Tick, tock, talk: An analysis of the types of teacher talk in university classrooms

Abstract

Focusing on a university classroom setting, the study determined the types of teacher talk used by three English language teachers. Data were gathered using classroom observations and structured interviews. Using Flanders Interaction Analysis (FIA), the data yielded the incidence of the following categories: seven (7) for the teacher talk, two (2) for the student talk, and one (1) for silence or confusion. The results revealed that among the seven types of direct and indirect talk, there is a preponderance of lecturing at 41.33%. Significantly, the data revealed that teachers tend to focus on the content and do not seem to practice the indirect talk, which is “accepting of feelings.” The need for teachers to be fully aware of these types and facilitate such types of talk in their classrooms is recommended.

Keywords

• teacher talk
• english as second language (esl)
• interaction analysis
• flanders interaction analysis categories (fiac)