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Exploring Classroom Discourse: Language in Action
S. Walsh
Routledge 2011, 239 pp., £22.99
isbn 978 0 415 57067 1
Exploring Classroom Discourse: Language in Action looks at the relationships among language, interaction, and learning. This book is a welcome addition to the Routledge Introductions to Applied Linguistics series edited by Ronald Carter and Guy Cook. Steve Walsh, the author, successfully demonstrates how to study classroom discourse and how to use that knowledge to improve classroom practice. The text is, therefore, targeted at in-service and pre-service teachers, but I certainly see a wider audience using the book, such as teacher educators, undergraduates and postgraduates, SLA researchers, as well as non-linguists.
The book consists of nine chapters, task commentaries, appendices, glossary, and a suggested list of additional reading. The first chapter opens with the nature and importance of exploring and understanding classroom interaction. Walsh points out the relationship between the language used by teachers and learners and the learning that occurs. In the same chapter, Walsh argues that the most important features of second language classroom discourse are: a) control of the interaction, b) speech modification, c) elicitation, and d) repair. His rationale for choosing these four aspects is that they exemplify much of the interaction that takes place in classrooms and are widespread across various classroom settings.
The second chapter focuses on the relationship between classroom interaction and teaching, while the third chapter looks at the connection between classroom interaction and learning. The main argument in these initial chapters is that L2 classrooms are as much a social context as any other ‘real-world’ context, because opinions, feelings, emotions, and concerns all exist in classrooms just as they occur in the real world.
In the second chapter, using an extract with six pre-intermediate adult learners from Brazil, Japan, Korea, and Russia, Walsh shows how to analyse direct error correction, content feedback, confirmations, wait time, and scaffolding. By explaining and analysing these specific interactional strategies, he shows teachers how to ‘promote more
MA in TESL Teaching and is the Reviews Editor of IATEFL’s Voices magazine. Sandee has published articles in English Teaching Professional and Modern English Teacher and has had the honour of having some of her work used in Dave and Jane Willis’s book, Doing Task-based Teaching (Oxford University Press 2007).Email: [email protected]:10.1093/elt/cct008
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active, engaged, and dialogic learning environments’ (p. 47). Classroom teachers are further encouraged to use their own classroom recordings so that they can improve their overall teaching.
In the third chapter, learning is defined under two headings: learning as a cognitive activity and as a social process. I was a bit disappointed by the narrow focus here. Although Walsh defines learning in the light of sociocultural theories of education, the explanation is short and the focus is limited to the zone of proximal development and scaffolding. I believe that a third definition of language learning in light of post-structural approaches to second language acquisition (SLA) and use would be necessary. Indeed, post-structural SLA relies heavily on discourse analysis to understand the interaction between learning and various other concepts, such as positioning, identity, and agency. Unfortunately, Walsh seems to ignore this major area and limits his discussion of learning to cognitivist SLA and Vygotskian sociocultural theory. A third subtitle in this section or a broader explanation under ‘learning as a social process’ would make this chapter much stronger.
The following two chapters, Chapters 4 and 5, provide an overview of some approaches to the investigation of L2 classroom interaction. Ad hoc, classroom, and discourse approaches are presented as the main approaches. Some other alternative approaches (i.e. corpus linguistics, concordancing, cluster analysis, word frequency counts and word lists, keyword analysis) that can be used to collect and analyse classroom data are also covered.
My favourite chapter in the book is Chapter 6 in which Walsh introduces a framework, SETT (Self Evaluation of Teacher Talk), which comprises four classroom micro-contexts (called ‘modes’) and 14 interactional features (called ‘interactures’). We learn that the framework, intended to be representative rather than comprehensive, was used across various settings around the world with the goal of helping teachers ‘both describe the classroom interaction of their lessons and develop an understanding of interactional processes as a way of becoming a better teacher’ (p. 111). Therefore, using a SETT analysis enables teachers to see the features that are found in their classrooms and assess their appropriacy. I believe that teachers do not need to be discourse analysis experts in order to analyse and interpret their own classroom interaction. If
they use available frameworks, such as SETT, which will guide them to examine talk constructed in their classrooms, their task will be much easier and more enjoyable. Therefore, Walsh makes a strong contribution to the field here by providing teachers with a ‘tool’ that will help them ‘focus attention and direct reflections to specific features of their teaching’ (p. 147).
