Oral interaction in EFL classrooms: the case of senior secondary schools in Ethiopia

Abstract

This study investigates oral interaction in Ethiopian senior secondary school EFL classrooms. It aims at comprehending the process of classroom interaction and distinguishing the patterns and purposes of classroom interaction in English as Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. In this qualitative research, data were gathered from six senior secondary school EFL teachers through observations and interviews. The data obtained were organized thematically based on categories adapted from Flanders Interaction Analysis Categories and analyzed qualitatively. The results showed that senior secondary school EFL teachers do not allow students to orally interact during instructions and dominate almost the entire instructional time though they claim using it, so the classrooms are teacher dominated. That is, student-student interaction is absent in senior secondary school EFL classrooms. The fundamental type of oral interaction in senior secondary school EFL classrooms is teacher-students interaction whose purpose is to lecture grammatical and lexical items. Besides, the prevalent mode of interaction is questioning where teachers ask content related scanty questions to which students are unresponsive and get confused, as a result of which, there are pauses and chaos.