The high school teacher's role in maximizing learners' initiative in English second language classes in Lesotho

English: The introductory chapters of this study explain minimum and maximum learner initiative and the forms in which they can be identified in the language teaching-Ieaming process. In other words, second language learners' and teachers' positions in language classrooms are defined. In so doing the advantages and disadvantages of maximum and minimum learner initiative were shown. The repercussions of the traditional IRF pattern of interaction in English second language classes are discussed in datal Using Bowers (1987) as conceptual framework, the researcher proceeded to identify the most recurrent pattems of interaction in Form E classes in some of the high schools in Lesotho, with specific reference to lingual data. She audiotaped seven pre-counselling lessons and seven interviews between the teachers and her. She also gave a questionnaire to the students so that she could collect more data for validation and triangulation purposes. The transcription of the lingual data, in Bowers' (1987) pre-counselling phase, revealed that most of the teachers adhered to the traditional IRF discourse cycle in English second language classes. The analysis of the lessons, interviews and questionnaires led to Bowers' (1987) counselling/intervention phase. It also made it easy for the teachers to identify their learner initiative-minimizing techniques in language classes. This meant a detailed discussion on maximizing and minimizing learner initiative and their effects in second language learning. The teacher's role in maximizing leamer initiative was thus emphasised. The researcher, then, suggested various ways in which the teachers could maximize leamer initiative. They were also advised to set learning outcomes so as to provide a guide for the implementation of these suggestions. The intervention phase was followed by the post-counselling/intervention phase of Bowers' model. Each of the seven teachers had his or her post-counselling lesson recorded and transcribed. The main purpose was to make it easy for the researcher and the teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention phase. Evidently all the teachers had maximized leamer initiative through different techniques although they could not implement all the suggested techniques. One cannot tell whether the teachers still adhered to the notion of maximizing leamer initiative after the researcher's departure. The researcher therefore recommended, in this study, that second language teachers should receive regular counselling from the inspectors, their colleagues in their schools and from other schools, and lecturers from Lesotho College of Education and the National University of Lesotho. The need for teachers' communicative and pedagogic competences to be developed is also apparent from this study.