In Chapter 7, Walsh continues to encourage teachers to analyse the extracts of their classroom discourse and use them for reflection. This way, Walsh argues, teachers will learn how to reflect on their practice in a structured and systematic way. In the following chapter, Chapter 8, Walsh presents and develops the notion of classroom interactional competence and discusses some of the strategies that teachers can use to improve it. I believe that the term classroom interactional competence has been neglected in the fields of applied linguistics and SLA, so I appreciated Walsh’s efforts to highlight the importance of it for effective classroom practices. The final and the shortest chapter, Chapter 9, briefly reviews some of the main themes presented and discussed in the book and points to future directions for the study of classroom discourse.
With clear explanations, compelling illustrative transcripts, and to-the-point interpretations, this is a uniquely useful book, an excellent ‘mentor text’ on classroom discourse analysis. Major theoretical constructs in classroom interaction are explained well, which will help teachers strengthen their interactional awareness and reconsider their classroom talk as a way to improve their practice. The writing style is clear and accessible. Walsh successfully demonstrates how interaction, learning, and teaching are intertwined in complex ways in our classrooms.
Yet the book has a few limitations. First, a common problem that I have seen in a number of books focusing on classroom discourse is also present here. Given that this book is about ‘discourse’, which is defined in many different ways across various disciplines, I would expect Walsh to conceptualize the term in the initial chapters. The conceptualization is critical to how research studies are framed. Second, starting from the very first chapter, the book gives the reader the impression that this is a ‘conversation analysis’ text. Since the analysis presented throughout the book uses conversation analysis techniques heavily, it was hard for me to perceive this text
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as a ‘comprehensive classroom discourse’ book. It would have been comprehensive if Walsh had equally included a variety of approaches, such as speech act theory, pragmatics, or critical discourse analysis (CDA), in his examples, explanations, and analysis. For example, CDA is addressed in two short paragraphs only as an alternative approach to studying classroom discourse, and readers are left without knowing what an analysis adopting CDA would look like. This is mainly because Walsh focuses on the micro, local contexts in which classroom talk is created and does not address the macro, by which I mean broader sociocultural and socio-political dimensions of classroom discourse. Therefore, the text may not be a good choice for readers who are interested in topics such as identity, agency, gender, positioning, or power. In spite of limitations, the book serves as an excellent reference on classroom discourse analysis, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to learn more about analysing classroom talk.
The reviewerHayriye Kayi-Aydar is an Assistant Professor of Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Education/TESOL at the University of Arkansas, where she teaches courses on ESL pedagogy and applied linguistics in the MA/PhD programme. Her research focuses on the social dynamics of classroom talk, positional identities, and learning opportunities in ESL classrooms.Email: [email protected]:10.1093/elt/cct004
The Extensive Reading Foundation’s Guide to Extensive Reading
Available for free download at www.erfoundation.org/ERF_Guide.pdf
Extensive Reading (ER) is widely considered to be a useful pedagogic activity, with Maley (2005: 354) claiming that ‘extensive reading is the single most effective way to improve language proficiency’. It therefore seems extraordinary that despite the benefits it provides, ER has often found itself to be the road less travelled in English language courses. However, interest in ER appears to be growing, in no small part due to the work of the Extensive Reading Foundation (www.erfoundation.org), a not-for-profit, charitable organization set up with the purpose of supporting and promoting ER. The foundation organized the very first Extensive Reading World Congress in Kyoto in 2011, with the second one scheduled to take place in Seoul in 2013.
The Extensive Reading Foundation has now produced the Guide to Extensive Reading, which is available for download at their website. The 16-page Guide provides all the support and advice needed for teachers to gain a basic understanding of the principles of an ER approach, while also offering useful suggestions and guidance for creating a successful ER programme. It assumes no prior knowledge of ER and is written simply and succinctly enough to be read quickly.
The Guide begins by defining what ER actually is before moving on to discuss some of the many reasons why it is good for language development.
The next section clarifies the differences between ‘intensive’ and ‘extensive’ reading approaches. This is an important inclusion in the Guide, as it is often suggested that many teachers still treat ER as a fringe activity and focus largely (if not wholly) on teaching intensive reading strategies. Unfortunately, such an approach does not result in very much reading. This is not to say that intensive reading is not an important aspect of reading instruction. In fact, the authors here do a very good job of highlighting the importance of both intensive and extensive reading approaches, suggesting they need not be seen as mutually exclusive and should instead be viewed as complementary.
The Guide moves on to build the case for graded readers, pointing out that they:
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