A corpus-based study of educational discourse- the SCORE Approach

Abstract

This thesis draws on three perspectives, i.e. technical, linguistic and pedagogical, in order to propose the SCoRE approach, a corpus-based integrated approach to the study of educational discourse. After a review of theoretical and methodological approaches to classroom discourse in terms of their relative merits and shortcomings, the study then considers how these approaches can be integrated in order to provide a much richer description and understanding of the complexities and consequences of classroom practices than any separate efforts could provide. The term "integration" includes a reference to a sophisticated corpus architecture that can technically support and accommodate multiple perspectives from different traditions. The study also demonstrates the practical applications of this integrated approach by presenting some empirical studies on teacher talk and student engagement, speech act in classroom and teacher-student interaction patterns in educational settings in Singapore. These analyses eventually support and confirm the feasibility and significance of such a corpus-based integrated approach to the study of classroom discourse.