A Descriptive Study of Teacher/Leaner Interactions at the MA Level of the Fields of Teaching English as a Foreign Language, General Linguistics, and Translation Studies

ABSTRACT: This study aimed at investigating the degree of teacher- vs. student- centered classroom interaction in the MA courses of three different fields of TEFL, General Linguistic, and Translation Studies at Islamic Azad University of Khorasgan, Isfahan. To achieve this aim, three different courses were randomly selected from each field and the second, the sixth, and the thirteen sessions, amounting to 270 minutes of class time, were observed and tape-recorded. The data were then analyzed based on Brownʹs Interaction Analysis System (BIAS) and subjected to a univariate analysis of variance, an analysis of variance, the Chi-square test, and also an independent-samples t-test to see if the obtained differences were meaningful. Post hoc Scheffe test was also conducted to illuminate the exact location of the differences. A researcher-made questionnaire was also distributed among the student participants to investigate their reactions to and their assessments of the related aspects of the study. The findings obtained in these two stages were then compared. The results indicated that although the investigated fields differed from each other in terms of learner/ teacher interactions, the differences, except in the case of Responding Behavior, were not statistically significant.