Enhancing classroom interaction creatively

Creative language teaching that allows students to communicate freely enhances not only classroom interaction but also their interaction in the real world. Hence, this study examined the authentic classroom practices that encourage communication opportunities. Four classroom practices such as building prior knowledge, communitarian, multiple representations and protracted language events were observed, recorded and analyzed using weighted means, frequency counts, percentages, ranks and the Cochran Q-test. Findings revealed that building on prior knowledge and communitarian teachings were predominantly used followed by multiple representations and protracted language event, the least. The study showed that teachers use varied teaching practices to provide communication opportunities for students. The study recommends that: (1) the use of multiple representations and protracted language event should also be utilized by teachers to provide students with varied activities and to develop with confidence their communication skills; (2) Activities given to students should be more challenging to encourage them to ask questions that develop their critical thinking.