Wait-time in Material and Classroom Context Modes

Abstract

This study aims to investigate wait-time, more specifically student reaction wait-time, in high school English as a foreign language classrooms with specific regard to two classroom micro-context modes (the classroom context mode and material mode). The data was collected via audio-recordings of classroom interaction in its natural context. The audio-recordings were analyzed using the principles of Conversation Analysis. The analysis of the data demonstrated that the effectiveness of student reaction wait-time is highly related to the current pedagogical goal; if the purpose is to increase learners’ involvement in classroom discourse or if it requires analytical thinking, an extended wait-time of three to five seconds is likely to enhance the learning opportunity. However, as a social process, opportunities for learning are likely to be missed if the purpose is to monitor understanding or display answers which are explicitly given in the material that is being used. In this sense, this study has implications for studies on wait-time, foreign language classroom interaction, teachers’ interactional competence, and foreign language learning contexts in general.

Keywords

• Wait-time,Conversation Analysis,classrooms modes,interactional resources,learning opportunities

References

1. Alexander, R. (2004). Toward dialogic teaching: Rethinking classroom talk. UK: Dialogis.
2. Allwright, R. L. (1984). The Importance of Interaction in Classroom Language Learning. Applied linguistics, 5(2), 156-71.
3. Alsaadi, N. S. M. (2015). Wait-time and Learning Opportunity: A Critical Study of Saudi English Language Classes. Unpublished Master’s dissertation, submitted to University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
4. Anshutz, R. J. (1975). An investigation of wait-time and questioning techniques as an instructional variable for science methods students’ microteaching elementary school children. Dissertation Abstracts International, 35, 5978A.
5. Atar, C. (2016). The sequential organization and management of teachers’ other-initiation of clarification in second language classroom contexts. Unpublished PhD thesis, submitted to University of Newcastle upon Tyne, the UK.
6. Atar, C. & Seedhouse, P. (2018). A conversation-analytic perspective on teacher-led clarification and its implications for L2 teacher training. International Journal of Instruction, 11(2), 145-166.
7. Atkinson, J. M. & Heritage, J. (1984). Structures of social action: Studies in conversation analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
8. Atwood, V. A. (1991). Wait time and effective social studies instruction: What can research in science education tell us? Social Education, 55(3), 179-81.

