Elizabeth Reddington

Understanding the Sequential Resources for Doing Humor in the Language Classroom

Abstract Humor scholars have made great strides in identifying markers of humor such as prosody and laughter as well as the various social functions of humor in both everyday talk and workplace communication. Less research has been devoted to understanding the mechanisms of humor or how humor is done in naturally occurring interaction. Based on videotaped data from adult English-as-a-second-language (ESL) classrooms, we describe a specific set of sequential resources for producing humor in the language classroom and do so within a conversation analytic framework. We also give some preliminary consideration to the applicability of the findings in other interactional contexts as well as to the question of whether participants are oriented towards moments of humor as opportunities for language learning.

Native Speaker Response to Non-Native Accent: A Review of Recent Research

Introduction Research has generally shown that without early exposure, non-native speakers cannot achieve a native-like accent in a foreign language (Gass & Selinker, 2001, p. 336). Differences in pronunciation, stress, rhythm, and intonation remain. Nevertheless, accent has been shown to affect how native speakers (NSs) evaluate non-native speakers (NNSs). This single speech characteristic has been openly cited as justification for much broader judgments about individuals. Lippi-Green (1997), for example, highlights several cases in the U.S. in which NNSs lost jobs due to their accents, such as that of an Indian woman (who had studied English for over 20 years) deemed unfit for a librarian’s position because of her “‘heavy accent’” and “‘speech patterns’” (p. 153). Matsuda (1991) reports on U.S. doctors who lost their malpractice insurance because the company felt accent would prevent them from successfully defending themselves in a lawsuit (p. 1346). In light of the potentially high-stakes consequences of accent-based evaluation, particularly in major immigrant-receiving countries like the U.S., the goal of this paper is to examine recent contributions of language research to understanding NS attitude toward NNS accent. Specifically, this paper will address two questions relevant to the work of the past decade. First, what are the factors that affect NS attitudes toward accented speakers? This question has been investigated by a number of researchers, and the variety of accents, locations, and contexts examined in pursuit of an

Humor and Play in Language Classroom Interaction: A Review of the Literature

The past two decades have seen a growing interest in the role of humor and play in secondlanguage (L2) learning and teaching. Vega (1990) went as far as to propose viewing humor as a fifth element of communicative competence; more recently, Cook (2000) has argued that language play should be regarded as “both a means and an end of language learning” (p. 204). Teachers have, in fact, long been advised to introduce elements of humor and play into the language classroom (e.g., Holmes, 1980; Schmitz, 2002; Trachtenberg 1979). However, as Bell (2009, 2011, 2013) has pointed out, such recommendations have largely been based on assumptions and intuitions rather than empirical research. Studies of specific pedagogical interventions have generally been lacking (Bell, 2013).

Going general: Responding to yes–no questions in informational webinars for prospective grant applicants:

While research on question–answer sequences has yielded important insights into the structures of responses and the actions they implement, the advising literature has illuminated how advice-giving may be resisted or avoided in certain institutional contexts. In this study, we examine the audio-recorded Q&A sections of applicant webinars delivered by a major philanthropic foundation in the United States, with a particular focus on the foundation representatives’ complex responses to audience members’ yes–no questions that seek specificity. Within a conversation analytic framework, we show how the practice of going general is engaged to manage the demands of being helpful to the individual questioner without appearing to guarantee a particular outcome while foregrounding the foundation’s principles and priorities for the broader audience. Findings of this study may be useful for formulating recommendations for foundation representatives tasked with communicating effectively with potential grantees.

Managing participation in the adult ESL classroom: engagement and exit practices

Abstract While there has been long-standing interest in identifying teacher practices for facilitating participation, less attention has been paid to what might be termed the ‘participation paradox’, or the necessity of engaging in and disengaging from interactions with individual students to create opportunities for both extended and even participation. In this study, I describe the interactional work undertaken by one teacher to navigate the paradox during a whole-class communicative activity in an adult English as a Second Language class. Highlighting the coordinated use of verbal and non-verbal resources, I demonstrate how the teacher uses two sets of practices to engage in and carefully exit from dyadic exchanges. I argue that both sets of practices reflect the teacher’s orientation to involving not only the currently addressed student but also the unaddressed others. Findings contribute to a growing body of work that seeks to explicate the ‘how’ of (second language) teaching.

Discourse analysis beyond the speech event, by S. Wortham and A. Reyes

and transfer research. Therefore, it is sound and sensible for the researchers worldwide to explore successes as well as failures of foreign language learning in Chinese setting. This volume makes such an attempt and opens a window for language transfer study in Chinese learning settings. It should be pointed out that more approaches, especially the technological ones, could be suggested to design transfer research such as corpus and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); moreover, more studies from a cognitive perspective should have been included such as conceptual transfer because they tend to more informatively reveal mechanism of transfer’s generating and operating. Nonetheless, with its logical categorization of studies as well as accessible writing style, lucid explanation of theories and experiments as well as pedagogical comment, and reflections on transfer in each study, this is undoubtedly an ideal academic volume not only for SLA researchers and language teachers, but for undergraduates and postgraduates involved in SLA research as well.