In this chapter, the results after analyzing the gathered data including classroom recordings, interviews with the teacher and the questionnaire from the students for the current study are presented. The findings, shown in qualitative and quantitative ways, concern the categories, including functions and forms, of follow-ups used by the teacher, the students‟ preferences for teacher follow-ups, and whether the teacher used follow-ups to promote more students talk.
The first research question is to investigate how the teacher used teacher follow-ups by examining their functions and forms. The functions of teacher follow-ups show the teacher‟s use of follow-ups to achieve the pedagogical goals.
The forms of teacher follow-ups mean the ways the teacher used to achieve the functions of teacher follow-ups. Based on the classroom recordings and analysis of the transcriptions, six functions and sixteen forms of teacher follow-ups are found.
In this section, the functions of teacher follow-ups are illustrated first. Then, the forms of teacher follow-ups are discussed later respectively.
The Functions of Teacher Follow-ups
In this study, the researcher found that the teacher displayed teacher follow-ups
to achieve six functions. They are acceptance, response elicitation, rejection, asking for clarification, modeling language, and building-up discourse. The frequency and ranking for each function of teacher follow-ups are shown in Table 2.
Table 2
Frequency of Teacher Follow-ups Functions
Functions Frequency Percentage (%) Ranking
Acceptance 243 52.0 1
Response elicitation 76 16.3 2
Rejection 61 13.1 3
Asking for clarification 42 9.0 4
Modeling language 30 6.4 5
Building-up discourse 15 3.2 6
Total 467 100.0
As Table 2 shows, the most frequently used function of teacher follow-ups by the teacher was acceptance (52%). The result indicates that more than half of the teacher‟s follow-ups in the study were made for the function of accepting the
students‟ responses. This finding was consistent with previous research in Chang‟s (2004), Hsieh‟s (2008), Verplaetse‟s (2002), and Yang‟s (2009) studies.
Response elicitation was the second most frequently used teacher follow-ups function, which amounts for 16.3% out of the total number of teacher follow-ups.
The results show that the teacher will give the students some time or assistance to help them give their answers without saying the answers directly which may decrease the students‟ learning chances. In addition, the students sometimes may have no response to the teacher‟s questions. Using response elicitation as teacher
follow-ups function can help the teacher maintain the classroom conversation.
As for rejection, it is the third most frequently used function of teacher follow-ups (13.1%). For the first and third most frequently used functions, acceptance and rejection stand for what Cullen (2002) called the evaluative role of teacher follow-ups. Besides, the total percentage of acceptance and rejection is more than half of all the functions of teacher follow-ups (65.1%). It is not
surprising, just as Mehan (1979) mentioned, that the third move of the IRF exchange is working as evaluation. Also, Edward and Mercer (1995) indicated that
evaluating students‟ answers is one of the functions of teacher follow-ups in order to let the students know whether their answers are right or wrong. However,
Thornbury (1996) suggested that the language classroom was not communicative if teachers frequently used the follow-ups function of evaluative.
The fourth most frequently used function of teacher follow-ups was asking for clarification. The teacher asked for clarification which accounted for 9.0% of the total number in the six functions of teacher follow-ups. Nassaji and Wells (2002) and Walsh (2002) indicated that, through asking for clarification, the teacher would provide more learning chances for students. Students can restate their answers to make themselves understood by others and practice their productive skills. Besides, learners can receive more comprehensible input through the process of asking for
clarification by teachers (Gass, 1997).
Following asking for clarification, modeling language was the fifth most frequently used function (6.4%). In modeling language, the teachers provided the correct and complete target language as a model for the students whose competence is not good enough. Since the language learning beginners should have models to learn the target language, teachers have to provide sufficient input for students.
However, the teacher did not model language as function of teacher follow-ups frequently. There were some possible reasons to explain the situation. First, the teacher always asked the display questions, so the students only had to provide short answers. Second, the teacher inquired the students for the questions they have learned before, so most of the students already knew the answers and could give the correct answers. Thus, it seems that the teacher did not have to use modeling language as teacher follow-ups very often.
