English Language Teaching in its Social Context
English Language Teaching in its Social Context
English Language Teaching in its Social Context
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LEARNING A NEW REGISTER 261there is a ‘press’ on their l<strong>in</strong>guistic 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 say<strong>in</strong>g it.One clear teach<strong>in</strong>g implication of these various studies is that the degree to which aclassroom is facilitative of second language learn<strong>in</strong>g depends largely on how classroomdiscourse is constructed. Traditional classroom <strong>in</strong>teractions consist<strong>in</strong>g of sequences of<strong>in</strong>itiation, response, and feedback moves (S<strong>in</strong>clair and Coulthard 1975; Edwards and Mercer1987) may, <strong>in</strong> fact, deprive learners of just those <strong>in</strong>teractional features and <strong>in</strong>teractiveconditions which SLA research suggests are enabl<strong>in</strong>g factors <strong>in</strong> language learn<strong>in</strong>g. Whenteacher <strong>in</strong>itiations lead to s<strong>in</strong>gle word or s<strong>in</strong>gle 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 learn<strong>in</strong>g must therefore createopportunities for more dialogic <strong>in</strong>teractional patterns to occur (see van Lier 1996, fordetailed discussion of these issues).The dataThe classroom contextBased on the science topic of magnetism, teach<strong>in</strong>g and learn<strong>in</strong>g activities were planned toreflect po<strong>in</strong>ts along the mode cont<strong>in</strong>uum, the assumption be<strong>in</strong>g that this would offer a logicaldevelopment <strong>in</strong> terms of language learn<strong>in</strong>g. Thus students <strong>in</strong>itially participated <strong>in</strong> smallgrouplearn<strong>in</strong>g experiences where the language used was clearly situationally-embedded.This was followed by a teacher-guided report<strong>in</strong>g session, where, <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>teraction with theteacher, each group shared their learn<strong>in</strong>g with the whole class. Talk<strong>in</strong>g with the teacherabout what had been learned, s<strong>in</strong>ce ths did not <strong>in</strong>volve the use of the concrete materials,led to a mode shift towards more written-like language, and provided a bridge <strong>in</strong>to thewrit<strong>in</strong>g, which was the f<strong>in</strong>al activity of the cycle and l<strong>in</strong>guistically the most demand<strong>in</strong>g.Thisthree-part cycle was repeated several times dur<strong>in</strong>g 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 jo<strong>in</strong>tly 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 report<strong>in</strong>g back to others, s<strong>in</strong>ce children are likely to share very similarexperiences. Here, an attempt was made to set up a genu<strong>in</strong>e communicative situation byhav<strong>in</strong>g each group of children work at dgerent (though related) science experiments; thusthey held different <strong>in</strong>formation from other class members. In <strong>its</strong> communicative structurethe classroom organisation was based on an important pr<strong>in</strong>ciple <strong>in</strong> second language taskdesign: the notion of an <strong>in</strong>formation ‘gap’ and the need for <strong>in</strong>formation exchange (Long1989).One experiment consisted of a small polystyrene block <strong>in</strong>to which a number of paddlepop(ice-lolly) sticks had been <strong>in</strong>serted to enclose a bar magnet. The students were askedto test the effect ofa second magnet. (When the second magnet is placed above the first <strong>in</strong>a position <strong>in</strong> which they are repell<strong>in</strong>g, repulsion causes the second magnet to be suspended<strong>in</strong> mid-air.)The texts bclow (1.1 and 1.2) occurred as students wcrc engaged <strong>in</strong> this activity.Prior to beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g the activity, they were told that they would later describe and attemptto expla<strong>in</strong> what happened to thc rest of the class ([. . .] marks an obvious pause).