Creating opportunities for L2 learning in a prediction activity

Abstract

In addressing teacher talk and its role in providing opportunities for learning in L2 classrooms, a growing number of studies have investigated different ways teachers manage learner initiatives and demonstrate L2 Classroom Interactional Competence. However, despite their commonness in L2 classrooms, an investigation into pre-listening/watching activities (e.g. prediction activities) is scarce in terms of how learning opportunities are created. Based on a corpus of fourteen 45-min EFL classes videotaped at a secondary school in Turkey, the current paper explores the ways student engagement is enhanced and learning opportunities are enacted in pre-watching activities in meaning and fluency contexts. Drawing on the analyses of detailed transcriptions of such activities and utilizing the micro-analytic lens of multimodal conversation analysis, it is revealed that the teacher creates opportunities for language learning by successfully managing learner initiatives and emergent knowledge gaps; evidenced through the appropriate use of resources like embedded correction, embodied repair, and embodied explanations. Evidence for potential language learning will be shown by tracking students’ use of a phrase in meaningful communicative events. The findings have implications for research on L2 classroom interaction, teacher talk, and instructed language learning.