Teacher Power in EFL Classroom: Associations with Classroom Interaction

Instructional communication is a field that studies behaviors that facilitate leaning in classroom communication. One among these behaviors is teacher power which refers to the transactional process where in teachers are granted different power bases. This study tried to investigate teacher power bases in terms of classroom interaction by involving a writing skills teacher and his 30 students in a first year writing classroom. The students responded to a questionnaire and the lessons were audio recorded and transcribed. Binary logistic regression was computed to see how the teacher power bases relate with classroom interaction permissibility while qualitative data is transcribed and thematically analyzed. The results indicated that the teachers’ major power originates from legitimate and expert power bases as well as reward sources and this is negatively associated with classroom interaction. Therefore, it is suggested that the teacher bases his lessons on alternative power sources that can permit students interactions.


Teacher power bases
The mean value of students who reported that their teacher use legitimate power base and those who reported expert power base is found to be higher (22.3, 20.4 respectively). As revealed from classroom interaction, the teacher used multiple power basses including legitimate and expert as well as reward power in varied ways. Conversely, the mean value of coercive and referent power bases were the lowest (14.7, 17.97 respectively).
The power base of the teacher is also reflected in the classroom interactions. In the first place the teacher dominated the lesson lecturing for majority of the lesson time including asking and even answering questions. This coupled with how structured and organized the lesson is, justifies the fact that the teacher predominantly depends on expert power.
Driving through the mountains, several beers were seen.…. This is a problem because what drove through the mountain is not known. Who drove through the mountain is not specifically known. And who saw several beers has not been specifically mentioned. So this can be corrected in the following way. Driving through the mountains, I saw several beers. I saw instead of saying driving through the mountains, several beers were seen. In this excerpt, the teacher depended on expert power base. The teacher has asked questions and provided answers himself. The teacher has denied students the chance to try to correct the error thereby communicating expert power inherently. As the lesson proceeded the teacher communicated the following strengthening the above claims.
T: I can give another example. Having gone to Gondar, the castle was visited. If you look at these two sentences, these two sentences have got errors. And the error type is known as dangling modifier. Who drove through the mountains? We don't know. It looks that several beers were driving through the mountains which is wrong. Instead this sentence could have been written in the following way. Driving through the mountains, the student saw several beers. Driving through the mountains, I saw several beers. Driving through the mountains, the women saw several beers. Driving through the mountains, the teacher saw several beers. It can be written this way. Here the doer of the action is the students. Who drove through the mountains-the students. Who saw several beers-the students. The Students saw several beers. In this excerpt, it is clear that the teacher depended on his expert power when he gives examples of his own. In the same way, the teacher depended on his own expert power when he decides the two sentences are erroneous and asks questions on as to why the sentences are erroneous. This is followed by the teachers' correction of the sentences and explanations on the corrected sentences. As we can infer from the above excerpt, the teacher gave the examples himself, made the claim that the two sentences 'these two sentences have got errors' raising questions like 'Who drove through the mountains?' and giving answers 'We don't know' and ending up with the teachers revised versions and its justifications. This has been the recurring pattern of interaction during the lessons.
The same pattern is followed in the forthcoming extract. In doing exercise, the teacher supplied most of the answers himself however a creating learning space (Walsh, 2011) could have been possible if the teacher insist on waiting and pausing to let students respond. The teacher could have waited a bit longer for students to respond on who was riding my bicycle while inviting students to spot modifier errors themselves. However, the teachers' reliance on expert power made him supply organized responses (Schrodt et al, 2008). As a result, the teacher asked a question, described the fault and provided the answer himself, leaving no room for the students self-correction and interaction with the teacher.
The other power base the teacher was observed using was reward power. The teacher used praises in the very few instances where students responded to questions posed.
What Moreover, in the above excerpt, the teacher asked a question to which a student made an attempt, yet with minor error. The teacher praised the effort implying the adoption of reward power base. Meanwhile, the teacher avoided explicit repair by requesting the student repeat and then telling the correct sentence himself indirectly which enhances involvement and avoids disrupting the interaction (Seedhouse, 2004). This could enhance the students' interaction with the teacher.
