Second Language Classroom Interaction Research Articles

Scaffolding children’s participation during teacher–child interaction in second language classrooms

ABSTRACT This study investigates the nature of teacher–child interaction and teacher scaffolding in Finnish second language (L2) classrooms. Although previous research on classroom interaction has highlighted the importance of scaffolding in language learning, much less is known about the importance of scaffolding for younger children's L2 learning. Utilising a sociocultural approach, this study aims to fill this gap. The data were collected from seven pre-primary/early primary L2 classrooms, with four teachers and 205 children through video recording (56 h) and observational field notes. The interaction analysis focused on the communicative functions of teacher–child interaction, teacher and student initiations, and teachers’ scaffolding children's participation during whole-class and small-group sessions. The results show how teacher–child interaction during small-group sessions supported the children’s active participation in L2 interaction and learning. The results also suggest how changing from teacher-centred modes of classroom interaction to child-centred and playful interaction is challenging and requires strong teacher professionalism.

Reconciling the cognitive and social approaches to describing teacher talk in second language classrooms: The contribution of systemic functional linguistics

Teacher talk plays an important role in second-language classroom interaction. Studies are informed by multiple theories and yet could be classified under two general approaches, i.e., cognitive and social. The two approaches provide different but complementary perspectives on the role of teacher talk in interaction, with a focus on either learners' cognitive change or their social participation. A conversation between them is called for in the academic field to understand their interdependent relationship as well as the loss and gain in the respective approach. However, the conversation is difficult to launch because the cognitive and social approaches have developed distinct perspectives on what constitutes language and how learning evolves, leading to seemingly incompatible descriptive paradigms. With reference to systemic functional linguistics (SFL), this article argues for reconciling the two approaches in the following aspects. First, the meaning-oriented view of language in SFL expands the learning scope beyond language forms and offers both approaches an angle to reconsider the focus of the interaction. Second, the semiotic view of learning in SFL blurs the boundary of cognition and language use and provides a perspective for understanding the mediated role of language in the cognitive and social processes of learning. Finally, the functions of scaffolding in teacher talk revealed by SFL based on a linguistic analysis may not only enrich the description of each approach but also enable findings across the two approaches to be comparable. It is anticipated that SFL would create new spaces for the conversation between the two approaches.

Learning Potentials Afforded by a Film in Task‐Based Language Classroom Interactions

AbstractThe use of films as teaching and learning materials can provide a variety of opportunities for interaction in second language classrooms. Research on the usage of films in language‐learning tasks to provide opportunities for learning and interaction, however, is scarce. Drawing on a database of video‐recorded interactions in an upper‐secondary English‐as‐a‐foreign‐language classroom in Sweden and using multimodal conversation analysis, this study examines affordances of student interactions during a film‐based discussion task. Taking a sociomaterial perspective, we focus on students’ co‐narrations of the film in a group task and show how the emergent discussions about the film facilitate collaborative attention work (CAW). Our findings reveal that the CAW in this film‐based discussion task unfolds when students (a) correct each other, or (b) collaboratively search for words while discussing the scenes in the film. Our analysis of these sequences reveals the learning potentials that emerge in film‐based discussions. The findings have direct implications for the use of audio‐visual materials—in particular, films and movies—in language‐learning tasks.

Interaction in Second Language Classrooms

Résumé L’intérêt pour l’Analyse Conversationnelle (AC) et ses applications possibles dans les champs de l’apprentissage et de l’enseignement du langage a considérablement augmenté ces cinq dernières années. L’article esquisse une synthèse de l’état de la recherche et identifie les enjeux et les problèmes qui ont émergé durant cette période. Il se focalise surtout sur l’interaction en classe et sur l’enseignement des langues de spécialité. Il discute aussi la relation entre AC et linguistique appliquée et examine les questions complexes auxquelles l’AC peut contribuer par l’étude des pratiques d’apprentissage. Ces enjeux sont illustrés par un exemple d’analyse des processus d’apprentissage. L’article conclut en présentant quelques directions possibles de recherche à venir.

Second-Language Classroom Interaction: Questions and Answers in ESL Classes

Second-Language Classroom Interaction: Questions and Answers in ESL Classes

Second-Language Classroom Interaction: Questions and Answers in ESL Classes, by Ann C. Wintergerst. Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University of Toronto Press, 1994. xv + 159.

Second-Language Classroom Interaction: Questions and Answers in ESL Classes by Ann C. Wintergerst. Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University of Toronto Press, 1994. xv + 159. Reviewed by Kylie Hsu University of California, Los Angeles This bode presents an empirical study of teacher-student interaction in classes, particularly in the area of student responses to ESL teachers' questioning techniques. Data were gathered from six teachers and their twelve ESL classes at an English language institute in New York City during the spring semester of Three of the classes were beginning-level and the other three were The students included native speakers of Amharic, Arabic, advanced-level. Chinese, French, Turkish. Those Italian, Japanese, whose Test of English Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, and as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) scores fell below 400 were placed in beginning-level classes, while those who scaed around 500 wCTe placed in advanced-level classes. Except for their language background and TOEFL scenes, no other information on the twenty-seven students was available. Wintergerst begins her book by reviewing research on teachers' talk and question behaviors in (non-ESL) content classrooms and ESL classrooms. She summarizes previous related research and highlights the works of Gamta (1976), Rwakyaka (1976), Lobman (1979), Shapiro-Skrobe (1982), Mines (1983), and Libdeh (1984). Then the author moves on to the research methodology in ha- study, and discusses the research setting, subjects, data collection and analysis. The observation system used in the study Fanselow's (1987) Foci for Observing Communications Used in Settings (FCXTUS) plays a major role in the analysis of classroom interaction in terms of the following communication characteristics: sourceAarget, move type, medium, use, and content Sourcel target refers to who <x what is communicating to whom or what. In a classroom setting, the source and target of communication essentially involve either the teacher or the student reacting. Move pedagogical purpose of communication A structuring move type refers to the four moves for the e.g., structuring, soliciting, responding, and sets the stage for a subsequent activity, Alright, we're going to be in this room to help Ann with her tape-recordings. A a response to a question, request or command, e.g., move answers a question csr responds to a request OT command, e.g., I am thirty-seven years old. A reacting move is a reflexive move that is not solicited by others. It can be a comment on what soliciting elicits move How old are you? A responding othCTS have communicated, e.g., Sounds like Raphael had a wonderful party. I Issues in Applied Linguistics ISSN 1050-4273 Vol. 6 No. 2 Regents of the University of California

Analyzing Input and Interaction in Second Language Classrooms

Current theories of language input, interaction and second language acquisition have claimed that the kind of language input that has been made available to the learners and the kind of interac tion that they have been involved in have important effects on the language acquired. It has been hypothesized that input which is com prehensible and interaction which has been modified best facilitate second language acquisition. Since the classroom is one of the few places where comprehensible input and modified interaction are made available, and since the teacher is an important source of in put, this paper suggests that it is essential for ESL teachers to analyze what actually has gone on in their own language classrooms. It pro poses a system for analyzing input and interaction in the classroom. This system is then applied to two English lessons in secondary schools in Hong Kong. The observations are discussed in the context of current theories of input, interaction and second language acquisi tion.

Analysing interaction in second language classrooms

Analysing interaction in second language classrooms