ENGAGING MIND: THE ART OF TEACHER TALK IN EFL
CLASSROOM
* Aidah Rohmawati
English Education Department, UIN Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin Banten
[Link]@[Link]
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to identify
best practices in teacher conversations that can
encourage student engagement, create an
interactive learning environment, and improve
the effectiveness of English language learning.
This research took place in one of the elementary
schools and took the participants of several
English teachers. This study uses a qualitative
approach, focusing on the art of teacher
conversation in the context of EFL learning, by
highlighting the strategies teachers use to
increase student engagement through teacher
talk, understanding how teacher talk facilitates
language understanding and acquisition in the
EFL environment, and analyzing patterns of
interaction between teachers and students and
their impact on classroom dynamics. The result of
this study is the discovery of four categories of
teacher speech based on (1) modification of
speech to facilitate students, (2) the role of
teachers as facilitators, (3) responses to students,
and (4) their attitudes in class. The findings show
that effective teacher talk is not always "minimal"
teacher talk; the other fact, effective teacher talk
encourages learning and communicative
interaction.
Keywords: Art of Teacher, Teacher Talk, English
Teacher, EFL Classroom
INTRODUCTION
In learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL),
communication between teachers and students plays an
important role in shaping an effective learning experience.
One of the essential elements of communication is teacher
talk or the way teachers speak in class. Teacher talks not
only includes the delivery of information, but also involves
strategies to motivate, engage, and facilitate students'
understanding of the material being taught. The quality of
teacher talk is very decisive for learning success, especially
in the context of EFL, where the language used by teachers
is the main model for students. The proper use of language,
including word choice, intonation, as well as questions that
encourage engagement, can help students improve their
language skills while maintaining interest in the lesson.
According to (Hedge, 2003; Siregar & Lismay, 2023) there
are many factors that affect the success of teaching and
learning process such as teacher, curriculum, syllabus,
materials, methods, media, evaluation, students and
interaction. All of the factors have their own portion, but
among them, it is the teacher who has the biggest portion in
affecting the success of teaching learning process. In
teaching learning process, a teacher takes very important
roles. Teachers and students constantly interact to foster
social connections and mutual understanding. Their
communication styles vary, reflecting their unique goals and
intentions. Classroom interactions, in particular, play a
crucial role in the teaching and learning process. These
exchanges involve two or more individuals sharing and
responding to ideas, feelings, and opinions. According to (L.
Anisah et al., 2023; N. Anisah et al., 2019; Diksani et al.,
2021)given the significance of the teacher in the teaching
and learning process, effective classroom communication
between the instructor and students is essential. A teacher
who presents the subject or even simplifies it fosters
effective communication.
According to(L. Anisah et al., 2023; Hymes, 2021)to list the
eight speech functions that educators need to comprehend in
order to make their conversations more significant in
conversational situations. They are as follows: metalinguistic
(code), contextual (setting), poetic (message form), directive
(addressee), contact or phatic (channel), expressive
(addressor), referential (subject), and metacommunicative
(event). According to (Jing & Jing, 2018; Nunan, n.d.) defined
teacher's talk as the language teachers use to plan lessons
and instruct language learners. Classroom practice can make
language dynamic even when it is set and steady in the
curriculum and textbook(Al-Awidi, H; Aldhafeeri, 2017). The
language employed in the classroom is a continuous process
of interactive adjustment between students and their
teachers, as well as between students and textbooks.
The language that teachers use or speak in class matters a
lot. Instructors can effectively guide students to develop their
abilities in the goal states (Mustofa et al., 2016)of learning
during the teaching and learning process in the classroom,
the teachers speak includes the linguistic order, the
explanation, and the discussion. The effectiveness of the
teaching and learning process is influenced by the language
that the teacher uses. According to (Kogut, n.d.), an excellent
teacher's speech reflects and fosters learning more
successfully. According to their definition, an effective
teacher talk should meet six requirements, which include
goal-setting, eliciting prior experience, encouraging
collaboration, encouraging independent learning, and
fostering creativity and problem-solving(Jing & Jing, 2018;
Yuli, 2021)
There are several researchers who have investigate of
teacher talks. The first from (N. Anisah et al., 2019) this
study is to analyze the type of teachers‟ questioning
strategies to scaffold students‟ learning in reading, to
analyze the students‟ responses to answer the teachers‟
questions, to analyze teachers‟ questioning strategies in
order to explain how the questions scaffold students‟
learning in reading. The study shows that the teachers used
all variant of key tactic questions. The most frequent
strategy is listening to replies and responding tactic. In the
term of students‟ responses, the mostly response is active
response in pure English. In the case of teachers‟
questioning strategies to scaffold students‟ learning reading,
structuring, pitching and putting clearly, and directing and
distributing tactic frequently perfome in before reading
activities.
