Texts and interaction : literacy practices in the EFL classroom

Abstract

This study investigates literacy practices in the EFL classroom and subscribes to a social view of literacy (Literacy Studies). Accordingly, literacy is understood as a social practice where people talk about and around texts. Literacy in the classroom is embedded in the institutional context of education, which is characterized by specific discursive practices and by certain types of texts. As talk is central in the classroom, the present study pays special attention to the role of interaction in constructing literacy. Literacy practices are established, maintained and contested locally in particular literacy events through the interaction (including with texts) and actions of those participating in them. At the same time, however, their interaction and actions are shaped by the discursive (and social) practices of the institution. To obtain a comprehensive picture of the complexity of the interaction around and about texts, the study draws on research in classroom discourse, on instructional texts and on face-to-face interaction. The study examines how literacy events are organized within the institutional context of the classroom, what role texts play in literacy events and how talk among the participants shapes texts. The data comprised six successive video-recorded EFL lessons from which 13 literacy events, focusing on either the textbook or workbook, were chosen for micro-analysis. In addition, the data included the textbook and workbook texts used during the 13 events. The analysis uses methods drawn from interactional sociolinguistics and the ethnography of communication. The micro-analysis showed that literacy events are structured by talk and fall into three phases, viz. the opening, text processing and closing phases, each characterized by various interactional structures. The analysis also showed that texts play a major role in constraining and creating opportunities for talk, thus shaping and being shaped by talk. Furthermore, the participants attributed different meanings to texts in their talk, indicating that several constructions of literacy may be present within a single setting.

Miten koululaiset käsittelevät vieraan kielen tekstejä puheessaan ja antavat niille erilaisia merkityksiä? Miten tekstit ohjaavat oppimista, ja kuinka opettaja ja oppilaat käyttävät tekstejä luokkatilanteessa? Filosofian lisensiaatti Anne Pitkänen-Huhdan väitöstutkimuksen aineistona oli kuusi videonauhoitettua peruskoulun seitsemännen luokan A2-englannin kielen oppituntia, jossa kussakin oli paikalla opettaja ja seitsemän oppilasta. Tutkimuksen kohteena olivat tilanteet, joissa osallistujat puhuivat erilaisista oppikirjan ja työkirjan teksteistä.- Opetuksessa ja oppikirjojen suunnittelussa olisikin syytä ottaa huomioon se, että kaikenlaisten tekstien käyttö sosiaalistaa oppilaita tekstikäytänteisiin, ei vain niiden tekstien, jotka on erityisesti tarkoitettu luetun ymmärtämisen harjoitteluun, Pitkänen-Huhta painottaa