Unlike the frequent use of building-up discourse in Chang‟s (2004) and Hsieh‟s (2008) studies, the least used function, building-up discourse, was only 3.2% in the present study. The possible reason may be that, in this study, the students‟ English proficiency are much lower than that in Chang‟s (2004), which was studied in junior high schools, and in Hsieh‟s (2008) studies, which was studied in the fifth grade students‟ classrooms. The low ratio of building-up discourse shows that the teacher
seldom used follow-ups as what Cullen (2002) called, the discoursal role. Most teachers seldom create genuine or natural communication in the language classrooms as long as the classroom interaction “remains at the instructional end”
(Kramsch, 1987, p.28). It could be hard for teachers to meet the communicative goal of the lesson. In the interviews, the teacher mentioned that she tried to make more conversation with the students. However, the time limitation, the content of textbook, and the students‟ proficiency made it hard to let the classroom become more communicative.
Actually, it is found that the teacher sometimes combined two more functions in one follow-ups move. Extract 1 exemplifies the teacher used two functions, rejection and modeling language as follow-ups in one turn. In Extract 1, the teacher asked the student, Brian, to answer the question, “can you sing.” The student responded “no, I can‟t”, but with unclear pronunciation. The teacher rejected his answer first, and then modeled the correct pronunciation to the whole class.
Extract 1.
T: 還記得嗎? {Do you remember?}((writing “can” and “can‟t” on the board)) Can and can‟t. ((taking out the word card-sing)) Can you sing, Brian?
S: No, I can‟t. ((wrong pronunciation))
→ T: Can‟t 要說重一點，不然會和 I can 很像。{You should stress the word can‟t. Otherwise, the pronunciation was sounded like “I can.”} I can‟t. I can‟t. I can‟t. 來，everyone。
Viewing the functions of teacher follow-ups, we can only know the broad categories of teacher follow-ups. Investigating the forms of teacher follow-ups can help us get a better understanding on the actual use of teacher follow-ups. In the following section, each form of teacher follow-ups functions will be discussed respectively.
The Forms of Teacher Follow-ups
In this study, the teacher displayed her follow-ups through six functions by adopting fifteen forms. The sixteen forms were repetition (including exact
repetition, repetition of the question, and repetition of a response), affirmation, praise, elaboration, translation, demand, rebuke, check, completion, giving clues,
encouragement, correction, denial, demonstration, reformulation, and comment. In the following section, the sixteen forms, in the sequence from the most frequently used to the least, were presented with examples.
Forms of Acceptance
Table 3
Frequency of the Forms of Acceptance
Forms Frequency Percentage (%) Ranking
Affirmation 123 50.61 1
Exact repetition 63 25.93 2
Praise 46 18.93 3
Translation 11 4.53 4
Total 243 100.00
The most frequently used function by the teacher was acceptance. The teacher
used four ways to show her acceptance of the students‟ responses. The four ways were affirmation (50.61%), exact repetition (25.93%), praise (18.93%), and
translation (4.53%) and the frequencies are shown in Table 3.
Affirmation was the most frequently used form by the teacher. Affirmation means that the teacher used closed classes (e.g. „yes,‟ „ok‟) to show her agreement with the students‟ correct or appropriate answers. Extract 2 illustrates that the teacher accepted the student‟s correct response explicitly by saying “yep.”
Extract 2.
T: ((writing the Unit title: Dragon Boat Festival on the board)) Dragon Boat Festival. What is that? 什麼是 Dragon Boat Festival? {What is Dragon Boat Festival?}
S: 端午節 {Duan Wu Jie. }
→ T: Yep. 沒錯喔。{That‟s right.} 今年什麼時候是端午節阿? {When is the Dragon Boat Festival this year?} School day or no school day? Do you know? Let me see. ((looking at the schedule book)) Oh, it‟s on June 23rd. ((writing June 23rd on the board)) June 是幾月? {Which month is June?}
(Extracted from Recording 17, 06/19/2012) In Extract 2, the teacher asked the whole class “what is Dragon Boat Festival.”
One of the students shouted and said “Duan Wu Jie” to answer the teacher‟s initial question. The teacher responded with a simple affirmative word “yep” to accept the student‟s right answers.
Sometimes, the teacher not only accepted the students‟ answers by saying a simple affirmative word but also extended the topic to teach the students new
information, as shown in Extract 3.
In Extract 3, the teacher asked students, “what kind of restaurant does this picture look like?” The students answered “Chi Dao Bao.” The teacher not only said “yes” but also extended the students‟ responses to help the students get a better understanding about buffet.
Extract 3.
T: Restaurant.
SS: Restaurant.
