ABSTRACT

Numerous researches have reported the characteristics of teacher talk and its roles in a Second Language Teaching classroom, but few of them focus on excellent teachers. In the present study the author investigates excellent English teachers’ talk in Junior High classes from a conversation analysis perspective, namely conversation patterns, discourse quantity, question types and ways of feedbacks. Data were collected by means of video-tapes and were then analyzed through Conversation Analysis Methodology. 

An analysis of the data shows: 1) complex structures excel IRF in quantity, among which excellent Middle-school English teachers especially favor ‘IR1F1/R2F2…’ and ‘IR[I1R1 (I2R2)…]F’; 2) quantity of excellent Middle-school English teacher’s discourse is slightly smaller than that of students’ and the time is mainly spent on questions and feedbacks; 3) display questions are raised more than referential questions and some display questions can also inspire students’ high-level thinking activities in excellent Middle-school English teachers’ classes; 4) excellent Middle-school English teachers hardly give negative feedback and among positive feedback, repetition & praise and repetition & evaluation are most frequently given. 

The results imply that excellent English teachers provide students with more opportunities to speak than in traditional classes but still hold important controls on Junior High classes. They are playing the roles of Counselor and Facilitator instead of Informant. The findings will offer suggestions for English teaching in Junior High.

Key words: excellent English teachers; Junior High; classroom conversation

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

摘要

Chapter One   INTRODUCTION-1

1.1 Need of the Study-1

1.2 Significance of the Study-1

1.3 Outline of the paper-2

Chapter Two   LITERATURE REVIEW-3

2.1 Theoretical Studies on Classroom Conversation-3

2.2 Empirical Studies on Classroom Conversation-4

2.3 Summary-5

Chapter Three  METHODOLOGY-7

3.1 Research Questions-7

3.2 Theoretical Framework-8

3.3 Data Collection-8

3.4 Data Analysis-8

Chapter Four   RESULTS AND DISCUSSION-9

4.1 Patterns of Classroom Conversation-9

4.2 Quantity of Teachers’ Conversation-13

4.3 Types of Teachers’ Questions-15

4.4 Ways of Teachers’ Feedback-18

4.5 Summary-20

Chapter Five   CONCLUSION-22

5.1 Major Findings of the Study-22

5.2 Implications of the Research-23

5.3 Limitations of the Research-24

5.4 Recommendations for Further Study-24

REFERENCES-25

APPENDIX-28

Appendix I: Hyperlinks to videos-28

Appendix II: Texts transcribed from videos-29