Choral response in two six-grade mathematics classrooms in China: From discourse, pedagogical, and cultural perspectives

This microethnographic study finds that student choral response (CR) is a recurrent and dominant student participation structure in the two six-grade mathematics classrooms in China. There are four main types of CR: choral reading, co-narrating, answering simple mathematics questions, and answering tag-questions. The four CR variations share a function of holding student attention by increasing student participation opportunities. With its own discourse features, each variation sets up a particular social structure under which particular mathematics knowledge is transmitted. Choral reading highlights both important mathematics content and a hierarchical interpersonal relationship between the teacher and students. Under the teacher's high authority the variations of co-narrating and answering simple questions are used efficiently to reproduce in every student's mind important mathematics concepts. By answering tag-questions, the tension in the hierarchal interpersonal relationship is temporarily mitigated while the student attention is held by the teacher.;By applying a three-level cultural model (teacher's cultural beliefs in mathematics teaching and learning, mathematics curriculum culture in China, and classroom culture) in analyzing data from interviews with the teachers, I find that various cultural factors work together to make CR a culturally favored classroom discourse pattern. The teachers' cultural beliefs in mathematics teaching and learning tend to make them view CR as an optimal teaching strategy for whole class teaching. CR's high efficiency in classroom communication meets well the Chinese mathematics curriculum, which has a broad content coverage. The Chinese teachers' high authority and classroom physical arrangement make the successful use of CR possible in Chinese classrooms.