Beyond Think Pair Share: Interaction Patterns in the EFL Classroom
- Mohamed Oummih
- 9 minutes ago
- 4 min read
From building rapport to time management and differentiation, varying student interactions can completely transform a language classroom. Leveraging interaction patterns—deciding who interacts with whom—is perhaps the most under-sung tool at a teacher’s disposal to successfully manage the EFL classroom.
What are Interaction Patterns?
The first thing that comes to many teachers’ minds when they think of interaction patterns is pair work, hence the famous acronym TPS, for “think-pair-share.” While useful, having students work in pairs (as opposed to working alone) only scratches the surface of what is possible by manipulating interactions in the classroom.
Here’s an (abridged) inventory of other ways to vary interaction patterns:
Alone. There are in fact several ways a student can work alone. A student can be asked to think silently to prepare to talk, read, write or listen; by having a student stand, put their hands on their heads, or close their eyes while they prepare to talk, the dynamic can be further modified; you can also ask students to walk around the room, do tasks posted on the wall or on the board.
Group work. From three students and up, the size of a group can vary tremendously. One key thing to keep in mind when assigning group sizes: difficult tasks are better done with larger groups (more on this below, under “time management”).
Mill drill. Students walk around the classroom and at a given signal they stop and pair up with the partner nearest to them to perform an oral task (asking a question, having a dialogue, etc.).
Pyramid feedback. After working in pairs for a brief time, two pairs come together to form a group of four, and then two groups of four join up with each other, and so on, until the entire class is ready to share. Students discuss the same task, but with more and more participants in the group each time.
Facing lines. Students line up in two lines facing each other. At a given signal the people in one line all move one space to the left, so that everyone suddenly has a new partner. Repeat until time no longer allows.
Random playing cards. Each student is given a playing card. By calling out numbers, suits, and colors, the teacher can arrange students in groups of various sizes with minimum instructions, e.g., all students with hearts work together; all 1s together; red cards of each number work together.
It’s not About the Size—it’s the Way you Move
As the brief list above shows, varying interactions isn’t just about the size of the group, it’s also about who you talk to, how your partner(s) are chosen, and the dynamic through which the interaction pattern is introduced into the classroom.
Teachers Who Roll the Dice. Teachers can decide who works with whom (Julietta, please work with Mohamed now), or they can take a more random approach (using playing cards, giving students a number and having them find the student(s) with the same number, mill drill, etc.).
There’s an element of risk, almost like gambling, when the teacher removes him or herself from the process. Students don’t know who they’ll be paired with, and just as importantly, they don’t know why; any time a teacher tells two or more specific students to work with each other, most students will immediately wonder why, and try to guess the teacher’s strategy. Random groupings free students of these thoughts, and the spontaneity tends to produce more authentic communication.
Rapport. This is, indeed, one of the main ways interactions patterns can change, and improve, rapport in the classroom. Random groupings change a top-down dynamic, a teacher-determined task, into something immediately more fun.
Interaction patterns with movement enable students to stretch their limbs and leverage the very physical nature of communication. Students who dislike staying motionless at their desks for long periods of time will be very grateful. Even if the interaction pattern is stationary, just the act of getting up to switch seats with another student can introduce a kinesthetic element into the classroom.
Differentiation
Just as there is a time to let interactions shuffle students around randomly, there is a time to very judiciously choose who works with whom: when the teacher is aiming to support differentiation in his or her classroom.
Differentiation is simply defined as adjusting tasks to suit the needs of a multi-level classroom. Of the many techniques available to help with differentiation, varying interactions is the most effortless, in particular by selecting partners for students. Pairing weak and strong students enables, for example, peer teaching; putting weak students in larger groups enables them to pool resources, and if you simultaneously put stronger students in pairs, thus slowing them down, this can help level the playing field; separating strong and weak students enables teachers to give each group different, better graded tasks, and to provide differentiated feedback on those tasks.
The Key to Time Management
These differentiation techniques also help with time management: pairing strong students with weak students helps tasks to go more quickly (if you’re short on time).
Indeed, the most common problem I get asked to solve for trainee teachers is time management, and varying interaction patterns is my go-to answer (in particular for more skilled/experienced teachers).
Varying interaction patterns enables the teacher to extend tasks considerably, in particular speaking tasks—which is precisely why we recommend to teachers to always try to end their lessons with a speaking task. By allowing the teacher to extend or shorten the length of speaking tasks, the final speaking task acts as a pressure valve, either letting the lesson extend to fill in vacant time, or bringing the lesson to a quicker end.
If you have very little time for the final task, opt for pair work or even a whole-class interaction. Extend the task by using several different interaction patterns in a row, so that students are talking to different students, thus enabling both extended language practice and allowing students to talk to new partners/groups.
Classroom Management isn’t an Art, it’s a Craft
Successfully managing a classroom isn’t an art given to a select charismatic few, it’s a craft with its set of techniques and principles and ample room for personalization and self-expression—every teacher manages their classroom in a somewhat different way.
Learn more about the craft of classroom management in the other installments of our classroom management series, to be found by following the links below.
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