| Studies of classroom talk have not been able to identify the communicative potential of the ESL speaking class, the type or genre of discourse generally in use in such classrooms, or the role of the textbook in generating speaking opportunities. Therefore, the purpose of this research project was to examine an ESL speaking class from a particular social interaction perspective so that the social and academic processes in which the learners participate to reach the communicative goals of the lessons, and the instructional processes that create speaking opportunities could be taken into account. Ethnographic techniques were used in collecting classroom-based data. The researcher videotaped a seven-week course, took field notes, and interviewed the teacher and the students.; The research revealed that the ESL speaking class consisted of a constant macrostructure that contained three distinct structural parts. These three parts had constant and variable instructional phases where students' speaking opportunities took place. There were also two major categories of speaking activities: teacher-generated and student-generated. Teacher-generated speaking opportunities were both formal and informal. Formal opportunities were in the form of planned speaking activities whereas the informal opportunities were instances of talk that were not related to the academic activities of the lesson. Student-generated speaking opportunities helped them construct the lesson with the teacher. Because of the institutional nature of the ESL speaking class, however, student-generated speaking opportunities were fewer than those generated by the teacher. In addition, students' speaking opportunities that overlapped with the teacher's instruction or did not meet her expectations for participation were sanctioned.; The research also revealed that the textbook was used as a source of activities and a skeleton for thematic organization. During textbook activities learners engaged in talk through the teacher's mediation of the text. The use of the textbook during speaking activities had an impact on learners' verbal and nonverbal interaction and language use. |
