Persian Academic Lecture Closings: An Investigation into Verbal and Non-verbal Ending Indicators

Abstract

Lectures, as an indispensable channel of knowledge, have drawn the attention of many dis-course analysts. The present study investigates the organization of academic lecture closings, level of formality, and verbal and non-verbal cues for the ending of classes. To this end, 1500 minutes of 100 recorded Persian academic lectures were transcribed and the relating parts analyzed to explore the rhetorical structure of their termination points. Results showed that Persian lecturers used a wide range of strategies in lecture closings. Answering questions, raising questions, and indicating the end of the lecture were the most frequently used strate-gies. Moreover, most strategies tended to cluster at the pre-ending stage. Findings also re-vealed that lecturers in Persian academic settings employ collective you to enhance teacher-student distance and degree of formality. The study can provide lecturers with practical appli-cations regarding the structure of lecture closings.