Teacher and Student transcript

Teacher and Student transcript

Analysing the transcript gives us more of an idea as to why certain linguistic features are used. For example, the teacher beginning with ‘so what is the main point of the poem?’ immediately sets the agenda and shows dominance. Line 4 uses an example of co-operative overlap between the teacher and student when the teacher continues Petros’ sentence with ‘his desires’, adding more information to his words. When a student says ‘amorous?’ and the teacher answers with the meaning of the word, this is known as an adjacency pair. The two people are making meaning together with a question and answer. Latched talk is used a lot during the discourse which also shows a form of dominance because the teacher hits back with ‘answer my question’ when the student challenges them. Asymmetrical power could also link to this as it shows one participant has more power than others, in this case the teacher. The teacher continues to prove this when constraints are used, specifically when they tell Alex they ‘haven’t asked’ them. Although Alex chooses to challenge asymmetrical power in certain parts, it is clear who the dominant participant is in the transcript. It could be argued that the discourse went slightly off topic but it could all also have been very relevant. The amount of airtime each person receives seems to be slightly equal but as it is a lesson, the teacher clearly receives the most. Nevertheless, the teacher ends it with ‘so as we said earlier’, again setting the agenda and showing who is leading the discussion.