Arab Educational Information Network

The present research aims at identifying the level of students and lecturers proficiency in the skills of classroom interaction at the college of education, Al Mustansiriyah University . It also aims at identifying if this level is changed according to their gender and specialization. The selected sample included 100 students (from both genders) from the fourth grade, departments of Arabic and Educational and psychological sciences who were randomly chosen as practicing education in schools. 54 students were selected from the department of Arabic whereas 46 students were chosen from the department of Educational and psychological sciences. To achieve the required aims, the researcher formed a questionnaire of 37 skills on four disciplines: forming classroom questions, stimulating and supporting motivation, human communication, and stimuli variation. The researcher also checked the validity and stability of the presented questionnaire. The result of the study showed a decrease in students' performance level in terms of classroom interaction while practicing in schools. Their level in all four disciplines didn’t reach the proficiency level (75%) whereas their performance reached this level in only 8 minor skills (which equals 21.62%) out of 37 skills in the questionnaire. Their level was also decreased in other minor skills based on their supervisors observation. Furthermore, results showed a considerable statistical difference between males and females classroom interaction where females got better results in comparison with males, whereas the difference of the performance between the two departments didn’t reach the level of considerable statistical difference. (Published abstract)