In spite of the small sample size making the findings preliminary, the analysis revealed that a teacher's classroom interaction is significantly influenced by teacher power base. The most frequent power base of the teacher as reported by students is legitimate and expert power base. On the other hand, coercive power base is used least followed by referent power source. Analysis of the audio recordings of two lessons revealed that the teacher adopts expert power base followed by rewards power source in a number of instances.

Classroom interaction patterns
This section tried to address how the classroom interaction looks focusing on teacher-student interaction. The quantitative data collected using the questionnaire revealed that the teacher gives chance for students make interactions. This is supported by 36.7% who admitted that their teacher lets them interact while majority of the students (63.3%) conferred that their teacher never lets them make interactions. 100.0 Similarly, the analysis of classroom conversation reveals the teacher highly depended on a one directional teacher talk where students got very little time to make interactions among themselves and with the teacher. In those circumstances, the teacher takes the initiation role and then leaves no room for students to respond which when substantiated with proper feedback and follow up could enhance interaction and motivation.
The following excerpt from the second lesson propounds this claim. There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. This is the topic sentence. There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. The topic is Canada. It is a very broad topic. By the way on the topic you can write a books. Books might be written about Ethiopia. If I give you the topic. Books have been written, books will be written about Ethiopia. If I ask you write a paragraph you need control the topic. This writer has controlled the broad topic in the topic sentence. There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. This writer will write only about the reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. What are the reasons? The reasons will be stated in the body of the paragraph. First, Canada has an excellent health care system. This is the first reason why Canada is one of the best countries. This is. We call this major supporting detail. All Canadians have access to medical services at a reasonable price. This is the first minor supporting detail. Second, the second reason, by the way… first second, finally will give coherence to the paragraph. Canada has a high standard of education. Students are taught by well trained teachers and are encouraged to continue studying at university. Finally, Canada's cities are clean and efficiently managed. Canadian cities have many parks and lots of space for people to live. As a result, Canada is a desirable place to live…. In this extended extract based on a paragraph, the teacher announced the topic sentence, the major and minor supports as well as the concluding sentences right away. He told the topic and controlling idea, made judgments on the breadth of the topic and reminded the cohesive devices and their purpose. So what can students have to interact during the lesson if we uptake learning is all about interaction.
The following excerpt differs in a number of respects. As usual, the teacher takes the initiation by posing a question. The teacher gave the erroneous sentence and makes important inquiries. The teacher asks who is to write effectively and answers it himself. If the teacher waited for a while and let students attempt, it might have simplified the issue of dangling modifiers besides enhancing students' interactions. The pattern of interaction goes on likewise excluding students when the teacher gives alternative resolutions to the erroneous sentences leaving no room for students contributions once again.
To The forthcoming quote from the classroom interaction provides a slightly different dimension to the pattern of interaction observed in the preceding instance. While the teacher takes the initiation by posing the question and elaboration on why the sentence is erroneous, the correction was supplied by a student. However, the students' response was interrupted by the teacher.
T In a section of the lesson that focused on misplaced modifiers, the teacher asked a question and appreciated student performance as can be understood from his high pitch, yet the student was interrupted. Restating the response of a student, by using his loudness the teacher expressed his appreciation implying the use of rewards power. Such teacher interruptions have a multitude of negative implications even when that is done based on the IRF pattern (cf. Esra Yataganbaba, Rana YÕldÕrÕm, 2016).
Teacher: Number four? A man drove past in a small ship that was completely bald. Student: a man that was completely bald. Teacher : a man that was completely bald. That was completely bald modifies the subject. A man.[fully bald is who? The man]. A man that was completely bald. Bald. From the four extracts presented above, it can be inferred that the teacher followed a monological (Christoph & Nystrand, 2001) rather than a dialogical interaction that occurs when the teacher's voice is prevalent in the classroom. The teacher dominated the lessons at the expense of interactions. Findings of Adaba (2017) on students poor involvement in speaking interaction and teachers dominance relates to this findings.

Teacher power base and classroom interaction pattern trajectory
The way a teacher proceeds from initiation to feedback and follow-up through students' response is considered as the pattern of classroom interaction. However, how the pattern of interaction and power base operate needs a critical study. In this section an attempt is made to show how teacher power base associates with classroom interaction based on data from questionnaire and analysis of classroom interaction.
