Supportive-Teacher-Talk--The-Importance-of-the-F-M

Supportiveteachertalk:theimportanceoftheF-moveRichardCullenThispaperinvestigatesaparticularaspectofteachertalk—theteacher’sprovisionoffeedbackorfollow-up—andexaminestheroleitplaysinEFL/ESLclassroomdiscourse.ItdrawsontranscriptdatafromasecondaryschoolclassroominTanzaniatoillustrateateacher’sfollow-upmoves,wherethesemovesformthethirdpartofachainofI-R-F(Initiate–Respond–Follow-up)exchangesbetweentheteacherandherstudents.TwomainrolesoftheF-moveareidentified—evaluativeanddiscoursal—eachofwhich,Iargue,supportslearningindi¤erentways.Thepaperfocuses,inparticular,ondiscoursalfollow-up,andthestrategieswhichtheteacherinthedatausestobuildonstudents’contributionsanddevelopameaning-focuseddialoguewiththeclass.IntroductionThe‘F-move’referstothe‘Follow-up’or‘Feedback’moveidentifiedbySinclairandCoulthard(1975)intheirnowwell-knownanalysisofclassroomdiscourse,asthethirdmoveintheI-R-Fexchangestructure,where‘I’representsaninitiatingmove,suchasaquestionposedbytheteacher,‘R’istheresponsefromtheclass—usuallyfromanindividualstudent—and‘F’isthefollow-upcommentbytheteacher.ThethreemovesareillustratedinExample1below:(1)T:What’stheboydoing?(I)S1:He’sclimbingatree.(R)T:That’sright.He’sclimbingatree.(F)Inthisexample,theteacherisaskingherstudentsaquestionaboutapictureintheirtextbooks.Theteacher’sF-movehasaprimarilyevaluativefunction:itgivesthestudentsfeedbackaboutwhethertheresponsewasacceptableornot,afunctionthatwasrecognizedintheterm‘feedback’,whichSinclairandCoulthardoriginallyusedtodescribethemove.Subsequently,theterm‘follow-up’hasbecomethepreferredterm,inrecognitionofthefactthat‘feedback’describesafunctionofthemoveratherthanthemoveitself(SinclairandBrazil1982).Theimplicationisthatthemovemayalsoserveotherfunctions.Thepurposeofthispaperistoconsidertherolethatteachers’follow-upmovesperformintheEnglishlanguageclassroom.ThekindofclassroomsIshallbereferringtoarelargesecondaryschoolclasseswhereEnglishistaughtasaforeignlanguageontheschoolcurriculum,ELTJournalVolume56/2April2002©OxfordUniversityPress117andwheretraditional‘wholeclassteacher-frontedinteractions’(JarvisandRobinson1997:212)predominate.TheargumentsIshallmakeregardingtheimportanceoffollow-uparenot,however,exclusivetosuchcontexts,butIbelievetheyhaveapplicationinalmostanyclassroom.I-R-FsandtheTheI-R-Fexchangestructureastraditionallypractised,withtheteacherclassroomcontextprovidingthegreatmajorityoftheInitiationmoves,hasbeenthetargetofsomecriticisminthecommunicativelanguageteachingmovement,onthegroundsthatitfailstogivethestudentsopportunitiestoaskquestionsthemselves,nominatetopicsofinteresttothem,andnegotiatemeaning(Nunan1987,Thornbury1996).Inshort,itisassociatedwithaheavilyteacher-centredclassroommethodology.Nevertheless,itseemstohavesurvivedthecommunicativerevolutionremarkablyunscathed,anobservationmadebyNunan(1987).OnereasonforthismaybethatteachersinstinctivelyadoptanI-R-Fmodeofinstructionbecauseitisperceived,perhapsunconsciously,tobeapowerfulpedagogicdevicefortransmittingandconstructingknowledge.Seedhouse(1996)notesthehighfrequencyofI-R-Fsintranscriptsofparent-childtalk,presumablyforthesamereason,andmakesthepointthat‘giventheprominenceoftheI-R-Fcycleinparent-childinteraction,onemightthereforehaveexpectedcommunicativetheoriststobeactivelypromotingtheuseoftheI-R-Fcycleratherthanattemptingtobanishit.’(ibid.:20)Itisarguablythethirdpartofthiscycle,theF-move,whichdistinguishesclassroomtalkmostobviouslyfrommanyspeecheventsoutsidetheclassroom(althoughasweshallsee,follow-upmovesdooccurinothercontextstoo,albeitlessfrequently),bydintoftheimportantpedagogicalfunctionitserves,thatofprovidingfeedbacktothelearner.Outsidetheclassroom(e.g.insocialconversations),follow-upmovesare‘alwaysoptionalandunpredicted’(FrancisandHunston1992:136).Intheclassroomcontext,ontheotherhand,ateacher’sfollow-upisnormalandexpected,asSinclairandCoulthard(1975:51)argue:Soimportantisfeedbackthatifitdoesnotoccurwefeelconfidentinsayingthattheteacherhasdeliberatelywithhelditforsomestrategicpurpose.Itisdevianttowithholdfeedbackcontinually.Theygoontodescribeaclassreducedtosilencebytheteacher’sdeliberatefailuretoprovidefeedback:thestudentscouldnotseethepointoftheteacher’squestions.Feedbackorfollow-upisthusseenasanobligatory,inevitable,featureofteacher-initiatedclassroomexchanges.Itisthusworthinvestigatingfurthertheroleitplaysinsupportinglearning,withaviewtodetermininghowteacherscanuseittobeste¤ect.F-movesoutsidetheAlthoughfollow-upmovesarearguablymostprevalentinexchangesclassroominvolvingasymmetricalrolerelationships,suchasteacher-to-studentandparent-to-child(and,asCoulthard(1982)hasshown,indoctor-patientexchanges),theycanalsooccurinconversationbetweenequals,asthetwoexchangesbelowfromFrancisandHunston’s(1992)dataillustrate.Theexchangesaretakenfromatelephoneconversation:118RichardCullen(2)A:Yougothomeallright?Youweren’ttootired?IB:Well,er,Igotupprettylatemyself.ImeanI—IwasRsupposedtogetupataboutseveno’clock.A:Whatd’youmean,youweresupposedto?IB:WellIhadthealarmclockonforseven.RA:Hah(lowkey)F(FrancisandHunston1992:138)(3)A:Well,youral