| Various teaching methods in English teaching have been utilised such as the Grammar-translation Method,the Communicative Approach,the Task-based Approach and Blended Learning,to enhance and promote English teaching.From the perspective of teachers,educational and pedagogical research focuses on how teachers behave,as well as,why teachers behave in a particular way and its impacts on students’ learning.Moreover,it pays specific attention to teachers’ teaching practice,design,beliefs,attitudes,and identity,among other aspects.Speech Act Theory holds that speech is a meaningful verbal behaviour,which embodies the interaction between language and the empirical world,as well as,individual cognition.Teachers’ pedagogy,from a linguistic point of view,are represented by their classroom discourse,which is a verbal behaviour and a vital tool for teachers to use in carrying out teaching plans.Likewise,classroom discourse is a major source of input and output for numerous forms of information within the classroom.Foreign language teachers’ classroom discourse refers to the specific discourse decision-making process and actual discourse behaviour constructed by the individual from the bottom up.This is achieved by adopting a pluralistic theory and taking roots in a specific teaching environment.It reflects their personal characteristics,cultural background,and the society they experienced from a linguistic perspective.Classroom discourse studies are one of the most important research areas and enable exploration into foreign language education,as well as,foreign language teachers’ learning and development from a linguistic perspective.This qualitative case study defines the teacher’s classroom discourse as a representation of their pedagogy.Moreover,this study describes analyses and interprets three college English teachers’ classroom discourse practice within their intensive reading class from the perspective of the semantic wave.Furthermore,this study reveals the development process and influencing factors of their classroom discourse beliefs,as well as,the interaction and negotiation between classroom discourse practice and classroom discourse beliefs by interpreting their life,teaching,scientific research,teacher’s learning experience,and their personal teaching design and beliefs.The literature review and previous studies are used to provide the theoretical framework for this study and the associated research questions.Based on the research questions and theoretical framework,large-scale questionnaires,small-scale narrative questionnaires,and focus groups have been conducted.Three teachers from a university in Yunnan have been selected as the final research subjects.The background information of the subjects has been collected through questionnaires and focus groups.Data has also been collected through classroom observation,text collection,weblogs,and semi-structured interviews.The data has been organised and analysed by means of Subject Analysis and Semantic Wave Analysis.Thus,this enables exploration of the characteristics,development,change,interaction,and the influencing factors of teachers’ classroom discourse practice and beliefs.This study described the characteristics of a teacher’s classroom discourse,revealed the teacher’s discourse belief and the influencing factors that form the design and practice of teacher’s classroom discourse.The main findings of this study are as follows:Firstly,there is no significant difference in the content level of the subjects’ classroom discourse practice.Three different semantic wave patterns have been found which are the sequential mode,progressive mode,and leap mode.These three modes reflected different forms of specific teaching activities,including:a.Knowledge deconstruction from top to bottom through theoretical guidance,analysis,and explanation;b.Knowledge deconstruction and construction coexist through the content of the text and examples;c.Switching between experience-led,task-oriented,emotionally-driven output and theoretical guidance,analysis explanation,and top-down deconstruction.Therefore,teachers’ classroom discourse highlights diverse concerns in ideational function,textual function,and interpersonal function.There are also notable differences in 3 research subjects’ classroom discourse beliefs.They can be summarised as three types: the changing conservator,the coordinating integrator,and the developing innovator.These three types of classroom discourse beliefs cause different language views,teaching views,and language teaching views.The difference in views and understanding of the ontology of language and identity of foreign language teachers are the main cause of the differences in classroom discourse belief.Secondly,classroom discourse practice of foreign language teachers is the direct reflection of their views on language,teaching,and language teaching.It develops through the interaction between cognitive activities and social material environment and gradually internalizes as a relatively stable belief system.Teachers’ classroom discourse practice is influenced by their teachers’ belief,as well as,personal factors,situational factors,and macro-factors.Thus,this highlights the involvement of complex,dynamic,and developing characteristics.Classroom discourse practice and belief of the research subjects originate from their personal past learning and teaching experience.Likewise,it is also affected by the current situation and the macro-environment to a certain degree.The subjects are faced with many unforeseen problems and a series of challenges in their teaching environment,which are influenced by many factors,such as national policies,standardised examinations,teaching regulations,teaching style of colleagues,school culture,educational technology,teaching resources,students’ learning ability and attitude,social expectations,self-identity,teaching ability,teacher knowledge,among other aspects.Conflicts and coordination also occur in belief,design,and practice of their classroom discourse.Through the continual adjustment of their classroom discourse,teachers try to achieve a unity of their external discourse practice,as well as,internal discourse belief.Moreover,they adapt to the needs of the external environment.They also hold an open attitude and constantly negotiate individual,situational,and macro factors to form new classroom discourse beliefs and then guide classroom discourse practice.In contrast,there are also difficulties arising from this due to the teachers own inherent views or from practical difficulties.This study has theoretical and practical significance.Firstly,alongside the prior studies,this study further refines the research on the level of teacher’s classroom discourse.The study described and interpreted the interaction between teaching,teachers,and society from a subtle perspective and explored foreign language teaching,as well as,foreign language teacher development,from a linguistic perspective.Secondly,the perspective of Semantic Wave in this study is a relatively new frontier.The study further developed the Semantic Wave and Legitimate Code Theory.Thirdly,from the perspective of Sociocultural Theory,this study explored discourse design and discourse beliefs of teacher’s classroom discourse and revealed the underlying socio-cultural factors.Furthermore,personal factors,situational factors,and macro-factors were put forward in this study as being influencing aspects in the classroom discourse practices and beliefs of teachers.Moreover,the study also constructed a promotion model on the basis of College English teaching and College English teacher development under the perspective of the Semantic Wave.In essence,this study explored and interpreted teacher’s classroom discourse as a dynamic entity from a dialectical and critical point of view,so that teachers,educators,and Education administrators can better understand classroom teaching,thereby,providing a better understanding,support,and reference for teacher development,curriculum reform,and curriculum planning. |
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