Author Description

The aim of this study is to display the important contribution, which critical analysis makes to our understanding of students/teachers relationship through the analysis of their discursive practices. The work focuses specifically on interaction within Moroccan classrooms. In order to examine teaching/learning relations between teachers and students, this research presents a detailed analysis of the linguistic features used by teachers. Such discourse features are IRF patterns, modality, politeness, Q/A and interruption. A comprehensive analysis of these features requires a focus on the social and cultural practices of which classroom practice is a part. This book demonstrates comprehensively the inextricable link between the participants' classroom discursive practices and their social and cultural practices. The research provides a detailed analysis of classroom discursive practices and describes specific ways in which teachers control students' interaction. It traces such practices to many factors, which are discussed and examined extensively. It demonstrates that both students' and teachers' assumptions and social beliefs of the classroom practices contribute to producing particular discourse practices in the classroom. These discursive practices can either hinder or foster the classroom interaction. The book concludes that both students and teachers' classroom practices shape and are shaped by their social and cultural practices. The book also highlights some of the methodological difficulties emerging from applying Critical Discourse Analysis to a classroom data. Dr. El Mustapha Lahlali is a lecturer at the school of Modern Languages and Cultures, University of Leeds. Dr. Lahlali's research interests are Applied Linguistics, Arabic Media Studies, Media discourse and Classroom Discourse.