INTRODUCTION

The general notice of education a few thousand years ago was that of someone assigning
lessons to a group of young people and punishing them for their mistake. But now with the
introduction of several communication media in transferring the sophistical knowledge into
swipe and understanding from and with substantial change in the education norms as well as is
moving towards a speedy evolution
This writing gives an idea about teacher behavior, Flanders interaction analysis category system
(FIACS)
The term teacher behavior may be considered as the role which a teacher plays for all over
development of his pupils. With this role he also tries to modify the student's behavior derivable.
The interaction analysis is a technique for analyzing and observing the classroom behavior. It
provides the structure, components and flow of behavior of classroom activities. The interaction
analysis can also be used as a mechanism of feedback device for the observation and
modification of teacher behavior.

TEACHER BEHAVIOUR
Behavior of the teacher in general and in the classroom in particular has a great bearing on
development and shaping of the behavior of the students and in their participation in the teaching
learning process. Teacher behavior has two components: verbal as well as nonverbal.
According to Ryans (1969), teacher behavior in the activities of persons as they go about doing
whatever is required of teachers particularly those activities which are concerned with the
guidance or direction of the learning of others
Mc Nergency and Carner (1981) regard teacher behavior as a function of the characteristics of
the teacher his environment and the tasks in which the teacher engages.

FLANDERS INTERACTION ANALYSIS CATEGORY SYSTEM

(FICAS)
Several techniques have been devised to observe and analyze teacher behavior and interaction
analysis in the classroom. One of the most important technique is that developed by Flander in
the year 1959 at university of Minnesota as a teacher training technique.
In Flanders interaction analysis system, the entire classroom interaction is put into three main
sections:

Teacher talk

Student talk

Silence or confusion

In this method an observer observes a teachers verbal behavior and puts a tally every three
seconds against one of ten categories of teacher behavior as may occur. After observation, the
total number of tallies in each category are counted and the ratio between teacher talk and
student talk determined. We have better student teacher interaction, if a teacher talk is more often
followed by student talk and student talk by teacher talk. Teaching is an inter-active process
which is mainly influence directed. A teacher tries to influence the students. However this
influence is not only one way. Both the teachers and students influence each other but the
students is of greater and far reaching significance. But the question arises, how to describe the
teachers behavior which is not only complex but variable as well. Flanders Interaction
analysis is an observation procedure designed to minimize these difficulties, permit a systematic
record of spontaneous act, and scrutinize the process of instruction by taking into account each
small bit of interaction.

CATEGORIES OF INTERACTION ANALYSIS

Teacher talk
Indirect influence
1. Accepts feelings: Accepts and clarifies the feeling tone of the student
in a non-threatening manner. Feeling may be positive or negative.
Predicting or recalling feelings are included.
2. Praises or Encourages: Praises or encourages students action or
behavior. Jokes that releases tension, not at the expense of another
individual nodding head or saying Um him or go on are included.
3. Accepts or Uses Idea of Students: Clarifying, building or developing
ideas suggested by a student. As a teacher brings more of his own
ideas into play, it shifts to category five.
4. Ask Questions: Asking a question about content or procedure with the
intent that a student answers.
Direct influence
5. Lecturing: Giving facts or opinions about content or procedure,
expressing his own ideas, asking rhetorical questions.

6. Giving directions: Directions, commands or orders to which a student

is expected to comply.
7. Criticize or Justifying Authority: Statement intended to change student
behavior from non- acceptable to acceptable pattern: bowling someone
out, stating why the teacher is doing, what he is doing: extreme selfreference.
Student talk
8. Student talk response: Talk by student in response to teacher. Teacher
initiates the contact or solicits students statement.
9. Student talk initiations: Talk by students which they initiate. Students
start putting questions to teachers in order to seek more clarification on
a point or topic.
Silence or Confusion
10. During teaching, the teacher sometimes observes silence for a few
second. A teacher may also show pause sometimes. For instance, a
teacher may put question to the entire class. Then there is a pause for a
few seconds. Both the teacher and the students are silent. During this
period, the students get time to think, gain confidence and stand up to
give the answer.

