A Case Study On Classroom Interactive Discourse Of An Experienced Senior High School English Teacher In Listening And Speaking Lessons

Classroom instruction is a process of teacher-student interaction.Using appropriate classroom discourse patterns and strategies to scaffold students’ learning can improve the effectiveness of classroom teaching and learning.Based on the sociocultural perspective,this paper explores the modes of an experienced senior high school English teacher’s interactive discourse in listening and speaking classes and the functions of discourse in scaffolding students and improving the effectiveness of classroom interaction.Based on the Self-Evaluation of Teacher Talk(SETT)framework and scaffolding theory,the research questions of this study are specified as follows:(1)What are the modes of classroom interactive discourse of the experienced senior high school English teacher in listening and speaking classes?(2)What are the functions of classroom interactive discourse of the experienced senior high school English teacher in listening and speaking classes?To answer the above research questions,the researcher observed and recorded English listening and speaking lessons of Teacher A in the Senior High School Attached to a Normal University,and selected nine of the lessons to code and analyze all the teaching modes and scaffolding functions,which were described and explained combined with interviews with students and teacher through discourse analysis and conversation analysis.The major findings are as follows:(1)Most of the modes employed by Teacher A share the typical instructional goals and features of Walsh’s SETT framework,but some of the features are different.Teacher A’s managerial mode involved the learner’s turn and overuse of discourse markers;the materials mode was typically characterized by strict control of the IRF structure and active participation in student question answering;her skills and systems mode was closely aligned with her material mode in which she guided students in learning knowledge and skills by giving vivid instructional demonstrations;her classroom context mode has long teacher turn and short student turn.(2)Teacher A used the following effective strategies and achieved six different scaffolding functions: varying questions to simplify the task,marking critical features directly and indirectly,demonstrating language form and content for students,arousing students’ interest in teaching content with varying intonation and infectious presentation,reminding students of learning progress and monitoring their attention,regarding and controlling frustration generated from learners’ learning process.In summary,the experienced senior high school English teachers’ classroom interactive discourse meets the needs of students and curriculum standards and can be effective in facilitating interaction.This study is not only beneficial to complementing research in the area of classroom interactive discourse by examining both modes and functions but also provides references and insights for frontline high school English teachers to adopt appropriate strategies for the use of classroom interactive discourse.