A Study of Student-Lecturer Interaction in Communication and Study Skills Classes at the University of Botswana

This thesis examines classroom talk amongst students and lecturers at the University of Botswana (UB). It aims to find out whether or not classroom interaction can help to develop students’ oral skills in Communication and Study Skills (CSS) classes at UB. The mixed methods approach was used and three research instruments were explained as follows; twenty-seven classroom observations and systematic observations were used amongst nine lecturers who offered CSS to first year students. In addition, there were two phases of lecturer interviews and one phase of students’ interviews. All three research instruments were used to analyse the classroom discourse quantitatively and qualitatively.

Using the Initiation, Response, Feedback (IRF) analytical tool and the Sociocultural Theory (SCT), it was found out that generally, a combination of the lecturers’ initiation and their feedback of the interaction were high as illustrated by 62%, indicating that the lecturers dominated classroom talk. Nine (9) CSS lesson extracts were used to analyse the classroom discourse qualitatively. From the nine lecturers observed, nine lesson extracts were analysed using one of the teaching transactions. The findings revealed that the lecturers teaching style contributed to the quality of classroom interaction. Secondly, the length of the teaching strands indicated the quality of classroom talk. All students and lecturers’ interviewed had mixed views about the quality of classroom interaction. They all felt that there was need for effective spoken interaction and that students were passive during classroom interaction.

The findings from this thesis act as an eye-opener regarding how interaction takes place in the CSS classrooms. Furthermore, since this is a pioneering study on classroom interaction at UB, it will act as a referral point for future studies within the institution and other institutions of higher learning in Botswana.