122224 SE Linguistics Seminar / BA Paper (2017W)

This course deals with classroom interaction as a specific form of institutionalised discourse. Given the complex relationship between language, interaction and learning, we will be concerned with the linguistic practices that are observable in English-medium content subject and in EFL/ESL classrooms in secondary and tertiary settings. During the introductory phase of the seminar we will discuss the main features of classroom interaction, the relevance of classroom discourse to teaching and learning as well as different models of linguistic analysis that can be used to investigate classroom discourse. After the initial phase, participants will work on their individual projects and present some of their insights in oral presentations (to be held in December). The final phase of the seminar and semester will be reserved for working on the written research papers. Attendance at all blocked sessions is obligatory.

The participants will become familiar with the linguistic specificities and pedagogical implications of classroom interaction and its relevance for the education process. They will get to know different forms of analysing spoken discourse and will undertake their own analyses of a select corpus of classroom interaction according to a specific theoretical and methodological perspective chosen by them.

The seminar course combines mini-lectures, on- & offline assignments, reading-based group work and discussion, and individual research work leading to a presentation and a research paper