I first came across the term IRF (‘Initiate – Respond – Feedback’) while doing the DipTESOL and designing an observation instrument for Unit 2. This is a typical classroom interaction exchange where the teacher asks a question, the student responds and the teacher responds, usually with a simple ‘Good’. While discussing this with my director of studies at the time, we both agreed that in order to create more student-centred, communicative classrooms, we needed to break this pattern in our classrooms. While observing other teachers, we would highlight this pattern and attempt to suggest alternatives, for example by using guided discoveries . . .
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