Why Interaction Should Be the Heart of Every ESL Classroom

Alan David Pritchard
4 days ago
4 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

ESL-Wise: Blog 2

Why Interaction Should Be the Heart of Every ESL Classroom

By Alan David Pritchard

Four diverse ESL students actively interacting in a bright classroom, engaged in meaningful group discussion.

Every ESL teacher has felt the pull of the worksheet.

The lesson’s planned, the handouts are ready, the board work’s prepared — and there’s comfort in the structure. Grammar drills, vocabulary grids, comprehension questions: all neatly contained.

But here’s the quiet truth we can’t afford to forget: Language isn’t a subject. It’s a skill.

And like any skill, it only develops through doing — not just studying.

That’s why interaction isn’t just a nice add-on to language teaching. It’s the core.

Communication Is the Goal — Not Just the Content

It’s easy to slip into thinking that language lessons are about knowing things — what the present perfect is, how to use a collocation, what “despite” means.

But learners aren’t studying English to pass a quiz.They’re learning it to communicate — to connect, collaborate, express, explain, ask, and understand.

And that kind of learning only happens through interaction.

1. Language Is a Social Skill — Not a Set of Facts

You can memorise every English tense, study the IPA chart backwards, and get top marks on vocabulary quizzes…

…but still freeze when someone casually asks,“So, what did you do at the weekend?”

Why? Because knowing about language isn’t the same as knowing how to use it.

It’s not enough to recognise forms on paper. Learners need to use those forms in real conversations — with all their hesitations, false starts, and natural flow.

That’s what builds fluency. And only interaction makes that happen.

Here are sentences frames for students to interact with each other when inferring a new topic. (Sharks, btw.)

2. Talking Builds Confidence — Silence Builds Anxiety

Many ESL learners spend too much time in linguistic lockdown.

They’re afraid to speak, worried about getting it wrong, terrified of embarrassment. And the longer they stay silent, the harder it gets.

That’s where you come in.

Creating a safe, talk-rich environment — where mistakes are normal, responses are valued, and speaking is frequent — helps students reclaim their voice.

The goal isn’t error-free speech. The goal is willing speech.

Because every time a student dares to speak, even haltingly, they’re growing.

3. Interactive Tasks Mirror Real-World Language Use

Ask yourself this: When do we use English outside the classroom?

It’s rarely to fill in blanks or identify gerunds.We use it to ask for help, share opinions, tell stories, negotiate, joke, connect.

Real-world language is dynamic. It’s messy. It’s responsive.

That’s what interactive tasks replicate:

Role plays
Pair interviews
Debates
Problem-solving tasks
Collaborative storytelling

These aren’t classroom gimmicks — they’re simulations of life.

students interacting with a jumbled text starter activity to discuss and decide on structure and cohesion. — Here my students are interacting using a jumbled text starter activity to discuss and decide on structure and cohesion.

4. Input Is Essential — But Output Activates Learning

We often rely on input: listening, reading, modelling.

It’s important. It builds recognition and exposure.

But research consistently shows that output — especially spoken output — is what activates deep processing.

It forces learners to:

Retrieve vocabulary
Choose structures
Monitor accuracy
Adjust mid-sentence.

And when they interact in real time, all this happens on the fly. That’s when learning moves from passive to active.

5. Interaction Builds Fluency, Not Just Accuracy

Let’s be clear: fluency isn’t fast speech. It’s manageable communication.

That means:

Keeping a conversation going
Asking for clarification
Paraphrasing
Fixing misunderstandings
Reacting naturally.

These are the skills students develop when they talk to each other, not just to the teacher.

Accuracy can be drilled. But fluency must be lived.

I have ready-made lessons teaching Harkness Discussions and Speak Circles, if you would like to see how these techniques support my assertions above. I have linked them at the end of this post.

An image of sentence scaffolds to support interaction in the esl classroom. — Here are some scaffolds I provide my students to help support speaking interaction.

So Where Does the Teacher Fit In?

Interaction doesn’t mean stepping back and hoping something good happens.

It means setting up the conditions for success:

Ask open-ended questions — “What do you think…?” instead of “What’s the answer?”
Give thinking time before speaking
Pair stronger and weaker students strategically
Celebrate risk-taking, not just correctness
Model natural speech patterns — “Well, I’m not sure, but maybe…”
Listen as much as you talk

When you shift your role from language deliverer to interaction facilitator, the classroom changes.

Suddenly, it’s not about you. It’s about them — and the conversations they’re building.

Final Thought: Interaction Isn’t the Practice — It Is the Learning

Sometimes, the most powerful teaching happens when we get out of the way.

When students are allowed — and expected — to use English, not just learn about it.When they struggle, rephrase, connect, and begin to find their footing in the language.

So the next time you plan a lesson, ask:

Where are the moments of real interaction? Where do students talk — not just answer?

Because when students speak, they don’t just practise English.

They make it theirs.

Further Reading