Pre-service teachers´ interaction with students manifested in speech turns– a case study of interaction and acoustic analyses

In the classroom, teacher-student interaction has a vital role in learning. Interaction is constructed by interpersonal communication consisting of verbal and non-verbal communication. When analysing non-verbal teacher talk in the classroom, gaze, gesture, and posture have been in the focus. Voice, however, has not been studied as vastly as other non-verbal channels although it is an important nonverbal cue to interpret the meaning of verbal utterances. This study investigates pre-service physics teachers´ speech turns with interaction and acoustic analysis. Two pre-service physics teachers were recorded as they were teaching DC electric current tasks to pre-service primary school teachers. Speech turns were categorised by using Flanders´ Interaction Analysis Category System and analysed acoustically. Results showed that the pre-service physics teachers differed in what types of speech turns they used, one (male) teacher used more direct and especially lecturing speech indicating more directive interpersonal profile. The other (female) teacher´s larger use of indirect influence speech turns indicate more tolerant profile. Acoustic analysis supports in some aspect the profiling of teachers´ interaction profiles. This study suggests voice awareness to be added to teacher education.