The Importance Of Discourse

Discourse analysis a broad term for the study of the way of analyzing the relationship between the language and context. It is also called discourse studies. Discourse in classroom is the term that refers to the language that teachers and students use to communicate with each other in the classroom. The teacher’s instructions extremely affect to the students’ acquirement in classroom so a successful teacher is a person who can use their language to teach students and manage classroom effectively. It means that appropriate teacher discourse can create the harmonious atmosphere and promotes a more friendly relationship between teachers and students, and consequently creates more opportunities for interactions between teachers and students (LIU

Firstly, it is the most useful tool to carry out the pedagogical function. Teachers use their language to transmit the knowledge to the students, teachers always spend time eliciting, guiding students to understand the knowledge provided in each lesson,. As we can see in the transcription, teacher made some questions or used statements directly to elicit or remind students what they learnt, for example, “So, first of all, what is different between can and can’t? How we know when is can and when is can’t…The final sound is very important” (line 3) or “Yes-No question because the answer is yes or no… So this is yes-no question, then you have to raise your voice at the end. Can I park here? Can I swim here? Can I walk the dog here? Raise your voice at the end...” (line 48)… Furthermore, to check students’ comprehension or to instruct students to do exercises, teachers occasionally make questions to ask students such as “So why all of you… why don’t you ask me what is the difference between can and can’t? How can we distinguish them? Làm thế nào để phân biệt? How can we distinguish them?” (line 2), “Now look again at the table, the 6 sentences… Which sentences are about the permission and which sentences are about the ability? Câu nào là permission, câu nào là ability? The first four sentences, 4 câu đầu là nói về permission hay là ability?” (line 12) or “Can elephants paint? Yes or no” (line 95)… Moreover, teacher sometimes used imperative sentence to tell students like “Now listen and repeat” (line 36), “Please repeat again!” (line 37), or “Hello, interview your partner.”(line 91) to get students attention on what they would or should do … At that time, teacher talk function was changed – It is classroom management. At this case, teachers use their language to manage the classroom when learners are too much noisy or some of them lost their attention on the lesson. Another function of teacher