Observation as an evaluation technique

The social character of the language was stressed long time ago. The roles of the participants in a social situation influence their speech in terms of the amount of talk, turn taking, language functions and so on. Therefore, the analysis of discourse produced in a particular speech situation takes into consideration the participants' positions in it. Classroom is a speech situation whose participants are the teacher and learners. In a foreign language classroom the positions of its participants are not the same with reference to language knowledge which is the aim and means of their verbal interaction. This inequality is reflected in the basic features of language use, as mentioned above. The teacher and learners in a foreign language classroom gather in this social situation for a specific purpose, the purpose of learning (as defined by A. M. Thomas, 1987; 14). In the FL classroom the teacher knows the language and the learners do not. So, he/she is required to transmit a body of knowledge and skills to the learners.