Reflections on the Formalism of Teacher—student Interaction in English Classes

李瑞甜

【Abstract】A new round of the basic education curriculum reform attaches great importance to the interaction between teachers and students in teaching subjects. However， in the existing classroom teaching， interaction between teachers and students tends to be flashy without substance， the interaction between teachers and students becomes formalism.

【Keywords】classroom teaching；interaction formalism；effective interaction

In many classes， teaching is often a one-side process. Positive interaction between students and teachers is precious. Although some teacher-student interaction exists， there is a problem of formalism.

Why does formalism exist in teacher-student interaction？ There are several reasons as follows：

1. Improper questions in the interaction make teaching decouple from learning and lead to the lack of the essence of interaction

Usually， the teacher devolves an issue to students， and then students raise questions. But this kind of interaction is often free to the text， and the students have no chapter to follow and they will be under an unconstrained style. Therefore， there would be no effective interactive， a class alike is of no life.

2. Formalism questions hold students thought and bring about inefficient interaction

I have attended many classes and found one thing in common. The teacher showed pictures of new words and used questions as a guide leading to new knowledge. But the questions were not prominent， and the form was single， thus there were few open questions and they lacked of effectiveness. Students were led by the teacher and gave the only answer， they did not have their own thinking space， and thus the class did not embody the principle of students being the main part.

3. The phenomenon of monopolization exists in teacher-student interaction

The monopolization in teacher-student interaction is mainly reflected in the interactive opportunities. For teachers subjective intention to ensure the victory of the classroom teaching， they tend to give different interactive opportunities according to different students. Generally speaking， teachers will interact with students who are brave and have good oral expression ability， therefore， in a class， some students may be asked a dozen times， while some students are left out in the cold， which shows an obvious monopoly.

So how should teachers establish effective interaction between teachers and students to promote a high quality class？endprint

（1）Set up questions with high quality

Questions must be helpful to the interaction between teachers and students. To design a question， a teacher ought to consider： I. Question should be targeted according to the teaching objectives， which has a certain direction. II. Questions should have hierarchy， so that student of different level will all have chance to answer， which is the true way to broaden their mentality and inspire their thinking.

（2）Teachers should be good at enlightening and guiding， promoting the effective interaction

Teachers should adhere to inspiration as the guiding ideology and be a good consultant. Encourage students to query， discuss and cooperate； arouse their desire to solve the problem in the cooperative learning ； stimulate them to explore； let them learn to raise questions from the exploration； leave them space to ponder so that they can really engage in activities of thinking， deepen their own understanding， therefore the effective interaction will be established.

（3）Develop democracy in the classroom

Teachers might as well learn tolerance， learn democracy， step down from the rostrum， come out from the adult culture， and sincerely step into students culture， listen to their voice， allow them to retain their original views， provide them with a discussion space. At the same time， teachers must treat all the students equally. The teacher can never treat part of students as the "noble” of teacher-student interaction or let other students become "slaves” of teacher-student interaction. A teacher should give equal treatment to students from the heart and try various means to mobilize the students to participate in teaching activities.

In short， driven by the new curriculum reform， teachers have to get out of that formalize classroom interaction and make the class truly lively. Only in this way， the interaction between teachers and students will not become a mere formality， and will really work in the classroom.endprint