Word-search sequences in peer interaction in monolingual foreign language classes
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| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Citation | |
| Description | A number of studies investigate how peers deal with issues of grammatical or lexical nature that emerge in their talk (e.g. Jakonen & Morton, 2015; Kunitz, 2018; Mori & Hasegawa, 2009). This paper focuses specifically on the sequences in which peers in monolingual classes (L1=Czech, L2=English) deal with the lack of knowledge of vocabulary that they may use in their communicative exchanges. The analysis builds on audio- and video-recordings of pairwork in intermediate and upper-intermediate classes of English in Czechia (22 teaching hours in higher education and 15 teaching hours in upper-secondary education) and on conversation analysis to explore the verbal, embodied and material resources that the peers used to initiate and conduct word-search sequences. The analysis brings concrete evidence to show how the peers produced word-search sequences collaboratively. While in some sequences a peer produced a candidate form in English with uncertainty, which was followed by confirmation on the part of the other speaker or by (self-)correction, in other sequences a speaker failed to produce an L2 item and typically switched to the L1. Although in many sequences the peers managed to come up with a candidate form in the L2, in some cases they were unable to produce an L2 item, which was followed by silence and sometimes by a brief comment in the L1. The findings show that the L1 represents an important resource on which peers in monolingual foreign language classes may rely when encountering problems with the production of the L2. The sequential position of (self-)corrections also shows that despite the communicative nature of the activities, the peers also focus on the accuracy of the lexical items that they produce. Overall, the findings contribute to the body of research on how speakers collaboratively deal with problems producing the target language. |
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