Wells G。 (1981:29) explains, “Exchange is the basic unit of discourse…Linguistic interaction is a ‘collaborative activity’ involving the establishment of a triangular relationship between the sender, the receiver and the context of situation。”

H。 Douglas Brown (1994:87) tells us that interaction is a very important word for language teachers and the core of communication; it is what communication is all about。 Brown defines interaction as, “the collaborative exchange of thoughts, feelings, or ideas between two or more people resulting in a reciprocal effect on each other。” He also shows that the classroom should be interactive at the most basic point。 文献综述

The definition of interaction, as Rivers (2000:186) tells us, is that “the word interaction is derived from the Latin verb agrere, which means to do, and the Latin preposition inters, which means among。”

Gass (2005) supporting this definition from a new angle finds that interaction is a communication activity。 In this exchange discussion there are signs showing that some words cannot be fully understood by the other person。 And a large number of related studies indicate that there is an intimate connection between the interaction and the study of foreign language。 And the interaction is a kind of strategy to attract attention。 The students’ participation in interaction is the first step of language learning。

Above all, we can safely conclude that the basic features of interactive English teaching are interact, cooperation and acting through language。 ‘Interact’ here means the mutual cooperation and transition between teachers and students。 The role of teachers turn from someone who impart knowledge, control the teaching and the teaching process to the ones who guide, organize the classroom activity, and be a cooperator; The traditional static teaching turns into a dynamic teaching mode。 ‘Cooperation’ refers to the cooperative behavior between students。 Many of the classroom activities are conducted in a form of pair work or group work, so students are required to form a group, and finish the task of collecting information, prepare the file and act through cooperation。 We can arouse students’ cooperation awareness through mutual adaptation and coordination。 There are two missions for students: one is to speak and the other is to act。 Students are expected to speak with fervor and assurance, to say what they want to say, to seize every chance to speak English, to improve their ability to express themselves。 To act means that students are required to play short plays, deliver speech and sing English songs, to present their knowledge and skills in front of the platform and cultivate their confidence and presentation skills。

2。2 Ways of Classroom Interaction 

According to Ur (2000), ten different ways of interaction were enumerated as follows:

Chart 2。2。1 Ur’s patterns of interaction

1。Teacher talk Some kind of silent student response may involve in class, such as writing from diction, but there is no initiative on the part of the students。

2。Choral responses The teacher gives a model, which allows the students repeating in chorus; or gives a cue, which is responded in chorus。 

3。Closed-ended teacher questioning Only one ‘right’ response gets approved。

4。Open-ended teacher questioning Due to a number of possible ‘right’ answers, more students answer each cue。

5。Student initiates, teacher answers The students think of questions and then the teacher responds; but it is the teacher that decides who to ask。

6。Full class interaction