A Look at Lecture Discourse in the EFL Classroom

ALookatLectureDiscourseintheEFLClassroom∗RalphL.RoseNotreDameSeishinJuniorCollege;Hiroshima,JapanAbstractThispaperexploresthefeaturesofEFLlecturesthroughasystematicdiscourseanalysisofrecordingsofthreedifferentcontent-basedlecturesgiventononnativestudentsofEnglish.EFLlectureswerefoundtoexhibitahighdegreeofredundancy,theuseofcleardiscoursemarkers(’okay’,’allright’,articulatedpauses,strategicsilence),theuseofaudioandvisualaidstobroadenchannelsofcommunication,theuseofperiodiccomprehensionchecksbywayoflow-keyinitiation,andadiscourseorderdesignedtoelicitfromstudentswhattheyalreadyknowbywayofthetargetlanguage.IntroductionIn1992one-fifthoftheworld’spopulationwasenrolledinaneducationalinstitution–onebillionchildrenandadultswereformallystudyingintheworld’sclassrooms(U.S.DepartmentofEducation,1995).Acentralformofdiscourseintheseclassroomsisthelecture.Daily,thesestudentsandtheir48millionteachersengageinsuchdiscourse.Whatdistinguishesthisdiscoursefromanyotherkindofcommunication?Whatfeaturesdescribeitandtheconventionsitsparticipantsobserve?Furthermore,howdoesthisdiscoursedifferfornonnativespeakersintheirstudyofEnglish?ThispaperexploresfeaturesoflecturediscourseanddescribesfeaturesuniquetolecturesgiveninEnglishLanguageTeaching.ScopeClassroomdiscourseresearchersdistinguishbetweentwolecturetypesonthebasisofthedegreeoflistenerin-teraction.Thefirst,the’traditional’lecture,markedbynoverbalinteractionbetweenlecturerandaudience,hasbeenfurthersubdividedasinformalvs.formal,readingstylevs.rhetoricalstyle,andmemorizationvs.aloudreadingvs.freshtalk(Flowerdew,1994).Thesecondtypehasbeencalled’participatory’byFrederick(1986,citedinFlowerdew,1994)and’conversational’byDudley-Evans&Johns(1981,citedinFlowerdew,1994).Flowerdew(1994),definesthelattertypeas”closertodiscussion”(p.15).Theremainderofthispaperusestheterm’participatorylecture’inthissense.However,thesetwotypesarenotmutuallyexclusiveandmaybetterbeviewedasextremesonacontinuousscale.Content-basedEFLClassesThispaperpresentsthreeextractsofauthenticclassroomdiscourseassummarizedinTable1.Extracts2and3weregatheredattheauthor’sinstitutionusingaportabletaperecorder.Extract2isfromacolleague’slessonwhileExtract3isfromalessonbytheauthor.Extract1wasprovidedaspartoftheBirminghamDistanceMAcoursematerials(Brazil,1995);itsoriginisnotknownfurther.AllthreeextractscomefromlessonsgiventononnativeEnglishspeakers.However,theystandincontrasttothelessonsanalyzedbyWillis(1992)orSinclair&Brazil(1982)whicharemarkedbylengthyseriesofelicitingexchanges,theprogressofwhicharedeterminedbyspecificlanguagetargets.Theextractsstudiedinthispapercomefromlessonswherethe’target’wasablockofinformation(i.e.,content)andEnglishwasthemediumofconveyance.Thediscoursealternatesbetweeninformingtransactions(the’content’)andelicitingtransactions(comprehensionconfirmation).InthisrespecttheseextractsconstitutelecturesandareusedtoexemplifyfeaturesindicativeoflecturesgiveninEFLsituations.∗Publishedin1998FacultyResearchPublication,HiroshimaNotreDameSeishinJuniorCollege,21:41-67.1Table1:SummaryofAuthenticLectureDataExtractFieldLectureTopicPurposeLocationParticipants1AccountancyOrganizationsDefineBritishNonnative’organization’UniversityspeakersofEnglish2CultureEducation-CulturalReviewJapaneseNativespeakersAssimilation/Inte-JuniorCollegeofJapanesegration/Rejection3VideoWhatmakesIntroduceJapaneseNativespeakersamoviesceneLessonTopicJuniorCollegeofJapanesesuccessfulComponentsofSpeechEventsHymes’speechevents,definedasthelargestunitofdiscourseanalyzablebylinguisticmethodsandhierar-chicallyarrangedabovethespeechact,canbedescribedintermsofsevencomponents:setting,participants,purpose,key,channels,messagecontent,andmessageform(Coulthard,1985).Thispaperusesthisdescrip-tivemethodtoanalyzelecturediscourse.SettingThesettingofalecturedependsonbothspaceandtimeaswellaspsychologicalfactors.SpaceAlecturemostoftentakesplaceinaclassroomorlecturehallorsomeotherroomthatemulatesthese.Thereislikelytobeaclearfronttowardswhichallseatspointandwherethelecturerstands.Whilelecturingisusuallydoneatthefront,thelecturermayroamabouttheroom.Thelecturermayquickly(re)gaindominanceofthediscourse(say,atthebeginningofthelecture,oraftersomeinteractivestudentactivity)bymovingtothefrontandbeginningtospeak.ThisoccurredseveraltimesinboththeCultureandVideoLecturesasinthefollowingexcerpt.[Note:AcompletetranscriptionofeverytransactionexcerptedinthispaperisshowninAppendix,alongwithanexplanationofthenotationsystem.]---------------------------------------------------------------------------lecturerisspeakingtoonestudent,othersareworkingonatask1ptechnicallyhe’scalledabusboy2[busboy]3pyeah4pthepersonwhocleansupinarestaurant5pbusboy6pB-U-Sboy===========================================================================lecturermovestofrontofclassroom7pokay8oum//plookstudentsdiscontinuespeakingtask,lookatteacher9otellme//pnowtellmesomeoftheevents//pthatyou’vewrittendown(VideoLecture,Transaction3)2TimeThetime-framehaslikelybeenpredeterminedbytheeducationalinstitutionwithlittleornoconsultationwiththeactualpartic