The table below shows findings from the binary logistic regression analysis carried out. Hence, the table shows that a unit of change in the use of coercive power in the teachers interaction is (odds=1.058) likely to prohibit students interaction. Similarly, a raise in a unit of expert power is (odds=1.058) likely to prohibit students classroom interaction. The use of referent and legitimate power on the other hand are less likely to prohibit classroom interaction.
Step T : many benefits. You will write the many benefits that hobbies have. However, Cazden (2001) labels such questions are all inauthentic display questions unlikely to improve interaction and this stems out of a teachers desire to control things implying the use of expert power.
Another feature of the interaction pattern consistently practiced was Teacher-teacher echo: where the teacher repeats his own mostly responses and questions (utterances) that were not meant for restatement purposes yet casually practiced against students' interactional space opportunities since the teacher is taking up learners' space in the dialogue. From among the possible instances where the teacher echoed himself, the following is one where the teacher repeated two utterances needlessly.
At Another instance of teacher echo can be noticed in the following extract. In this case, the repetitions neither contributes to the focus of the lesson nor does it imply a restating purpose for something that could be missed by students. Besides, repeating only ten needlessly, the teacher made a nearly the same echo for its own sake.
He only left ten minutes ago. Only ten. Only ten! He left only ten. Only one. Only two. Only three. Nearly three. Almost three. Almost four. Such modifiers appear. While the 'traditional' IRE & IRF patterns of interaction advocate a stringent and solid pattern of classroom interaction, Cazden (2001) the nontraditional lesson does not follow this sequence and allows for more student responses and topic expansion based on 'metacognitive, questions'. Similarly, (Walsh, 2011) advises teachers' increase pauses, acknowledge contributions, minimize interruptions, allow extended learner turns and make follow up turns requiring explanations, pushing for more information, and asking more guiding questions instead of filling in the gaps or making repairs. Conversely, the teacher let students make utterances quite few times answering questions himself in a good number of instances. This can be attributed to power relations conceived by the teacher (cf. Lin, 2000). Cazden (2001) implies that the adoption of the IRE/ IRF interaction pattern reserves power for teachers to control the flow of information and the progress of a lesson.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This current study aims to investigate teacher power bases in relation to classroom interaction in EFL basic 15. My teacher builds rapport with the class by relating to students in an approachable manner. 16. I f eel that my teacher and I are ''on the same page'' 17. I see things from my teacher's perspective.
18. I f eel I can relate to my teacher because of the personal stories & illustrations he/she shares. 19. My teacher demonstrates that he/she considers position of an instructor superior to a student. 20. My teacher acts as though students ought never fail to comply with teacher requests. 21. My teacher uses his/her position as an instructor to maintain total control of the classroom. 22. My teacher relates to students in ways that are formal and distant. 23. My teacher says things like ''If you don't like the course policies, you can drop this class'' 24. My teacher clear that his/her decisions and policies will be backed by department head. 25. My teacher's lectures are clearly organized and well delivered. 26. My teacher discusses current theory and research in the class. 27. My teacher knows how to teach the course by the way he/ she organizes class and delivers it. 28. When my teacher discusses course information, I can tell he/she is credible in the content. 29. I can tell by the way my teacher speaks with the class that he/she is an expert the course. 30. My teacher communicates demonstrating advanced knowledge/ expertise the course. Part two: 1. How often does your teacher allow you to communicate during lessons? Never Rarely Sometimes Usually Always 2. Does any of the behaviors above affect your decision to communicate during your lessons? Yes no 3. If :yes' how much very little little somewhat big big enormous 4. If 'no' do you make any adjustments to communicate in the class? Lesson one transcription Teacher (to whole class): Okay, last time we began the second unit of the course and we discussed the major faults that we commit while we are writing sentences and we said that , sentence fragments, run ons and comma splices are the major, the three major that we make while we are writing sentences. Today we will begin the other fault type which we make while we are writing sentences. The first one that we discuss today is dangling modifiers. Dangling modifier, I think you know the name dangling modifier. This is a fault type which is made when a word, a phrase or a clause modifies nothing or modifies something which is not supposed to be modified. for example in your handout on page 19 there are certain examples. Driving through the mountains, several beers were seen. If you look at this sentence, you don't know who drove through the mountains. We don't know who saw several beers.it has not been clearly stated who saw several beers who drove through the mountains. So this sentence has got a problem. This is a problem because what drove through the mountain is not known. Who drove through the mountain is not specifically known. And who saw several beers has not been specifically mentioned. So this can be corrected in the following way. Driving through the mountains, I saw several beers. I saw instead of saying driving through the mountains, several beers were seen. I can give another example. Having gone to Gondar, the castle was visited. If you look at these two sentences, these two sentences have got errors. And the error type is known as dangling modifier. Who drove through the mountains? We don't know. It looks that several beers were driving through the mountains which is wrong. Instead this sentence could have been written in the following way. Driving through the mountains, the student saw several beers. Driving through the mountains, I saw several beers. Driving through the mountains, the women saw several beers. Driving through the mountains, the teacher saw several beers. It can be written this way.

