An Analysis Of College Oral English Classroom Discourse

Discourse analysis has been a field of heated discussion in linguistics at home and abroad with a special focus on classroom discourse analysis. Classroom discourse analysis attempts an objective approach to classroom research. This analysis researches how language teachers and students mutually benefit from each other during the teaching and learning process. Classroom discourse analysis provides teachers and researchers with a new perspective for comprehending the teaching process, methods of monitoring teaching behaviors and how the interactions between the teacher and students. After reviewing the current status research on classroom discourse analysis carried out domestically and abroad, it is not difficult to find out that little empirical study has been conducted in college oral English classroom to study the characteristics of discourse structures and turn-taking in China.In the present research, the author analyzed the classroom discourse samples collected from first-year and second-year English majors'oral English classrooms at Nanchang University (NCU hereafter). After a detailed transcription of the recordings, the present thesis attempts to provide a detailed analysis of the virtues and defects of them from the aspects of discourse structure, the turn-taking components and rules, the frequency of the use of display questions and referential questions by the teacher, whereby some tentative implications for college oral English teaching in China are provided at the end of the thesis.The author carried out the research by means of non-participant classroom observation and recording.. One oral English lesson of Class 1 and Class2 from year 08 and year 09 English majors was observed and recorded respectively. The two oral English teachers are both native English speakers and have had teaching experience in China previously. The research findings indicate that:(1) The discourse structures found in classrooms are mostly complex and IRF structure takes a large percentage; (2) Though the turn-length is variable, the turn-length of the teacher's is generally much longer than that of the students'. Regarding turn-taking behaviors in classrooms, teachers take the control over turn-taking. Students do self-selection frequently, the teacher also nominates the next speaker by name, by a look, or sometimes by pointing; (3) Display questions are more frequently used by teachers than the referential questions. Furthermore, the author talked about the influences of the findings stated previously on the students'language acquisition. Strategies on enhancing teachers' questioning skills and methods for cultivating students' turn-taking skills are therefore proposed. The thesis ends by pointing out limitations of the study and putting forward suggestions for further research.