Teacher Talk TEACHERS’ SCAFFOLDING TALKS AT CHILDREN’ S IMMERSION CLASSES.

24 newly acquired syntactic rules to develop productive control over the language.

2.3 Teacher Talk

Jane 1999 in http:www.mec.edumascddocsyedlin.htm states that teacher talk is foreigner talk in the classroom, the language classroom management and explanation, when it is in the second language. Teacher- talk is defined as speech used by teachers that is characteristically modified in four areas: phonology, lexis consisting of morphology and vocabulary, syntax, and discourse. Foreigner talk has both formal and functional characteristics. Long as cited by Ellis 1991: 133 labels these input and interactional features respectively. The features are two types: 1 those that involve simplifications within the grammatical rule structure of the language, and 2 those that involve simplification leading to ungrammatical speech. Interactional features consist of the specific discourse functions performed by the native speakers. Below the principle input and interactional adjustments which have been identified in a number of studies e.g. Fergusson and Debose 1997; Hatch, Shapira, and Gough 1978; Long 1981; Artur et al. as cited by Ellis 1991: 135 are listed at Table 2.2 and 2.3 below. 25 Table 2.2 Input Modification in Foreigner Talk Level Standard Non-standard Pronunciation - Slowing down speech - separated wordssyllable articulation. - More careful pronunciation e.g. final stops released heavier stress - Increased volume on the key words - additional of vowel to final consonant - fewer reduced vowels - exaggerated intonation Lexis - restricted vocabulary size - difficult items replaced with more frequently occurring items - fewer pro form e.g. nouns preferred to ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it - repetition of words - use of analytic paraphrases e.g. hammer: tool for hitting with’ - use of gesture e.g. ostensive definition - special lexicon of quantifiers, intensifiers, and modal particles - Use of foreign or foreign sounding words e.g. ‘savvy’ Grammar - fewer constructions - overall shorter utterances length - grammatical relations made explicit 9e.g. He asked to go Æ He asked if he could go - co-ordination preferred to subordination - less verb modification - topic moved to the beginning of utterances - fewer w-h questions more yesno questions - more uninverted questions e.g. You like John? - More ‘or-choice’ questions - More tag questions Omission of: - copula - it - do - verb inflections Source: Ellis 1991: 135 26 Table 2.3 Interactional Modifications in Foreigner Talk Type Description Example More ‘here-and-now’ topics More topic-initiating move More confirmation checks More comprehension checks More clarifications requests More self-repetitions More other-repetitions More expansions Shorter responses Native-speaker refers to objectsevents which are contiguous Native speaker starts a conversational topic by asking a question or making a comment Utterances designed to elicit confirmation that a learner utterance has been correctly heard or understood. Attempts by the native speaker to establish that the learner is following what he is saying Utterances designed to get the learner to clarify an utterance which has not been heard or understood. The native speaker repeats parts or the whole of his preceding utterance The native speaker repeats part or the whole of the learners’ previous utterance without seeking confirmation. The native speaker expands the learner’s previous utterance by supplying missing formatives or by adding new semantic information. The native speaker restricts the length of his response to a learner question or comment NS: What’s that you are wearing? NNS: I went to cinema. NS: The cinema NS: It was raining cats and dogs. Do you follow? NNS: She very high NS: Sorry? NS: He got stuck in the window trying to get in. He got stuck. NNS: I went to cinema. NS: Yeah. You went to the cinema NNS: I wear sweater. NS: Yes. You’re wearing a red sweater. Source: Ellis 1991: 15 27 While Flanders 1963: 17 classifies teacher talk into seven categories as follows: 1. Accepts feeling. The teacher clarifies the feeling of the students in a nonthreatening manner. Feelings may be positive or negative. 2. Praises or encourages. The teacher praises or encourages students’ action or behavior. Jokes that release tension, not at the expense of another individual, nodding head, and saying, “um hm?” or “go on” are included. 3. Accepts or uses ideas of student. The teacher is clarifying, building or developing ideas suggested by a student. 4. Ask questions. The teacher is asking a question about content or procedure with the intent that a student’s answer. 5. Lectures. The teacher is giving facts or opinions about content or procedure; expressing their own ideas, asking rhetorical questions. 6. Gives directions. The teacher gives directions, commands, or orders to which student are expected to comply. 7. Criticize or justifies authority. The teacher gives statements intended to change student behavior from non-acceptable to acceptable pattern. According to Ellis 1986: 146, teacher talk in language lessons is broadly similar to foreign talk. Both promote communication and require adjustments in the language used. However, teacher talk normally occurs in one-to-many interactions where there is likely to be only limited feedback from a few students. On the other hand, foreigner talk occurs in one-to-one interactions where there is plenty of feedback from the learners. In classroom interaction, the language used by the teacher should consider the variables such as the topic of the conversation, the age of the participants i.e. whether they are children, adolescent adults and in particular, the proficiency of the learners. When the teachers talk, they try to transform their ideas and knowledge concerning the topic discussion in the classroom. The teachers’ 28 talk in teaching a lesson is very important. It has the role too. Through their talks, they expect to make students understand the lesson and when their students have difficulties in understanding the teachers’ talks, the teachers will help them by making a bridge to get the students understand. This occurs through the interactional activity and talks in the classroom because interaction is as a significant factor in language development Swain, 1995 as quoted in Gibbons, 2002: 15. The focus of the learning process is in the interaction. Thus, it refers to the importance of talk in learning. The classroom is viewed as a place where understanding and knowledge are jointly constructed between teachers and students, and when learners are guided or “appreciated” into the broader understanding and language curriculum and the particular subject discipline Gibbon, 2002: 15. Referring to this idea, the role of teacher talks is seen as a medium in teaching a lesson. Furthermore, the teachers talk about language and text afforded children opportunities to understand and participate in academic discourse. In addition, Jane in http:www.mec.edumascddocsyedlin.htm mentions some features of supportive teacher talk in the classroom. They are as follows: ƒ the use of physical props, graphics, pantomime, and gestures to represent ideas and facilitate childrens comprehension, ƒ references to previously shared experiences which serve as background knowledge for new concepts, ƒ discussion of word meanings and text structures within meaningful, applied contexts, 29 ƒ self-repetition and paraphrasing used to make language more comprehensible and to draw attention to important vocabulary, language features, and language patterns, and ƒ Clarification and expansion of childrens own oral and written language. Supportive teacher talks are also called teacher’s scaffolding talk. For the complete explanation about scaffolding, I have mentioned in the following discussion. 2.4 Scaffolding 2.4.1 The Definition of Scaffolding