DiscourseTheoryofSLA

ContentWhatisdiscourse?ThereasonsfordiscourseanalysisWhatisDiscourseTheory?DiscourseanalysisinnaturalsettingsDiscourseanalysisinclassroomsettingsMainprinciplesofDiscourseTheoryEvaluationsofDiscourseTheoryWhatIsDiscourse?Discoursereferstolanguageinuse,asaprocesswhichissociallysituated.InSLA,thestudyofdiscourseinvolvesconversationsbetweennativespeakersandL2learnersinnaturalsettings,andconversationsbetweenteacherandL2learnersinclassroomsettings.TheReasonsforDiscourseAnalysis1.InSLA,theinputthelearnerreceivesisnotdeterminedsolelybythenativespeaker,thefeedbackthelearnerprovidesalsoaffectsthenatureofthesubsequentinputfromthespeaker.Thusitismorefittingtoconsiderdiscoursetheyconstructtogether.2.ItmayshedlightonhowL2learnerslearn.Hatchproposesthatweneedtolookatdiscourseinordertostudyhowlanguagelearningevolvesoutofthestrategiesusedtocarryonconversations.WhatisDiscourseTheory?DiscourseTheorywasproposedbyHatchinthelate1970s.Itfollowsfromatheoryoflanguageuse,inwhichcommunicationistreatedasthematrixoflinguisticknowledge.InL1acquisition,languagedevelopmentshouldbeconsideredintermsofhowthelearnerdiscoversthemeaningpotentialoflanguagebyparticipatingincommunication.

Throughcommunicatingwithotherpeople,childrenaccomplishactionsintheworldanddeveloptherulesoflanguagestructureanduse.

—Cherry(1979:122)

ItisbecausetheL2learnerissimilarlymotivatedto‘a(chǎn)ccomplishactions’thataparallelcanbedrawnbetweenfirstandsecondlanguageacquisition.InSLAthisviewofhowdevelopmenttakesplacehasbecomeknownastheDiscourseTheory.DiscourseAnalysisinNaturalSettingsConversationsinvolvingchildlearnersHatch(1978c;1978d)Peck(1978;1980)Wagner-Gough(1975)Child-adultsequencesfollowthe‘here-and-now’principle(i.e.theyrefertoobjectsthatarephysicallypresentandtoongoingactivity)

A=adultnativespeakerC=childL2learnerAschematicrepresentationofadult-childL2conversationasdescribedbyHatch(1978b)Wagner-Gough（1975）looksatthediscoursestrategiesusedbyachildlearner.Thechildimitatestheadult’spreviousutterance,andalsoincorporateschunksofspeechfrompreviousdiscourseintohisownutterances.Peck(1978;1980)compareschild-childandchild-adultconversations.Theformercontainmanyexamplesof‘functions’(usedtodescribethemodificationsofboththeirownandanotherchild’spreviousutterancewhichchildlearnersmake).Thoughperformingsuch‘functions’,thechildmaybeabletoexploreandexpandthelimitsofhisL2competence.ConversationsinvolvingadultlearnersHatch(1978c),Schwartz(1980)Adultconversationsaremorelikelytoberootedindisplacedactivity.

Adultlearnersresorttotheuseofrequestsforclarification,ortoechoingpartofthenativespeaker’squestioninordertoestablishthefieldofreference.Nativespeakersuserepairstrategies(simplifyinglexis,addinggestures,etc.)andtrytohelpoutbymodelingwhattheythinkthelearnerswanttosay.Differencesbetweenthetwotypes:ScarcellaandHiga(1981)Child-adultconversations:Adultnativespeakercarriesagreaterresponsibilityandoftendominatestheconversation.(rhetoricalquestions,repetition)Adult-adultconversations:Adolescentlearnerisexpectedtoplayamuchbiggerpartinkeepingtheconversationgoing.(repetition,changingthetopic,etc.)DiscourseAnalysisinClassroomSettingsInterestinthelanguageoftheclassroomhasgrownsteadilyinthelasttwentyyears.Discourseanalysisconsidersthejointcontributionofbothteacherandpupils.Itcanhelptoshedlighton①howmeaningisnegotiatedinaclassroomcontext,and②howtheinputisshapedtotherequirementsofthelearner’slanguageprocessingmechanism. Three-phasediscourse(IRF):teacherinitiatespupilsrespondsteachersupplies

feedback.

