Discourse Analysis for Professional Growth

This study was primarily designed for the professional growth of the author, whose goal was to become more aware of the dialogue within the second language classroom. A transcript of part of the author’s English conversation class for beginners was examined. This paper focuses on the discourse, not on the grammatical and lexical structures of the spoken English. After analyzing the speech acts and constraints to communication, three trends found in the transcript are presented. Classroom implications for enabling students to develop turntaking skills, backchannel signals, and indirect speech acts are discussed.