A.

Language and Learning

In generally, language is a medium used to convey something both
oral and written forms. Besides, language is also a tool to represent our
experience. As a representative mode, language enables us to mention our
experience, organize and share it back to them for further reflection.
In this context language is explained that the first language that
children learn is obtained when they are at home and not in school. Based
on Heat's study, the powerful reminder of what children learn about the
language outside of school, and especially in their homes and
communities, they will have a profound effect on what they learn inside
our classroom walls. And as we turn now to a discussion of language
within those classroom, we need to keep mind that school language may
be very different from the language students have learned to use at home.
B. The Language of Classrooms
Classroom talk can be viewed most usefully, perhaps, as kind of
linguistic register, or conventional way of talking in a particular situation.
People use many such registers in their daily interaction, but perhaps the
most easily recognized is “bby talk” way of speaking to very young
children that usually inludes high pitch and exaggerated intonation, short
simple sentences,and some unique terms 9peek-a-boo,” for example).
a. Asymmetrical Turn-taking
In most interactions, conversationl turns are more or less evenly
distributed among the participants. When there are only two
participants, of course, we expect each of the two makes a substantive
contribution, but even in larger group from there, say, the eight there
are usually expectations about the amount of time each participant
should hold the floor, and we are often annoyed when those
expectationsare not met. Because classroom discussions usually
involve a larger group of people, however, the turn taking there is
different.
 In many cases, the only sanctioned conversation that take place in a
classroom are those between teacher and student. As a result, the turns
there are distributed unevenly. The teacher may take one, then a
student, but then the floor usually returned to the teacher who can keep
it for an extended period of time or return it to a student, either by
asking questions or responding to a raised hand. It is usually the
teacher determines if, when, and how long a student is to speak.
Conversation between students, even if they happen with to be about
the topic at hand, are viewed as disruptions of the normal flow of talk
unless they have explicity arranged by the teacher.
b. Consistent Patterns of Question/Answer/Evaluation
The most frequently noted pattern in all classroom discourse is he
three-turn sequence of teacher question, student response, teacher
evaluation. In discussion of literature this sequence can be seen in the
following exchange on The Scarlet Letter.
Teacher : Why is Pearl so cruel to Hester?
Studen : I don’t know,it’s almost like she isn’t quite human
or something
Teacher : That’s very interesting, Mark.
c. Consisten Use of Pseudoquestions
In most conversation, we ask questions because we want
information that we do not have. In some speacialized contexts, such
as courtrooms (“ Where were you on the night of July 5th”) and in
interaction with very young children (What color is the ball, Julie?”)
we may ask for a display of knowledge that we already posses, but
more frequently we ask question because we do not know the answer.
In classroom, however, teachers often ask questions for which they
have already a particular answer in mind. There are called
“pseudoquestions”, and they range from request for the retrieval of
literall facts (“What is the setting of this story”) to questions meant to
lead students toward interpretations or generalizations that the teacher
 has already formed. In the exchange between the teacher and Mark that
w have just discussed, for example, the teacher may have been
“looking for” response such as Mark’s so that the could begin a
discussion of the supernatural overtones in The Scarlet Letter.
Questions in classroom are usually intended to lead students
toward a goal that the teacher has set, and thus they are very different
from the kinds of questions we might ask in other context. And
sometimes the response of the student was still confusing.
d. Teacher’s Extensive Use of “Control Talk”
In many if not most informal conversatio, turns, lenght ofturns,and
topic of discussion are negotiated among participants. In more formal
setting, such as business meetings, there is often a written agenda for
the topics to be covered, and everyone present understand the order
and protocol for adressing them.
Clasroom discussions are more formal than daily conversation and
usually les formal than business meetings. Because of the number of
prticipants, it is difficult for teachers to relinquish complete control of
who speaks when, for how long, and what topic. But teachers are often
reluctan as well to commit themselves firmly to written outline of the
ground to be covered in a clss period, knowing as they do that the
discussion may move in directions they had not foreseen. Thus they
often maintain an implicit, somewhat flexible agenda trough the use of
words and phrases that direct the course of talk toards the ends they see
as important.