Jeanne Rolin-Ianziti

The organization of delayed second language correction

The present study uses a conversation analytic framework to examine the organization of a type of classroom talk: the delayed correction sequence. Such talk occurs when teacher and students interactively correct errors after the students have completed a communicative activity. This study investigates naturally occurring instances of correction accomplished by four teachers of introductory French and their students and uncovers two main approaches to delayed correction: (1) teacher-initiated correction, and (2) teacher-initiated student-correction. The detailed examination of delayed correction examples may be fruitful to training purposes by showing teachers the options they may enact in the language classroom.

Student perceptions of L1 use in the foreign language classroom: Help or hindrance

This paper is a contribution to the issue of the use of the students’ first language (L1) in foreign language (FL) teaching.1 The study adds to the long lasting debate over L1 use in the language classroom by surveying students enrolled in language courses for beginners at a university level. The survey focuses on students’ perceptions concerning the use of the L1 in FL instruction, and investigates how its use for various purposes is perceived from a learning (rather than teaching) standpoint. The paper first gives an overview of research completed in L1 use in language teaching/learning over the past two decades. It then presents results of a study carried out at the University of Queensland with four groups of students enrolled in French, German, Japanese and Spanish on their perceptions of the use of English in their first-year study of a foreign language.

Variations on the IRE pattern in a French beginner task-based classroom

ABSTRACT The use of the Initiation–Response–Evaluation (IRE) sequence is common in education and, although classroom research does not preclude its practice in pedagogy, it recommends introducing other forms of talk into teaching. The present study, inspired by Task-Based Language Teaching research on learner language, uses Conversation Analysis to explore the variations on the IRE pattern that take place in a class of French beginners as they complete a learning task. Based on audio-recorded data collected in situ, the study uncovers two IRE subcategories and one pattern of interaction that diverges from the standard IRE pattern. These variations reflect changes in the lesson phase and show how a three-phase lesson plan focused on a specific task can move classroom participants away from the exclusive use of IRE.