Discourse Analysis Of Teachers And Children In Kindergarten Group Discussion ——Taking Scientific Inquiry Activities As An Example

The group discussion session refers to the learning process in which children,under the organization and guidance of teachers,communicate with each other on a topic,problem or event that appear in the activity,state opinions or make suggestions,question,and criticize.Discussion provides opportunities for children to express and think.At the same time,discussion promotes interactive learning among children.Thus,discussion plays an important role in children’s development.This study adopts a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods to analyze the discourse of teachers and children in group discussions,summarizes the characteristics of teachers and children’s discourse,reveals the situation of participation and speech in the discussion,and explores the influence of teachers and children’s discourse in group discussion.The following step is to explore the effect factors of form of teachers and children discourse characteristic,and provide some effective suggestions for discussion.Through the transcription of the discourses of teachers and children in the group discussion session,and based on repeated study and analysis,this research concludes that the characteristics of the teachers and children’s discourse in the group discussion session are as follows:（1）From the perspective of the number of turns,each child has limited opportunities to speak,and teachers’speech is dominant.（2）From the perspective of the length of turns,children’s turn length is short,speaking time is short,and the volume of speech is small,which make it difficult to make more in-depth and complex speeches.Teachers’turn length is long,speaking time is long,and the volume of words is large,so it has more words.（3）From the perspective of turn assignment and acquisition,teachers often assign turns in a designated way,among which the designated way of bidding by raising their hands is the main method.Children often interrupt by interjecting,standing up,raising the volume of speech,and repeating the content.Fight for a turn and get the right to speak.（4）From the perspective of the discourse structure of teacher-child discussion,the IR₁F₁/R₂F₂（teacher initiation-several children respond-teacher give feedback to each child）structure has the highest usage rate,indicating that more children participate in the discussion,and teachers can respond to children,but there are a few conversation turns between teachers and children,and the depth of discussion is relatively superficial,the discussion is only carried out between teachers and children;the use of IRE（initiative-response-evaluation）structure and IRFRF（I）（Teachers initiate,children respond,teachers give feedback,and then the peer comments on the children’s response,and the teacher then follows the peers’comments for questions or feedback）structure is the lowest,the former indicates that teachers are no longer simply evaluating children in the discussion session,and the latter indicates that children respond to each other in discussion sessions,but not often.（5）From the perspective of the discourse content discussed by teachers and children,teachers mainly asked questions of memory and explanation;children responded mostly by raising ideas and speculations;teachers’responses were mainly by questioning and repeating.In order to explore the main factors that affect the formation of the discourse characteristics of teachers and children in the group discussion,by combines field observation and teacher interviews,the author finds that the influencing factors mainly include the following:（1）Teachers:understanding of discussion;understanding of the right to speak;Formulation of discussion rules;dialogue attitude;（2）arrangement of daily work and rest system;（3）space layout;（4）class size.Based on the above research,combined with relevant theories,this study puts forward corresponding suggestions from the two levels of teachers and the time-space environment of discussion:（1）Improve teacher literacy:update the understanding of discussion,pay attention to children’s participation;change the role of teachers,put discourse right to young children;attach importance to the establishment of internal rules and reduce the restriction of external rules;create an open and democratic discussion atmosphere;（2）Optimize the time and space environment for discussions:arrange seating arrangements reasonably;arrange discussion time reasonably.