HOW MIGHT I BECOME INTERESTED IN INVESTIGATING MY OWN CLASSROOM?

Teachers want to know about their classrooms on several levels. At the most practical level, you are interested in everyday matters, such as whether the learners work better seated around tables in small groups or as a whole class led by the teacher. At a more theoretical level, you might wonder what second language acquisition research has to say about whether increasing interaction in the target language by using small groups promotes learning, or what classroom research says about patterns of interaction and roles adopted by learners in small-group settings.

HOW MIGHT I MAKE THESE LINKS BETWEEN PRACTICE AND THEORY?

At the daily practical level, you might notice that some of your learners adopt ‘teacher-like’ roles when grouped with others, and some rarely speak at all in groups, but follow the lead of the others. Does this matter? you wonder. Some activities seem to get students talking, while others do not. What are their characteristics? If you believe mixed-language groupings produce the most amount of negotiation, does it matter what the composition of these groups is? After some time, you may want to find out whether there are any other teachers who have noticed similar patterns, successes, or problems in the way learners are grouped. At this point, you may have a casual chat about it in the staff room and ideas shared might get put into practice.