Linguists traditionally define a sentence as the basic unit of expression. A sentence is defined as a group of words that makes sense. Most utterances and texts are in fact more than a sentence. The surrounding texts of the sentence gives it a deeper meaning. Subsequently, it gives validity and depth of meaning to a discourse. To understand the meaning of a sentence in its full meaning, the reader is helped by the surrounding text to get clarity of thought and meaning.
Discourse theory states that all the relevant text around a message should be considered to understand it clearly and universally, instead of viewing it as a stand alone sentence. Discourse theory has received prominence in social sciences. Discourse theorists challenge rationalist and individualist approaches in many fields. The discourse theory has great implications in an educational context. It shows how written, visual and oral texts give more depth to the texts when the context is understood.
Interaction and categorization between teachers and students can be understood more deeply in the relevant circumstance in the social context. Instructional dialogue should be closely linked to the particular scenario in a classroom. The thoughts and connections between teachers and students during the process of teaching and language acquisition develop the rigorous nature of pedagogy. In this scenario, ideas and concepts will be mutually understood. It calls for a variety of teaching methods and teaching conditions specific to that classroom.
Meanwhile, in teaching, language teachers must always bear in mind the importance interaction among learners. Participation must be of great value since it is one of the keys to language learning. Teachers should realize that discourse theory is very useful for learners .Learners have some specific mental structure to acquire the language very hastily, and when learners are involved or are participating activities with different language learners, they can get better mastery over the language. They interact better. They have very less chance to make mistake at any cost. They enjoy to interact without any hesitations .Hatch shows that in learners’ discourse, conversations typically competence with attempts by the child to open the channels by calling for other learner’s attentions. The other then responds by identifying the object that appears to have attracted the learner’s attention and the learner repeats the name of the objects.
Discourse theory has a very important role in second language teaching. There are so many methods and techniques that we use for teaching and learning the target language in language classroom. Discourse theory is one of the very effective method for learning the target language. Teachers should create an interactive environment in language classroom. They try to make them involve in discussion in target language. In recitations for example, teachers are very much aware that most of our learners know the answer to the questions but hesitate to raise their hands. And there are lots of reasons for these hesitation that impede interaction and one of which is fear.
Learners’ monitor, especially younger ones, are very much active during those stages. They are afraid to commit mistakes that’s why they prefer not answering at all. In these cases, the aim to let the learner be conversant and learn more of the language is not achievable anymore. Teachers must exhaust all means. Rephrase questions from “What can you do to show your pride as a Filipino?” to “Who has the pride of being a Filipino, the person who works as an OFW abroad, or the person who stays in our country?” The first question does not let the learner think anymore, we all know the answers to that and these answers are clichés already. The second question on the other hand stimulates critical thinking. It will let students think and reflect especially if they have family members abroad. It can also create debate and that creates interaction.
As teachers, we always want perfection from our students. Perfect grammar, intonation, sentence and the like without realizing that too much monitor of these things actually impede the learning of the child. Loosen up but always keep in mind our purpose. Let them converse in a way that they will learn a language properly.
https://pennyspoetry.fandom.com/wiki/Sentence_(linguistics)
http://myweb.facstaff.wwu.edu/karlberg/articles/DiscourseTheory.pdf
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/discourse-theory
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