Journal Article
Conversation Analysis: ESC Method of Chinese and Foreign English Teachers in SEL Class
by
Rujing Zhang
and
Weidong Li
Abstract
This study aims to compare the differences in classroom conversation patterns between Chinese and foreign English teachers and analyze their ways of checking students’ epistemic status in the classroom, the different performances of students with different epistemic status levels, and the measures teachers take when students are at a lower epistemic status level, to provi
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This study aims to compare the differences in classroom conversation patterns between Chinese and foreign English teachers and analyze their ways of checking students’ epistemic status in the classroom, the different performances of students with different epistemic status levels, and the measures teachers take when students are at a lower epistemic status level, to provide new perspectives for the study of conversation analysis in the classroom. In the study, two English classroom video samples with great similarities are selected. This study draws the following conclusions through the analysis of data tables and specific conversation examples: 1. There are big differences between Chinese and foreign English teachers in the method of ESC (epistemic status check) to students, Chinese teachers prefer to use interrogative questions (IQ), while the foreign teachers mainly use declarative questions (DQ); 2. When the students are in a high epistemic status level, both Chinese and foreign teachers preferred the form of “students answer questions directly and initiatively”; 3. When the students are in a low epistemic status level, the students tend to be silent (the reason for the appearance of students’ questioning in the foreign teacher’s classrooms may be that the atmosphere of the foreign teacher’s class is more active and the teacher-student relationship is more equal than that of the Chinese teacher’s class); 4. The Chinese teacher’s strategy in the face of students’ low level of epistemic status is mostly Rule 3 of the turn-taking rules; whereas foreign teachers mostly adopt Rule 2 accompanied by encouragement words. Based on the above conclusions, this study suggests that Chinese and foreign English teachers can learn from each other. Chinese teachers can learn from foreign teachers who emphasize students’ participation and interaction, and increase students’ opportunities for expression and thinking. Western teachers can learn from Chinese teachers’ students-group learning methods and skills of maintaining classroom discipline to ensure teaching efficiency.