Research Methods for Classroom Discourse

Jenni Ingram, Victoria Elliott

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781350072671
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Research in Education

Language, both spoken and written, is key to understanding learning processes in the classroom. Research Methods for Classroom Discourse is for those who want to investigate spoken interaction or other discourse in the classroom. It lays out clearly the different approaches which are possible, identifying the key principles of each. It addresses the differences between them and the consequences these differences might have for teachers and researchers. Each approach is outlined in terms of practical methods advice, reasons for use, and case studies in which the approach has been used in classroom discourse. Common approaches such as conversation analysis, positioning theory, and critical discourse analysis are included alongside more specialised approaches such as discursive psychology and corpus linguistics. The context of classroom research is used to frame all discussions, with connections to other uses and applications where it can enhance the research being undertaken. The authors demonstrate the relationship between these different theoretical approaches through considering particular applications to common topics within classroom research, such as multilingual learners, knowledge/ knowing and identity. The authors assume no prior knowledge of technical terms and a glossary of key term terms is included. Practical issues such as ethics, data collection and transcription are an integral part of the discussion throughout, providing students with all the knowledge needed to embark upon a successful research project in this area.

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

Communication is at the heart of our existence as social beings, and classrooms are no exception to this. Through communication things are achieved; ideas are shared, challenged and debated; knowledge evolves and develops; and we accomplish teaching and learning. Classroom discourse has a variety of forms, which are variously emphasized by different approaches to research, but each of which is important in one context or another. Classroom discourse research is evolving rapidly, as it contributes to our understanding and conceptualization of pedagogy, teaching and learning, and the social contexts of learners and learning. Engaging in research in classroom discourse enables researchers to consider fundamental issues to teaching and learning, grounded in close analysis of evidence.

We will introduce a range of ideas, concepts and theoretical and methodological approaches that may be of use to the researcher interested in classroom discourse. In doing so we will identify the choices and decisions involved from the very beginning of conceptualizing and conducting research, and urge you to consider the implications that these decisions may have for your research design and for the claims which you can make from your research. This book is for you if you are a teacher-researcher, a research student or an experienced researcher turning to research in classroom discourse or interested in the possibilities it provides.

Historically, classroom discourse research began initially as an attempt to find an effective way to evaluate classroom teaching (e.g. Flander’s Interaction Analysis Categories [Flanders 1960]). As the foci and needs of researchers have evolved and shifted, a wide range of theoretical and methodological approaches from other fields, such as psychology, sociology and linguistics, have been appropriated. As Edwards and Westgate (1994) emphasize, it is crucial that we recognize the relationship between the theoretical approach to researching classroom discourse and how we collect, transcribe, code, analyse and interpret the discourse we are researching. It is these relationships that we have sought to highlight in this book.

There are a number of highly influential researchers whose work needs mentioning in any outline of classroom discourse research. Cazden’s (1988) was a foundational work which described both ways of researching classroom discourse and the social and cultural consequences of particular discourses on learners. Gee’s work on Discourses (1999) had a huge influence on how researchers conceptualize and distinguish between different meanings of the word ‘discourse’. Systemic functional linguistics (Halliday 1961) offered a micro-analytic approach which treated language as offering a series of choices, which has had a long-lasting effect on the way that researchers conceptualize the study and practice of discourse. One key contemporary researcher of classroom discourse is Neil Mercer, whose work has had a significant influence on classroom practice. We have only touched on his work and the work of his colleagues Lyn Dawes, Karen Littleton and Rupert Wegerif briefly because a more comprehensive account will be found in another book which is forthcoming in this series (Research Methods for Classroom Dialogue).

A classic example of classroom discourse research is one with which most teachers are familiar: the Initiation-Response-Evaluation/Feedback (IRE/IRF) pattern described by Mehan (1979) and Sinclair and Coulthard (1975). This is one of the oldest and most common patterns in teaching-learning discourses – both in the context of classrooms and in parent–child interactions. The identification and description of this pattern led to a wealth of research looking at both the nature and content of each of the moves (Initiation, Response and Feedback), and the consequences of these on students and teachers (e.g. Michaels and O’Connor 2015 and Chapter 9 of this volume).

Throughout this book we refer to the learners in the classroom as ‘students’. While we could have used the words ‘learner’ or ‘pupil’, researchers interested in classroom interaction may be interested in the learning of the teachers involved, so the teachers are also ‘learners’. In addition, classrooms can include students of all ages, from the very young kindergarten student to adult learners in a range of settings. This book draws from studies of classroom discourse covering a wide range of students, contexts and curriculum areas and so we have felt it most consistent to use ‘students’ throughout when referring to those who would generally be considered to be the learners in the classroom. Although the learning of teachers may be described, we continue to refer to them as teachers throughout the book.

