Monolingual Teachers with Monolingual and Bilingual Pupils: an Interaction Analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there was a significant difference in the verbal interactions of the monolingual teacher with monolingual and bilingual students in the classroom. Five monolingual teachers from a mid-size urban school were selected to participate in the study. Each teacher was observed on six different occasions and their verbal interactions for a ten-minute period of time during each session was recorded using Withall's Social-Emotional Climate Index. No significant difference was found to exist between the verbal interactions of the monolingual teachers with monolingual and bilingual students.