interruption & power in the classroom
Interruption | James Hobbs | January 16th, 2001
Hi Everyone,
I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has read the following article, supplied with IIC unit 9:
Murata K. 1994. Intrusive or co-operative: a cross-cultural study of interruption. Journal of Pragmatics 21:385-400
(Those who haven't read it feel free to tune out now.)
I enjoyed the article because it offered a useful framework for classifying interruptions and gave me the idea of looking at interruption in classroom interaction for an assignment. However, I have a few reservations about the conclusions she draws based on her data, as follows:
Her study looks at short conversations involving 7 Japanese learners of English resident in London, and two postgraduate students who are native speakers of British English. Seemingly on the basis of data from these conversations alone, she concludes (p.399)
"It has been demonstrated that the frequency of the use of different types of interruption VARIES ACROSS CULTURES." (My stress)
On my reading (and I admit I've only read it once and may be misrepresenting her), her logic seems to be:
1. In this experiment, "intrusive interruptions" featured more in the speech of the native English speakers than they did in the speech of the native Japanese speakers.
2. This must reflect a difference in cultural values between Britain and Japan.
Such differences may well exist, but on the basis of the evidence presented I think it takes a fairly big leap of faith to connect the above two statements. I felt that she should have given greater prominence to concerns such as the following:
• All her data come from conversations in which the participants have never met each other before. We cannot just assume that similar differences will exist in conversations between good friends, conversations at the family dinner table, etc.
• There is no discussion of where the Japanese speakers come from. For example, it is common knowledge that Osaka natives tend to be far less reserved in conversation than their counterparts in, say, Hokkaido.
• Similarly, a study looking only at students must allow for possible variations between social groups.
I could go on, but I think you get my drift. While she raises some interesting points, I think that Murata inadvertently pushes the reader in the direction of the stereotype view "(All) English speakers interrupt (intrusively) a lot- (All) Japanese speakers don't." This may well be the case IN GENERAL, but in ten years in Japan I've found myself in many a situation where I couldn't get through half a sentence without having to fend off a "topic-changing" or "floor-taking" interruption.
When examining variation BETWEEN cultures, shouldn't we always take care to account adequately for (often considerable) variation WITHIN cultures? Does Murata fail to do so, or am being too harsh on her?
James
Japan
James Hobbs/Murata | John Bartrick | January 16th, 2001
Further to James' comments on interruption I too made reference to the Murata article. The staff room interaction I looked at for my assignment featured one British and two Greek teachers of English. I must say I tried to steer clear of drawing conclusions based on nationality. Instead, I tried to show how the nature of the interaction between staff reflected the type of institution in which they worked.
I concluded that the majority of the interruptions present in the interaction were "co-operative" rather than "intrusive" as they did not seek to threaten the territory of the speaker. This is typical of a "Collaborative environment". That is to say formal differences in status within the organization are played down and there is an equality of "talking rights".
All this is by way of saying that organizational culture or the environment in which people work can have a strong effect on "when" or "how" or indeed "if" they interrupt. So, James, I guess I agree with Murata that "It has been demonstrated that the frequency of the use of different types of interruption varies across cultures" but we should not see culture purely in terms of nationality, with all the risks of stereotyping that involves.
John
Reply to John | James Hobbs | January 17th, 2001
John,
Thanks for your reply. Sounds like an interesting assignment you did, and your comment that we shouldn't view culture only in terms of nationality seems very relevant to this topic. But isn't that one of the points that Murata misses? When she says "across cultures" she is clearly thinking only of British vs. Japanese.
I don't challenge the general notion that "the frequency of the use of different types of interruption varies across cultures", but my main gripe with Murata is that she appears to be saying that HER RESEARCH has demonstrated this. My contention is that she shouldn't be making generalizations about (national) cultural norms on the basis of such limited data.
James
Murata on interruption | Keith Richards | January 17th, 2001
Hi
I've enjoyed the exchanges on Murata and have now reached the point where I'm wriggling in my chair so I've decided to get stuck in.
