Conversation Types in a Class Setting Company - Essay Example

Dis Analysis and Conversation Types in a Setting Company Dis Analysis and Conversation Types in a Setting Company I. Introduction Discourse analysis is one of the critical aspects that help in the understanding of the purposes, meaning use and variations of talks and communication in any social cultural setting. As McCarthy highlights, understanding the varied usage of conversations and language can help an individual assess the value of conversation and talks in any social setting. The classroom setting has been highlighted as one of the social culture settings whereby, a researcher can seek to understand the communication between teachers and students as the communication between students. Although the term “Discourse Analysis” denoted multiple approaches used in linguistics in the analysis of a certain language, its scope in the classroom setting will refer to a methodology analyzing how different communication styles, conversation types and other language aspects determine the level of success in learning. It is evident that, teachers rely on different teaching methods in a bid to ensure that they give effective instruction. For many years, researchers have not considered the existing links between the types of conversations in an educational setting with the educational outcomes. This paper will present different types of conversations within the classroom and critically analyze them in accordance with McCarthy’s guidelines of discourse analysis. Education has been categorized as a dialogic process whereby, both the teachers and the students exhibit a certain value and social practices that define the society and its culture. Worth noting is the fact that, a classroom setting presents an opportunity for sharing information. The kind of talks that ensue between teachers and students and also amongst the students is a subject deserving a discourse analysis. II. Short Summary The classroom setting is one of the intriguing areas that presents researchers with an opportunity to investigate on the diversity in language use. Worth noting is the fact that the types of conversations that ensue within the classroom setting are potential determinants of whether learning outcomes are achieved. Therefore, this critical analysis will employ the discourse analysis methodology to explain how different conversations within a class can affect the learning process of the students. The interest of analysis rests with educational outcomes as there is a salient need of assessing whether conversations between teachers and students are of any critical contribution in ensuring that the educational goals are met. This means that, teachers have to shoulder the responsibility of developing effective conversation types that can promote the achievement of educational outcomes (Boyd & Smyntek-Gworek, 2012). III. Evidence of Collective Thinking within a Classroom According to the principles of discourse analysis developed by McCarthy, there is evidence that collective thinking is exhibited within a classroom. This is evident after a close analysis of the talk between teachers and students, conversations amongst students themselves either in pairs or group activities. In the case of the teacher-student conversations, there is existing evidence that the styles of instructions employed by the teachers determine the level of understanding occurring in the student. This brings into context the significance of teachers developing effective tool of delivering the content. Moreover, it places emphasis on the need for teachers to develop strategies such as, initiation- response- follow up exchanges which can serve as promoters of the level of collective thinking between teachers and students (Boyd & Smyntek-Gworek, 2012). There is evidence obtained from a discourse analysis carried out in different classroom settings, which highlights that using the initiation-response-follow up techniques serves to stimulate student to offer feedback which is personalized. It triggers the inclusion of personal experiences into conversations that ensure within the classroom. Such a technique deviates from the traditional believe that, teachers should take charge in the conversations between them and their students. Using the technique of initiating feedback from students, in which one of the tools is ensuring that students have the opportunity to free expressions and presentation of written as well as oral feedback illustrates its potential in maximizing learning among children (Ghachem, 2014). Other strategies that have proved effective in promoting the achievement of the educational goals include, the habit of teachers to develop strategies of eliciting knowledge from their students. This may be done directly or teachers may choose to present cues to the students in a bid to motivate them to learn. According to McCarthy, such a technique presents an opportunity for the teacher to assess the educational development of the students. Discourse analysis gives attention to multiple factors of language use that determine whether learning is a productive activity (Yuan and Minghe, 2014). This is in accordance with what McCarthy describes as the benefit of understanding the natural discourse in a bid to ensure that effective teaching materials are used and that teaching presents favorable end products. Since discourse analysis goes further to analyze the meanings of both spoken and written communications, researchers have relied on it to highlight the need for teachers to respond effectively to the questions posed by their students. It is intriguing to note that, a simple confirmatory statement from the teacher after the student has said something right serves as a positive motivation to learning. Confirmations therefore should define one of the responses offered by teachers (McCarthy, 2006). In other cases, a teacher may opt to repeat the statement uttered by a student in a bid to place emphasis on the content. According to McCarthy, it is much easier to grasp the meanings of sentences that are heard often. Therefore, when the teachers rely on the repetition strategy in their bid to provide an emphasis, they stimulate memory among the students. Other situations depicting a conversation within a classroom setting portray the need for the teacher to offer elaborations to responses posed by students. Depending on the context of students responses, the teacher may see the need to indulge in an elaborative talk so that the students can understand. There are other cases whereby, the opinions presented by students need a complete reconstruction. In such cases, the problem may surround grammar, phonology or syntax (McCarthy, 2006). Therefore, in such a situation, teachers face the compulsion of reformulating statements from students in a bid to promote ease in understanding. Other conversation types evident in a classroom setting are those between the students. In a bid to promote further understanding, teachers often prefer a group work as an effective strategy. Within the group, participative learning takes place. The members indulge in the necessary research concerning their subject and develop their findings. After a successful group work session, a presentation session by each group within the class follows. The level of language use exhibited by students within a certain group and their capacity to analyze the content before approaching it determines their level of success in understanding different discourses (McCarthy, 2006). Other conversations between teachers and students as well as those between students and fellow students surround the description of shared experiences. As McCarthy highlights, a close analysis of the language use of people belonging to a similar cultural and social setup exhibit the use of phrases, words and ideas that reflect the shared experiences they have had. Through discourse analysis, it is possible to understand the basis of the shared experiences. In a classroom setting, a teacher may make use of “we” in statements a factor that indicates they belong to the same cultural group. Shared experiences may also be evident in the use of literal and reconstructive recaps which are common conversation types in the classroom setting (Yang, Chen, and Yang, 2014). IV. Conclusion In a bid to improve the achievement of educational goals, there is the need for teachers to adopt effective conversational strategies within the classroom. This is because there is established evidence siting that conversation types within a classroom setting have a level of influence on the ability of students to achieve learning goals. Therefore, the above described conversation types define some of the common conversation types used by teachers to promote learning. The use of different conversation types within the classroom presents the students with multiple activities of self-expression and fosters understanding of different discourses either when talking to teachers or amongst themselves. References Boyd, M. and Smyntek-Gworek, S. (2012) Morning Meeting in a Third Grade Classroom: Literacy and Learning. Journal of Classroom Interaction, 47(2), 4-12. Ghachem, I. (2014). A Critical Discourse Analysis of Self-presentation through the Use of Cognitive Processes Associated with We. Journal Of Language Teaching & Research, 5(3), 550-558. doi:10.4304/jltr.5.3.550-558. McCarthy, M. (2006). Discourse analysis for language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Yang, X., Chen, L., & Yang, Y. (2014). The effect of discourse structure on depth of semantic integration in reading. Memory & Cognition, 42(2), 325-339. doi:10.3758/s13421-013-0363-0 Yuan, W., & Minghe, G. (2014). A Short Analysis of Discourse Coherence. Journal Of Language Teaching & Research, 5(2), 460-465. doi:10.4304/jltr.5.2.460-465 Read More