No 10.

1. The concept of the teachers paradox and its implications We seek in the classroom to teach people
how to talk when they are not being taught.
Teachers paradox teaching people how to talk when they are not being taught. In classroom, situation and
language is different from outside (rights of speaker, obedience the teacher and the code of conduct). As a result there
is a tension between different kinds of discourse:
o pedagogic discourse interaction in,
o naturalistic discourse interaction out.
problem is to make them similar.
2. The four types of language use can we distinguish during a language lesson mechanical, meaningful,
pseudo-communication, real communication.

mechanical there is no exchange in meaning, no meaning involved

meaningful the meaning is contextualized, but there is no new information conveyed (przekaza)
pseudo-communication new information is conveyed but in a way that its unlikely to happen outside the
classroom, e.g. discussing the pictures or asking everyone about the same things
real communication kind of communication which is likely to happen outside the classroom.
3. What factors, according to Kramsch, can affect the quality of classroom discourse?

role if roles are fixed, teacher is in power. If roles are flexible, it is more similar to naturalistic setting.
tasks teacher in classroom transmits knowledge to student. In naturalistic discourse there is natural transmission
knowledge in structural discourse there is focus on content. In natural discourse there is focus on process.
Focus on accuracy language has to be correct.
4. The reasons why teachers typically dominate classroom proceedings; the concept of communicative
asymmetry.

communication asymmetry in classroom teacher has more rights than student. He speaks more, decides about
topics, length, who will be talking, etc. Outside the classroom they have equal rights.
Teacher dominates because he:
- has more knowledge,
- has to make sure that learning take place,
- is older,
- has power invented by institution,
- control the progress, what is happening in the classroom its his job, he receives salary,
- is responsible for students learning language,
- syllabus makes teacher powerful and dominant.
5. Compare the turn-taking mechanisms that are characteristic of naturalistic and pedagogic discourse.
What can the possible outcome of the differences?
turn-taking mechanisms tacit (sth is there but no visible) norms that govern how the roles of speakers and listeners
change in a conversation. Overlapping speech is avoided (2 people dont speak at the same time). The speakers
change take place in 2 ways: one speaker selects e.g. How are you? What do you think?, and second speaker can say
what he wants but he cant interrupt. He responds by what is called: transition relevance place e.g. silence, hmm
naturalistic discourse is generalized by competition for turns and initiative (inicjatywa) which means that you
have to be skilled to speak.
pedagogic discourse in classroom teacher makes most of decisions concerning turn-taking. The reason is that
in general students language is very limited. Problems:
- intrinsic (wrodzony) motivation for listening students may not have motivation for listening (they would
have if they talked to somebody outside the classroom).

in this situation students might never learn how the roles of speakers and listeners change in a TL. There
would not be much negotiation of meaning acquisition would be less effective.
students dont usually have a chance to choose a topic to be discussed (less interested).
6. What are the differences between interaction in naturalistic and educational settings concerning the
language that teachers use and error correction?

the language teachers use is much more grammatical than the language that native speaker use to talk to students
outside the classroom,
in classroom there is much less negotiation of meaning than outside it,
in classroom there are many more:
o display questions its a question to which asker knows the answer,
o referential questions its a question to which asker doesnt know the answer.
teacher uses many more statements and directives (e.g. Open window!, Open copybook.) than questions.
error correction its much more frequently applied in classroom than outside it. Outside we try to promote
self-correction (in classroom teacher corrects).
(Jeli bdzie pytanie eby poda rnice to naley uwzgldni pyt 5 turn-taking, poniewa to jest te rnica!).
7. What general components of a language lesson can we distinguish?

opening-phase - teacher informs students what lesson is going to be about,

instructional phase information is exchanged between teacher and students,
closing phase summarizing, homework.
8. The predominance of the IRF (initiation-response-feedback) exchange in the classroom and its possible
shortcomings (a high degree of predictability, the teacher oftentimes knows the answer and is more
interested in its linguistic form than in the message itself, students responses are usually extremely
limited, oftentimes no genuine information is exchanged, etc.).

initiation
response
feedback

e.g.

How old are you?

I am 16.
Good!

IRF exchange it is to elicit (wydobywa co z kogo) some information from students and the teacher usually
knows what the response will be.
teacher is interested in form of what the student says, not in the content
- lesson from a teachers point of view is smooth, no chaos,
- teacher evaluates students, they know whether they improve,
- lesson goes in a preplanned direction,
- there is a lot of predictability
teacher knows the answer in advance, no content important, the responses are usually short. This exchange should
not be used too often.
Benefits of exchange:
- Student knows if hes wrong or right,
- teacher can easily lead the lesson in the direction he wants, he can control progress of interaction.
9. The benefits and drawbacks of general (the question is addressed to all the students who then are
allowed to volunteer) and direct (the question is addressed to a particular student) nomination:
a) when general nomination takes place, everyone thinks about the answer (theoretically at least), no one
is forced to answer and interaction is more similar to that to be found outside the classroom; more
proficient or vocal student, however, can dominate interaction, students can speak at the same time thus
making the responses difficult to understand, the responses can also be very short at times;

b) when direct nomination is used, the teacher can make sure that turns are more evenly distributed, even
weaker students are given a chance to speak and there is more order in the classroom; the
disadvantages are that only one person thinks about the answer, students are forced to speak even when
they are not ready to do so, and there is a lot of communicative asymmetry.
There are 3 dimensions of IRF exchange:
a) conduct of initiation its to do with the first question.

general nomination a question asked to all of the students.

- everyone has the right to speak (more communicative symmetry),
- everybody can speak = more similar to naturalistic discourse,
- some students will not participate,
- there might be noise,
- responses can be very short.

direct nomination a question directed to one particular person.

- more order in the classroom,
- rest of the class do nothing, only one person thinks about the question,
- we are forcing to speak, it can be embarrassing.
10. How can we vary the IRF exchange to make it more conductive to language acquisition?

b) response function 2nd part of IRF

repetition students are expected to repeat something,
recitation (recytacja) is more demanding,
cognition student has to think, give reasons, explain something,
expression teacher say to be more precise, give thoughts.
c) pedagogic orientation to do form with the feedback.
assessment orientation how learner said something not what.
participation orientation teacher is more interested in what student said.
o Follow-up-question teacher carries on began topic
The predominance (przewaga) of IRF a high degree of predictability, the teacher oftentimes knows the answer
and is more interested in its linguistic form than in the message itself, student responses are usually extremely
limited, oftentimes no genuine (prawdziwy), information is exchanged.
11. Types of pedagogical interaction according to van Lier:
a) transmission the teacher provides students with some information in a lecture format,
b) IRF questioning see above,
c) transaction students work in groups; although it is more similar to natural discourse, it is still the
teacher who decides on the topic, task, etc.,
d) transformation similar to conversation in naturalistic contexts. A kind of conversation which take
place outside the classroom.
12. The relationship between the four types of pedagogic discourse and the effectiveness of language
instruction.