Language used in primary school teaching

Many jobs couldn't exist without language and the different ways in which it is used. It is needed for people who work together to pass information about how to do all sorts of things. Different occupations develop different lexical fields and their own special language features. An occupation is a source of language change.

There are different forms and functions used in occupations. For example; instruction, interview, discussion, conference, briefing, appointing and disciplining. I will be looking at primary school teaching and in this job the main forms are instruction, discussion and disciplining. Some of these forms we can give names to like, a job interview and a team briefing. Whereas some we cannot and we just say that we are discussing a problem or telling a manager about an incident. Some general functions of language in different jobs are; communicating information, requesting help, confirming arrangements, instructing employees or colleagues to do something and, making things happen. Applying these to teaching most of them are used, as there can be many situations that occur within a classroom and a staffroom.

In teaching Goffman's front stage and back stage theory is used very frequently. The front stage is where the performance takes place in front of an audience. This would be the teacher teaching the class. And the back stage is where the protected self resides. This would be when the teacher talks to other teachers and friends but whilst they are still at work. Goffman believed that people build a strong barrier between the front and back stages, in order to preserve the authenticity of the front stage performance. Another website I have used to for ideas is:

Teachers spend a lot of time asking questions to test the class. But doing this depends on the subject being studied, the age of the pupils, their abilities and the abilities of the teacher. There have been several studies of questioning in a classroom environment. For example Kerry (1982) highlighted seven questioning skills:

·         Pitching the language and content level of questions appropriately for the class.

·         Distributing questions around the class.

·         Prompting and giving clues when necessary.

·         Using pupils' responses, even wrong ones, in a positive way.

·         Timing questions and pauses between questions.

·         Learning to make progressively greater cognitive demands through sequences of higher order questions.

·         Using written questions effectively.

 Sometimes questions are easy to define. They merely request information, but if you look beneath the surface they are not so easy to distinguish. Some examples used in the classroom teaching skills book is; 'put up your hands if you know why we count in tens?' this is expressed in a command form but it contains and implicit question. Whereas 'how are you getting on Gary?' is expressed in a question form yet it contains an implicit command.

Also statements expressed with inflections may be used as questions; for example 'The answer is twenty-four?' it would be considered as a question but if you link it to Kerry's first questioning skill by changing the pitch, then it can be classed as a question.

Most teachers ask questions in class to involve all the students, even the shyer ones and make it more interesting. They can be used to encourage thought and understanding of ideas and to check the pupils understanding and knowledge of a subject.

 

Grace Jack