A Comparative Study On The Discourse Structures Of Teacher-student Interaction In The English Classrooms Of City And Rural Senior High Schools

As an indispensable and significant part of classroom discourse research, the study of teacher-student talk has been attracting the attention of linguistics and educationalists both in China and abroad. Most studies that have been carried out either focus on the Initiation-Response-Feedback as a whole or on one particular move, however, the studies on the discourse structures of teacher-student interaction, especially those that are conducted from the comparative approach between English classrooms of city and rural senior high schools are rarely seen. Therefore, this paper attempts to investigate the differences exist in rural schools and city schools in terms of teacher's application of different discourse structures and the effectiveness of teacher-student interaction.Based on the data collected in 8 English teachers'8 reading lessons of city and rural schools, which are qualitatively coded and quantitatively measured, this paper conducts a detailed classification and comparison on the discourse structures in teacher-student interaction. The results show that the structures of teacher-student talk are diverse rather than rigid. There are 7 types of discourse structures (variations of IRF structures), namely IR, IRF, II₁R₁, IRFR₁, IRI₁R₁F, IR[I₁R₁(I₂R₂)…]F and IRFR₁F₁…R_nF_n, among which the discourse structures compromising student-initiated talk (I(S)R and II1R1) and the complex discourse structures (IR[I₁R₁(I₂R₂)…]F and IRFR₁F₁…R_nF_n) play a vital role in developing students'integrative English skills.Compared with teachers from rural schools, teachers from city schools tend to organize more effective interactions and provide more learning opportunities for students through their proper and flexible choice of different kinds of discourse structures, as in: IRF structure is less frequently used in city schools; Teachers from city schools apply more complex discourse structures and IRI1R1F structures consisting of collective feedbacks; Students from city school are more willing and courageous to take the turn and initiate questions themselves.