93. The role of gaze in conversational interaction

AbstractThe argument for a pedagogy of input oriented learning for the development of speaking competence (Sharwood-Smith, 1986; Bardovi-Harlig and Salsbury, 2004; Eslami-Rasekh, 2005) has been of increasing interest in Applied Linguistics circles. It has also been argued that multimedia applications, in particular DVDs, provide language learners with multimodal representations that may help them ‘to gain broad access to oral communication both visually and auditory’ (Tschirner, 2001: 305). Thus this paper focuses on an exploratory study of teaching oral interaction through input processing by means of multimodal texts.The paper is divided into a number of interconnected sections. First, we outline briefly what teaching conversation implies and examine the important role of oral comprehension in the development of conversational interaction. In fact, it has been suggested that effective speaking depends very much on successful understanding (Oprandy, 1994). In this paper we pay special attention to the crucial role of context in understanding oral interactions. Therefore, we outline the theory of context in English Language Teaching (ELT). The discussion draws on approaches to teaching conversation and it also offers a brief reflection about the need for materials which might convey the sociocultural and semiotic elements of oral communication through which meaning is created.We then discuss the decisions taken to propose a new multimodal approach to teaching conversation from a three-fold perspective: (a) the selection of texts taken from films, and the benefits of using DVDs (digital versatile disc); (b) the development of a multimodal analysis of film clips for the design of activities; and (c) the promotion of a conversation awareness methodology through a bank of DVD clips to achieve an understanding of how native speakers actually go about the process of constructing oral interactions.In sum, the main thrust of this paper is to pinpoint the advantages of using multimodal materials taken from DVDs, as they provide learners with broad access to oral communication, both visual and auditory, making classroom conditions similar to the target cultural environment (Tschirner, 2001).

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The role of conversational interaction in the development of a second language

Australian Review of Applied Linguistics Series S ◽

10.1075/aralss.16.09alc ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 16 ◽

pp. 135-154 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Eva Alcón

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Conversational Interaction

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Conversational skills and modeling in learning disabled boys

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716400004604 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 251-278 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Mavis Donahue ◽

Tanis Bryan

Keyword(s):

Learning Disabled ◽

Conversational Interaction ◽

Dialogue Model ◽

Conversational Skills

ABSTRACTLearning disabled (LD) children in the role of interviewer have been found to be less skilled than nondisabled children at initiating and sustaining a dialogue with a classmate. This study tested the effects of modeling on these conversational skills and on metaconversational knowledge. LD and nondisabled boys in grades 2 through 8 listened to either a dialogue of a child interviewer modeling open-ended questions, conversational devices and contingent comments and responses, or a monologue presenting only the interviewee's responses. Each subject was then videotaped interviewing a classmate. Although the dialogue model increased LD children's production of open-ended questions and comments, these strategies appeared more difficult for their listeners to understand and expand. Results of the metaconversational responses suggest that LD children are aware of their difficulties in conversational interaction.

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Assessing the effectiveness of interactional feedback for L2 acquisition: Issues and challenges

Language Teaching ◽

10.1017/s0261444819000375 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 53 (1) ◽

pp. 3-28 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hossein Nassaji

Keyword(s):

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Language Learning ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Future Research ◽

L2 Acquisition ◽

Conversational Interaction ◽

Beneficial Effects ◽

Challenging Question ◽

Considerable Body

AbstractHow to correct learner errors has long been of interest to both language teachers and second language acquisition (SLA) researchers. One way of doing so is through interactional feedback, which refers to feedback provided on learners' erroneous utterances during conversational interaction. Various theoretical claims have been made regarding the beneficial effects of interactional feedback, and over the years a considerable body of research has examined its effectiveness. In this context, a central and challenging question has always been how to determine whether such feedback is effective for language learning. Studies investigating the role of feedback have used various measures to assess its usefulness. In this paper, I will begin with a brief overview of the recent studies examining interactional feedback, with a focus on how its effectiveness has been assessed. I will then examine the various measures used in both descriptive and experimental research and discuss the issues associated with such measures. I will conclude with what continues to pose us a challenge in assessing the role of feedback and offer some recommendations to inform future research in this area.

