An Exploratory Investigation of Teachers' Speech Acts During a Reading Lesson
Larreur, Rosemarie Somma
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/69067
Description
Title
An Exploratory Investigation of Teachers' Speech Acts During a Reading Lesson
Author(s)
Larreur, Rosemarie Somma
Issue Date
1986
Department of Study
Education
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Educat.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Education, Elementary
Abstract
The primary purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' speech acts during a reading lesson and to determine whether differences between instructional/task-related and managerial/discipline speech acts for the high and the low reading groups do exist. The study was conducted in four elementary schools in a local school district of a small midwest university city. There were six teachers who participated in the study and these teachers taught at grade levels 3 to 6. The observations were conducted during the teacher designated reading periods for the high and the low reading groups. Data were collected through the use of a video camera and provided the basis for the transcriptions. An audio tape recorder was used in this study, in part, as a backup procedure. Teachers' speech acts were defined, classified, and coded according to an expanded teacher speech act code of Mason and Au (1984).
A randomized block factorial design as well as descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The descriptive statistical analysis is explained in terms of raw scores, means, standard deviations, and proportions. The results of the study showed that there was a high proportion of instructional/task-related (.95) as compared to managerial/discipline (.049) speech acts. This finding was evident whether the teachers were working with the high or the low reading groups. This high proportion of instructional/task related speech acts was statistically significant. A lecture style of teaching emerged as a pattern of instruction for the teachers.
It was concluded that the procedures employed in the study provided an efficient method for observing teachers during a reading lesson. It was further concluded that the expanded speech act code provided an accurate and reliable way to classify teachers' speech acts during a reading lesson. It was recommended that future studies employing the procedures used in the study should be conducted to add to our knowledge of teacher talk in classroom settings.
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