This case study analyzed four ninth-grade EFL classes at a junior high school in Japan to identify classroom discourse features that are effective in cognitively engaging learners in the process of meaning making as well as to explore how a community of practice is co-created through teacher-learner interactions.
This study attempts to identify classroom discourse features that are effective in cognitively engaging learners in the process of meaning making. It also attempts to explore how a community of practice is co-created through teacher-learner interactions. Learning is collaboratively achieved in discursive interactions which take place in a community of practice (McCormick & Donato, 2000). More specifically, how teachers use language “convergent to the pedagogic goal of the moment and appropriate to learners”, “facilitate interactional space”, and “shape learner contributions” (Walsh, 2011) have an influence on learning outcomes. In other words, what teachers say or ask (e.g., praise, questions), how teachers respond (e.g., corrective feedback), and how a community of practice is co-created (e.g., language choice, interactional speed) not only mediate and assist learning but also engage learners in the process of meaning making. This case study analyzed four ninth-grade (age 14 – 15) EFL classes taught by an expert female Japanese teacher at a public junior high school in central Tokyo, Japan. The four lessons were video-recorded and transcribed. The analysis focused on identifying features that suggest contribution to learners’ engagement in the process of meaning making and the co-creation of a community of practice. One notable feature was the way the teacher translanguaged between English and Japanese according to the pedagogic goal of the moment and understanding of the learners. Learners, in response, also translanguaged between Japanese and English as they engaged themselves in the interactions. Other distinguished features included the rhythm of interactions (e.g., wait time, overlap), the teacher’s choice of words and the way they were used (e.g., modality, register) as well as types of feedback given and questions asked. The author will finally discuss educational implications of the findings in other EFL classrooms.