T: 這張圖看起來像是吃什麼的餐廳? {What kind of restaurant does this picture look like?}
SS: 吃到飽。{ Chi Dao Bao.}
→ T: 對。{Yes.}We say buffet. Buffet 的意思就是指自助式的有沒有。
{Buffet means self-service.} 你要吃什麼就是一直夾、一直夾，一直 吃。{You can take and eat what you want to eat again and again.} 如果 像是這樣的餐廳，就可以說 buffet restaurant. {This kind of restaurant calls buffet restaurant.} Buffet restaurant.
(Extracted from Recording 7, 05/04/2012) The second most frequently used form was exact repetition. It means that the teacher repeated to say what the students have said. Extract 4 exemplifies how the teacher acknowledged the student‟s answers by applying the form of exact repetition.
In Extract 4, the teacher explained the difference between “at the school” and “at school” to the students. Then, the teacher asked the students how to say “Tsai Chia Li.” The students answered “at home.” The teacher repeated the students answer
exactly “at home” to show her acceptance on the students‟ given answer.
Extract 4.
T: At the school or at school. At the school 和 at school 不一樣。{At the school and at school have different meanings.}有加 the， 意思代表怎麼 樣? {What does that mean if containing the word “the”?}我們人在學校 這個地點哦。{We are in the place of school.}可是如果 at school，就不 一樣，叫做上學中，代表你在這裡讀書。{ But if you say at school, it means that you study in the school.}在家裡呢? {How to say Tsai Chia Li?}What do you say?
Ss: At home.
→ T: At home. Ok. 在 SOGO 呢? {How about SOGO?}
(Extracted from Recording 2, 04/10/2012) The same result was found in Lyster and Ranta‟s (1997) study that teachers
frequently repeated students‟ well-formed responses as a method of giving feedback.
“Teachers do this consistently as to reinforce what students have said and to build
further on students‟ statements” (Lyster & Ranta, 1997, p. 57).
Praise was ranked as the third frequently used form. It was defined as the teacher‟s use of verbal approval on the students‟ answers. Extract 5 is an example of how the teacher gave her praise on the students‟ responses.
Extract 5.
T: ((pointing to the sentence on the poster)) Do you want some juice, Tina?
這是什麼意思? {What does this sentence mean?} ((drawing a lot)) Number twenty-seven.
S: 問 Tina 要不要一些果汁。{ Wen Tina Yao Bu Yao Yi Xie Guo Zhi.}
→ T: Very good.我們在問對方要不要一些果汁。{We are asking someone whether they wanted some juice.} ((pointing to the sentence on the poster)) Yes, please. 這又是什麼意思?{What does this sentence mean?}
((drawing a lot)) Number six.
In Extract 5, the teacher asked one of the students the meaning of the sentence
“Do you want some juice, Tina?” The student answered, “Wen Tina Yao Bu Yao Yi
Xie Guo Zhi.” The teacher praised the students by saying „very good‟ to show her
acceptance of the student‟s responses.
The result shows that the teacher did not use praises very often, and this is different from what the teacher perceived of her interaction with the students. In the second interview, the teacher mentioned that giving praise is essential if the students responded correctly.
When the students gave right answers, it is necessary to praise them, especially for those students with lower proficiency. I will use a more humorous way to give them praises. For example: Oh, you are different today.
(Extracted from the second interview, 6/27/2012) Brophy (1981) mentioned that praise seems to be positive reinforcement,
because it can build learners‟ self-esteem, provide encouragement, and create a better relationship between teachers and learners. Teachers are suggested to use more praises if their students gave correct responses.
The least used form of the function of acceptance was translation. Translation refers to the teacher translated the students‟ responses in L1 into English to show her acceptance. See Extract 6 for the example as the teacher‟s use of translation.
Extract 6.
T: Holiday 就包括所有的國定假日。{Holiday includes all of the public holiday.} What else? For that day, you don‟t go to school. Alicia.
S: 颱風天。{ Tai Feng Tian}
→ T: Yes. 颱風天. { Tai Feng Tian} Typhoon. ((writing “typhoon” on the board)) Do we have typhoon in Taiwan?
(Extracted from Recording 16, 06/05/2012) In Extract 6, before going through the textbook, the teacher introduced one vocabulary „holiday‟ to students and asked them which day was called holiday and they do not need to go to school. One of the students, Alicia, answered “Tai Feng Tian.” The teacher translated “Tai Feng” into English “typhoon” and extended the
topic by asking the students more about typhoons in Taiwan.