The second from (Sistyawan et al., 2022) in the learning
process, the teacher talk is critical because it can help the
success of the learning process, especially in mastering
English as a foreign language (EFL) at various levels of
education. EFL learners need to adapt when they enter the
classroom. This narrative review aims to determine the form
of teacher talk and its importance to EFL learners at different
educational levels. The results of this study were the
discovery of four categories of teacher talk forms based on
(1) speech modification to facilitate learners, (2) the
teacher's role as a facilitator, (3) responses to learners, and
(4) their attitude in the classroom.
Next from (Pratiwi, 2018) this study presented the concept of
teacher talk at classroom interaction, monolingual and
bilingual approach in EFL classroom and some previous
research findings: the rationales for supporting bilingual
approach, which were gained from some articles. This
literature study suggests that teachers have to control the
quantity and quality of their talk to gain an effective teaching
and learning process in the EFL classroom. It is more
advantageous to reduce Teacher Talk Time and increase
Student Talk Time based on the students’ need because too
much teacher talk will have an impact on decreased student
learning motivation.
This study focuses on the art of teacher communication in
the context of EFL learning, by highlighting the strategies
that teachers use to engage students. Therefore, this
research intends to fill the gap with investigate the
techniques used by EFL teachers to enhance student
engagement through teacher talk, understand how teacher
talk facilitates comprehension and language acquisition in
EFL settings and analyse the interactional patterns between
teachers and students, the impact on classroom dynamics
and find best practices in teacher talk that can encourage
student engagement, create an interactive learning
environment, and improve the effectiveness of English
language learning.
METHOD
This study uses a qualitative method of case studies to intensively explore
the teacher's speaking practice in one or several classes of English as a
Foreign Language. The case study approach allows researchers to delve
deeply into complex phenomena and gain a rich understanding of the
specific context of language learning. According to (Creswell & Creswell,
2018) identifies several key features of qualitative research: (1)
conducted in a natural environment, (2) the researcher serves as the
primary instrument for data collection, (3) uses a variety of data sources,
(4) involves inductive and deductive data analysis, and (5) emphasizes
understanding the meaning that participants associate with the problem or
issue, rather than the researcher's or literature-based interpretation. In
addition, (6) qualitative research has an emerging design, which means
that the research plan cannot be rigidly defined beforehand, and (7)
provides a holistic picture, which aims to create a comprehensive and
detailed understanding of the issue being studied.
This research will be carried out in one of the private schools in Serang
City. The author chose this school because this school once made its
school one of the schools that has bilingual classes. Where children learn
to use the introduction to English. That is what caused me to choose this
school because of the aspect of education and teachers in it. This research
focused on several English teachers who worked in an Islamic elementary
school environment. The instruments of this research are audio
recordings, interview guidelines, and teaching materials. There are three
steps in analyzing the data. Based on the needs of the research, the
researcher uses investigative triangulation to minimize the subjectivity of
interpretation.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The first question relates to the interactive features of
teacher speech found in some teachers who were
investigated during the learning process. The teacher offered
a complimentary question period in the questioning stage to
encourage students to ask. Students have a designated time
slot allocated by the teacher for free questioning
(Dusengimana, 2023; Watts et al., 1997). Furthermore,
before the teacher gives the main activity of teaching about
"Animals", time to ask questions is given to students to be
able to mention animals in English that they know. After this,
students are asked to name their favorite animal and provide
a description of the animal.
Data 1
Guru : What do you think about animals?
Student A : The one in the zoo miss
Student B : Cat miss
Teacher :Animals are living things. Like plants, animals
need food and water to live. An example of this
is . . .
Student C : Butterfly miss
Student D : Dog, rabbit and fish
From the results of the observations above, many students
are enthusiastic about answering and asking questions about
animals. In this activity, the amount of students' knowledge about
animal names increases. The target language is actively used
by students in this activity and class interaction appears.
The teacher's remarks performed the conversational
interaction feature. This section reveals the activities
performed by the teacher that are being investigated on first-
grade students and focuses on which speech contains the
interactive features of the teacher's speech. According to
(Marshall & Horton, 2011; Walsh, 2006)in two class
observations, researchers collected data. Researchers join
the classroom and sit at the back of the classroom to observe
the teaching and learning process with two different English
teachers being investigated.
