An analysis of the F-move in a transcript of anEnglish lesson

Abstract：The study mainly analyzes the function and features of evaluative and discoursal F-move. The cho-sen material is a transcript taken from a video recording of an Fnglish lesson. It has been discoveredthat evaluative F-move emphasizes the form of students' language by repetition or formal correction， whilediscoursal F-move focuses on the content and is used to promote interaction by elaboration and reformula-tion.

Key words： F-move; evaluative; discoursal

中圖分類號 ： G623.31 文獻標(biāo)識碼 ： A 文章編號 ： 1005-5312（2020）18-0197-02

一、Introdution

In this paper， two types of F-move， namely evaluative F-move and discoursal F-move， will be analvzed.The chosen material is a transcript taken from a videorecording of an English lesson for high school stu-dents in Shenzhen Foreign Languages School. It is gen-erally a listening and speaking lesson about making awish. It also deals with grammatical knowledge bypracticing the phrase 'if only' （refer to Appendix forfull transcript）.

According to Sinclair and Coulthard（1975） ，the 'F-move' refers to the 'Followup' move as the thirdmove in the I-RF （Initiation-ResponseFollow-up） exchange structure. 'l' can be a question raised bv ateacher. 'R' is the response from students. and 'F' isthe follow-up comment by the teacher. There are twomain types of the F-move with different functions identified by Cullen （2002）， that is evaluative F-moveand discoursal F-move. Evaluative F-move is the com-ment on whether a student's response is acceptable ornot， focusing on the form of the response. While discoursal F-move is to activate the conversation inclass by explaining or expanding information， emphasizing the content rather than form.

二、Analysis of Evaluative F-move

In class， teachers tend to take different types ofthe F-move for different purposes. The transcript alsoillustrates the combination of these two types of theF-move. The following examples show the use of evaluative F-move.

An excerpt from transcript of the listening prac-

It can be seen that the teacher clearly gave eval-uative follow-ups by repeating and praising students'contribution （as in Fl） or providing formal correction （F2） to emphasize the form of students' language.

The use of evaluative F-move is mainly required bythe purpose of in-class activities the teacher adopted. The Fl appeared in the listening activity when theteacher asked students to listen to the recording ofthe video and answer some display questions. It isclear that display questions are asked to check stu-dents' understanding of the details of a text and alittle amount of thinking quality is demanded to an-swer them. Thus， the teacher just focused on the formand checked whether the student's response was corrector not.In addition， the evaluative F2 were used inthe activity of practicing subjunctive. It is important to focus on form and provide explicit correctivefeedback in the grammatical practice.

三、Analysis of Discoursal F-move

Different from the evaluative F-move， discoursalF-move typically cooccurs with referential questions，illustrated bv the following examples （Cullen， 2002）.

An excerpt from transcript of an activity （observ-ing a picture） ：

An excerpt from transcript of an activitv （tellinga story）：

With a series of referential questions for thepurpose of promoting communication. the F-moves （F34）play the discoursal role.

One obvious feature of the discoursal F-move isthe elaboration of students ' R-moves. The teacher responded to students'answers bv further elaboration andexplanation to extend the dialogue and discussion （王雪梅， 2003）. As in F3， the teacher elicited students toexplore information about a picture， thuS， she provided additional messageoriented target language input.Consequently， the teacher succeeded in encouragingstudents ' further contributions in clas s. It can becompared to Fl-2， where the teacher just repeated thestudents' answers to confirm accuracv.

Another feature is the reformulation of students 'R-moves. After observing the picture， the teacherasked students to make up a storv about it， which was

content-based activity. Illustrated by F4， the discoursal F-move focuses on the content， not the form ofthe students ' R-moves. The teacher didn't repair thestudent' s errors directly， but rephrased the contentof his story and indirectly corrected the error hin-dering comprehension. It can be compared to evaluativeF2 in terms of the teacher ' s different feedback onstudents 'errors. In F2， the teacher made a formal andexplicit correction because the purpose was to prac-tice the use of subjunctive. Conversely， in F4， theteacher gave implicit corrective feedback by reformu-lating the student's response in a more acceptableform so that the content not form of his response wasemphasized.

四、Conc lusion

In conclusion. it is found that both evaluativeand discoursal types of F-move are used in the Englishlesson to serve different functions. Evaluative F-moveis most used in form-focused activities Such as gram-matical practice， and often cooccurs with displayquestions. It is aimed at emphasizing the form by repetition or formal correction. On the other hand. discoursal F-move focuses on the content and cooccurswith referential questions. It is used to activatein-class conversation and promote interaction by elaboration and reformulation. Both of them are of greatimportance for teaching. As a result， teachers shouldmaintain a balance between evaluative and discoursalF-moves. They should take many factors into account.such as course objectives， activity design and students ' language level. With appropriat use of twotypes of F-move， the teacher can play a significantrole in students' learning of English.

References ：

[1] Sinclair， J and Coulthard， R. Towards an Analysis ofDiscourse. Oxford： Oxford University Press， 1975.

[2]Cullen， R. Supportive teacher talk： the importance ofthe F-move. ELT Journal， 2002（02）.

[3]王雪梅.F-move模式在英語教學(xué)中的應(yīng)用[J].衛(wèi)生職業(yè)教育，2003（05）.

作者簡介：蕭昕桐（1998-），女，廣東廣州人，2017級本科生，華南師范大學(xué)外國語言文化學(xué)院，研究方向：語篇分析。