Exploring power interactions in the new virtual classroom culture in an ELT master’s program

Abstract

"The present research project aims to explore the power relations enacted in the virtual classroom in an English language teaching (ELT) master’s program at a university in central Mexico. Interactions between teachers and students are examined through a critical discourse analysis (CDA) perspective in order to determine how these relations influence learning opportunities. The study addresses the following research questions: 1. How do online interactions between members of the group build the new culture of the virtual classroom? 2. How are power/knowledge relations enacted in the virtual classroom? This investigation follows a qualitative case study approach. The participants in this project are two teachers and 18 students that are part of this ELT master’s program. Data is being collected through video recordings of classes. The data analysis consists of transcribing the data and categorizing emerging topics under relevant themes in order to draw conclusions. This data analysis utilizes certain principles of conversation analysis and pragmatics as complementary analytical tools. Power interactions were categorized three main expressions of power according to French and Raven Data analyzed shows that the main categories that show power relations are: turn-taking, adjacency pairs, floor holding, politeness".