The teacher asked her students to give responses on a voluntary basis (by
raising their hands) 41 times (C1 in Figure 4). This technique is known as
‘calling’. She did not force her students to give an answer if they did not want
to. The students in this classroom enthusiastically raised their hands to give
answers to their teacher’s questions. The researcher also noted that both
well-performing and poorly-performing students actively raised their hands
to give ideas. Notably, they were given time (‘wait time’) to think over the
questions so that they would be able to come up with answers.
Another notable feature of the teacher’s method was that she made sure the
students understood the introduced concepts before moving on to a new
assignment or task. This is called ‘consolidating’ (CON). The teacher asked a
question to confirm that her students understood the introduced concepts
(CON0 in Figure 4) 10 times and she repeated the concepts (CON1 in Figure
4) seven times during the class. The students mostly answered that they had
understood the concepts.
The teacher recognized all the students’ answers or ideas regardless of
whether they were right or wrong. This is called ‘recognizing’ and occurred
50 times (R in Figure 4). She accepted the students’ ideas without making
an immediate judgment, so as to show respect for the students, which is a
technique that, in return, creates respect for the teacher.
The teacher also encouraged the students to comment on their peers’ ideas
or answers. This kind of ‘promoting’ (P1 in Figure 4) occurred 10 times. The
teacher also used another kind of ‘promoting’ technique by tactfully asking
other students to correct their peer’s answers (P2) but without making the
students who had answered wrongly ‘lose face’. As a result, those who made
mistakes continued to respond actively to their teacher’s questions.
Below is a transcript of the interaction between the teacher and some
students (between 08.19 and 08.38 minutes of the lesson).
Huyen: The antonym of ‘bravery’ is ’shyness’.
Teacher: Thank you, Huyen! (pause for two seconds) Is there anyone who
has a different response? (pause) Thien, please. (the teacher called on Thien
who had raised his hand).
Thien: Dear teacher, the antonym of ‘bravery’ is ‘cowardliness’.
Teacher: Uh, cowardliness, thanks Thien (pause for two seconds). Do you
agree with Thien’s response?