A Study Of Classroom Discourse In Middle School English Reading Class From The Perspective Of Bakhtin's Dialogue Theory

Classroom discourse is the important material for the classroom research because it is not only the crucial method for teachers to carry out the teaching activities but also the vital language input for students.Therefore,it is significant to do the empirical research about the classroom discourse.With the new round of English curriculum reform,the critical thinking in the reading class receives more and more attention.Moreover,the critical thinking can be cultivated in the classroom atmosphere of equal dialogue.Based on this background,this research explores the classroom discourse from the perspective of Bakhtin's dialogue theory in order to provide some suggestions for the teaching of English reading class.The dialogue theory of Bakhtin is full of dialogue characteristic derived from the philosophy.Based on the equality and freedom,the dialogue theory advocates the dialogue in which subjects of communication can respect and understand each other.This thesis mainly deals with three research questions:(1)How is the dialogicity manifested in the English reading classroom discourse?(2)What are the major factors influencing the dialogicity?(3)How can the dialogicity of classroom discourse be improved in middle school English reading class?In the case study of four English teachers in one middle school in Nanjing,the author observes and records four classes.Furthermore,the author transcribes the recorded classes and designs the student-oriented questionnaire and interviews with four teachers.On the basis of Bakhtin's dialogue theory,the author researches the explicit dialogue and implicit dialogue.Subsequently,three influencing aspects of classroom power,questions and feedback,and teachers' teaching views are analyzed to explore the factors affecting the dialogicity and the corresponding approaches to improve dialogicity in classroom teaching.The research findings are presented as follows:(1)The dialogicity can be manifested in the explicit dialogue and implicit dialogue in the English reading classroom discourse.The number of explicit dialogue is more than that of implicit dialogue.Moreover,the explicit dialogue between teachers and students is in dominant position.(2)The unequal power,inappropriate questions and feedback as well as the teachers' different teaching views can influence the dialogicity in the English reading class.(3)Through approaches of emphasizing equal dialogue,increasing the referential questions and instructive feedback as well as developing teachers' teaching views,the dialogicity in the English reading classroom discourse can be improved.Besides,the research result also shows the fact that there is a lack of genuine and meaningful dialogue in current English reading classrooms.Some implications for teaching are provided to enhance the dialogicity and construct the dialogue English reading class.