Rosa Galindo

After reading Chapter 8 and watching the "Person to Person" video, I now have a better
understanding about the importance of interpersonal communication in the classroom. I always knew
that communication was an important factor in learning languages, but I didn't realize the variance of
communication goals. For instance, IRE, as mentioned in the video, allows students to speak, but it
doesn't give the students the opportunity to elaborate, or create conversations. Instead it is teacher
directed, and there is an expected outcome, or correct answer. IRF, on the other hand, is when students
are allowed to produce language with creativity and enjoy it. I believe that this is key in teaching a
language. When I think of what it is for me to be a Spanish teacher, I immediately think about the
outcome of student communication. Generally, students do not learn a language for the grammar,
syntax, or vocabulary lists; they sign up for a language class so they can have fun speaking the languagenot to regurgitate memorized phrases.
It is stressed in Chapter 8 the importance of interpersonal communication, and how to enhance
student interaction through various activities. In every activity mentioned, they all had this in common:
the teacher should give examples, always allow the students to communicate with each other so that
they could increase negotiation, and always have a follow-up so that they are held accountable. I
honestly think that it is the accountability at the end of the activity that gives meaning to the task. Too
many times have I observed in Spanish class the teacher ask the students to either pair up or get into
groups so they can practice dialogue, or create questions using certain phrases, and the students
participate in the activity with minimal effort, and then quickly revert to English to gossip about the
latest fashion or school drama. At the end of the allotted time, the teacher would ask how it went, and
after getting a collective "good", then they move on to another activity. I feel that the accountability in
these classes are lacking because the students aren't then asked to do anything, hence they do the
minimal effort. When I'm a teacher, I hope to remember to hold the students accountable by asking
them to create either a graphic chart, or write a reflection. This forces the students to follow through
with the activity by reflecting or recording their thoughts and questions about the activity versus
spending the least amount of time possible to get the activity done so they could use the time speaking
in English off-task.