Short description:

Equipping teachers and researchers with the fundamental tools to analyze classroom discourse, this book facilitates a move towards more effective instruction in a range of educational settings.

Long description:

Introducing language use and interaction as the basis of good teaching and learning, this invaluable book equips teachers and researchers with the tools to analyze classroom discourse and move towards more effective instruction.

Presenting an overview of existing approaches to describing and analyzing classroom discourse, Steve Walsh identifies the principal characteristics of classroom language in the contexts of second language classrooms, primary and secondary classrooms, and higher education settings. A distinct feature of the book are the classroom recordings and reflective feedback interviews from a sample group of teachers that Walsh uses to put forward SETT (Self Evaluation of Teacher Talk) as a framework for examining discourse within the classroom. This framework is used to identify different modes of discourse, which are employed by teachers and students, to increase awareness of the importance of interaction, and to maximize learning opportunities.

This book will appeal to applied linguists, teachers and researchers of TESOL, as well as practitioners on MEd or taught doctorate programmes.

"This promises to be an excellent series...the series proposal is correct in its identification of a need, and the combination of approaches promised in each book is refreshing" (Susan Hunston, University of Birmingham)

"I expect this to be a high quality book series, accessible to students, and addressing topics that are of general interest to students.  Given the absence of a comparable book series, I would expect that the books would be comercially successful" (Doug Biber, Northern Arizona).

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgements  Introduction  1. Features of Classroom Discourse  2. Learning in the Second Language Classroom  Summary  3. Approaches to Analyzing Classroom Discourse  4. A Framework for Analyzing Classroom Interaction  Summary  5. Using SETT in Different Contexts  Summary  6. Using SETT for Teacher Education  Summary  7. Conclusions  Appendix 1. Transcription Conventions  Appendix 2. SETT Preocedures  Appendix 3. Workshop Materials  References  Index