9. Bailey, K. (1996). The best laid plans: teachers' in class decision to depart from their lesson-plans. In K. M. Bailey and D. Nunan (eds) Voices from the Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
10. Barnette, J., Orletsky, S., Sattes, B., & Walsh, J. (1995). Wait-time: Effective and Trainable. ERIC, ED 383 706.
11. Beyerbach, B. A. (1988a). The interaction of research, policy, and practice: A case study of a research group attempting to implement wait time. ERIC, ED 292 882.
12. Beyerbach, B. A. (1988b) Comparing researchers', teachers', and students' perspectives on a line of research attempting to implement wait time in classrooms. ERIC, ED 292 883.
13. Burnett, J. (2009). Doing your social science dissertation. London: Sage.
14. Cazden, C. B. (2001). Classroom discourse: the language of teaching and learning. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
15. Clifton, J. (2006). Facilitator talk. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
16. Cullen, R. (1998). Teacher talk and classroom context. English Language Teaching Journal, 25: 179-87.
17. Dale, R. & Vinson, D. W. (2013). The observer’s paradox. Journal of Experimental & Theoretical Artificial Intelligence, 25(3): 303-322.
18. De Ture, L. R., & Miller, A. P. (1985). The effects of a written protocol model on teacher acquisition of extended wait-time. ERIC, ED 245 923.
19. Ellis, K. (1993). Teacher questioning behavior and student learning: What research says to teachers? ERIC, ED 359 572.
20. Ellis, R. (2000). Task-based research and language pedagogy. Language teaching research 4(3), 193-220.
21. Fagan, E. R., Hassler, D. M., & Szabo, M. (1981). Evaluation of questioning strategies in language arts instruction. Research in the Teaching of English, 15, 267-273.
22. Fowler, T. W. (1975). An investigation of the teacher behavior of wait-time during an inquiry science lesson. ERIC, ED 108 872.
23. Gooding, T., Swift, P. R., & Swift, J. N. (1983). An analysis of classroom discussion based on teacher success in observing wait time. ERIC. ED 242 682.
24. Gooding, T., Swift, J.N., & Swift, P. R. (1985) Supportive Intervention a Vehicle for Faculty Development. ERIC, ED 255 518.
25. Hall, J. K. (1998). Differential teacher attention to student utterances: the construction of different opportunities for learning in the IRF. Linguistics and Education, 9(3): 287–311.
26. Honea, M. J. (1982). Wait time as an instructional variable: An influence on teacher and student. Clearinghouse 56(4), 167-70.
27. Hutchby, I. & Wooffitt, R. (1998). Conversation analysis: Principles, practices and applications. Oxford: Polity Press.
28. Kasper, G. (2006). Beyond repair: Conversation analysis as an approach to SLA. AILA Review, 19(1), 83-99.
29. Knickerbocker, M. E. (1984). The effects of wait time on the verbal behavior of kindergarten children: A replication. In K. Tobin (1987) The role of wait time in higher cognitive level learning. Review of Educational Research 57(1): 69-95.
30. Lake, J. H. (1973). The influence of wait-time on the verbal dimensions of student inquiry behavior. In K. Tobin, and W. Capie (1983) The influence of wait‐time on classroom learning. European Journal of Science Education, 5(1): 35-48.
31. Lantolf, J. & Thorne, S. L. (2007). Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning. In. B. van Patten and J. Williams (eds.), Theories in Second Language Acquisition (pp. 201-224). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
32. Mark, B. (2011). An exploration of speaking-in-class anxiety with Chinese ESL leaners. ELSEVIER, 39(2): 202-14.
33. Maroni, B. (2011). Pauses, gaps and wait time in classroom interaction in primary schools. Journal of Pragmatics. 43(7), 2081-2093.
34. Mercer, N. (1992). Talk for teaching and learning. In, K. Norman (ed.) Thinking voices: The work of the National Oracy Project. (pp. 215-23). London: Hodder and Stoughton for the National Curriculum Council.
35. Nasaaji, H. & Wells, G. (2000). What’s the use of triadic dialogue? An investigation of teacher-student interaction. Applied Linguistics, 21: 373-406.
36. Nunan, D. (1991). Language teaching methodology. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice-Hall.
37. Nystrand, M. (1997). Dialogic instruction: When recitation become conversation. In M. Nystrand, A. Gamoran, R. Kachur and C. Prendergast (eds), Opening Dialogue: Understanding the Dynamics of Language Learning and Teaching in the English Classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.
38. Rice, D. R. (1977). The effect of question-asking instruction on preservice elementary science teachers. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 14(4): 353-359.
39. Rowe, M. B. (1974a). Wait time and reward: as instructional variables, their influence on language, logic and fate control: Part one-wait time. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 11(2), 81-94.
40. Rowe, M. B. (1974b). Reflections on wait-time: Some methodological questions. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 11, 263-79.
41. Rowe, M. B. (1978) Teaching science as continuous inquiry: A basic. New York: McGraw-Hill.
42. Rowe, M. B. (1986). Wait time: Slowing down may be a way of speeding up! Journal of Teacher Education, 37(1), 43-50.
43. Seedhouse, P. (2004). The interactional architecture of the language classroom: A conversational analysis perspective. Oxford: Blackwell.
44. Sidnell, J. (2010). Conversation Analysis: An Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell.
45. Skehan, P. (1989). Individual differences in second-language learning. London: Arnold.
46. Stahl, R. J. (1994). Using ''think-time'' and ''wait-time'' skillfully in the classroom. ERIC, ED 370 885.
47. Swain, M. (1995). Three functions of output in second language learning. In G. Cook and B. Seidelhofer (eds) Principle and practice in Applied Linguistics: studies in honour of H. G. Widdowson. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
48. Swift, J. N., & Gooding, T. (1983). Interaction of wait time feedback and questioning instruction on middle school science teaching. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 20(8), 721-730.
49. Ten Have, P. (2007). Doing conversational analysis: A practical guide. London: Sage.
50. Tobin, K. G. (1980). The effect of an extended teacher wait-time on science achievement. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 17: 469-75.
51. Tobin, K. (1983). Management of time in classrooms. In B. J. Fraser (ed.), Classroom management (pp. 22-35). Perth, Australia: WAIT Press.
52. Tobin, K. (1986). Effects of teacher wait time on discourse characteristics in mathematics and language arts classes. American Educational Research Journal, 23(2), 191-200.
53. Tobin, K. & Capie, W. (1983). The influence of wait‐time on classroom learning. European Journal of Science Education, 5(1):35-48.
54. Tsui, A. B. M. (1996). Reticence and anxiety in second language learning. In K. M. Bailey and D. Nunan (eds.) Voices from the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
55. Van Lier, L. (1988). The classroom and the language learner. Longman: Harlow.
56. Van Lier, L. (2000). From input to affordance: social- interactive learning from an ecological perspective. In J.P. Lantolf (ed.) Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
57. Vygotsky, L. (1980). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
58. Walsh, S. (2002). Construction or obstruction: teacher talk and learner involvement in the EFL classroom. Language Teaching Research 6, 3-23.
59. Walsh, S. (2006). Investigating classroom discourse. London: Routledge.
60. Walsh, S. (2011). Exploring classroom discourse: Language in action. Oxen: Routledge.
61. Walsh, S. & Li, L. (2013). Conversations as space for learning. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 23(2), 247-66.
62. Waring, H. Z. (2009). Moving out of IRF (Initiation-Response-Feedback): A single case analysis. Language Learning, 5 (4), 796-824.
63. Wells, G. (1999). Dialogic inquiry: toward a sociocultural practice and theory of education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
64. White, J., & Lightbown, P. M. (1984). Asking and answering in EFL classes. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 40(2), 228-44.
65. Winterton, W. W. (1977). The effect of extended wait-time on selected verbal response characteristics on some Pueblo Indian children. In K. Tobin (1987) The role of wait time in higher cognitive level learning. Review of Educational Research 57(1), 69-95.
66. Wood, D. (1992). Teaching talk. In, K. Norman (ed.) Thinking voices: The work of the National Oracy Project (pp. 203-14). London: Hodder and Stoughton for the National Curriculum Council.
67. Yaqubi, B., & Rokni, M. P. (2012). Teachers’ Limited Wait-Time Practice and Learners’ Participation opportunities in EFL Classroom Interaction. Journal of English Language Teaching and Learning, 10, 127-61.
68. Zarrinabadi, N. (2014). Communicating in a second language: Investigating the effect of teacher on learners’ willingness to communicate. ELSEVIER, 42, 288-95.