Classroom Discourse and Effective Learning of Students

Abstract

The term ‘classroom discourse,’ refers to all forms of talk that occurs inside the classroom and comprises the verbal as well as the non-verbal elements of discourse. The verbal element of discourse includes the language used by the teacher and the students, as well as teacher-student and student-student interactions. The non-verbal element of discourse includes non-lexical components of communication like gestures, prosody, and silence etc. The verbal and nonverbal elements together form the observable aspect of classroom discourse. Classroom discourse is often different in form and function from language used in other situations because of particular social roles which learners and teachers have in classrooms and the kind of activities they usually carry out there. The purpose of this present paper is to discuss the concept of classroom discourse and its elements in order to show its effect on student’s learning. The focus is on pattern and strategies of interactions between teachers and students for describing, identifying and operationalizing meaningful regularities in their discourse.