Bringing lecturing back to life: An interactive perspective into university literature classes

Year 2022, Volume: 8 Issue: 1, 1 - 30, 22.06.2022

Vildan İnci Kavak Yasemin Kırkgöz

https://doi.org/10.47216/literacytrek.1027083

Abstract

Lecturing is often seen as an outdated and tedious mode of teaching in university education due to its monologue-style content delivery. However, some lecturers tend to embrace a more interactive approach to ensure a democratic and participatory learning environment, in which students are encouraged to contribute to discussions, problem-solving or critical thinking tasks. This strategy allows participants to interact and cooperate more equally, which levels the power asymmetry between lecturer and students. In the light of this discussion, the data for this study was collected through audio recordings, interviews, observations, and field notes in the English Language and Literature Department at a state university in Turkey. Seven teaching hours were audio-recorded and transcribed with Jeffersonian transcription codes (1984) for an in-depth conversation analysis of classroom lecturer-student and student-student interaction. The data along with complementary information from interviews and notes were also used to identify the interactional architecture of academic lectures. Representative extracts are provided to illustrate how the strategies are put into use and presented in the interaction. This paper thus offers an insight into the interactive lectures and techniques used to make teaching more interactive and cooperative in content-based classrooms, which would potentially be beneficial for lecturers to develop an awareness of their interactional habits and language alternation practices.

Keywords

Interactive lectures, content-based classroom, higher education, conversation analysis, translanguaging