T:Istheclockonthewall?

InitiatesP:Yes,theclockisonthewall.RespondsT:Good.Theclockisonthewall.FeedbackExchangesofthistypeoccurinlessonswheretheteachertakescontrolofthelessoncontentandmanagement.McTearidentifiesfourtypesoflanguageuse:(1)mechanical:noexchangeofmeaningisinvolved(2)meaningful:languageusageiscontextualizedbutstillnorealinformationisconveyed(3)pseudo-communicative:informationisexchanged,butinawaythatwouldbeunlikelytooccuroutsidetheclassroom(4)realcommunication:spontaneousnaturalspeechMcTear’sanalysisprovidesanumberofinsightsaboutthespecialqualitiesofdiscourseinlanguageclassrooms.Somearguablepointsofdiscourseinclassroomsettings:(1)Thekindofdiscoursewhichtypicallyoccursinteacher-centeredclassroomsisdistorted.(2)Theclassroomonlyteachespupilshowtoreply,andthisdoesn’tequiplearnersforinteractionoutsidetheclassroom.(3)Doubtsremainwhethersufficientnegotiationispossibleinclassrooms.Conclusion:Aone-to-manylinguisticenvironmentseemslesswellsuitedtopromotinglearningthanaone-to-oneenvironment.MainprinciplesofDiscourseTheory1.SLAfollowsa‘natural’routeinsyntacticaldevelopment.Hatcharguesthatthenaturalorderistheproductofthewayinwhichconversationswithlearnersareorganized.

2.Nativespeakersadjusttheirspeechinordertonegotiatemeaningwithnon-nativespeakers.Thenegotiationofmeaning:Thelearnerandnativespeakertogetherstrivetoovercomethecommunicativedifficultieswhicharealwayslikelytoariseasaresultofthelearner’slimitedL2resources.3.Theconversationalstrategiesusedtonegotiatemeaning,andtheresultingadjustedinput,influencetherateandrouteofSLAinanumberofways.(a)thelearnerlearnsthegrammaroftheL2inthesameorderasthefrequencyorderofthevariousfeaturesintheinput;ThestructureofconversationscaninfluencetherouteofSLAisbymodelingspecificgrammaticalformswhicharethensubconsciouslyacquiredbythelearner.Inotherwords,thefirststructuresthelearneracquiresarethosetowhichheisexposedmostfrequently.(b)thelearneracquirescommonlyoccurringformulasandthenlateranalysestheseintotheircomponentparts;

InteractioncanaidSLAbyprovidingthelearnerwithready-madechunksofspeechwhichcanbememorizedas‘unanalysedwholes.’Thisislikelytooccurwhenthelearnerparticipatesinroutinizedinteractionsinvolvingtheuseofinvariantutterancetypesbythenativespeaker.These‘expressionswhicharelearnedasunanalysablewholesandemployedonparticularoccasions’makeupformulaicspeech.(c)thelearnerishelpedtoconstructsentencesvertically,verticalstructuresaretheprecursorsofthehorizontalstructures.Verticalstructuresarelearnerutteranceswhichareconstructedbyborrowingchunksofspeechfromtheprecedingdiscourse.Manyofthefeaturesoftheoutputcanbeexplainedastheresultofthelearnerworkingonprecedingutterancesinvariousways.Itisforthisreasonthattheoutputshouldneverbeconsideredinisolation,butalwaysincontext.4.Thus,the‘natural’routeistheresultoflearninghowtoholdconversationEvolutionofDiscourseTheoryHatchtriestoprovideananswertothewayof