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The Contribution of Discourse Markers to Communicative Competence in Aphasia

American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology ◽

10.1044/1058-0360.0501.37 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 37-43 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Nina N. Simmons-Mackie ◽

Jack S. Damico

Keyword(s):

Communicative Competence ◽

Discourse Markers ◽

Ethnographic Study ◽

Compensatory Strategies ◽

Conversational Interaction ◽

Social Conversation

Discourse markers, expressions used to organize conversational interaction, are widely used by speakers in social conversation. An ethnographic investigation of compensatory strategies employed in natural communication by two aphasic subjects revealed a variety of behaviors fulfilling the requirements of discourse markers. The role of discourse markers as compensatory strategies to promote conversation in aphasia is discussed, with descriptive examples drawn from the ethnographic study.

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Dialect and conversational inference in urban communication

Language in Society ◽

10.1017/s0047404500005790 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 393-409 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

John J. Gumperz

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Discourse Analysis ◽

Social Identity ◽

Cultural Background ◽

Political Leader ◽

Conversational Interaction ◽

Speech Styles ◽

Urban Communication ◽

Signal Switching

AbstractMaintenance of dialect differences despite loss of communicative isolation points up the need to analyze the role of dialect-standard alternates in signalling social identity and in contributing to conversational inference. Such analysis should focus on conversational interaction and on the processes by which situated interpretations are arrived at and used as frames for interpreting what follows. An Afro-American sermon and a disputed speech by a Black political leader to a mixed audience are analyzed. Dialect alternants serve to signal switching between contrasting styles in both. In the sermon, the audience shares with the speaker a knowledge of the structure of the activity and of the rules for both styles. In the speech, the activity lacks a predictable structure, only the style can frame interpretation, and most of the audience do not share its rules. Conversational inference is shown to depend not only on grammar, lexical meanings and conversational principles, but also on constellations of speech variants, rhythm, and prosody. Such constellations may persist as symbols of shared cultural background. (Dialectology, conversational and discourse analysis; Afro-American speech styles; urban United States.)

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The Discourse of Accommodation in Oral Proficiency Interviews

Studies in Second Language Acquisition ◽

10.1017/s0272263100010809 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 159-176 ◽

Cited By ~ 77

Author(s):

Steven Ross ◽

Richard Berwick

Keyword(s):

Oral Proficiency ◽

Critical Discussion ◽

Conversational Interaction ◽

Oral Proficiency Interview ◽

Interview Process ◽

Rating Process ◽

Oral Proficiency Interviews

Recent critical discussion of the Oral Proficiency Interview has questioned the adequacy and validity of the interview guidelines. The present study considers the role of accommodation in interview discourse and suggests that the extent of interviewer accommodation reveals an overlooked criterion for gauging the authenticity of the interview as simulated conversational interaction. The issue of misplaced accommodation as a threat to both the validity of the interview and the subsequent rating process is also raised, and supplementary criteria for training interviewers and evaluating the interview process are considered.

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Interactions of cultural identity and turn-taking organisation

Chinese Language & Discourse ◽

10.1075/cld.4.2.03hua ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 229-252 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Huang Hui ◽

Yanying Lu

Keyword(s):

Cultural Identity ◽

Conversation Analysis ◽

Chinese Immigrant ◽

Cultural Groups ◽

School Students ◽

Conversational Interaction ◽

Identity Group ◽

Naturally Occurring ◽

Turn Taking

Conversation Analysis (CA) has been used to reveal cultural groups with which an individual identifies him- or herself as interactants are found to practice identity group categories in discourse. In this study, a CA approach — the organisation of turn-taking in particular — was adopted to explore how a senior Chinese immigrant in Australia perceived her own identity through naturally occurring conversations with two local secondary school students, one being a non-Chinese-background English monolingual and the other a Chinese-background Cantonese-English bilingual. How the senior initiated and allocated her turns in four conversations is taken to reflect the way in which she perceived herself and her relationship with her interlocutor(s). The findings suggest that the senior’s cultural identity is not static but emerging and constructed in the conversations with her interlocutors over interactive activities. As such, this study contributes to our understanding of the nature of identity and the role of conversational interaction in negotiating cultural identities.

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