Exploring classroom discourse: Linguistic perspectives on teaching‐learning processes

A conceptual framework for interpreting linguistic approaches to the study of educational events and processes is presented. This is followed by an examination of the methodological issues associated with these kinds of linguistic analyses. Finally, some representative findings from recent linguistic studies are presented. These three sections answer the question: What is meant by a linguistic perspective to teaching and learning processes? This relatively new and different perspective about classrooms and schools helps further our understanding of what is communicated to whom in educational settings—an enduring problem in social psychology and psycholinguistics.