References

• Airey, J. (2012). I don’t teach language. The linguistic attitudes of physics lecturers in Sweden. AILA Review, 25(25), 64-79.
• Alfonzetti, G. (1998). The conversational dimension in code-switching between Italian and dialect in Sicily. In P. Auer (Ed.), Code-switching in conversation: Language, interaction, and identity, (pp. 180-214), Routledge.
• Alcaraz Varó, E. (2000). El inglés profesional y academic. Alianza Editorial, Madrid.
• Allwright, D., & Bailey, K. M. (1991). Focus on the language classroom, Cambridge University Press.
• Auer, P. (1984) Bilingual conversation, John Benjamins.
• Baker, C. (2011). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism, Multilingual Matters.
• Basturkmen, H., & Shackleford, N. (2015). How content lecturers help students with language: An observational study of language-related episodes in interaction in first year accounting classrooms. English for Specific Purposes, 37, 87-97.
• Ben-Naim, D. (2012). University lectures are a legacy of our pre-digital past. The Sydney Morning Herald.
• Beard, R. M., & Hartley, J. (1984). Teaching and learning in higher education.
• Biggs, J., & Tang, C. (2011). Train-the-trainers: Implementing outcomes-based teaching and learning in Malaysian higher education. Malaysian Journal of Learning and Instruction, 8, 1-19.
• Bligh, D. A. (1971). What’s the use of lectures? Penguin Education.
• Butler, J. A. (1992). Use of teaching methods within the lecture format. Medical teacher, 14(1), 11-25.
• Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2017). Minority languages and sustainable translanguaging: Threat or opportunity? Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 38(10), 901-912.
• Charlton, B.G. (2006). Lectures are such an effective teaching method because they exploit evolved human psychology to improve learning. Medical Hypotheses, 67, 1261-5.
• Charlton, B., Marsh, S. & Gurski, N. (2015). Are Lectures the Best Way to Teach Students? The Guardian, Higher Education Network. March 31. Accessed October 26, 2020. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2015/mar/31/are-lectures-the-best-way-to-teach-students
• Clark, G. L. (2014). Roepke lecture in economic geography—financial literacy in context. Economic Geography, 90(1), 1-23.
• Coleman, J. (2006). English-medium teaching in European higher education. Language Teaching 39(1), 1–14.
• Cowling, M., & Brack, C. (2015). Let’s not abandon the humble Lecture theatre quite yet. The Conversation, July 15. Accessed October 26, 2020. Available at https://theconversation.com/lets-not-abandon-the-humble-lecture-quite-yet-44501
• Coxhead, A. (2013). Vocabulary and ESP. In P. Paltridge, & S. Starfield (Eds.), The handbook of English for Specific Purposes (pp. 115-132). John Wiley & Sons.
• Crawford Camiciottoli, B., (2004). Interactive discourse structuring in L2 guest lectures: Some insights from a comparative corpus-based study. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 3(1), 39–54.
• Crawford Camiciottoli, B. (2005). Adjusting a business lecture for an international audience: A case study. English for Specific Purposes, 24, 183–199.
• Creese, A., & Blackledge, A. (2010). Translanguaging in the bilingual classroom: A pedagogy for learning and teaching?. The Modern Language Journal, 94(1), 103-115.
• Creese, A., Blackledge, A., & Hu, R. (2016). Noticing and commenting on social difference: A translanguaging and translation perspective. Birmingham: Translation and Translanguaging Project. Available at https://tlang.org.uk/open-access-publications/
• Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Sage.
• Dawson, P. (2015). Will the University of Adelaide’s Lecture Phase-out be a Flop?” The Conversation, July 3. Accessed October 18, 2020. Available at https://theconversation.com/will-the-university-of-adelaides-lecture-phase-out-be-a-flop-44074
• Denzin N. K., & Lincoln Y. S. (1991). Introduction: Entering the field of qualitative research: In N. K. Denzin, Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.). Handbook of qualitative research, (pp. 1- 17), Sage.
• DiPiro, J. T. (2009). Why do we still lecture?. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 73(8).
• Dodd, T. (2015). University of Adelaide is phasing out lectures. Financial Review, June 28. Accessed October 22, 2020. Available at https://www.afr.com/technology/university-of-adelaide-is-phasing-out-lectures-20150625-ghxgoz
• Dudley-Evans, T. (1994). Variations in the discourse patterns favoured by different disciplines and their pedagogical implications. Academic listening: Research perspectives, 146-158.
• Flowerdew, J. (1994). Academic listening: Research perspectives. Cambridge University Press
• Flowerdew, J., & Miller, L. (1996). Lecturer perceptions, problems and strategies in second language lectures. RELC Journal, 27(1), 23-46.
• Flowerdew, J., & Peacock, M. (Eds.) (2001). Research perspectives on English for academic purposes, Cambridge University Press.
• Foley, R. & Smilansky, J. (1980) Teaching technique. McGraw Hill.
• Fortanet, I. (2004). The use of ‘we’ in university lectures: Reference and function. English for Specific Purposes, 23, 45–66.
