PATTERNS OF CLASSROOM INTERACTIONS AND STUDENTS’ REACTIONS TOWARD STUDY BARRIERS IN BIOLOGY LESSONS

Abstract

The study sought to identify and analyze the classroom interactions and students’ reactions toward study barriers in biology lessons in Ilorin, Nigeria. This study was a descriptive research of the survey type. Intact biology classes of three hundred and twenty-four (324) senior secondary school II students (SSSII) and ten (10) biology teachers participated in the study. The instruments used for data collection were an adapted Flanders Interaction Analysis Categories System (AFIACS) and an Adapted Study Technology System Tool (ASTST). Three research questions were raised and answered from which one research hypothesis was generated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Teacher talk (79.25%) was the predominant pattern of classroom interaction in biology lessons. Lack of Mass was the most frequently encountered study barriers in biology lessons. The misunderstood word was the predominant (48.46%) study barriers in teachers dominated classrooms, while, lack of mass (46.29%) was the predominant study barrier in students’ dominated classrooms. There was a significant difference between the number of study barriers encountered by students under each pattern of classroom interaction during biology lessons (X² ₍₉₎ = 405.36, p < 0.05). The study concluded that classroom interaction influences the type of study barriers that students’ encounter during biology lessons. The study recommended that there is a need for biology teachers to involve students more in the teaching and learning process so as to aid student talk classroom interaction pattern and also, take note of the study barriers in the classroom, thereby improving the performance of students.