Yes, she is a thin girl

classroom was noisy, using Chinese to keep order was often found in her teaching.

The examples of using Chinese were shown in excerpt 3 and except 4.

Excerpt 2 [Data extracted from Helen’s class]

(Helen was guiding the students to practice sentence patterns by asking them to make a guess about who she thought of.)

Transcription Translation

Excerpt 3 [Data extracted from Helen’s class]

(Helen was explaining grammar to the class.)

Transcription Translation

T: Let me ask you one question. We learned one thing before. It looks similar to this one. It is called “its”. What’s the difference between them? One is…?

S1: Possessive Case.

T: Yes. Is the above one a possessive case or the below one?

Ss: The below one.

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T: The below one is a possessive case. For example, the koala’s tail is short. Its tail is short. OK? Any questions?

Excerpt 4 [Data extracted from Helen’s class]

(Helen was using Chinese to introduce the activities that they were going to do later.) reading. You need to tell me all the sentences in the reading. Let’s try if you can write down all of the sentences when you listen to the reading. How many rows do we have?

Ss: Six rows.

T: There are only eight sentences in the reading. The seventh sentence is too long, so I divide it into two parts. The first group is responsible for the first and the fourth sentences. The second group is for the second and the fifth sentences. Listen carefully, the second and the fifth sentences. The third group is for the third sentence and the sixth sentences. As for the seventh and the eighth sentences, they are for extra points. Any group members who get the right answer can get extra points. OK. Are you ready? Ready. Go.

Activity type

From the classroom observations, it is noted that the class size was thirty students. To teach large numbers of students at the same time, whole-class instructional methods were the most commonly used models in Helen’s teaching.

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It was found that Helen often led the whole class through a learning task. For example, she conducted a class discussion about the topic in the textbook, asked questions about it and elicited comments around the class.

To solve the problem of classes that are too large to offer many

opportunities to practice the language, Helen used the strategy of group work to give the students more opportunities to speak and promote classroom interaction.

Games, role play, and other activities were carried out through group work.

However, the classroom was physically overcrowded, with limited space for teacher movement and group discussion. It seemed that the students were simply put into groups and cooperated with one another in pursuit of higher grades. The function of group activity was limited. In addition, the activity of information gap was rarely found in Helen’s teaching.

Communicative Language Use

It was obvious to find that Helen tried hard to create an interactive language classroom for the students. For each lesson, it was found Helen would speak some English sentences as greetings to strike up a conversation with the students.

Sometimes, she would direct the students to the picture in the textbook and asked question to establish the context. The example was shown in excerpt 5. However, It was found that most of the interaction in Helen was mechanical like drill

practice. The students were trained to give rapid, automatic responses. Despite the fact that Helen gave her students a lot of opportunities to practice English, little of the language used in the classroom was genuinely communicative.

Excerpt 5 [Data extracted from Helen’s class]

(Helen was guiding the students to the content of the lesson. They were discussing

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the picture of Snow White on the board.)

Transcription Translation

Ss: They are seven dwarfs.

T: Ok. Who is beautiful?

S1: Seven dwarfs.

Ss: (Laugh.) S2: Snow White.

T: Yeah. Snow White is more beautiful. 好我 們先來比一下 Are her eyes big?

T: Really? Are they young?

Ss: They are old.

T:They are old 什麼東西?

Ss: Old dwarfs.

T: Look at the picture on the board. Let’s take a look first, and then we will make a guess later. Let’s look at the picture. Look at me. Please look at me. Don’t look at the textbook. Who is she?

Ss: She is Snow White.

T: Who are they?

Ss: They are seven dwarfs.

T: Ok. Who is beautiful?

S1: Seven dwarfs.

Ss: (Laugh.) S2: Snow White.

T: Yeah. Snow White is more beautiful.

OK. Let’s compare them. Are her eyes big?

Ss: Yes.

T: Really? Are they young?

Ss: They are old.

T: They are old…?

Ss: Old dwarfs.

The Purpose of Teachers’ Questioning

Questioning was the distinguishing feature in Helen’s teaching. Many of the questions found in Helen’s class were designed to engage the students in the content of the lesson, to facilitate their comprehension, and to promote classroom interaction. In excerpt 6, Helen was directing the students to the picture on the

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board and asked some questions to establish the context before the reading. After presenting the reading, Helen asked some questions to check their understanding about the reading passage as the example in excerpt 7.

Excerpt 6 [Data extracted from Helen’s class]

(Helen was directing the students to the picture on the board and asked questions to establish the context.)

Transcription Translation

Excerpt 7 [Data extracted from Helen’s class]

(Helen was calling on individual student and asked them questions about the reading passage she just presented.)

Transcription Translation T: Question number one, what’s the teacher’s

name? 剛剛有回答過的不要舉手喔!

T: Question number one, what’s the teacher’s name? Those who answered the questions don’t raise your hands.

S1: Her name is Lisa.

T: Good.

T: Is it an English class? Have you answered yet?

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Excerpt 8 [Data extracted from Helen’s class]

(Helen was leading the students to practice the sentences by asking them some questions.)

T: (Helen showed the student a strange face.) S1: Running.

T: 給這位同學鼓勵一下。接下去，第二題的 地方，What is Paul doing?

S2: He is roller-skating.

T: He is roller-skating. B 圖的地方，What is Paul doing?

T: (Helen showed the student a strange face.) S1: Running.

T: Let’s give him a big hand. Next, in question 2, what is Paul doing?

S2: He is roller-skating.

T: He is roller-skating. In picture B, what is Paul doing?

S3: He is dancing.

T: He is dancing. Next, the fourth picture, does anyone in this group want to answer the question? What are Mr. Li and his wife doing?

S4: They are running.