EBONYI JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE
EJLLS Publication
EJLLS| Title: | The Structure of Classroom Discourse: ‘Move’ as a Teaching Exchange |
| Author(s): | Umar AHMED & U.M. DOGONDAJI |
| Abstract: | A variety of structural exchanges are noted to occur in our (language) classrooms which seem to define the course which teaching takes. Such exchanges otherwise called “moves” can either be mere boundary or teaching exchanges. This paper is interested in the latter category. It examines the structure of such exchanges as well as how they are initiated and managed in language classrooms in Nigerian secondary schools. Data for the study were collected from ten English language lessons in five secondary schools in Birnin Kebbi (Kebbi state-Nigeria), two lessons for each school. The data were tape-recorded, transcribed and analyzed using Sinclair and Coulthard’s (1975, 1992) classroom discourse analytical framework. The research observes that it is the teacher who usually makes the first move and in most cases the last one. The study concludes that an understanding of how such teaching exchanges are inititated and managed can be used to enhance teaching and learning of English as a second language in our secondary schools. |
| Keywords: | move, classroom discourse, teaching exchange, English as a second language |