There are a diverse range of theories, methods and analytic strategies for researching classroom discourse and we have been necessarily selective with what we are including in this book. This diversity is both helpful and makes the study of classroom interaction full of complex decisions. The complexity of classroom interaction means that no one approach will be sufficient to tell us everything we want or need to know. However, each approach will illuminate some aspects and give us insight into different features.

Our interest in classroom discourse comes from our own experiences as classroom teachers, and our current roles as teacher educators and researchers. As teachers we regularly engaged in a variety of types of interaction and communication which led us to appreciate the diversity and complexity of linguistic operations happening in classrooms and the different impacts these have on different students. Many of the teachers described in the case examples in this book were engaged in classroom discourse research as a way to improve their own teaching and learning, and we too have seen the value of it in this context. As teacher educators we appreciate the challenges faced by both beginning and experienced teachers in introducing or developing communicative behaviours and patterns. We also supervise a wide range of research students from a variety of backgrounds. It is in these capacities that we first appreciated the need for a book such as this which supports research students, teacher-researchers and academics supervising outside their comfort zone to access the information which they need to consider to make decisions from the earliest stages of the research process to the depths of data collection.

As researchers we come from different traditions: Jenni began in the conversation analytic tradition while Victoria as an ex-English teacher was naturally drawn to the analysis of written texts. Through our collaborations with each other and with international colleagues our interest in and appreciation for other approaches has developed and refined. Victoria is an avid collector of research methods (going so far as to collaborate on a research project far outside her usual area simply to learn how to do Foucauldian critical discourse analysis), while Jenni is particularly interested in the theoretical underpinnings of why certain research decisions are made and how they influence the data and interpretation of that data. Our backgrounds in mathematics and English mean that we are constantly challenging each other’s interpretation and approaches to language and meaning.

This leads us neatly on to the question of what ‘discourse’ actually means. We concur with Thornbury when he argues:

The term discourse is both slippery and baggy: slippery because it eludes neat definition, and baggy because it embraces a wide range of linguistic and social phenomena. (Thornbury 2010: 270)

Almost every researcher who works with ‘discourse analysis’ will have their own particular conception of what discourse is. We have been inclusive in the approaches that we have described in this book (e.g. some researchers in the field of discourse analysis would exclude conversation analysis as being within it). Broadly ‘discourse’ can be used to describe the data which is being analysed – any spoken or written expression of meaning, interaction or other forms of interaction, such as gesture or eye gaze, or the way people dress – and it is in this way that the term is used in the title of this book. However, ‘a discourse’ can also be the outcome of discourse analysis. Where it is relevant we have discussed this in relation to each theoretical approach or application and have tried to delineate between what might be termed the lay and the specialist application of this word.

The book is divided into three parts. In the first we consider five different theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of classroom discourse. Part Two then develops these approaches in relation to specific applications in the context of research topics and considers how they might have different contributions to offer in the study of individual subjects. The third part is more practical, offering a series of provocations for thought that may influence the decisions you make in designing your own research. A glossary is given at the beginning of the book to offer a quick reference point to some of the terms utilized within the book.

The purpose of this series is to invite the reader to be thoughtful about methods, and we hope that this book will offer plenty of food for thought and leave you with a desire to follow up on some of the issues and choices that are raised in the various chapters. This cannot be a complete or comprehensive guide to research in classroom discourse, but we hope it will be a starting point that will enable you to make early decisions that will lead to purposeful and productive research and offer suggestions for where you can find out more.

PART ONE

Theoretical and Methodological Frameworks for Researching Classroom Discourse

Introduction to Part One

These five chapters introduce five different theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of discourse, with reference to the specific context of classrooms. These approaches are not exhaustive but they illustrate a range of ways in which the researcher can engage with classroom discourse, and the complexities of the possibilities. We have deliberately selected approaches which are established ways of researching classroom discourse but which are contrastive in the ways in which they approach the material.

Chapter 2 outlines the Conversation Analytic approach, alongside other ethnomethodologically informed approaches, to analysing classroom discourse. CA is one of the main approaches to research in classroom interaction. We begin with this chapter as ethnomethodological approaches are tightly guided by clear theoretical principles which underpin the nature of the research questions that can be asked, the methods of data collection and analysis, and the particular way in which these approaches interpret interaction. These approaches focus solely on interaction at the micro level. As we move through the other chapters you will see the contrast between the approaches discussed in this chapter and the others which engage in the study of a wider range of discourse and work at various analytic levels.

Chapter 3 moves the focus onto positioning theory, a relative newcomer to the field of research in classroom discourse. This continues the focus of Chapter 2 on the idea of discourse as social action but applies it specifically to the ideas around how people position themselves and position each other when they interact. This includes positioning both within classroom interactions and within curriculum resources and textbooks. In this chapter we also consider the notion of figured worlds where the emphasis is on positioning at a more macro level than considered in Chapter 2, and which is a concept that is used widely in identity research, which is explored in Chapter 7.

