A Study On The Middle School English Classroom Discourse In Rural Areas Based On Lotman’s Semiosphere Theory

Owing to the deficiency of the teaching resources,there are many problems existing in the middle school English classroom in rural areas.However,the research on the rural middle school English classroom discourse is ignored by the scholars and the research methods need to be innovated.Therefore,this thesis conducts a study on the rural middle school English classroom discourse based on Lotman’s semiosphere theory,aiming to reveal the current situation of rural English classroom discourse.It is hoped that this research will provide some practical suggestions to the English teaching in rural areas.All elements in the semiosphere are in constant interaction with each other.The teacher-system and students-system exchange information through the channel of“I-I”communication and “I-He” communication.As the text in the semiosphere,Teacher Talk and Student Talk(hereinafter referred to as TT and ST)transmit information within and outside the system following five stages: Contact,Selection,Internalization,Integration and Transmission.Since the functioning of the classroom is similar to the semiosphere,this thesis conducts the research on the rural middle school English classroom discourse based on Lotman’s semiosphere theory.This research is focused on three questions:(1)What is the amount of TT and ST and of Native Language and Target Language(hereinafter referred to as NL and TL)in TT in the middle school English classroom in rural areas?(2)How does the dialogue mechanism in the middle school English classroom in rural areas operate?(3)What are the meaning and functions of TT in the middle school English classroom in rural areas?This research combines the quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis as its research methods.The research data collected through classroom recording and transcribing,questionnaire,interview and classroom observation was processed and analyzed with the help of IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0.There are three major findings:(1)TT occupies a large portion of the class time in middle school English classroom in rural areas and the teachers frequently use NL as the teaching language.(2)The dynamic mechanism of the rural middle school English classroom operates through “I-He” communication and“I-I” communication.The “I-He” communication including questioning,interaction modification,feedback and group work fails to fulfill its functions to the full.“I-I”communication serves to help teachers and students reflect and improve themselves.(3)TT in rural middle school English classroom has sub-textual meaning(linguistic meaning)and textual meaning(cultural meaning),fulfilling the function of transmitting information,the function of creation and the function of memory.This thesis concludes with the implications for the English teaching in rural areas,the limitations of the research and suggestions for the future studies.