Reducing student reticence through teacher interaction strategy

Reticence is a common problem faced by ESL/EFL teachers in classrooms, especially in those with mainly Asian students. The willingness to communicate model of MacIntyre, Clement, Dörnyei, and Noels (1998. ‘Conceptualizing willingness to communicate in a L2: a situational model of L2 confidence and affiliation’. The Modern Language Journal 82/4: 545–62.) postulates that willingness to speak is determined not only by learners themselves but also by the situation they are in, suggesting that situational variables such as topic and participants should be included in the investigation. This paper aims to examine whether teacher interaction strategy could be one of the factors triggering student reticence in classrooms. A group of Form 1 (Grade 7) Hong Kong Chinese students were given two lessons characterized by different interaction patterns. The two lessons were videotaped for analysis. The results show that teacher strategy is a major determinant of student reticence in classrooms, but it is not the sole factor. Pedagogical factors such as lesson objectives and task type were also found to influence a teacher’s classroom-based interaction strategy decision making.