A Study On Classroom Discourse With Special Reference To College Teachers

In recent years, classroom discourse has been a field of heated discussion among teachers and pedagogical researchers. Classroom discourse analysis refers to the study of language that teachers and students use to communicate in the classroom. The study of classroom discourse can be conducted from either linguistic perspectives or pedagogical aspects. This paper explores into the benefit of classroom discourse analysis to the actual teaching.Classroom discourse analysis provides language teachers and methodologists with profound rations of evaluation of teaching activities, interactional teaching and the judgment of teaching modes. In this paper, from the classroom discourse perspective, the author will analyze the discourse patterns and classroom communication management of college English teachers from none-English departments, while applying Self-Evaluation of Teacher Talk (SETT) framework from Steve Walsh (2006). Though an analysis of the samples collected from the university, this paper attempts to reveal that: (1) unequal power relationships exist in IRF (Initiation, Response, Feedback) structure; (2) materials mode is predominant in class; (3) there is an imbalance between pedagogic and natural discourse; (4) intolerance of silence, uneven allocation of turns, incomprehensible input and teachers' linguistic deficiency cause poor communication management by college teachers. In terms of management problems of classroom discourse for the teachers, the author puts forward four recommendations.