2014 Volume 12 Pages 88-101
The purpose of this paper is to analyze my past practice, which I believe failed to connect learners' words, and to discuss the factors that led to this. A micro-analysis of the discourse of a learner's self-expression in a classroom activity was conducted, and three factors were found responsible for the disconnect: the (1) teacher's power or right to choose topics and allocate speakers, (2) teacher's role or level of responsibility in managing the classroom, and (3) avoidance of self-expression by learners and the teacher in the classroom. Thus, it was the teacher who disconnected learners' words, despite of her intention of enriching learners' vocabulary or sharing a learner's words with other learners. The classroom is an institutional place; a person becomes a teacher there, assumes a teacher's responsibilities, and plays the role of disconnecting the learners' words. Therefore, the issue of the significance of the classroom as an institutional system and its power over teachers' minds needs to be reexamined. Furthermore, we need to develop a new concept of the classroom that enables us to connect learners' words.
