMMON
and MISSPRONOUNCED sounds in
English: The TH. Right? Let’s see:
(starts reading the note from the book)
“To say the TH sound in THIS and
THESE, put your tongue between your F
teeth (exaggerates the movement and
the sound, everybody smiles). Use
your voice to make this sound”. Ok,
let’s listen. Then, we’re going to listen
again and repeat, ok? (Plays an audio
on the ActiveTeach with the words
THIS, THAT, THERE, THESE and
THOSE. When they had to repeat, they
did it).
140. Teacher: Let’s repeat
I
again! THIS!
141. Students: THIS! (The
teacher tells them to repeat it two times R
more).
142. Teacher: THAT! I
143. Students: THAT! (The
teacher tells them to repeat it two times R
more).
144. Teacher: THERE! I
145. Students: THERE!
(The teacher tells them to repeat it two R
times more).
146. Teacher: THEEEEESE! I
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 19

147. Students:
THEEEESE… (The teacher tells them R
to repeat it two times more).
148. Teacher:
I
THOOOOOSE!
149. Students:
THOOOOSE… (The teacher tells R
them to repeat it two times more).
150. Teacher: Oki doki!
Remember this sound is really special,
ok? Remember at the beginning of the
course I told you that THREE (shows
three fingers) and TREE (draws a tree F, I EE
on the board) sound different? It is
because of this TH sound, right? The
same happens with THIRTY, treinta,
right?
151. Students: Thirty,
R
thirty…
152. Teacher: and the
F, I
number trece, THIRTEEN, right?
153. Students:
R
thirteeeeeeen…
154. Teacher: and tercero,
F, I
THIRD!
155. Students:
R
Theeeeeerrrddd… (drowsily)
156. Teacher: Yes! Very
good! Don’t forget it! TH (mimics
exaggerately putting her tongue
between her teeth, everybody laughs).
HAHAHAH! Good, right now, let’s go
to our next lesson on page hmmm…
37!!!! which is aboooooout… This,
That, These and Those! Grammar!
Wiiiiiiii… (the teacher makes a boring F, I EE
face in purpose for the students to
laugh and engage more. It worked.).
Let’s see… (starts speaking in Spanish
as she sees that most students don’t
understand) estos son los que se llaman
en Inglés “demonstrative pronouns”
(she writes the title on the board) or
pronombres demostrativos.
157. Students:
R
(Inintelligible).
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 20

158. Teacher: (draws an

empty table in the board). As I told you
at the beginning of the course,
pronouns are words meant to replace
nouns… or names, right? Como les
dije al principio del curso, los
pronombres son palabras que sirven
para reemplazar a los nombres y no
rayaaaarlos (mimics) como a un disco,
ok? (students laugh). They are for us to
avoid repeating names, right? These
ones, especially, are here to make us
talk about objects respect to our
position in space, right? Estos en
especial nos sirven para hablar de
objetos o personas respecto a nuestra
ubicación en el espacio, por ejemplo, si I EE
un objeto está al alcance de tu mano o
si está lejos… si ese objeto es singular
o si es plural… bueno, para eso nos
sirven estos pronombres. The first one
is THIS, and this is like “este”, ok? For
example: este marcador, que lo estoy
agarrando con mi mano y es un solito
marcador… (shows a board marker) in
English it is THIS MARKER, right? It
is a singular object you have in your
hands or you can REACH (alcanzar)
with your hands because it is close to
you, ok? On the book, we have this
example (points at the board)
“UNLOAD THIS BOX”, ok?
Descarga ESTA caja, right?
159. Student: Teacher! Eso
R, I
se escribe así? Demonstrative? Con N?
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 21

