ABSTRACT
The interaction of the teacher and the children is one of the most important aspects of the educative process and possibly one of the more neglected. The power to decide what type of classroom structure should prevail does not solely rest with the teacher, since he is by no means a free agent in this matter. The implication is that certain groups of children may present collective attitudes hostile to anything other than the teacher behaving in the way which they expect him to behave. Interaction in a modern English state primary school seems entirely appropriate at almost any time, but interaction in an English or French university lecture is relatively rare and is usually deemed inappropriate. Styles will necessarily depend upon a host of variables, and classroom verbal behaviour is not the sole indication of style, though it is a very important one.
