POWER DISTANCE IN CLASSROOM INTERACTIONS IN HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH LESSONS

Abstract

Classroom interactions in relation to intercultural communication constitute one of the important issues that have been drawn much attention to by researchers. This paper attempts to investigate the reflections of Power Distance, one of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, in the teacher-student and student-student interactions in English lessons of high school. In this study, qualitative research design has been employed with the use of classroom observations, retrospective interviews and semi-structured debriefing sessions, and with the participation of 130 high school students and their English teachers. The research results reveal that in teacher-student interaction, high power distance is shown dominantly in terms of class management, turn-taking, asking teacher for clarification and giving feedback whilst low power distance is illustrated noticeably in the ways teachers give tasks or assignments. In student-student communication, high power distance traits are manifested in all the interaction patterns including students’ seeking help, the degree of cooperation on given tasks and learners’ treatment of good and gifted students. Those findings have thrown new light on the differences in the reflections of power distance in teacher-student and student-student interactions in English lessons of Vietnam high school.