Book review: Researching classroom interaction : a student guide by Christopher J. Jenks, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY, Routledge, 2020, 196 pp., $ 44.95 (paperback), ISBN: 978-0367208707

Word search sequences in teacher-student interaction in an English as medium of instruction context

This study explores the ways students in a higher education setting engage in word searches. The investigation draws on 30-hour video recordings of content classes in an English as a medium of instruction university in Turkey. Using conversation analysis, the study focuses on the interactionally accomplished functions of vocal and visual practices deployed by the students in the course of a word search. We revealed that word searches are constructed through publicly visible resources (i.e. gaze, body orientation, gestures) and explicit formulaic expressions (i.e. how can I say it?), and accomplished via bilingual resources. It was also observed that the teacher does not orient to word searc…

Researching classroom interaction: a student guide

The book Researching Classroom Discourse: A Student Guide, by Christopher J. Jenks is a welcome addition to a growing body of studies that sheds light on the complex nature of classroom discourse (...

Student-initiated multi-unit questions in EMI classrooms

This conversation analytic study investigates student-initiated multi-unit questions (MUQs) in whole class interaction. Based on a corpus of 30 hours of videotaped interactions from teacher education classrooms in an English-medium instruction university, we demonstrate that students use MUQs to introduce topics, either by recontextualizing some aspect of the prior topic, or alternatively, without these cohesive ties, which requires more interactional work to achieve intersubjectivity. Findings reveal that MUQs render student professional concerns more relevant and salient, foregrounding those inquiries as a space for launching topics. Students bring up issues such as ways of handling parti…

Teacher response pursuits in whole class post-task discussions

This paper explores teacher elicitation practices following a perceived absence of a response to an initial inquiry. Specifically, we focus on whole class post-task discussions where a teacher pursues responses in post-first position following students’ non-uptake, and thus makes her orientation toward the expectation of a response publicly available. The data for this study come from 30 h of video-recorded classroom interactions in an English as a medium of instruction university in Turkey. Using Conversation Analysis, this study demonstrates that when confronted with a non-response to her initial elicitation in whole class interaction, in addition to drawing on interactional resources (e.…

Transforming student contributions into subject-specific expression

Drawing on a corpus of pre-service teacher training classroom interactions in an English-medium instruction university in Turkey, we examine teacher follow-up turns that introduce specialized terms, showing how a teacher transforms student’s responses into pedagogically relevant points using academic language. We argue that teacher third-turns following student contributions accomplish several interrelated actions, not only introducing new terminology to these teachers-in-training, but also familiarizing them with ways of thinking specific to their discipline, i.e., these turns model “doing being a teacher.” These teacher actions are used to bridge student contributions to more scientific t…

Mobilizing ‘context’: Vocabulary checks in ESL tutoring sessions

This study investigates the practice of unplanned and emergent vocabulary checks, i.e. turns through which a speaker explicitly checks whether the recipient knows a word, in small-group tutorial instruction. The data are video-recorded English as a second language (ESL) tutoring sessions between a native English speaker tutor and ESL students at an urban community college in the United States. By drawing on conversation analysis, we analyze how vocabulary checks emerge sequentially and with the help of contextual interactional resources. Findings suggest that vocabulary checks constitute a practice for managing both shared understanding and pedagogical concerns. By singling out a vocabulary…