Includes bibliographical references (p. 224-239) and indexes.

"Focus on the Language Classroom is an introduction to classroom research for language teachers. This book makes accessible to teachers and teacher trainees a research area that has largely been the province of academicsL the systematic study of what really happens in language classrooms. Classroom research is an important area for all those involved in education because there is still so much that we do not understand about how classroom language lessons work.

In this book the authors define the aims and principles of classroom research, present some of the findings in key areas and guide the reader through the practicalities of setting up and carrying out investigative projects.

Focus on the Language Classroom:
describes classroom research
examines the principles behind conducting effective research
reviews research on error treatment, classroom interaction and receptivity
provides discussion and reading suggestions to follow up each chapter
includes ideas and guidance for minor and major research projects." (Book Cover)

CONTENTS

Part 1: Classroom research: what it is and why it is important

1. The development of classroom research
1.1. What is classroom research?
1.2. How is it done?
1.3. Where did classroom research come from?
1.4. How has it developed?
1.5. What has happened to the early concerns?
1.6. What has happened to the basic tools?

Mini-project: Sizing up the instruments

2. Why focus on the classroom?
2.1. The classroom is the crucible
2.2. The management of interaction in the classroom
2.3. The management of learning in the classroom

Mini-project: Planned aspects and co-produced outcomes

Part 2: Classroom research: principles and procedures

3. Getting started -- the question of approach
3.1. How do you decide what to investigate?
3.2. The problem of approach
3.3. Reliability, validity, and generalisability
3.4. Generalisability and the different approaches to classroom research

Mini-project: A data-driven analysis

4. Issues in data collection and analysis
4.1. Discourse analysis and transcription
4.2. Objectivity and subjectivity
4.3. Quantitative versus qualitative issues
4.4. Combined approaches to data collection and analysis
4.5. Dealing with teachers and learners
4.6. The role of learners in classroom research
4.7. Triangulation: the value of multiple perspectives
4.8. Getting baseline data

Mini-project: Analysing classroom discourse

Part 3: The treatment of oral errors in language classrooms

5. Oral errors: the general picture
5.1. Problems in defining 'error'
5.2. 'Errors' in first language acquisition
5.3. 'Errors' in native language conversations
5.4. Developmental stages in second language learning
5.5. Hypothesis testing and fossilization

Mini-project: Initiation and repair

Part 4: Input and interaction in language classrooms

7. Input and interaction in second language classrooms
7.1. Comprehensible input
7.2. Interaction
7.3. Turn distribution and turn taking
7.4. Some quantitative studies of classroom interaction

Mini-project: Using analytic categories

8. Wider perspectives on classroom interaction
8.1. Teacher talk
8.2. Learning strategies
8.3. Forced participation
8.4. Classrooms and group work

Mini-project: Analysing interaction in transcripts

Major-project: Recording classroom interaction

Part 5: Receptivity in language classrooms

9. Receptivity: the issues involved
9.1. Openness to what?
9.2. Receptivity to the teacher as a person
9.3. Receptivity to the fellow learners
9.4. Receptivity to the teacher's way of teaching
9.5. Receptivity to course content
9.6. Receptivity to teaching materials
9.7. Receptivity to being a successful language learner
9.8. Receptivity to the idea of communicating with others

Mini-project: types of receptivity

Major project: Autobiography of a language learner

10. Receptivity: some relevant research
10.1. Receptivity as attention
10.2. Anxiety in language learning
10.4. Competitiveness in classroom language learning
10.5. Self-esteem in language learning
10.6. Parent/child/adult roles in language classrooms
10.7. Motivation, reinforcement and receptivity

Mini-project: Attention

Major project: Diary study

Part 6: Epilogue

11. Towards exploratory teaching
11.1. The story so far
11.2. Helping teachers cope with immediate classroom problems
11.3. The concept of 'exploratory teaching'
11.4. The role of the professional researcher
11.5. The role of fellow teachers
11.6. The role of the learners
11.7. Making exploratory teaching a reality

Appendix A Interaction Analysis

Appendix B Foreign Language interaction analysis (FLint) system

Appendix C Foci for Observing Communications Used in Settings (FOCUS)

Appendix D The Embryonic Category System

Appendix E Summary of Sinclair and Coulthard's system of analysis

Appendix F COLT (Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching) category definitions

Appendix G Chaudron's Features and Types of Corrective Reactions in the Model of Discourse

Appendix H Transcription conventions for classroom discourse

Bibliography

Index