Analysis Of Intensive English Classroom Discourse

Discourse analysis has been studied extensively and has become a topical focus for linguists and educationalists. Although there has been an increasing amount of studies on classroom discourse in the world, most of the researches center on the elements on the part of the teachers, such as the types of teachers'questions, the amount of the teachers'talk, etc. Little has been conducted in China to examine the characteristics of the classroom interaction, such as the discourse structures, discourse pattern and the language used in the interaction between the teachers and the students in Chinese context.Classroom discourse analysis is an objective approach to classroom research. It aims to describe the teaching and learning processes and illustrate the joint contributions of teachers and students. For the purpose of revealing the characteristics of classroom discourse of Advanced English classes and of gaining some insights from the study to reflect the current classroom teaching and learning processes, and also hoping to draw attention to classroom interactional process and provide suggestions for English teachers to attain the ultimate pedagogical goal, the author carried out the research in the thesis.The author observes and records twenty-four periods of Advanced English lessons at Shandong University and Shandong Normal University, adopting the method of natural inquiry. Then, the author transcribes the recorded and collected materials. Based on Conversation Analysis theory put forward by Harvey Sacks, Emanuel Schegloff, Jail Jefferson and other linguists, the author makes a tentative analysis of the transcriptions from an interactional perspective. In the thesis, the author analyses the turn distribution, the turn-constructional components, the turn-allocation components, violation of the turn-taking rules-interruptions, teachers'feedbacks, etc. In this thesis, the author attempts to explore the characteristics of teachers'and students'language during the interaction of the Intensive English lessons, choosing the Advanced English as the study course. Based on detailed analysis and discussion, the author concludes some strategies on improving and facilitating the classroom interactions. Through the analysis, the author also finds that some serious factors affect the classroom interaction seriously, such as the long monologues of the teachers, the existence of excessive Chinese words, etc. The analysis in this thesis doesn't only enrich the Conversation Analysis theory and relevant study in the field of classroom discourse, but also has its pedagogical and practical implications. However, due to the deficiency in terms of the research method, the collection and transcription of the materials, the author cannot avoid subjectivity in the thesis. The research in the thesis is only confined to one kind of Intensive English lessons, which is the Advanced English course for the juniors and seniors.In terms of the suggestions for the future study, the author maintains that the following aspects should be paid attention to: firstly, the recording materials or the transcriptions serving the thesis should be more representative; secondly, if need be, the quantitative analysis and the qualitative analysis should be scientifically and closely combined in the related studies in the future. Furthermore, in the process of transcription and analysis, the author should try to be as objective as possible. Only in this way can the thesis become more persuasive and valid.The thesis consists of five chapters, with an introduction part at the beginning and a conclusion part at the end. Before the literature review is given, an introduction about the thesis is introduced, stating the general frame of the thesis, including research background, purpose and methodology, significance and structure.Chapter One is about the literature review. In this chapter, the definition, the history and the methods of discourse analysis, some relevant aspects about the classroom interaction analysis such as the brief history, the approaches and the comment on the previous studies will all be illustrated one by one.Chapter Two explores the theoretical foundation, which includes Conversation Analysis and Classroom Interaction Hypothesis. Here, Classroom Interaction Hypothesis is comprised of Krashen's Comprehensible Input Theory, Long's Interaction Theory and Swain's Output Hypothesis.Chapter Three is about the research design, which includes research questions, subjects, research method, instruments and data collection.Chapter Four is devoted to the discourse analysis of Advanced English classroom interaction. In this chapter, the author explores the interaction from such aspects as the turn-taking system, teachers'feedbacks, meaning negotiation, etc.Chapter Five presents the results and discussions on how to facilitate the interaction in the Advanced English classroom discourse: the turn-taking behaviors and its implications; teachers'feedbacks and its implications; meaning negotiation and its implications.In the conclusion part, the major findings, the theoretical and pedagogical significance, the limitations of the thesis and suggestions for the future study are all presented.