• Frederick, P. (1986). The lively lecture: 8 variations, College Teaching, 34, 43-50.
• Furedi, F. (2013). In praise of the university lecture and its place in academic scholarship. The Guardian, Higher Education Network Blog. Accessed October 23, 2020. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2013/dec/10/in-praise-of-academic-lecture
• Gage, N. & Berliner, D. (1991) Educational psychology. Houghton-Mifflin.
• Gee, J. (2012). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourses. (4th ed.), Routledge.
• Gibbs, G., Habeshaw, S., & Habeshaw, T. (1992). 53 Problems with large classes: Making the best of a bad job. Technical and Educational Services Ltd.
• Gunderman. (2013). Is the Lecture Dead? The Atlantic, January 29. Accessed November 26, 2020. Available at http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/is-the-lecture-dead/272578/.
• Gyspers, V., Johnston, J., Hancock, D., & Denyer, G. (2011). Why do students still bother coming to lectures, when everything is available online? International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education 19(2), 20–36.
• Hall, S. (1996). Who needs identity. Questions of Cultural Identity, 16(2), 1-17.
• Hatch, J. A. (2002). Doing qualitative research in education settings.SUNY Press.
• Heller, M. (Ed.) (1988). Codeswitching: Anthropological and sociological perspectives, De Gruyter
• Hincks, R. (2005). Measures and perceptions of liveliness in student oral presentation speech: Proposal for an automatic feedback mechanism, System, 33, 575–591.
• Hood, S. & Forey, G. (2005). Introducing a conference paper: Getting interpersonal with your audience. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 4(4), 291–306.
• Hong, J., & Basturkmen, H. (2020). Incidental attention to academic language during content teaching in two EMI classes in South Korean high schools. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 48, 100921
• Hughes-Warrington, M. (2015). Not going, not listening either: Lecture recording did not kill the live lecture. Accessed November 18, 2020. Available at https://missunitwocents.tumblr.com/post/132791490035/not-going-not-listening-either-lecture-recording
• Huxham, M. (2005). Learning in lectures: Do interactive windows help? Active Learning in Higher Education, 6(1), 17-31.
• Inbar-Lourie, O. (2010). English only? The linguistic choices of teachers of young EFL learners. International Journal of Bilingualism, 14(3), 351-367.
• Inci-Kavak, V., & Kırkgöz, Y. (2021). A Conversation-analytic approach to translanguaging practices in literature courses in Turkish higher education. In M. D. Devereaux & C. C. Palmer (Eds.), Teaching English Language Variation in the Global Classroom, (pp. 63-73). Routledge.
• Jonsson, C. (2017). Translanguaging and ideology: Moving away from a monolingual norm. In B. Paulsrud, J. Rosén, B. Straszer, & A. Wedin (Eds.), New Perspectives on Translanguaging and Education, (pp. 20-37). Multilingual Matters.
• Jordan, R. R., & Jordan, R. R. (1997). English for academic purposes: A guide and resource book for teachers. Cambridge University Press.
• Kang, S. (2005). Dynamic emergence of situational willingness to communicate in a second language. System, 33, 277–292.
• Kırkgöz, Y. (2014). Students’ perceptions of English language versus Turkish language used as the medium of instruction in higher education in Turkey. Turkish Studies, 9(12), 443-459.
• Knox, A.B. (1986). Helping adults learn. Jossey-Bass.
• Kramsch, C. (1987). The discourse factor in language learning. Public lecture, Ohio State University.
• Lake, D.A. (2001). Student performance and perceptions of a lecture-based course compared with the same course utilizing group discussion. Physical Therapy, 81(3), 896-903.
• Lambert, C. (2012). Twilight of the lecture. Harvard magazine, 114(4), 23-27.
• Lammers, W. & Murphy, J.J. (2002). A profile of teaching techniques used in the university classroom. Active Learning in Higher Education, 3(1), 54-67.
• Lee, C. T., & Bisman, J. (2006). Curricula in introductory accounting: The ‘old’and the ‘new’. Faculty of Commerce, Charles Sturt University.
• Leeman, J. & Serafini, E. (2016). Sociolinguistics and heritage language education: A model for promoting critical translingual competence. In M. Fairclough & S. Beaudrie (Eds.), Innovative Strategies for Heritage Language Teaching (pp. 56-79). Georgetown University Press.
• Lewis, G., Jones, B., & Baker, C. (2012). Translanguaging: Developing its conceptualisation and contextualisation. Educational Research and Evaluation, 18(7), 655-670.
• Ljosland, R. (2005, September). Norway’s misunderstanding of the Bologna process: when internationalisation becomes Anglicisation. In conference Bi-and Multilingual Universities: Challenges and Future Prospects. Helsinki University (Vol. 13).
• Lynch, T. (1994). Training lectures for international audiences. In J. Flowerdew (Ed.) Academic listening: Research perspectives, (pp.269–289), Cambridge University Press.
• Miller, L. (2002). Towards a model for lecturing in a second language. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 1, 145–162.