In this study, affirmation, exact repetition, praise and translation were the four ways the teacher used to show her agreement with the students‟ correct answers.
Actually, the teacher usually used more than two forms in one turn to achieve the teacher follow-ups function of acceptance. It could be a possible reason to explain its high frequency of using acceptance as teacher follow-ups.
Forms of Response Elicitation
Response elicitation ranked second out of all teacher follow-ups functions.
The teacher used five ways to elicit students‟ responses: demand, giving clues, repetition of the question, completion, and encouragement. The frequency of
most frequently used form of response elicitation was demand (36.8%), followed by giving clues (26.3%), and repetition of the question (18.4%). The least two were completion (10.5%) and encouragement (7.9%).
Table 4
Frequency of the Forms of Response Elicitation
Forms Frequency Percentage (%) Ranking
Demand 28 36.8 1
Demand was the most frequently used form to elicit the students‟ responses by the teacher. It was defined as teachers request students to respond in a loud voice or within a time limitation. Since the classroom was more teacher-centered, the teacher always demanded students to respond. Extract 7 is an example of how the teacher demanded the students to give responses.
Extract 7. answers.}Number five. Henry, stand up.
S2: ((speaking in a small voice)) Bread.
→ T: 再大聲一點。{Louder.}
S2: Bread.
(Extracted from Recording 5, 4/24/2012)
In Extract 7, the teacher asked students to say the vocabulary, in addition to salad, noodles and rice, they have learned last time. S1 couldn‟t answer the teacher‟s question. Then, the teacher asked S2 to respond. S2 said the correct answer “bread” with a small and low voice. The teacher demanded S2 to say the answer again. S2 said “bread” again in a more clear way.
The second most frequently used form of the response elicitation was giving clues. It means that the teacher provided the students hints to help them give answers. Extract 8 below is an example that the teacher provided hints to elicit the students‟ responses.
Extract 8.
T: ((showing Lady Gaga‟ s photo)) Who is she? Does anyone know her?
Ss: ((Silent))
→ T: 我給你一個提示哦。{I give you a hint.} She was just in Taiwan.
Ss: Lady Gaga.
T: Yes, Lady Gaga. ((sticking Lady Gaga‟s photo on the blackboard))
(Extracted from Recording 11, 5/22/2012)
In Extract 8, the teacher showed Lady Gaga‟s photo to the whole class and asked students to say the person‟s name. However, no one had the answer. Then,
the teacher provided one clue for the students. The students heard the clue and gave the correct answer to the teacher immediately.
As Sinclair and Brazil (1982) stated, when no one gave answers, three ways—
to elicit responses. Giving clues to students instead of saying out the answers directly by the teacher can not only increase students‟ learning opportunity but also promote students‟ learning motivation.
Extract 9 exemplifies the third frequently used form, repetition of a question, of the function of response elicitation by the teacher. Through repeating the same question, the teacher can get the students‟ attention and help them memorize the important information.
Extract 9.
T: 你在抄課文的時候，第一行要空幾格? {How many spaces should you
leave for the first line of the paragraph when you copied the text?}
SS: 五格。{Five spaces.}
→ T: 要空幾格?{How many spaces?}
SS: 五格。{Five spaces.}
T: 要空五格喔!記得，下次不要再寫錯了。{Backspace for five steps.
Remember, do not make the same mistake next time. }
(Extracted from Recording 1, 04/10/2012) In Extract 9, the teacher reminded the students that they had to leave some space in the first line of the paragraph by asking them how many spaces they should leave.
The students answered “five spaces” to answer the teacher‟s question. The teacher repeated her question “how many spaces” to ask the students to say the answer again.
The fourth frequently used form of response elicitation was completion. It was defined as teachers gave the first or two words of the answers to let students
Extract 10.
T: Look at this picture. Does she like noodles? Sally.
S: ((Silent))
→ T: No, she…
S: No, she doesn‟t.
(Extracted from Recording 6, 04/24/2012) In Extract 10, the teacher pointed out the character on the poster and asked one of the students to answer “Does she like noodles?” The student did not give the answer to the teacher. Few seconds later, the teacher started with the initial few words of the answer by saying “No, she…” in order to help the student say the answer out. Then, the student said “No, she doesn‟t” to complete the teacher‟s sentence which was the answer to the teacher‟s initial question.
Finally, the least frequently used form of response elicitation was
Finally, the least frequently used form of response elicitation was