Operation of power in classroom interaction in the EFL context

There is a great number of studies on classroom interaction adding to the naturalistic portrayal of classrooms as social places. Although these studies have clarified a wide range of aspects of classroom interaction in English as a Second Language (SLA) and English as Foreign Language (EFL) settings, there are numerous aspects that have not been searched enough in these settings. One of these aspects is the power mechanism in the classroom. Power, as a structure embedded in the fibre and fabric of everyday life, is inescapable in the classrooms as well, for these sites are social places in which complex relationships (including power relationships), meanings and practices are co-constructed dynamically. Inspired by the scarcity of research on power in the classroom in Turkey, this study aims to explore power at an English preparatory school at a Turkish university. The study has been designed to analyse teachers' and students' discursive strategies in terms of power construction within the classroom interaction. Therefore, it aims to arrive at meanings about power based on the frequency distribution of student and teacher-initiated exchanges, the discourse patterns in these exchanges, the forms and functions of discourse acts that are found in students' and teachers' initiation moves as well as teachers' turn allocation strategies. The data for the study were collected through audiotaped and video-recorded teacher-student interaction in five classrooms at total. The data were analysed by adopting Discourse Analysis approach through descriptive statistics and by analysing the excerpts from data on a turn-by-turn basis. The findings of the study revealed that in the classrooms under investigation in English lessons there was the abundance of teacher-initiated exchanges and related to discourse patterns, it was also found that Initiation by teachers, Response by students and Follow-up by teachers (IRF) was the prevalent structure. On the other hand, when discourse acts and their functions were taken into consideration, the abundance of elicitations and directives in teacher initiations uncovered the fact that teachers are dominant in classroom discourse. Yet, when looking at the discourse acts and their functions in student- initiations, it was seen that students had a say in the classroom. Furthermore, when looking at the excerpt analyses it was seen that student used power mechanisms such as providing initiations, follow-ups, interruptions and corrections for other participants' remarks. While overall results indicated that teachers dominate the classroom discourse, it was seen that classroom power was dynamic and negotiated by students and teachers.