English Language Teaching in its Social Context

LEARNING A NEW REGISTER 261there is a ‘press’ on their linguistic resources, and where, for the benefit of their listeners,they must focus not only on what they wish to say but on how they are saying it.One clear teaching implication of these various studies is that the degree to which aclassroom is facilitative of second language learning depends largely on how classroomdiscourse is constructed. Traditional classroom interactions consisting of sequences ofinitiation, response, and feedback moves (Sinclair and Coulthard 1975; Edwards and Mercer1987) may, in fact, deprive learners of just those interactional features and interactiveconditions which SLA research suggests are enabling factors in language learning. Whenteacher initiations lead to single word or single clause responses, there is little opportunityfor learner language to he ‘stretched’, or for the production of comprehensible output. Aclassroom program which is supportive of second language learning must therefore createopportunities for more dialogic interactional patterns to occur (see van Lier 1996, fordetailed discussion of these issues).The dataThe classroom contextBased on the science topic of magnetism, teaching and learning activities were planned toreflect points along the mode continuum, the assumption being that this would offer a logicaldevelopment in terms of language learning. Thus students initially participated in smallgrouplearning experiences where the language used was clearly situationally-embedded.This was followed by a teacher-guided reporting session, where, in interaction with theteacher, each group shared their learning with the whole class. Talking with the teacherabout what had been learned, since ths did not involve the use of the concrete materials,led to a mode shift towards more written-like language, and provided a bridge into thewriting, which was the final activity of the cycle and linguistically the most demanding.Thisthree-part cycle was repeated several times during the course of the development of theunit of work. The three stages are described below, together with representative texts fromeach stage. Taken as a sequence, they illustrate how language development can evolvethrough jointly constructed discourse.Stage 1In many primary schools it is usual for students to rotate through a number of activities overthe course of one or two lessons. Howcvcr, such an organisational structure may negate anyauthentic purpose for reporting back to others, since children are likely to share very similarexperiences. Here, an attempt was made to set up a genuine communicative situation byhaving each group of children work at dgerent (though related) science experiments; thusthey held different information from other class members. In its communicative structurethe classroom organisation was based on an important principle in second language taskdesign: the notion of an information ‘gap’ and the need for information exchange (Long1989).One experiment consisted of a small polystyrene block into which a number of paddlepop(ice-lolly) sticks had been inserted to enclose a bar magnet. The students were askedto test the effect ofa second magnet. (When the second magnet is placed above the first ina position in which they are repelling, repulsion causes the second magnet to be suspendedin mid-air.)The texts bclow (1.1 and 1.2) occurred as students wcrc engaged in this activity.Prior to beginning the activity, they were told that they would later describe and attemptto explain what happened to thc rest of the class ([. . .] marks an obvious pause).