Napouléon’s sequential heritage. Using a student error as a resource for learning and teaching pronunciation in the French foreign language classroom

Abstract

In this paper, we consider a student error produced in a French foreign language small-group seminar, involving four Swedish L1 first-term university students of French and a native French teacher. The error in question consists of a mispronunciation of the second vowel of the name Napoléon in the midst of a student presentation on the history of Corsica. Taking a conversation analytic approach to situated language use, the study considers the ways in which the erroneous pronunciation is turned into a resource whereby both teaching and learning opportunities are accomplished in teacher–student interaction. By tracking subsequent references to the initial error in a corpus of video-recorded small-group seminars, we explore some of the things that can be achieved by such referencing in later local contexts. The study demonstrates how not only students, but also the teacher, may learn in pedagogical interaction.