What is IRF Pattern

This chapter highlights the importance of communication strategies to facilitate student's engagement and discusses certain situations where there are negative effects of teacher's elicitation on student's communicative ability. Being termed as retrospective discourse analysis, this chapter re-uses the ten-minute transcription extracted from a 40-minute class observation dated back in September 2011 in an EFL speaking class as a particular case to analyze discourse at the macro-level and micro-level analysis. While the macro-analysis identifies high-frequency word list and examines particular moves from teacher's elicitation and teacher's control in the classroom, the micro-analysis employs Gee (2014)'s tools of inquiry and validity components to analyze the classroom discourse. Findings from this chapter argue that teacher's elicitation plays a key role in managing classroom turn-taking and facilitating student's engagement. Furthermore, direct and short elicitation by the teacher tends to reduce student's engagement in speaking activities.