DISCOURSE ANALYSIS IN ESL CLASSROOMS: HOW STUDENT-TEACHER TALK IMPACTS LEARNING

Abstract

The present study aims to understand the problem that many Indian students face in communicating in English uently and accurately. The study delved into the question of student-teacher interactions in ESL classrooms at elementary level. The analysis of the classroom discourse revealed that one-way communication prevailed in one of the classrooms with the teacher leading the discussions and the students listening and then either repeating after the teacher or replying in small sentences. Code switching was also examined and it was seen that in the classroom where the teacher frequently engaged in code-switching, the spoken English of the students was not upto grade level.