A Discourse Analysis Study of Interruption as a Strategy of Turn-Taking in University Classroom Interactions

Abstract

This qualitative research is concerned with observing and analyzing interruption which is a particular strategy of turn-taking in classroom interactions of fourth-year students of the University of Anbar. The research concerns itself with turn transitions that occur via interruption strategy, which is resulted from violating the rules of the turn-taking system proposed by Sacks et al (1974). The aim of this research is to mark interruption types and analyze their functionality in the classroom context. It also aims at proving that interruptions are not always aggressive and impolite but sometimes are supportive. The researchers adopted audio recording as a basic instrument for collecting data. The data used in the analysis are selected exchanges from different lectures delivered to fourth-year students in the College of Education for Humanities and the College of Arts of the University of Anbar, Departments of English. The researchers adopt an eclectic model to analyze data. Sinclair and Coulthard's (1975) model is adopted to analyze the structural aspect of classroom interaction whereas Sacks et al's (1974) are adopted to analyze the functional aspect of interruption depending on classifications proposed by Ferguson (1977). It is found that interruption is not always aggressive and impolite but sometimes supportive. The interruptions made by teachers are all supportive and cooperative, whereas the students tend to be competitive affecting the flow of speech in some cases.