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Classroom Discourse Analysis: a Functional Perspective

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Classroom Discourse Analysis: a Functional Perspective Classroom Discourse Analysis: A Functional Perspective Frances Christie Continuum Classroom Discourse Analysis Open Linguistics Series Series Editor Robin Fawcett, Cardiff University The series is 'open' in two related ways. First, it is not confined to works associated with any one school of linguistics. For almost two decades the series has played a significant role in establishing and maintaining the present climate of'openness' in linguistics, and we intend to maintain this tradition. However, we particularly welcome works which explore the nature and use of language through modelling its potential for use in social contexts, or through a cognitive model of language - or indeed a combination of the two. The series is also 'open' in the sense that it welcomes works that open out 'core' linguistics in various ways: to give a central place to the description of natural texts and the use of corpora; to encompass discourse 'above the sentence'; to relate language to other semiotic systems; to apply linguistics in fields such as education, language pathology and law; and to explore the areas that lie between linguistics and its neighbouring disciplines such as semiotics, psychology, sociology, philosophy, and cultural and literary studies. Continuum also publishes a series that offers a forum for primarily functional descriptions of languages or parts of languages — Functional Descriptions of Language, Relations between linguistics and computing are covered in the Communication in Artificial Intelligence series, two series, Advances in Applied Linguistics and Communication in Public Life, publish books in applied linguistics and the series Modern Pragmatics in Theory and Practice publishes both social and cognitive perspectives on the making of meaning in language use. We also publish a range of introductory textbooks on topics in linguistics, semiotics and deaf studies. Recent titles in this series Construing Experience through Meaning: A Language-based Approach to Cognition, M. A. K. Halliday and Christian M. I. M. Matthiessen Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk across Cultures, Helen Spencer-Oatey (ed.) Educating Eve: The 'Language Instincf Debate, Geoffrey Sampson Empirical Linguistics, Geoffrey Sampson Genre and Institutions: Social Processes in the Workplace and School, Frances Christie and J. R. Martin (eds) The Intonation Systems of English, Paul Tench Language Policy in Britain and France: The Processes of Policy, Dennis Ager Language Relations across Bering Strait: Reappraising the Archaeological and Linguistic Evidence, Michael Fortescue Learning through Language in Early Childhood, Clare Painter Pedagogy and the Shaping of Consciousness: Linguistic and Social Processes, Frances Christie (ed.) Register Analysis: Theory and Practice, Mohsen Ghadessy (ed.) Relations and Functions within and around Language, Peter H. Fries, Michael Cummings, David Lockwood and William Spruiell (eds) Researching Language in Schools and Communities: Functional Linguistic Perspectives, Len Unsworth (ed.) Summary Justice: Judges Address Juries, Paul Robertshaw Syntactic Analysis and Description: A Constructional Approach, David G. Lockwood Thematic Developments in English Texts, Mohsen Ghadessy (ed.) Ways of Saying: Ways of Meaning. Selected Papers of Ruqaiya Hasan. Carmen Cloran, David Butt and Geoffrey Williams (eds) Words, Meaning and Vocabulary: An Introduction to Modern English Lexicology, Howard Jackson and Etienne Zè Amvela Working with Discourse: Meaning beyond the Clause, J. R. Martin and David Rose Classroom Discourse Analysis A Functional Perspective Frances Christie continuum LONDON • NEW YORK Continuum The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London, SE1 7NX 370 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017-6503 First published 2002 © Frances Christie 2002 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0-8264-5373-2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Christie, Frances. Classroom discourse analysis: a functional perspective / Frances Christie. p. cm. — (Open linguistics series) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-8264-5373-2 1. Communication in education. 2. Interaction analysis in education. 3. Discourse analysis. I. Title. II. Series. LB1033.5 .C45 2002 371.102'2—dc21 2002071645 Typeset by BookEns Ltd. Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG, Bodmin, Cornwall Contents List of figures vi List of tables vii Preface vii Acknowledgements ix 1 A theoretical framework 1 2 Early childhood: first steps in becoming a pedagogic subject 28 3 Early literacy teaching and learning 63 4 Pedagogic discourse and curriculum macrogenres 96 5 Pedagogic discourse in an orbital curriculum macrogenre 125 6 Pedagogic discourse and the claims of knowledge 161 References 181 Index 191 List of figures 4.1 Prototypical model of a curriculum macrogenre 4.2 Simplified model of the Curriculum Initiation in Text 4.1 4.3 Simplified model of the Curriculum Initiation in Text 4.2 4.4 Macrogeneric structure in Text 4.1 4.5 Macrogeneric structure in Text 4.2 5.1 A linear representation of a geography curriculum macrogenre 5.2 A geography curriculum macrogenre represented with an orbital structure 5.3 The Curriculum Initiation of the geography macrogenre 5.4 A taxonomy of World Heritage sites established in the Classification element 5.5 Map of Australian World Heritage locations 5.6 A Curriculum Exemplification in the geography macrogenre 5.7 Student poster: Kakadu National Park List of tables 1.1 Relation of the text to the context of situation 5.1 An overview of Curriculum Genres, topics introduced and covered in each and lessons devoted to each in the geography macrogenre Preface In writing this book I am indebted to a number of people from whom I have learned a great deal over the years. Among these I would number first Michael Halliday and Jim Martin, who originally taught me systemic functional theory, and from both of whom I have continued to learn. My debt to Basil Bernstein is also considerable, and it is a source of regret to me that he did not live to see the book completed. He was, however, aware that I was writing it and, while I was in London during the last months of his life, he was encouraging to me in my efforts. I am also indebted to others in London, where I spent some study leave while I started the book. First of all those in London, I must mention Janet White, who generously gave me a home to stay in, and who was always available with stimulating company and conversation. Thanks too are due to Euan Reid and his colleagues in the Culture, Communication and Society Group at the Institute of Education, University of London, where I spent three months. Among other things, they gave me access to an office and a library, and were available to talk, while generously leaving me to my own pursuits. Ralph Adendorff, Bill Tyler and Parlo Singh, among others, read some chapters in draft, and I was grateful for their comments. The book itself emerges from many years of collecting and analysing classroom language across all school years, across many school subjects and in three different Australian cities. What I present here is thus a very small sample drawn from a considerable body of data. While the various schools, teachers and students must remain anonymous, I must record my warm thanks to the many people who have willingly allowed me access to so many classrooms. It is a great privilege to go into other people's classrooms and record and study what goes on in them. Finally, my thanks go to Chris Ulbrick, who helped with the preparation of some of the figures in the book, and who was always a patient source of assistance and advice over many matters. Frances Christie Acknowledgements Some of the classroom texts used in this book have been used elsewhere. Sometimes they appeared in extended length in another source, and sometimes different extracts from the classroom texts were used. Texts used in Chapter 4 appeared in: F. Christie (1997), 'Curriculum macrogenres as forms of initiation into a culture', in F. Christie and J. R. Martin (eds), Genre and Institutions: Social Processes in the Workplace and School. London and Washington, DC: Cassell, 134-60. F. Christie (1998), 'Science and apprenticeship: the pedagogic discourse', in J. R. Martin and R. Veel (eds), The Language of Science. London: Routledge, 152-77. The text in Chapter 5 was used in: F. Christie (2000), 'The language of classroom interaction and learning', in L. Unsworth (ed.), Researching Language in Schools and Communities: Functional Linguistic Perspectives. London and Washington, DC: Cassell Academic, 184-203. This page intentionally left blank 1 A theoretical framework Introduction Classroom discourse analysis has been a major theme in much research — linguistic, applied linguistic and educational — for some years now. Sinclair and Coulthard (1975: 15) suggested that an interest in classroom language studies dated from the 1940s. Since the 1960s and early 1970s on, a great deal of research into many areas of discourse, including classroom discourse, has been undertaken in the English-speaking world. This development paralleled the upsurge of scholarly interest in linguistics and applied linguistics
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