Here the doer of the action is the students. Who drove through the mountains-the students. Who saw several beers-the students. The Students saw several beers.
If look at this one Having gone to Gondar, the castle was visited. Who has gone to Gondar? We don't know. This modifies nothing in the sentence. Or it modifies something which is not supposed to be modified. Having gone to Gondar, the castle it says. It looks that the castle went to Gondar. It looks. Which is wrong. Having gone to Gondar, I saw the castle. I visited the castle. The students visited the castle. The visitors visited the castle. The visitors. Who has gone to Gondar? The visitors. Who has gone to to Gondar? I. Having gone to Gondar, I visited the castle. I visited the castle. After I had gone to Gondar, I visited the castle. … when they had gone to Gondar, they visited the castle. So it can be corrected in different ways In short dangling modifier means, it is a fault type which is made when a word, a phrase or a clause modifies nothing in a certain sentence. Or modifies something different from what is supposed to modify. There are a lot of examples in your handout. To write effectively… To write effectively, practice is necessary. Who is to write effectively? We don't know. Who is to going to write effectively? We don't know. Who is there to practice? We don't know. To write effectively, you must practice. To write effectively, I must practice. To write effectively, the students must practice. The students are there to be modified. To write effectively, you must practice. You. If you want to write effectively, you must practice. you must practice. This sentence can be in this way. On page 19, there is activity. Activity 18. Please do activity 18. Do activity 18. Rewrite. It has a problem which is known as dangling modifiers. Rewrite the sentences correctly. Task given Student 1: why is dangling a modifier error. Teacher: dangling a problem is just like run on. It is just like sentence fragments. There are other modifier errors that we are going to look at.one type of error or fault. Okay we can together.
1. To lose weight, fatty foods should be avoided. Who is there to lose weight? We don't know. Who is there to avoid fatty foods? We don't know. Teacher and students: To lose weight, you should avoid fatty foods. Teacher: if you want to lose weight, you should avoid fatty foods. 2. At the age of four, my parents took me to Addis Ababa. If you look at this sentence, the phrase looks to modify my parents. It looks that my parents were four when they got to Addis Ababa. . It looks that my parents were four when they got to Addis Ababa. It is wrong. When I was four, When I was four my parents took me to Addis Ababa. When I was four, my parents took me to Addis Ababa. This is possible. At the age of four, at the age of four, I was taken to Addis Ababa. At the age of four, I. who was four? I. so this can be corrected in two ways. One When I was four my parents took me to Addis Ababa. Second, at the age of four, I was taken to Addis Ababa by my parents. 3. What about number three? Chopping the onion, the knife cut her finger. Yes. Student: when she chopping the onion, the knife cut her finger. To examine the brakes, the wheel must be removed. I think you can correct it yourself. 14:52 The fifth fault type is known as misplaced modifiers. misplaced modifiers. misplaced is wrongly placed. Miss placed modifiers. It means wrongly placed modifier. Modifiers must appear closer to the noun that they modify as much as possible. As much as possible. Modifiers must appear closer to the noun that they modify. If you don't do this, what you write, what you speak will be a mistake. For example: The man is my friend who is coming. who is coming. Is it right? Is it right? Is it a right sentence? The man is my friend who is coming. Right or wrong? Students: wrong Teacher: Right or wrong? Students: wrong Teacher : This is a wrong sentence. Because the clause 'who is coming' appears in its wrong place, this should appear closer to the noun that it modify. The man who is coming is my friend. Who is coming is there to modify the man. It gives essential information about the subject. So it must appear here. The man who is coming is my friend. Such errors are known as misplaced modifiers. There are examples in your handout. Let us look at that. Their marriage nearly was broken. Their marriage nearly was broken. What does nearly modify? Nearly modifies. Nearly is an adverb. It modifies a verb. It modifies broken. Their marriage was nearly broken. Their marriage was nearly