Defining and Classifying in Classroom Discourse: Some Evidence from Greek Pre-School Education

Autor/inn/en	Kondyli, Marianna; Lykou, Christina
Titel	Defining and Classifying in Classroom Discourse: Some Evidence from Greek Pre-School Education
Quelle	In: Language and Education, 22 (2008) 6, S.331-344 (14 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0950-0782
DOI	10.2167/le765.0
Schlagwörter	Educational Research; Verbs; Definitions; Social Sciences; Classification; Discourse Analysis; Preschool Education; Greek; Foreign Countries; Greece + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Bildungsforschung; Pädagogische Forschung; Begriffsbestimmung; Social science; Sozialwissenschaften; Gesellschaftswissenschaften; Classification system; Klassifikation; Klassifikationssystem; Diskursanalyse; Pre-school education; Vorschulerziehung; Grieche; Griechisch; Ausland; Griechenland
Abstract	Subscribing to Systemic Functional Linguistics approach, this paper examines aspects of decontextualised language, such as classification and definitions, in Greek pre-school instructional contexts. Following the assumption that such decontextualised uses are considered critical to the transition from commonsense to educational knowledge, we attempt a lexicogrammatical analysis of taxonomic meanings occurring in these educational settings. The analysis of instances of classroom discourse in terms of identifying and attributive clauses has shown that classification and definitions, conceived as critical for educational knowledge development, seem to be a reiterated pattern by which teachers recontextualise commonsense meanings into educational knowledge. Different lexicogrammatical realisations of categorisation and definitions with respect to their meaning potentiality are discussed, and evidence of variation in lexicogrammatical choices regarding the continuum from common to uncommon experience is also illustrated. Another point worth mentioning is that social/abstract entities tend to be categorised and/or defined through saying verbs, while physical/concrete entities through being verbs. This variation appears to be a tendency in reproducing the paradigmatic distinction between physical and social science which characterises actual school discourse from very early school age. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10