Classroom Discourse and Teacher Development

by Steve Walsh

Overview

Highlights the importance of classroom discourse to any second language teacher education programmeReflective practice is central to teacher education and development, yet is something that many teachers struggle with. Can reflective practice be refocused by asking teachers to place classroom interaction and discourse at the centre of their reflections? In this accessible textbook, Steve Walsh explains why it is essential to put an understanding of classroom discourse at the centre of any second language teacher education programme, whether it is a formal programme under the guidance of a teacher educator or a more informal, self-directed programme of teacher development. He argues that in order to improve their professional practice, language teachers need to gain a detailed, up-close understanding of their local context by focusing on the complex relationship between teacher language, classroom interaction and learning. In order to do this he revisits and reconceptualises the notion of reflective practice by giving teachers appropriate tools which allow them to reflect on and improve their professional practice. This thought-provoking book not only stimulates debate on classroom discourse and reflective practice, but also contains practical exercises and advice which will be invaluable to both new and experienced language teachers as well as to researchers in applied linguistics.Task commentaries, a glossary of technical terms and an annotated list of further reading are also included.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780748677849
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	05/31/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Steve Walsh is Senior Lecturer at the Newcastle University

Table of Contents

Series Editors' Preface vii

List of Abbreviations ix

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Teachers as researchers 1

1.2 L2 teacher education and sociocultural theory 6

1.3 Teacher development and classroom discourse 10

1.4 Challenges for teachers and learners 19

1.5 Overview of the book 21

2 Classroom discourse: an overview 23

2.1 Discourse and discourse analysis 23

2.2 Features of classroom discourse 28

2.3 The IRF exchange structure 41

2.4 Summary 44

3 Classroom interactional competence 46

3.1 Interactional competence 46

3.2 Classroom interactional competence 51

3.3 CIC and teacher development 63

3.4 Summary 68

4 SETT: self-evaluation of teacher talk 69

4.1 Context and contexts 70

4.2 The SETT framework 72

4.3 SETT and teacher development 86

4.4 Summary 89

5 Researching classroom discourse 91

5.1 Recording, transcription and ethics 92

5.2 Interaction analysis, discourse analysis, conversation analysis 97

5.3 Corpus-based approaches 102

5.4 CLCA: corpus linguistics and conversation analysis 106

5.5 Summary 110

6 Reflective practice revisited 112

6.1 Definitions of RP 112

6.2 The 'problems' of RP 113

6.3 Reflective practice revitalised 119

6.4 Summary 130

7 Conclusion 131

7.1 Current perspectives on classroom discourse 131

7.2 Teacher development: current issues and future directions 135

Commentaries on Tasks 140

Transcription System 145

References 147

Index 157

Editorial Reviews

This textbook is a valuable contribution to the field of language teaching and learning and teacher education. Unlike most texts in this field, which are generally verbose and not explicit in focus, this text has a tight focus on introducing new approaches to reflective practice in language teacher education... This is a thought-provoking textbook that will hopefully invite further research. It is recommended for language teachers, teacher educators, researchers, linguists, and anyone interested in the field of language teaching.

Deborah Vinci-Minogue

An expert, in-depth, thought-provoking and innovative discussion of the centrality of classroom disource in second language classes. Taking into account the theoretical and technological advances in discource analysis, it also proposes concrete ways to better integrate CIC as a core component of teach training programmes. A must read for future and in-service language teachers, teacher trainers and researchers in applied linguistics.

English Text Constructions - Fanny Meunier