Fostering Speaking in the EFL Classroom. Teacher Talking Time vs. Student Talking Time

Examination Thesis from the year 2013 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Pedagogy, Literature Studies, grade: 7.0, Austral University of Chile (Institute of Linguistics and Literature, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences), course: English Language Teaching, language: English, abstract: The major aim of every English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction program should be that students are able to communicate fluently. In this sense, oral production and practice in the foreign language (L2) plays an essential role in the EFL classroom. However, most traditional classroom interaction patterns tend to follow paradigms in which the teacher is the center of attention, in charge of providing L2 input and grammar explanations, consequently leaving considerably little space for students to practice their English within the class session. Even though some traditional authors suggest that the role of Teacher Talking Time (TTT) is crucial -as it provides students with input- this research paper aims towards raising awareness that Student Talking Time (STT) plays an even greater role in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) than the one played by TTT. This paper analyzes the issue, explains the roles of STT and TTT, suggests ratios favoring a higher amount of STT over TTT, and also tries to contribute to the field by suggesting a simple and comprehensive proposal: a set of specialized activities aiming towards reducing TTT and fostering the amounts of STT that take place in the Chilean EFL classrooms. The conclusion is that since students are the ones whose oral practice opportunities are significantly limited, the time teachers speak in the EFL class should decrease in order to provide more time for students to participate orally in the foreign language. Keywords: Student Talking Time, Teacher Talking Time, English as a Foreign Language, Second Language Acquisition, Classroom Interaction