Repetition in University Classroom Interaction: A Case Study of the University of Dar es Salaam

Abstract

This paper investigates how lecturers use repetition to perform  different functions during classroom interaction at the University of  Dar es Salaam. The data encompass eight recorded lectures and  interviews with the respective lecturers teaching first year students in  the Departments of Political Sciences and Public Administration and  Sociology and Social Anthropology. The objective is to identify, describe  and analyse how lecturers apply repetition as a communication  strategy to convey information at a sophisticated level of academic  rhetoric to facilitate knowledge delivery. Discourse analysis (DA)  approach facilitated the identification and analysis of repetition as a  discourse strategy of lecturers, and as part of spoken registers that are  generically used in university teaching in Tanzania. The findings  indicate that lecturers used phrasal and clausal types of repetition toachieve cohesion, topic continuity and emphasis. This paper extends  knowledge on how multilingual speakers utilise various techniques in  facilitating delivery and understanding of knowledge.Key words: discourse analysis, discourse strategy, repetition, lectures,lecturers