The discussion was particularly interesting to me because it reminded me of why I chose the article in the first place (and I'd be forced to admit that my choices haven't always been good ones). It struck me that what we have here is a topic that's manageable on a very small scale and that picks up something that you can explore in all sorts of different contexts - as John shows. There are going to be difference between contexts, depending on a whole range of factors, so Murata's claim, for me at least, was more or less stating the obvious. The insight was not in "proving" the claim but in opening up the area, and I can't help but feel that the conclusion was expressed so as to fit in with a long tradition of US (or UK)/Japan comparisons which first arose from the needs of business people in the States.
James' point about different areas of the same country struck me as very true, and it underlies Tannen's research into conversational style. Her choice of East Coast and West Coast residents for study around a dinner table was based on the recognition that there would be distinct differences in their ways of speaking. The same goes for related areas of study. I remember a grossly offensive piece of work by Hall on "the Arab world" which made statements about Arabs that bore no relationship to any Arab I'd ever met in three years of living there. I eventually discovered (though I can't remember the source) that he'd collected his data in very small villages in only one country. So going back to Murata, claiming typicality on the basis of such a small group can be dangerous.
Cheers
Keith
Power in the classroom | James Hobbs | January 18th, 2001
On Monday I didn't have even a hint of an idea for an assignment, and now I'm suddenly feeling spoilt for choice. What a difference a few days, a few articles, a few e-mails can make.
I'm drifting away from the topic of interruption per se here, but the area of 'student challenges to the teacher' certainly has connections with it. I was reading the article below, supplied with IIC Unit 7;
Reynolds, M. (1990) "Classroom power - some dynamics of classroom talk," in R Clark et al (Eds) Language and Power. London: CILT
He offers several examples of a teacher rejecting, refuting, or dismissing a challenge from a student, illustrating the point that teachers tend to exert their power most forcibly when they feel that it is threatened, and consequently that "power is in fact most insecurely held when it is most directly enforced." (p.133) It reminded me of a small, ostensibly trivial incident from my high school days, but one that has stuck vividly in my memory for over 15 years. Although I admit I can't remember the dialogue word for word, it went roughly like this;
(c.1986. A visiting 'philosopher' (can't remember where he came from or what qualified him for the title, but I'll just call him "P") is near the beginning of a speech to the whole 6 th form (about 40 students))
P: So some things we can know for certain. For example we know for certain that the sun is going to rise tomorrow, but we can't know for certain if it's going to be cloudy or....(I raise my hand)...Yes?
J: Surely we can't know ANYTHING about the future. We don't KNOW the sun's going to rise tomorrow, we just presume that it will because it always has in the past.
P: No, no. Of course we know. Of course we know that the sun's going to rise.
J: No we don't. We=
P: = No don't be silly now, are you telling me you don't think the sun's going to rise tomorrow? We know that as a fact. (Turning to rest of class) So we know that the sun's going to rise tomorrow, but (etc. etc.)
I distinctly remember him cutting me off at the end and repeating his statement word for word, although he hadn't said anything to refute my observation. The power imbalance of the situation meant that I couldn't continue my challenge without being considered rude (I think he already thought me rude), and I ended up feeling totally humiliated and sulked throughout the rest of his speech!
Admittedly I was being a bit of a pretentious you-know-what, as 16 year-olds are apt to be, but the speaker had every chance to come back with something like "Let me rephrase that as 'We FEEL certain'". Instead he opted for a bald-on-record dismissal of my challenge. Looking back now, I feel certain that this was just a defensive gut reaction to my challenging his position as the bearer of knowledge. I'd love to know how he phrased it at the next school he went to!
As a teacher, from time to time I've certainly been guilty of similar abuses of my power, but the fact that this little episode is still lodged in my memory reminded me to be aware that situations which seem trivial to the teacher often seem anything but that to the learner.
James
Japan
Power in the Classroom | Keith Richards | January 18th, 2001
Hi James
Just a quickie to thank you for that list message - it made interesting reading. I think the bugger was so rude because you had him bang to rights. Philosophy was my first degree and it's standard first year undergraduate procedure to introduce the problem of induction using that sun example (which most introductions to epistemology use) - and the fact is we only "know" it inductively, which means one day we may be proved wrong. He sounds like a pillock to me.
