Teacher-student Interaction in an Efl Classroom

Abstract

This qualitative study investigates the teacher-student interaction employed in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom at an Islamic secondary school in Ponorogo, East Java. Utilizing the Classroom Assessment Scoring System-Secondary (CLASS-S) framework, the research examines three primary domains: emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support. Data were collected through classroom observations and video recordings. The findings of this study indicate that teacher-student interaction was active throughout the lesson, with a significant emphasis on content understanding and quality of feedback. Within the emotional support domain, four components were observed: the teacher fostered a positive climate, sensitivity, regarding for adolescent perspective and negative climate. In terms of classroom organization, two aspects were found: the teacher maximizes learning time through routines, though behavioral management strategies were not observed. Instructional support was primarily manifested through three dimensions: content understanding was the most prevalent, followed by quality of feedback, while analysis and problem solving were observed in prompts for higher-level thinking. The researcher concluded that emotional support was perceived from the adolescents’ perspective. Although both positive and negative classroom climates were observed, sensitivity was found to be limited. This suggests that, overall, the interaction can be considered generally positive. Instructional learning and productivity are found in classroom organization, while behavioral management is not. From instructional support, content understanding dominates, and the quality of feedback is also higher than analysis and problem solving.