Communication strategies in teacher talk :a case study in Malaysian ESL classroom
Communication strategies (CS) are used by language speakers to help them to get their meaning across. For learners, CS served as tool to compensate for their target language deficiency. How ever, little is known on the use of CS among teachers in their teaching. This study th...
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| Format: | Final Year Project Report / IMRAD |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, UNIMAS
2007
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6722/ http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6722/7/COMMUNICATION%20STRATEGIES%20IN%20TEACHER%20TALK%2C%20A%20CASE%20STUDY%20IN%20MALAYSIAN%20ESL%20CLASSROOMS.pdf |
| Summary: | Communication strategies (CS) are used by language speakers
to help them to
get their meaning across. For learners, CS served as tool to compensate for their
target
language deficiency. How
ever, little is known on the use of CS among teachers
in their teaching.
This study
thus
examined to what extent the proficiency level of
learners influenced the use of communication strategies by the teachers in their
teacher talk in order to deliver thei
r lessons effectively. The study
involved
three ESL
teachers.
Data were obtained from audio observation of classes of different
proficiency levels at a school in Samarahan Division, Sarawak.
The
verbal data were
analysed based on the theoretical framework
of Faerch and Kasper (1984), Tarone
(1978) and Clennell (1995) on the use of CS by teachers. The types of teacher talk
were analysed based on Flander’s Interaction Analysis Category
(Flander, 1970
)
.
The
findings showed that proficiency level of the student
s
influenced
teachers’
use of
communication strategies in different types of teacher talk to compensate
for
students’ language deficiency.
In general,
CS were
regularly
used by teachers
in both
classes of high and low proficiency level
when giving lecture
and asking students
questions in order to enhance message and make message
salien
t to the students. The
common
CS
used
include
tonicity, lexical repetition and language switch
.
Nevertheless, it was also noted these CS were more frequently
used
by teachers
in
low prof
iciency classes
especially during prompting, giving directions and accepting
students’ ideas
.
This could probably due to greater language deficiency faced by this
group of students.
On the
whole, the study found out that ESL classroom interactio
ns
in this school were mainly one
-
way communication where the teachers made the
most talking by us
ing Clennell’s (1995) discourse
-
based CS
(tonicity, lexical
repetition and topic fronting)
to maintain their teacher talk in both high and low
proficiency cla
sses. |
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