160. Teacher: Yiup. (she

smiles). THIS and THAT are similar
because they are SINGULAR words,
ok? But THAT is for a single object
that is not close to me, I cannot touch
it, right? (She points at the teacher’s
desk, that is unreachable from her
position in the classroom) For
example: THAAAT is my computer,
right? It is my computer but (stretches
R, I
herself) I cannot reach it, so I say
THAT, ok? On the book we have
another example: Move THAT basket.
Right? He cannot reach it from his
position, and he must approach
(mimics approaching) to do so, then, I
say THAT. Ok? (Starts filling in the
chart with the words CLOSE, FAR,
THIS and THAT and arranges in a
ways students get to understand).
161. (Students are paying
attention carefully and taking notes as
R
the teacher fills in the chart and explain
examples)
162. Oki doki, when I have
TWO or MOOOORE objects that I can
reach with my hands I say THESE, ok?
En Español sería “estos”, ok? For
example, (takes another two markers)
THESE MARKERS! Estos
marcadores. I have one, two and three
and they are in my hand, right? (Starts
talking with marked costeño accent, I EE
imitating students’ cocky attitude
towards unknown things they believe
they master perfectly) Ticher! Pero si
THIS y THESE suenan igualitico, esa
es la misma vaina! (back to English)
NOPE! They are not the same. THESE
sounds a little bit longer, THEEEEESE
(exaggerates the ee sound), right?
163. Students:
AHAHHHAHAHAHAHAHA R
AHHHHHHH ok!
164. Teacher: the example
on the book, Unload THESE boxes,
right? It is not only one but one, two I EE
and three boxes on the picture! So we
say THEEEEEESE, ok?
165. Students: Ok! R
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 22

166. Teacher: (goes to the

board, writes THESE on the column
CLOSE, line PLURAL from the chart) I
THESE is here because it means plural
objects near me, right?
167. Students continue
paying attention and taking notes R
thoroughly
168. Student: Ticher pero
R, I
THAT también es que, cierto?
169. Teacher: In fact, it is.
The word THAT has usages such as
demonstrative pronoun and relative
clause, a connector. Sirve de
R EE
pronombre de estos y sirve para
conectar una oración con la otra, una
conjunción… Let’s write an
example…
170. Student: Pero eso se
I
puede usar para preguntar?
171. Bueno, por eso es
importante tener buena ortografía y
entender hasta las tildes diacríticas en
Español (The teacher laughs, students
are confused). Qué con tilde es para R, I EE
preguntar y su equivalente es WHAT.
Que sin tilde es para conectar y ese es
el THAT del que estamos hablando,
ok?
172. Students: (They are
surprised. The teacher considers that
comparing English and Spanish is a
R
nice way to understand the language
and how different is Spanish from
English).
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 23

173. Teacher: (she continues

with a small example with that as a
relative clause and as a demonstrative
pronoun in the same sentence and
closes the question). Ok, let’s talk
about the last one: THOOOOSE
(exaggerating the sound). I have three
markers on the desk, right? (points at
the desk, she walks some steps back so I EE
she cannot reach it). I say THOSE
MARKERS. There are one, two, three
markers, but they are not close to me,
so I say THOSE, right? The example
on the book: (points at the board)
Move THOSE baskets. There are one,
two, three baskets and the guy cannot
reach them unless he approaches, oki?
174. Students: Yeee… R
175. Teacher: (Writes
THOSE on the chart, column FAR,
line PLURAL. The chart is
completed). Now you see (points at the
chart): If it’s only one object close to
me, THIS. If it’s a single object far I EE
from me, THAT. If I have more than
one object close to me, THEEEESE
and if I have more than one object and
I cannot reach them, THOOOSE,
right?
176. Students: Ok! R
177. Teacher: Are there any
I
questions?
178. Students: (move their
R
heads indicating no).
179. Teacher: Ok! Right
now, you have to do the exercises on I
page 37, ok? Exercises A and B.
180. Student: A and B? R, I
181. Teacher: Yes,
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA and R, I
BBBBBBBBBBBBBB! Ok?
182. Students: Ok! R
The teacher sets the
chronometer and has the students do
the exercises until the end of the class.
Most of students come to the teacher’s
desk to get feedback when they
finished.
OBSERVING INTERACTION PATTERNS IN A COLLEGE CLASSROOM 24

Recasts: 5
Instances of intersubjectivity: 8
Expansion and elaboration: 10
IRF complete cicles: 52