Next, the teacher was indicated developing a receptive
classroom atmosphere to support the students to ask
productive questions in their class. Developing a receptive
classroom atmosphere is a way of stimulating student
questioning(Biddulph et al., 1986). This way refers to
establishing an accepting questioning climate that is
employed by teacher. Particularly, teacher need to receive
the students‟ questions enthusiastically in an unthreatening
manner.
Data 2
Teacher : You can pay attention to the TV screen in front.
What kind of animals do you think?
After the learning video is played, students can restate what
is meant by "animals" and "various animals" that are around.
Students and students: animals are animals that we should
care about
Student A : My pet is a cat
Student B : Kalau hewan kesukaanku adalah cat miss
Teacher : Okay, repeat after miss. My favorite animal
is . . . .
Student C : Horse
Teacher : That’s right!, now you can look this flashcard.
What is this?
Students D : This is a buffalo
Teacher : You are doing great!
From the results of the observation above, the media is very
influential in focusing students in the learning process and
adding new vocabulary. Students can also see a wide variety
of animals like the real thing.
The first and second data the researcher can get the
information not all interactive features of the teacher's
conversation were found in the two teachers observed. There
are only several features found from the two teachers that
are being investigated. The features found are scaffolding,
direct repairs, reference questions, seeking clarification,
confirmation checks, teacher echoes, extended teacher
turnovers, turn completion, and display questions. Content
feedback, extended wait times, extended student turnovers,
teacher interruptions, and form-focused feedback are
features that were not found in the two teachers being
investigated.
Furthermore, there are several teachers who have special
techniques used to attract and retain students' attention. The
first is using language and games in their lectures to make
lessons even more enjoyable. For example, a teacher uses
the game "Simon Says" to teach action verbs, engaging
students through movement and repetition. The signs and
visual demonstrations also to supplement verbal instruction,
teachers use images, flashcards, and gestures to clarify
meanings. For example, when teaching the word "horse" the
teacher holds up a picture and repeats the word several
times in a cheerful tone.
The second is encouragement and praise, teachers often use
praise to build confidence, saying phrases like "Good job!" or
"Right!" even when students make partial efforts. This
encourages shy students to participate.
On the other hand, teachers are also as a tool for
understanding that acquires languages with highlight ways to
support understanding on the basics such as repetition and
classroom exercises. For example, during a vocabulary
lesson about color, the teacher says, "cat. Cat”
Then using storytelling as an interactive technique, weaving
simple narratives with movement and modulation of voice.
For example, during a lesson about animals, a teacher tells a
short story about a lion and a rabbit, using dramatic voice
changes to keep students engaged.
In Interaction patterns and Classroom Dynamics The
interaction patterns observed in the basic classroom reveal
several important dynamics, such as:
1. Call and Response Patterns: Teachers often use call
and response styles to engage students. For example,
the teacher will ask, "What is this?" while holding a
flashcard, and students will answer in choir.
2. Turn-Taking Practice: Teachers call individual students
by name to answer questions, ensuring the
participation of more reserved learners. It also allows
teachers to assess individual understanding.
3. Group Activities: Interactions often shift to couples or
small groups for simple conversational activities such
as greetings or role-playing (e.g., practicing the
dialogue "What is this?"). This activity increases
interaction between students.
4. Behavior Management Through Teacher Talk: The
teacher uses verbal cues to maintain order and refocus
attention. Phrases like "Let's pay attention" and "Let's
listen quietly" are effective in directing the class.
According to (Fredricks et al., 2016) the nature of interaction
shows that teachers have a role in shaping student
engagement. Furthermore, high-quality teaching is assumed
to improve educational outcomes in part because of how it
influences students to engage in ways that support their
learning. In this way, student engagement identifies the
features of educational settings that shape student
performance during the teaching and learning process. One
of the observable components of student engagement is
behavioral engagement. Thus, the data collected tends to
reflect actual behavior patterns during the teaching and
learning process in the classroom.
Based on the discussion above, teacher talk in learning has a
vital role because it can create interaction between teachers
and students in the classroom. Effective two-way
communication in the learning process will be able to make it
easier to achieve the initial learning objectives. The use of
mother tongue is also still the language of instruction in the
English learning process in the classroom
CONCLUSION
Teacher talks in the EFL classroom are basic that serve as a
foundation to create an environment that is engaging and
nurturing, facilitating and can also foster more meaningful
interactions. Teacher techniques in the way of cheerfulness,
praise and using visuals and gestures are very important to
maintain students' attention in the classroom. Not only that,
the pronunciation is repeated and simplified. The
implications of teaching to encourage professional
development are also for teachers to be able to perfect
various techniques facing students in the classroom so that
they can combine according to their activities. It also ensures
that the teacher's conversations are structured and also
provides students with the opportunity to practice the
language effectively.
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