1 Interactive English Language Teaching of English subjects in IAIN Walisongo Semarang By Daviq Rizal, M.Pd. I. Background of the Study Interaction is when students' attention is focused on conveying and receiving authentic messages. Authentic messages are messages that contain information of interest to speaker and listener in a situation of importance to both. Wells 1981 as Wilga M Rivers quoted explained that “Exchange is the basic unit of discourse....Linguistic interaction is a collaborative activity involving the establishment of a triangular relationship between the sender, the receiver and the context of situation whether the communication is in speech or writing.”. Interaction involves not only the expression of one's own ideas but also the comprehension of those of others. One listens to others and the others respond either directly or indirectly. Participants interpret meanings through this interaction in a context, physical or experiential with nonverbal cues beyond the verbal. In a shared context, all of these factors must be present. The communication here must be interaction between people who have something to share 1 . Why is interaction so significant in English language learning? Wilga M. Rivers further explained that part of the teacher's role is to create or stimulate student creation in which interaction can take place naturally and students can make use for actual communication. In this way, they can get involved in human relations. Besides, through interaction, students can increase their language skills as they listen to or read authentic materials or even in discussions or dialogue journals. In interaction students can express 1 Wilga M. Rivers, Interaction as the key to teaching language for communication, in Interactive Language Teaching, edited by Wilga M. Rivers, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990), p.4