As an area of classroom research, Interaction Analysis developed from the need and desire to investigate the process of classroom teaching and learning in terms of action-reaction between individuals and their socio-cultural context (Biddle, 1967). However, sole reliance on quantitative techniques could be problematic, since they conceal more than they reveal of the intricacies of classroom interaction. Moving away from this quantitative norm, this study examines the classroom process from the discourse analysis perspective called Critical Classroom Discourse Analysis (CCDA), proposed by Kumaravadivelu (1999); which draws on Poststructuralism and postcolonialism concepts of discourse; to analyze and understand classroom input and interaction in terms of power and dominance.

This ethnographic study aimed at using CCDA as a tool for critical reflection to analyze the differences in the discourse of males and females in an EFL situation. The discussion, based on a case study conducted at a university classroom in Iran, aims at understanding the unseen social processes, i.e. male dominance in discourse. Transcriptions of classroom interactions were put into a qualitatively interpretation of males and females' adherence to, or flouting of four maxims. The research findings suggest that male dominance could be concealed in discourse control, types of questions, and turn-taking. Male participants tended to exert more power and used less indirect language, more negative face, and fewer politeness phenomena.