Turn Taking in Group Discussion: the Involvement of the Teacher, Group Leaders and Group Members

It has always been argued that students must be involved in using the language as much as possible. But it appears that less emphasis has been given to ¿Turn Taking¿ in an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) class rooms, especially in group discussion. This study was carried out to describe the nature of turn taking patterns among Grade 12 students of Cruise Private School in their group discussions to see the level of students participation and to explore the involvement of the teacher and group leaders in giving and taking turns. For the study, 18 students of grade 12 students of one section were selected. The students were grouped in to three with six members in each. The data was gathered by video recording the discussions and was analyzed using Allwright¿s (1980) model. With this in mind, this book is hoped to be significant for the teacher since it shows to what extent class room organization and teacher¿s style of teaching relates to turn taking. It can also be useful to text book developers and writers the kind of topics they should select for group discussion. It may also be useful for any one else who is interested in class room interaction.