A Study Of Teacher-learner Negotiation In EFL Classroom In China From A Sociocultural Perspective

This study explores the nature of teacher-learner negotiations in EFL classrooms in Englishteacher education programs in China. Participants in this study are teachers and learners fromtwo teachers' universities in northeast China. Perceiving learners in these programs as pre-service teachers, this research aims at revealing the concept of EFL teaching in the interactiveactivities of negotiation, and reconceptualizing the interaction model in teacher educationprograms in terms of both the co-construction of knowledge and the necessity of emphasizingthe 'teacher' element in this special program. As a problem-driven research, this study is atimely answer to EFL teaching reform in higher education in China, especially to the QualityProject launched in2007and the Non-tuition Teacher Education Program initiated since2007in the six '211Project' teachers' universities nationwide.Theoretically, this study is mainly informed by the sociocultural line of thinking in SLAresearch. Sociocultural theory, an ecological view of SLA (van Lier2000,2004), a situatedview of learning (Lave&Wenger1991), a participation metaphor (Sfard1998) and theoriesof implicit and explicit linguistic knowledge together form the theoretical sources of thisresearch. In justifying this theoretical standing, the cognitive-sociocultural debate in SLAinitiated by Firth&Wagner (1997), the cognitive and sociocultural perspectives of interactionare critically reviewed. As the literature shows, in spite of the fact that both the cognitive andsociocultural school recognize the significance of classroom interaction in learning,interaction is perceived as facilitative to learning in the cognitive tradition, whereas toscholars from the sociocultural school, interaction does more than just facilitating learning,rather, interaction is perceived as learning itself. From the sociocultural perspective, learningis conceptualized as participation rather than acquisition (Donato2000). It is taken not only asa constructive process that takes place in the mind of the learner but also as a process ofmeaning-making and enculturation into social practices.Adopting the sociocultural perspective, negotiation is taken as the embodiment of languagedevelopment in process, it is the very site where learning happens. In criticizing the earlierdefinitions of NOM and NOF in the literature as too narrow in confining negotiation to onlyproblem-driven instances of negotiation, this research proposes to redefine NOM and NOF. Inthe new definitions, NOM includes not only instances of negotiation initiated bycommunicative failures, but also instances of negotiation sustained for communicativesuccess; while NOF refers to the interactive moves in which interlocutors discuss issuesrelating to the linguistic form of the target language either in language use or linguistic rules,with or without the occurrence of learner errors.Methodologically, classroom recording and observation, a learner questionnaire, a learner implicit and explicit linguistic test, and a teacher interview protocol are used as researchinstruments. In transcribing the recorded data, a Transcriber software is adopted so that theprecision of the transcription is maximally achieved. An adapted sociocultural discourseanalysis (SDA) is applied as the analytical tool in the qualitative analysis of the transcribeddata, while in quantitative analysis, not only quantification of numbers is used, but also thestatistics software SPSS17.0is used for correlation studies. The application of both qualitativeand quantitative means in the interpretation and explanation of data together well maintainsthe balance between the humanistic and scientific aspect of research in this study.In accordance with the research questions and hypotheses in this dissertation, the findings ofthis study can be summarized into four aspects:(1) Linguistically, instances of NOM are found to overwhelm those of NOF in the corpus,suggesting that the focus of teacher-learner negotiation is on meaning not on form. Withininstances of NOM, few are initiated by communicative failure, rather, many are sustained forcommunicative success. Within instances of NOF, more are conducted on language use, veryfew contains explanations to explicit linguistic knowledge. This finding well justifies theredefinition of NOM and NOF in this study since the earlier definitions are too narrow andconversational.(2) Cognitively, processing of negotiation is revealed in all three types of negotiations:cumulative, exploratory, and disputational in a descending order. Exploratory negotiation,though not many in number, is found most facilitating in engaging learners actively andexploratorily. However, in spite of teacher effort, passive learner agency often obstructs thedevelopment of such activities into well-sustained instances of exploratory negotiation.(3) Socially, processing of negotiation mostly follows the collaborative and the expert/novicepattern, and only rarely does it follow the dominant/passive pattern. This finding is inconsistency with the sociocultural tradition in China where teacher power is respected andcooperativeness is expected. Prominently, it is found that, in the expert/novice pattern, teacheraffordances, once picked up by learners, function effectively in guiding joint contribution tothe negotiating process and the co-construction of knowledge.(4) In reconceptualizing classroom interaction in English teacher education programs, it isbelieved that the meaning-oriented nature of teacher-learner negotiated interactions reflectsthe heavy impact of CLT on EFL teaching in university English programs in China. Theemphasis on promoting communicative competence in learners has resulted in the over-emphasis on learning English as a skill, rather than a subject knowledge, as well as the neglectof linguistic form in classroom teaching. The gap between learner implicit linguisticknowledge and explicit linguistic knowledge further reveals that, for explicit linguisticknowledge, a kind of conscious, systematic knowledge, to go into learner knowledgerepertoire, special attention from both the teachers and the learners is needed. In strengthening the 'teacher' element in English teacher education programs, an adjusted emphasis on thescientific aspect of linguistic knowledge seems to be primary. Abandoning the concept oflanguage learning as the accumulation of knowledge in the mind of the individual from thecognitive perspective, this research is in support of the sociocultural view of co-constructionof knowledge in critical and exploratory ways. Therefore, the cultivation of critical thinkingand logical reasoning through interactive work should be a necessary component of classroomteaching.In conclusion, the significance of this research lies in the following aspects. Firstly, resultsfrom this study well justifies the strengths of the sociocultural perspective of SLA. Theparticipation metaphor, SCT, the ecological view of SLA, and the situated view of learningwhich together form this line of thinking are found to be effective and applicable theories innegotiation research. Secondly, the proved redefinitions of NOM and NOF in this studycontributes to a broader understanding of negotiation in SLA literature. Thirdly, theeffectiveness of SDA as an analytically tool is well verified and can become a useful tool infuture research. Fourthly, this research highlights the necessity of rethinking learner-centeredness in EFL classroom teaching and learning, particularly in Asian cultures like China.The CLT concept in minimizing teacher roles and maximizing learner roles through group orpair work among peers in classroom interaction is challenged. Fifthly, this study provideslanguage teachers and educational researchers with a better understanding of the complexitiesand contingencies of teacher-learner negotiation in the classroom, as well as a betterunderstanding of the linguistic, cognitive and social dimensions of negotiated interaction thatdetermine the extent to which learners are engaged in classroom activities. Lastly, theproposed tentative negotiating interaction model in classroom teaching highlights a means togive prominence to the 'teacher' element in English teacher education programs in China.Despite of the effort made, the limitations of this study are self-evident and are to beconquered in future research. Technically, though time-line has been considered, this researchis not an ideal longitudinal study. In addition, the precision in data transcription and coding isin need of improvement. To further prove the validity of the redefinition of NOM&NOF asproposed in this study, and the applicability of SDA as an effective analytical tool fordiscourse studies, more research with different participants in various sociocultural andlearning contexts are needed. Arising as a challenger to the dominant cognitive tradition in thefield of SLA, the strengths of sociocultural line of thinking has been proved by many studies,but it is still necessary for more studies to be conducted, especially in studies concerningsociocultural variables such as negotiated interaction. Lastly, the findings of this observationalstudy suggest that interventional research on classroom negotiation can be conducted tofurther testify the effectiveness of the proposed negotiating interaction model for teachereducation programs in China.