broken. That is ..That is how it should be written. Abebe performed the role with a dark attitude. Abebe with a dark attitude performed the role. with a dark attitude modifies the subject. A dog is a good company that is well trained. That is well trained modifies the subject. A dog. A dog that is well trained is a good friend. A dog. A dog that is well trained is a good friend. That is well trained gives very essential information about a dog. The subject. So that is well trained appeared in its wrong place. It is wrong to place that clause at the end of the sentence. It should appear closer to the subject next to the subject. A dog that is well trained. What kind of dog is a good friend? that is well trained that is well trained gives us essential information about the subject-the dog. By looking at the examples again, I would like you to do activity 19 together. There are similar problems in all ten sentences which are given in activity. Please discuss the examples again and do the activity.
[After a short while the whole class discussion resumed.] We can discuss together. 1. She borrowed an egg from a neighbor that was rotten. There is a separate clause which is placed wrongly. And that clause should appear in its right place so that the sentence would become meaningful. So who can correct it? an egg that was rotten. An egg. she borrowed an egg that was rotten from a neighbor that was rotten modifies an egg.
[in Amharic what type of egg? Rotten. Rotten modifies an egg. She borrowed an egg that was rotten]. It should appear closer to the noun that it modifies. 2. He only left ten minutes ago. Only ten. Only ten! He left only ten. Only one. Only two. Only three.
Nearly three. Almost three. Almost four. Such modifiers appear. . the girl in a short skirt the girl in a short skirt was walking the dog. the girl in a short skirt 6. What about number six? Mr. Yassir arefat, ah? who was the first president of Palestine who was the first president of Palestine was born in Jerusalem. So who was the first president of Palestine modifies modifies the subject Mr. Yassir arefat. Mr. Yassir arefat. It should appear closer to next to the noun. The subject. 7. Number seven. The woman is a medical doctor in a green coat. The woman in a green coat. The woman in a green coat is a medical doctor…. Transcript of lesson two.
[No student was involved up to the 21 st minutes of the lesson. So this part was left out for it has very little to do with interaction. However an interesting analysis of a paragraph is transcribed to represent other sections] [10-15' T: On page 24 there is a paragraph. One very interesting paragraph. There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. This is the topic sentence. There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. The topic is Canada. It is a very broad topic. By the way on the topic you can write a books. Books might be written about Ethiopia. If I give you the topic. Books have been written, books will be written about Ethiopia. If I ask you write a paragraph you need control the topic. This writer has controlled the broad topic in the topic sentence. There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. This writer will write only about the reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. What are the reasons? The reasons will be stated in the body of the paragraph. First, Canada has an excellent health care system. This is the first reason why Canada is one of the best countries. This is. We call this major supporting detail. All Canadians have access to medical services at a reasonable price. This is the first minor supporting detail. Second, the second reason, by the way… first second, finally will give coherence to the paragraph. Canada has a high standard of education. Students are taught by well trained teachers and are encouraged to continue studying at university. Finally, Canada's cities are clean and efficiently managed. Canadian cities have many parks and lots of space for people to live. As a result, Canada is a desirable place to live…. 21:09 T: What is the topic for the first topic sentence? S: cooking T: cooking is the topic sentence. What about the controlling idea Ss: different skills T: different? Ss: skills. So the writer will write only about cooking in terms of the different skills that is required [ so it will focus the different skills not the importance of cooking] T: hobbies provide people with many benefits? What is the topic? S: hobbies T: the controlling idea S: many benefits T : many benefits. You will write the many benfits that hobbies have.