Researching Classroom Discourse

A Student Guide

Christopher J. Jenks

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9780429559051
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

This practical guide to doing classroom discourse research provides a comprehensive overview of the research process. Bringing together both discourse analysis and classroom discourse research, this book helps readers to develop the analytic and rhetorical skills needed to conduct, and write about, the discourse of teaching and learning. Offering step-by-step guidance, each chapter is written so that readers can put the theoretical and methodological issues of classroom discourse analysis into practice while writing an academic paper. Chapters are organized around three stages of research: planning, analyzing, and understanding and reporting. Reflective questions and discourse examples are used throughout the book to assist readers.This book is essential reading for modules on classroom discourse or thesis writing and a key supplementary resource for research methods, discourse analysis, or language teaching and learning.

Part I

Planning

1

What is classroom discourse analysis?

Classroom discourse research spans many disciplines, is informed by a range of theoretical frameworks, and has been carried out with a number of different methodologies. Defining classroom discourse research requires deconstructing the very terms that represent this area of study. That is, how do researchers understand and approach classrooms, discourse, and analysis?

The answers to these questions establish what has been done in classroom discourse research, and how discourse analysis informs such work. Although addressing these terminological issues is a necessary first step in explaining how classroom discourse can be studied, such a discussion is inherently selective and somewhat superficial because of the interdisciplinary nature of this research. For example, discourse analysis is a collection of approaches that covers many methodologies and methods, and therefore some analytic issues will be naturally excluded from this book. To complicate matters, the meaning of classroom discourse varies according to theoretical frameworks, methodological tools, and empirical interests. For instance, a scholar with an interest in turn-taking practices will have a different theoretical understanding of classroom discourse than a critical researcher examining how race and ethnicity shape teaching and learning. This chapter, which attempts to make sense of these diverging views, should thus be read as one interpretation of classroom discourse out of many.

Many questions must be asked when defining classroom discourse research. For example, what does it mean to be in a classroom and what types of teaching and learning take place in these pedagogical spaces? In the same vein, what does it mean to examine discourse, and what discursive features shape, and are shaped by, classroom activities? The idea that classrooms represent a set of discursive phenomena that can be investigated is based on a host of methodological issues. In other words, a discussion of classroom discourse also requires you to understand what is meant by analysis, or more specifically, discourse analysis. That is, what methodological issues shape all discourse analytic approaches?

The first two sections of this chapter answer these questions by reviewing the main theoretical and empirical issues associated with classroom discourse and discourse analysis. The aim of the chapter is to provide an introductory account of classroom discourse analysis, which means avoiding lengthy and convoluted theoretical explanations. Instead, this chapter points readers to supplementary references that offer detailed accounts of classroom discourse analysis if more advanced reading is necessary. Furthermore, the chapter aims to walk readers through the research process as it pertains to classroom discourse analysis: tables and figures are used throughout to illustrate the basic principles of the research process. The chapter ends with a research outline that can be used to not only plan an empirical investigation, but also make sense of the basic contents of this book.

1.1 What is classroom discourse?

If you are considering using this book for your research, then you should already have some understanding of what classroom discourse is and how it can help you achieve your academic or professional objectives. You may not, however, have a clear understanding of the different empirical issues that can be, and have been, investigated in the classroom discourse literature. That is, you may have a general understanding of what a classroom is and what constitutes discourse, but it may not be clear how such terms can be approached in a research paper. After reading this section, you will be able to start conceptualizing your research paper and selecting the appropriate methodological tools to carry out such work. Before defining classroom discourse, it is helpful to reflect on what your understanding is of classroom and discourse.

1.What are some defining characteristics of a classroom?

2.Are classrooms only located in schools and universities?

3.What types of discourse do teachers produce?

4.What types of discourse do students produce?

5.How do classrooms influence the types of discourse used by teachers and students?

Classroom discourse is difficult to define because scholars have different empirical interests that are, unfortunately, sometimes viewed as competing ideas. These divides are largely unhelpful and discouraging, as all researchers interested in classroom discourse work towards a common goal: to improve teaching and learning. With this common goal in mind, rather than explain the myriad theoretical and methodological reasons for debate within the literature – indeed much has already been reported on such issues (for competing viewpoints on discourse, see Jaworski & Coupland, 2006) – this section addresses the different ways the aforementioned questions can be answered.

