An Analysis of the English Class Discourse in the Iranian High Schools

Authors

Reza Khany, Ilam UniversityFollow
Saeedeh Mohammadi, Ilam University, IranFollow

Abstract

One of the decisive factors of students’ success in second language learning is employing interactive strategies related to Bakhtin’s notion of dialogic discourse. Following Bakhtin’s conceptualization of discourse (1981), monologic and dialogic patterns can be considered as the opposing ends of the teacher’s discourse continuum. Given this, the current research intended to find out whether the Iranian high school teachers maintain a monologic discourse in their classes or a dialogic one. To accomplish this goal, a comprehensive exploration of the related literature carried out to identify the features differentiating monologic and dialogic discourse, which proved to be around thirteen. Afterwards, based upon the enumerated characteristics of the two discourse patterns, structured interviews were conducted with ten high school English teachers. Moreover, one case study was conducted to boost the reliability of interview’s findings in which a teacher’s classes were observed, video-taped, transcribed, and analyzed for recognizing the type of discourse pattern used by the teacher. The analysis of the findings from both interviews and the case study using grounded theory and conversation analysis revealed that the teachers used a monologic discourse pattern in their classes. Implications are provided in terms of the Iranian EFL context.

Keywords

Classroom Discourse; Discourse Pattern; Monologic Discourse; Dialogic Discourse

Author Bio(s)

Dr. Reza Khani is an assistant professor in Applied Linguistics. He is a TEFL instructor in different academic degrees in Ilam University. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to: Khani_reza@yahoo.com.

Ms. Saeedeh Mohammadi is a Ph.D. candidate in Applied Linguistics. She is an EFL teacher of 12 years of experience. Correspondence regarding this article can also be addressed directly to: Saeedehm63@gmail.com.

Publication Date

10-10-2016

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2545

Recommended APA Citation

Khany, R., & Mohammadi, S. (2016). An Analysis of the English Class Discourse in the Iranian High Schools. The Qualitative Report, 21(10), 1817-1835. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2545