Chapter 4 provides an overview of a specific form of discourse analysis aimed at the critique of power and challenging ‘common sense’ or assumed views of people and society: critical discourse analysis (CDA). We situate this approach within the umbrella term of discourse analysis and consider the ways in which ‘discourse’ is used differently in different contexts. Although there is no one authoritative way to conduct CDA, we offer one route through the research method. The individual researcher can have a substantial impact on the outcomes of a CDA and we consider issues of positionality and trustworthiness in producing useful research using this approach.

Chapter 5 explores the field of sociolinguistics and a number of different terms and concepts which are widely used within this approach to linguistic research. Sociolinguists concern themselves with the social dimension of language choices, and these dimensions are numerous. We consider some of the characteristics which might be the most relevant to the study of classroom discourse, such as regional variation, socio-economic class, gender, race, power and the sociological concept of ‘face’. The chapter contextualizes these characteristics within examples taken from common classroom situations.

Chapter 6 turns to a quantitative approach to the analysis and description of language that can be used in combination with the other approaches which we have explored. We have considered how to design a corpus as well as analysing corpora and finally we also briefly consider research into the pedagogy of using corpora in language teaching. While corpus linguistics is an established field of research it is a relative newcomer to educational research and currently largely focuses on higher education.

CHAPTER TWO

Conversation Analysis and Discursive Psychology

Introduction

Within the range of theoretical approaches to analysing classroom interaction considered in this book, conversation analysis (CA) and discursive psychology (DP) are marked out particularly by their focus only on talk-in-interaction and the strong principles that researchers work with. This also leads to the use of particular data collection and analysis approaches. While CA has its roots in sociology and DP has its roots in social psychology, they draw on the same theoretical, methodological and analytical frameworks all based on ethnomethodology (Garfinkel 1967). Both focus on talk-in-interaction, that is, real talk within the context in which it is spoken, rather than talk or text in general which with other approaches are often taken out of the context in which it is used. CA has a long history within educational research and is most widely used by researchers involved in the teaching and learning of English as an additional language. DP, on the other hand, is a relative newcomer. We have brought together these two approaches in this chapter because they have the same roots and are consequently underpinned by similar principles and make use of the same methodologies but use these methodologies to address different questions or topics. DP in particular focuses specifically on those topics usually of interest to psychologists, such as knowledge, identity and attitudes and while CA also examines these topics, as well as a broader range of topics, it does so in a different way. Other approaches that have developed out of the work of CA and DP, such as critical discursive psychology (CDP), are not discussed here as they do not adhere as closely to the same ethnomethodological principles, particularly in terms of the meaning and role of context.

Both CA and DP focus on the analysis of talk-in-interaction in looking at what teachers and students say as they interact in the classroom, but also they pay careful attention to how things are said. Pauses, intonation, emphasis are all considered in the delivery of what is said, as is the sequential context in which it is said, such as what was said before and how it affects what is said next. Underpinning this is the idea of recipient design, that is, when we interact we design what we say and do for the person we are interacting with. What CA and DP researchers are interested in is how we make sense of each other when we interact through how we design our turns, but the methods we use to enable others to make sense of what we are saying and doing are also observable to researchers and are therefore available for analysis. These methods are the ‘common sense methods’ that are the focus of all ethnomethodological approaches; ‘each “next” turn at talk will, in dealing with the previous turn, display its producer’s analysis or understanding of the previous turn’s content, import and relevancies’ (Heritage 1986: 5, cited by te Molder and Potter 2005). What marks them out as different from other approaches to the analysis of classroom discourse is the level of detail and fine-grained nature of the analysis of what is actually said in interaction. CA and DP focus on language as action rather than language as a representation of what people are thinking. What is of interest is how teachers and students deal with issues such as explaining, argumentation, memory, thinking and understanding when they interact.

Both the approaches we examine in this chapter are underpinned by ethnomethodological principles which drive the decisions researchers make around research questions, data collection and analytic methods. Therefore, we begin this chapter by describing some of these ethnomethodological principles, and the historical context within which they developed in order to highlight the differences that result from these principles in contrast to other approaches to the analysis of classroom interactions considered in later chapters. We will also outline the methods used by researchers using CA or DP as well as explori...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Contents 
• List of Figures and Tables
• About The Authors
• Series Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• A Glossary of Research Methods and Terminology
• 1 Introduction
• PART ONE Theoretical and Methodological Frameworks for Researching Classroom Discourse
• PART TWO Applications and Topics for Classroom Discourse Research
• PART THREE Practical Considerations
• References
• Index