EXPLORING STUDENT-TEACHER INTERACTION IN SCIENCE PRACTICAL WORK AT THE LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL LEVEL IN MALAYSIA

Practical work is one suggested approach of teaching science at the lower secondary school level in Malaysia. The aims of conducting practical work are to ensure students develop conceptual understanding, procedural understanding, and the understanding of the nature of science. Science teachers in lower secondary schools prefer to carry out demonstrations and structured practical work (Sani, 2014). Science teachers rarely conduct unstructured practical work and science investigation,especially in lower secondary schools. The aim of this study was to explore student-teacher interaction as science teachers carried out practical work at the lower secondary school level. This research adopted a case study approach to investigate student-teacher interaction in a co-educational school in the state of Melaka. The participants of this study were the teacher and her class. The number of students in her class was 35. The data was collected through classroom observations and detailed field notes. The Initiation-Response-Feedback (IRF) framework, developed by Sinclair and Coulthard (1975),was used as ‘a unit of analysis’ to analyze the student-teacher interaction. The findings suggest that the teacher talking dominated the student-teacher interaction in science practical work. The teacher initiated the interaction;this was followed by students’ responses before the teacher gave feedback. The initiation was in a form of a question that required students to recall facts or restate the steps of procedure. Students gave a short answer, which was followed by an evaluation by the teacher. The teacher rarely asked students to elaborate or clarify their answers. The traditional learning environment promoted this pattern of student-teacher interaction; it may also promote surface learning. The findings have implications for teacher practice and science education policy in lower secondary school in Malaysia.