Classroom discourse is defined in this book as the language (e.g., words), communication (e.g., teacher-led talk), practices (e.g., correcting a mistake), texts (e.g., coursebooks), and social structures (e.g., societal expectations of teachers) that make up, as well as influence, teaching and learning. Classroom discourse can thus be seen as what teachers and students do and say (e.g., Walsh, 2006a), and all of the social conditions and factors that shape how this “doing” and “saying” are conducted. While this definition may offer some basis on which the study of classroom discourse operates, it does not help you select a research topic and begin devising an initial outline for your project. Therefore, the discussion will now focus on some of the more common ways of investigating classroom and discourse. In the interest of simplicity, each term will be addressed in a separate section.

1.1.1 Classrooms

Attempting to devise an outline for your research paper first requires identifying an empirical agenda – that is, what general direction will you take in your research? This is a highly variable task, as classroom discourse research includes a range of empirical topics investigated by scholars working in many different fields of study. Although some scholars believe establishing an empirical agenda requires first immersing yourself in the research literature, which is good advice, a more practical way of devising an initial outline is to begin with the notion that the classroom is a site of investigation. Beginning the research process with the understanding that the classroom is a site of investigation can save valuable time by narrowing down the number of keywords that you use when searching the literature. This notion of saving time when searching the literature will become clearer later in this section.

Establishing a site of investigation without knowing much about the precise nature of your research requires momentarily suspending any consideration of classroom context, such as providing explicit correction, teaching oral communication skills, learning in groups, and giving students evaluative comments. Your research outline will need to be eventually narrowed down to this level of context, but for now it is more helpful to think of your research setting. The key difference between context and setting in relation to classroom discourse are as follows:

1.Setting: The classroom as a place (e.g., chat room, school, library).

2.Context: The discourse that occurs within this place (e.g., instructing).

The difference between setting and context is a useful starting point for planning a research project. Again, rather than begin with identifying a contextual issue or phenomenon to investigate, which requires combing through thousands of potentially interesting ideas, it can be more efficient to think of your research setting. For example, is your research going to be based on a physical classroom surrounded by four walls within a school? (Figure 1.1)

Figure 1.1Starting point question

If you answered yes, then your research is likely going to involve conventional teaching and learning roles and classroom relationships. In this setting, teachers often possess some degree of institutional power, which allows them to deliver instructional materials, provide feedback, and evaluate learning according to performance markers, to name a few. Scholarship demonstrates that this institutional power manifests in classroom discourse in many implicit and explicit ways, providing researchers with a range of contextual issues to investigate.

This classroom setting will likely be organized according to a number of other predetermined factors, such as lesson start and end times, learning goals, behavioral expectations, participatory roles, and class size. As with institutional power, predetermined learning variables manifest in discourse in various ways, creating a range of contextual issues that can be investigated. For example, the notion that a predetermined learning outcome can shape student participation is investigated by Seedhouse (2004), who shows that the organization of classroom discourse is intimately connected to the type of learning a teacher is trying to promote, such as fluency or accuracy.

Table 1.1 offers some exemplary studies conducted in traditional classrooms, and identifies several keywords that may help you establish a direction for your initial outline and research. You can use these keywords to search relevant scholarly databases, including Google Scholar and Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA). You may also locate studies relevant to your interests by using these keywords to search within specific academic journals, such as Classroom Discourse and Language Teaching.

Table 1.1 Traditional classroom research

Keywords	Example study
knowledge display, learner initiative, learning opportunity	Waring, H.Z. (2011). Learner initiative and learning opportunities in the language classrooms. Classroom Discourse, 2, 201–218.
teacher belief, classroom interaction, teaching practice	Li, L., & Walsh, S. (2011). “Seeing is believing”: Looking at EFL teachers – beliefs through classroom interaction. Classroom Discourse, 2, 39–57.
identity, ideology, critical pedagogy, neoliberalism	Chun, C.W. (2009). Contesting neoliberal discourses in EAP: Critical praxis in an IEP classroom. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 8, 111–120.
discourse markers, concordance, corpus, lexical features	Hellermann, J., & Vergun, A. (2007). Language which is not taught: The discourse marker use of beginning adult learners of English. Journal of Pragmatics, 39, 157–179.
code-switching, pedagogical focus, language choice	Üstünel, E., & Seedhouse, P. (2005). Why that, in that language, right now? Code-switching and pedagogical focus. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 15, 302–325.
content and language integrated learning (CLIL), English as medium of instruction (EMI), immersion, mediu...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Part I Planning
• Part II Analyzing
• Part III Understanding and reporting
• References
• Index