Flanders' Interaction Analysis Categories (FIAC)

 

1 Accepts feeling: accepts and clarifies the feeling tone of the participants in a non-threatening manner. Feelings may be positive or negative. Predicting and recalling feelings are included

Speaker Talk

Indirect Influence

2 Praises or encourages: praises or encourages action or behavior. Jokes that release tension, not at the expense of another individual, nodding head or saying 'uh huh?' or 'go on' are included

3 Accepts or uses ideas of others: clarifying, building, or developing ideas or suggestions by a student. Brings more of his own ideas into play, shift to category five.

 

Speaker Talk 

Direct Influence

4  Asks questions: asking a question about content or procedure with the intent that a participant may answer

5  Lectures: giving facts or opinions about content or procedures; expressing his own ideas; asking rhetorical questions

6 Gives directions: directions, commands, or orders with which a student is expected to comply.

7  Criticizes or justifies authority: statements, intended to change behavior from non-acceptable to acceptable pattern, bawling someone out; stating why the speaker is doing what he is doing, extreme self-reference.

8 Participant talk-responses: talk by participants in response to teacher. Speaker initiates the contact or solicits participant’s statement.

Participant Talk

9 Participant talk-initiation: talk by participants which they initiate. If 'calling on' participant is only to indicate who may talk next, observer must decide whether participant wanted to talk. If he did, use this category

10 Silence or confusion: pauses, short periods of silence and periods of confusion in which communication cannot be understood by the observer.