An Ethnographic Inquiry Of Classroom Interaction

In the context of classroom teaching reform,teachers pay more attention to studentcentered learning,and emphasizes the combination of learning and thinking.As the key of classroom teaching,research on classroom interaction mainly focus on classroom interaction discourse,assessment tools of classroom interaction quality,and classroom influencing factors.A large portion of studies focus on how teachers interpret classroom interaction,while research show less attention on students’ feedback.Based on the response to the discussion of the influencing factors of classroom interaction,this study takes an undergraduate class of a university in Shanghai as an example and asks the following three research questions:(1)What is the situation of classroom interaction mainly based on dialogic teaching?(2)What is the impact of classroom space on students’ participation in dialogic interaction?(3)How do students evaluate dialogic teaching?The study conducts the methodology of ethnography and participant observation.The fieldwork has followed two stages: In the first stage,the researcher participated in the class as a tutor and observed the condition of classroom interaction;in the second stage,the researcher interviewed each and every student in the class,combined with field observation data,analyzed students’ understanding and interpretation of classroom interaction.This study collected various types of data,including policy documents from the Ministry of Education,interview recordings and text transcribing,questionnaires,classroom recordings and text transcribing,field notes from participant observation.From the perspective of sociocultural theory,the research presented the classroom interaction in the undergraduate classroom combined with the field stories.The study found that undergraduate dialogic classroom interaction shows its own characteristics.Driven by the incentive rules,the overall activity of the class is significantly improved.Scores can effectively motivate students to participate in the interaction,while the rationality of the quantitative incentive is questioned by students.The new pattern of classroom space changes the implicit teacher-student power relationship,the role of the teacher is weakened,and the teacher-student relationship becomes more equal,which brings positive changes for dialogic classroom interaction.Students’ evaluations of dialogic teaching show great differences.Students’ conception of learning affects their classroom behavior and has a direct impact on classroom interaction.Dialogic classroom interaction changes students’ conception of learning at the same time.