Functional characteristics of pedagogical discourse: pragmatic markers in school teachers’ speech

Abstract

This article examines the pragmatic organisation of school discourse based on Russian language and lite-

rature classes in grades 5–7 of secondary schools. Particular attention is given to school teachers’ use of pragma tic markers (i.e., units that have lost their original lexical meaning and perform specific pragmatic functions in discourse) as a communicative strategy for holding dialogues in the classroom. Audio recordings of teachers’ speech were converted to text format using the Whisper automatic speech recognition system and then analysed to detect the presence of 60 pragmatic markers. The research results indicate that Russian language and literature teachers frequently use only about 50 % of the pragmatic markers typical of colloquial dialogic speech. Thus, this kind of speech can be classified as a distinct type of discourse. The most common functions of pragmatic markers in teachers’ speech are demarcation and metacommunication. A distinctive feature of teachers’ use of pragmatic markers is frequent combination of pragmatic functions. The unit itak (English so, thus) seems to play a prominent role in structuring pedagogical discourse. The subject taught and the teacher performance do not appear to significantly influence the distribution of pragmatic markers in teachers’ speech. Thus, pragmatic markers primarily enable teachers to structure discourse and manage the dynamics of classroom communication. They also perform an organising role in discussions aimed at developing new knowledge in students.