Indirect Influence of Teacher Behavior Concepts

This is defined as actions taken by the teacher which encourage and support student
participation. We can define indirect behavior operationally by noting the percentage of teacher
statements falling into categories 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Direct Influence
This refers to actions taken by the teacher which restrict student participation. This increases the
control of the teacher and stimulates conformity and compliance. In the direct influence, the net
result is the decreased extend of freedom of action for the students. We can define direct
behavior operationally by noting the percentage of teacher statements falling into categories 5, 6
and 7.

Concepts that Refers to Student Behavior

Categories 8 and 9 represent student talk. As a matter of fact these two categories are directly
related to teacher talk. If the teacher does not impose restrictions, there is a greater student
talk.

CONSTRUCTION OF INTERACTION MATRIX: ENCODING

For every three- second period, one of the ten categories is recorded by a trained observer. The
sequence of observation that results is shown on a 1010 matrix whose rows and columns
correspond to the categories. Observations are tabulated on this matrix by pairs.

SAMPLE MATRIX (Reproduced from Flander)

Category

10

Total

12

17

32

14

38

48

104

26

62

105

13

27

13

15

44

14

17

13

13

66

10

17

Total

12

32

104

105

27

13

44

66

17

421

Interpreting a Matrix
This teacher talk is the sum of first 7 categories 1 to 7. i.e., 1+12+32+104+105+27+13 = 294.
Student talk is the sum of categories 8 and 9. i.e., 44+66 = 110. This means that out of 421
talks, teacher talks are 294 and student talk 110 which comes to 69.8% and 26.2%
respectively.

Following conclusions may be drawn from above:

1. The teacher is active
The control of interaction rest with the teacher
2. 50.7% of teachers statements are indirect i.e., sum of first four categories 1+12+32+104 =
149 out of 294
3. The flow of communication between the teacher and the student is flexible and shift from
one category to another
4. The class is business like and works rapidly.

USE OF THE MODEL

1. The category system can be used for research in verbal interaction for pre-service and inservice education of teachers.
2. The concept of flexibility of teacher influence can be investigated.
3. The techniques may help in the grouping of students.

THE PROCEDURE OF OBSERVATION THE ENCODING

PROCESS
1. The observer sits in a classroom in the best position to hear and see the participants.
2. At the end of each three- second period he decides which category best represents the
communication events just completed.
3. He writes down the category number while simultaneously assessing communication in
the next period and continue at a rate of 20 to 25 observations per minute, keeping his
tempo as steady as possible
4. His notes are merely a series of numbers written in a column, top to bottom so that the
original sequence of events is preserved
5. Occasionally marginal notes are used to explain the class formation of any unusual
circumstances
6. When there is a major change in the class formation the communication pattern or the
subject under discussion, a double line is drawn and the time indicated
7. As soon as the total observation is completed, the observer retires to a nearby room and
completes a general description of each separate activity period separated by the double

lines including the nature of activities, the class formation and the position of the teacher.

CONCLUSION
It has been found that Interaction Analysis has a lot to offer in the reform our educational system
yearning for. As a system for analyzing verbal behavior in the classroom, it offers teachers,
future teachers and supervisors a tool that can provide objective data about teaching behavior
relevant for instructional improvement. On the other hand, laying a sound basis for scientific,
critical and reflective thinking in the education given to our children in schools. An
unsatisfactory state of affairs in our present educational system is the type of behavior teachers
exhibit within the classroom that significantly exerts great deal of influence on pupils behavior.
Therefore, the call for the adoption of FIACS as an effective tool to measure the social emotional
climate in the classroom is underscored in this paper.

REFERENCE
Aggarwal J. C. (2006). Essentials of Educational Technology- Teaching Learning innovations in
Education. New Delhi. Vikas Publishing House