| This dissertation examines the prosodic packaging of the IRF exchange (Sinclair & Coulthard, 1975; Mehan, 1979; Mercer, 1995; Nassaji & Wells, 2000) as it occurs in two discourse activities in the talk-in-interaction in a public high school. Using methods of discovery which see language as an interactive, dynamic and embodied process (Hopper, 1998; Goodwin, 1981; Schegloff, 1996b) auditory and acoustic analyses are undertaken focusing on the role that prosody plays in implementing educational functions or activities (Levinson, 1992; Selting, 1996) in the classroom.; The analysis shows that the prosodic phenomena of pitch level, pitch contour, speech rate, and rhythm are used systematically by students and teachers as part of the embodiment of classroom discourse activities. Two distinct classroom discourse activities, the review-evaluation discourse activity (REDA) and the quiz game activity (QGA) are characterized, in part, by their distinct prosodic embodiment. REDAs are characterized by high-pitched teacher initiation moves, mid pitch level student responses, and a slower rate of speech for teachers. The prosody of teacher initiation and student response moves in QGAs is systematically different from those moves in the REDAs. The analysis also shows interesting prosodic patterning correlating with the correctness of student responses and positive or negative assessments of those responses by the teacher. A single-case analysis of one class period shows the role of prosody as an organizing device in a teacher's series of questions. A series of IRF exchanges is seen to be prosodically organized in a paratone. A 'wh' question within a specific sequential environment (the third move of the IRF exchange, labeled an evidence question) and embodied in a consistent pitch contour is seen to have interactional significance as a question which moves a more rigid series of IRF exchanges into more interactive discourse.; The investigation's empirical evidence supports an interaction-based theory of prosody in English (Brazil, 1997; Couper-Kuhlen, 1993; Couper-Kuhlen & Selting, 1996; Auer, Couper-Kuhlen, & Muller, 1999) by collecting baseline prosodic evidence for a theory of practice in classroom discourse (Mercer, 1995) and addressing issues such as the sound production of teacher and student roles, and student agency in classroom discourse. |
