Utilizing Learner Volunteered Comments in Whole-Class Interactions as a Tool for Activity Progression

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Division G Roundtable Session 4

Abstract

While much classroom discourse research has examined how and why teachers systematically address student-initiated turns-at-talk in whole-class interactions, this work has tended to focus on student initiations vis-à-vis inquiries. The current exploratory study adds to this literature by investigating one English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher’s discursive actions when addressing English learners’ non-inquiry initiations, i.e., their volunteered comments, as they surface in whole-class activities. Specifically, I examine the actions taken by the teacher when choosing to address these learner-initiated turns when the turns are both in congruence with and divergent of the intended interactional direction of the activity, as well as the effects of those actions on the progression of the activity.

Author

• Drew S. Fagan, University of Maryland - College Park