• Mitchell, P.,& Forer, P. (2010). Blended learning: The perceptions of first-year geography students. Journal of Geography in Higher Education 34(1), 77–89.
• Moll, T. M. (2000). EFL content lectures: a discourse analysis of an interactive and a non-interactive style. Departamento de Filología inglesa, Universidad de Alicante.
• Morell, T. (2004). Interactive lecture discourse for university EFL students. English for Specific Purposes, 23(3), 325–338.
• Mori, J. (2002). Task design, plan, and development of talk‐in‐interaction: An analysis of a small group activity in a Japanese language classroom. Applied linguistics, 23(3), 323-347.
• Mori, J., & Markee, N. (2009). Language learning, cognition, and interactional practices: An introduction. IRAL-International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 47(1), 1-9.
• Mulligan, D., & Kirkpatrick, A. (2000). How much do they understand? Lectures, students and comprehension. Higher Education Research & Development, 19(3), 311-335.
• Murray, R., & Brightman, J. R. (1996). Interactive teaching. European journal of engineering education, 21(3), 295-308.
• Murphy, R., & Sharma, N. (2010, November). What don’t we know about interactive lectures?. In Seminar.net (Vol. 6, No. 1).
• Newble, D. & Cannon, R. (1994) A Handbook for Medical Teachers, Boston, Kluwer Academic.
• Northcott, J. (2001). Towards an ethnography of the MBA classroom: A consideration of the role of interactive lecturing styles within the context of one MBA programme. English for Specific Purposes, 20(1), 15-37.
• Otheguy, R., Garcia, O., & Reid, W. (2015). Clarifying translanguaging and deconstructing named languages: A perspective from linguistics. Applied Linguistics Review, 6, 281-307. doi:10.1515/applirev-2015-0014.
• Otheguy, R., Garcia, O., & Reid, W. (2019). A translanguaging view of the linguistic system of bilinguals. Applied Linguistics Review, 10(4), 625-651.
• Palmer, C. (2012). Lecture theatres to go the way of the dodo. The Conversation.
• Papp, K. K., & Miller, F. B. (1996). The answer to stimulating lectures is the question, Medical Teacher, 18, 147- 149.
• Penson, P. E. (2012). Lecturing: A lost art. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching & Learning, 4(1), 72–76.
• Prince, M. (2004). Does active learning work? A review of the research. Journal of Engineering Education, 93(3), 223–231.
• Recski, L. (2005). Interpersonal engagement in academic spoken discourse: A functional account of dissertation defenses. English for Specific Purposes, 24(1), 5–23.
• Saroyan, A., & Snell, L. (1997). Variations in lecturing styles, Higher Education, 33, 85-104.
• Schwenk, T., & Whitman, N. (1987) The physician as teacher, Williams and Wilkins.
• Sayer, P. (2013). Translanguaging, TexMex, and bilingual pedagogy: Emergent bilinguals learning through the vernacular. TESOL Quarterly, 47(1), 63-88.
• Segall, A.J., Vanderschmidt, H., Burglass, R., & Frostman, T. (1975). Systematic Course Design for the Health Fields. John Wiley and Sons.
• Steinert, Y. & Snell, L. (1999). Interactive lecturing: Strategies for increasing participation in large group presentations. Medical Teacher, 21(1), 37-42.
• Teemant, A. (2010). ESL student perspectives on university classroom testing practices. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 10(3), 89-105.
• Thompson, S. (1994). Frameworks and contexts: a genre-based approach to analyzing lecture introductions. English for Specific Purposes, 13, 171–186.
• Van Dijk, L.A., van Den Berg, G.C., & Van Keulen, H. (2001). Interactive lectures in engineering education. European Journal of Engineering Education, 26(1),15-28.
• Walsh, S. (2006). Investigating classroom discourse. Routledge.
• Wagner, R. M., & Huang, J. C. (2011). Relative performance of English second language students in university accounting courses. American Journal of Business Education (AJBE), 4(5), 31-38.
• Watson-Gegeo, K. A., & Ulichny, P. (1988). Ethnographic inquiry into second language acquisition and instruction. University of Hawaii working papers in English as a second language, 7(2).
• Webber, P. (2005). Interactive features in medical conference monologue, English for Specific Purposes, 24, 157–181.
• Wei, L. (2011). Moment analysis and translanguaging space: discursive construction of identities by multilingual Chinese youth in Britain. Multilingual Structures and Agencies, 43(5), 1222-1235.
• Wei, L. (2018). Translanguaging as a practical theory of language. Applied linguistics, 39(1), 9-30.
• Wells, G. (1999). Dialogic inquiry: Towards a socio-cultural practice and theory of education. Cambridge University Press.
• Wolff, J. (2013). It’s too early to write off the lecture. The Guardian, June 23. Accessed November, 18, 2020. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/jun/24/university-lecture-still-best-learning
• Worthen, M. (2015). Lecture me. Really. The New York Times: Sunday Review, October 17.Accessed November 26, 2020. Available at https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/opinion/sunday/lecture-me-really.html
• Xhemaili, M. (2017). The influence of mother tongue (Albanian) in learning and teaching EFL (Unpublished doctoral dissertation), Kolegji AAB, Pristina, Kosovo.