Repetition of task with analysis of spoken discourse: An exploration of student-led interviews of a teacher

Ian Nakamura(iannaka@cc.okayama-u.ac.jp)

Okayama UniversityJapan

1. Introduction: Interweaving five strands of interest into a study

1.1 Repetition of task Lynch & MacLean (2000), Bygate (2001) 1.2 Teacher-student talk/ test interviews Richards (2006), Kasper (2002) 1.3 Students transcribing the talk Gunn (2003), Lynch (2007) 1.4 Organization of Interviews Heritage (1985), Clayman & Heritage (2002) 1.5 Issues of social interaction in tasks Slimani-Rolls (2005), Jenks (2009)

2. Focus questions

2.1 How does the student guide talk as the

interviewer?

2.2 What features of the interview does

the student notice?

2.3 What changes occur over time?

3. Analysis of a case study

3.1 Interview no. 1 on May 21

Reflection on May 28

3.2 Interview no. 2 on June 4

Reflection on June 18

3.3 Interview no. 3 on June 25

Reflection on July 2

3.1 Interview no. 1 on May 21

1 S: So first (.) I (.) want to ask you .hh ah when when 2 you came to Japan. 3 T: A::h many years ago, ah over 20 years ago= 4 S: =Over 20 years ago 5 T: Yeah 6 S: So why did you decide to come to Japan. 7 T: Uh my fir:st reason was a:h there was a good chance 8 t:o (.) teach English= 9 S: =Mm 10 T: in a school. 11 S: Uh:huh 12 T: And ah I’d never been to Japan before↑= 13 S: =Yeah 14 T: so I thought it would be a good experience. 15 S: M:m .h so why did you (1.5) decide to become an 16 English teacher.

Reflection on May 28

26 S: S:o (.) before (.) I would like to go to the topic

27 of .hh Japanese education of Engl:ish?

28 T: Umhuh

29 S: I wanted to know your background of teaching.

30 T: Right righ[t

31 S: [Why (.) did you decide to be[come

32 T: [Uhuh

33 S: an English teacher?

34 T: Uhuh

35 S: So I asked you such a question s first

3.2 Interview no. 2 on June 4

1 S: I am interested in your own history 2 T: Uhum 3 S: so would you please tell me .hh when you came to 4 Japan? 5 T: A::hm I always tell pe:ople (.) over 20 years 6 a[go 7 S: [Yeah HHhh over 20 8 T: Because you would be too surprised if I told 9 ex[act d[ate 10 S: [Mm [ah okay so over 20 years a[go HHhh

11 T: [Yeah 12 S: So (1.2) second question is why↑ did you decide to 13 become an English teacher in Japan.

Reflection on June 18

23 S: ah this part is about foreign language education 24 especially about your country 25 T: Ah 26 S: you learned Span[ish 27 T: [M- 28 S: and Italian 29 T: Mm 30 S: so ah when (.) when we think about foreign language

31 education= 32 T: =Mm 33 S: I think ah I notice it’s important to (2.3) um have a 34 wide point of view not only English education 35 T: Ah 36 S: but also foreign language education

3.3 Interview no. 3 on June 25

1 S: So we will discuss (.) inter eh English education in 2 Japa:n↑ 3 T: Ok:a[y 4 S: [so first h I will (.) ask yo:u (.) some (.) some 5 questions? 6 T: Okay 7 S: First (.) what do you think Japanese English 8 education (.) is focused on. 9 T: Ahmm generally speaking 10 S: Yeh 11 T: it’s focused on tests. 12 S: Tests ah- tests? 13 T: Yeah 14 S: Wow I (1.8) I image you’d say (.) you you will say 15 reading or writing but tests

Interview no. 3 continuation

(transcribed by student)

36 S: So, you said, listening and speaking are focused on 37 in your language education. What do you think about 38 ultimate purpose of your language education?39 T: The ultimate goal is to raise people who can carry on 40 the conversation in the language in correct form.41 S: to raise the people?42 T: Yes, to be able to communicate the language.43 S: I want to move on next part, which means Japanese 44 English education. You said the purpose of learning 45 English in your country is to raise people who can 46 speak the language. What … What should …What do 47 you think should be the ultimate purpose of Japanese 48 education?

4. Conclusion

4.1 The kind of things the student noticed in reflection -She summarized before moving on to the next topic. -When asking a question she wondered if there was a better

form. -She felt difficulty in closing the interview naturally.

4.2 What did the teacher notice? -She was familiar with the basic organization of an interview. -She could improve question-transition with additional chances. -She needed some guidance to look beyond her errors in form.

4.3 Concluding thought A task is an activity which requires participants to use language to seek and provide information of interest and for both of them to see how their talk is co-accomplished.

Adapted from Bygate, Skehan, & Swain (2001, p. 11)

References

Bygate, M. (2001). Effects of task repetition on the structure and control of oral language. In M.

Bygate, P. Skehan, & M. Swain (Eds.). Researching Pedagogic tasks: Second language

learning, teaching and testing (pp. 23-48). Harlow: Pearson Education.

Clayman, S. & Heritage, J. (2002). The news interview: Journalists and public figures on the air.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Gunn, C. (2003). Exploring second language communicative competence. Language Teaching

Research, 7, 2, 240-258.

Heritage, J. (1985). Aspects of the production of talk for an overhearing audience. In T. van Dijk

(Ed.). Handbook of Discourse analysis, Vol. 3 Discourse and dialogue (pp. 95-117).

Jenks, C. (2009). Exchanging missing information in tasks: Old and new interpretations. The

Modern Language Journal, 93, 2, 185-194.

Kasper, G. (2004). Speech acts in (inter)action: Repeated questions. Intercultural Pragmatics, 1,

1, 125-133.

Lynch, T. (2007). Learning from the transcripts of an oral communication task. ELT Journal, 61,

4, 311-320.

Lynch, T. & MacLean, J. (2000). Exploring the benefits of task repetition and recycling for

classroom language learning. Language Teaching Research, 4, 3, 221-250.

Richards, K. (2006). ‘Being the teacher’: Identity and classroom conversation. Applied Linguistics, 27, 1, 51-77.

Slimani-Rolls, A. (2005). Rethinking task-based language learning: What we can learn from the

learners. Language Teaching Research, 9, 2, 195-218.

Thank you

Ian Nakamura

Foreign Language Education Center

Okayama University

Japan