A Study Of College English Classroom Discourse

With the development of the society and the international communication, more and more importance has been attached to college English teaching and learning. College graduates with good command of English are urgently needed in our society. All this makes it a necessity to study the college English classroom so as to explore the features of college English classroom and to promote college English teaching and learning. Classroom process research is a developing approach which investigates classroom L2 acquisition. The analysis of classroom discourse is a very important form which classroom process research has taken. The analysis of classroom discourse involving L2 learners illustrates the joint contributions of teacher and students, rather than focusing only on the teacher's language. Foreign language classroom researchers believe that a detailed study of classroom discourse can provide the foreign language teachers with a profound comprehension of teaching and learning.The present study focuses on college English classroom discourse. The data are collected in three college English classrooms of non-English majors at Qingdao University of Science and Technology. Through a detailed description and analysis of the collected data by referring to Sinclair and Coulthard's classroom discourse analysis model and Nina Spada, Maria Frohlich, Patrick Allen's COLT (Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching) scheme, the discourse patterns and features are made clear and on the basis of which a few strategies for college English teachers are put forward by the author so as to improve college English teaching and learning.The thesis is composed of six chapters. Chapter one is an introduction to the necessity and significance of the study on college English classroom discourse as well as the research field and research method of the study. Chapter two reviews literature on classroom research, discourse analysis, and classroom discourse analysis; presents an exploration of the theories and results of previous studies; points out the problems found in them and thus outlines the present study. Chapter 3 focuses on the method employedin this study. First research questions are specified and hypotheses are provided with regards to the questions. Then method of data collection and transcription are made clear. Finally the two systems consulted in data analysis and discussion, i.e., Sinclair and Coulthard's classroom discourse analysis model and Nina Spada, Maria Frohlich, Patrick Allen's COLT scheme, are introduced at length. Chapter four presents the readers with a lot of tables and numbers aiming at describing and analyzing the two research foci—college English classroom discourse patterns and features in detail. The study shows that the primary exchange patterns of college English classroom are T-P-T, and I-R-F. Other patterns like T, TP, TPTP, TPTPT, PT, PTP, PTPT, and I, I R F R, I R Ib R, I R Ib R F, I Ib R F, I Ib Ib R F, I R F/I R F also exist. The discourse features are: classroom activities mainly center on form rather than meaning; language learning and practicing comprises the primary content of teaching; whole class activities are much more than individual activities and group work has not been found in any of the classes; teacher dominates the class and controls the topic; language used in classroom is mostly English by both teacher and students; in most cases teacher's discourse is "sustained speech" while students' discourse largely belongs to "ultraminimal" or "minimal" with only words, phrases and short sentences; information requested by teacher and given by students is almost all pseudo and predicable which implies that the communication in college English classroom is far from natural.Based on the study above, implications of the present study and some strategies for language teachers are put forward in chapter five. The following strategies are suggested: Asking "referential" questions and giving "facilitating" feedbacks; Involving more "negotiated interaction" in classroom discourse; Engaging the students in group work; Maximize opportunities for students' participation. College English teachers can refer to these strategies for sustaining student engagement and communicative interaction in classroom for the purpose of improving college English teaching and learning. The last chapter is a conclusion to the whole thesis. It summarizes the study results and reaffirms the significance of the study in promoting college English teaching and learning. Meanwhile, suggestions for future study are put forward with the expectation of sparking more research in this field from which college English teachingand learning will be greatly benefited.