Reflexivity in conducting discourse analysis of code-switching in a classroom discourse : the analysis of Tom Romano's 'Crafting authentic voice'

Abstract

This paper presents research that applies the properties of reflection (uniting theory, practical reasoning and personal experience) to a specific educational context, classroom discourse. Discourse analysis will be used as a tool to explain the existence of the variety of codes in the classroom setting: teaching code, behavioral code, student code, spoken and textual codes. This project also attempts to fill in the gap that currently exists in the scholarly discussion on teaching code-switching strategies in monolingual discursive situations. Review of literature situates the general topic in an historical context and critically analyzes the most relevant published research through summary, classification and comparison, and promotes reflexivity upon language choice in educational settings. Theoretical framework composed of the synthesis of findings in discourse analysis, ethnography of communication and critical language awareness focuses attention on classroom discourses, especially those pertaining to the analysis of written textbooks. Furthermore, the theory serves as a solid foundation for building awareness of how language functions in written texts, and it has the potential to make teachers and students more aware of the effects of code-switching techniques in a text. The third chapter applies this theoretical framework to the textbook 'Crafting Authentic Voices' by Tom Romano. This theory and its application has a potential to make contributions to the development of curriculum, pedagogy, instructional planning in the English Language Arts classrooms.