Looking forward to hearing about your IIC plans.
All the best
Keith
Student confrontations | Francesca | January 18th, 2001
After a long while not actively contributing to the list, your contribution has pulled me away from Systemic Functional Grammar and TDA back into the realms of IIC.
When analysing a section of classroom transcript for the FND, I chose to look at an instance of student confrontation. Here is what I wrote in my analysis:
When I went on to ask another question, Lu confronted me by expressing disapproval. The actual words spoken were:
Teacher: Does anyone know how many swimming pools there are in Anytown?
Maria: How many?
Teacher: Yes.
Lu: It's not interesting.
Teacher: No (confirming what student said)
Lu: It's interesting? (Asking teacher's opinion as to whether her question was worthy of being asked)
Teacher: How many?
Lu: Yes.
Teacher: No, I just want to know if you remember.
Lu: Oh, okay (tone of agreement)
James, you mention an article you read which says a teacher is most likely to act in a defiant way when his power is being threatened, however, in this instance, my reaction to the confrontation was to try and hide my surprise and agree with the criticism to avoid further confrontation. I then tried to find out exactly what it was about the question the student had found ' not interesting' and rightly interpreted that it was the number. Upon subsequent discussion (as we are asked to check our interpretations with the people in question for the FND task), Lu told me that she had had a geography teacher who had once said that numbers are unimportant in texts and that it was understanding 'why' that really mattered. It was in memory of this teacher, who she admired, that she had found the courage to confront me.
I have a theory that teachers who are new to the profession don't deal as well with confrontation as those who have a few years of experience behind them. Certainly, I remember quite a few experiences of = confrontation in my first year of teaching (perhaps we are more defensive because we are uncertain of our own knowledge and lack confidence?). Do any other participants agree with me?
Keep me up to date with your research,
Francesca
Student confrontations | James Hobbs | January 19th, 2001
Hi Francesca,
Thanks for sharing that with us; an excellent example of how we all can and should deal with such challenges. It reflects the point made by Reynolds in his article (p.131) that "challenges" are only made into such by the teacher's reactions. I think you really hit the nail on the head when you suggest that new teachers tend to be less adept in this area. As a new, untrained teacher who thought that I suddenly had to be a fountain of knowledge on all aspects of the English language, I remember digging myself into some pretty deep holes at times, creating tension and confusion in situations where I should have just said "Hey, you're right and I'm wrong! Thanks for pointing that out."
Perhaps more experienced teachers are happy to cede power to students, confident that they can take the power back at any moment should the need arise? Many new teachers, meanwhile, are perhaps afraid that once they cede the power they will be unable to reclaim it?
One difference I see between your example and my example of philosopher "P" (following Keith's lead I'd like to make that "P" for "pillock") is that whereas your student was challenging the value of the question you set, I was challenging P's status as "knower". So I suppose we need to think of some sub-categories for "challenge". Suggestions anyone?
As for research, another idea I had was to look at what happens in a small class when students are given turns to "lead" part of the lesson, and see how such a change in power distribution is reflected in their behavior. Will they seize the power and exploit it, or try to pass it on like a hot potato, or something else? Anybody done anything similar, or have any suggestions for reading?
James
p.s. Final thought for the day on dealing with challenges: a writer in Newsweek recently pointed out that what made Bill Clinton the candidate such a great debater was that he always showed empathy for his opponent, smiling warmly, nodding encouragement, and politely waiting his turn, in sharp contrast with all the sighs and frowns that backfired horribly on Al Gore.
Confusianism & Teaching | Lori Solbakken | January 19th, 2001
Dear all,
I'll be starting on the IIC module as soon as it arrives, and as it's my first module after FND, I'm getting quite excited by all the talk going on here lately. Here in Taiwan I don't often get 'challenged' by students as teachers are considered all knowing and therefore worthy of respect. Teaching is one of the four disciplines that are held in high esteem according to an ancient Chinese saying. We're up there with officials, doctors, and architects!
However, occasionally I do find some students may question certain grammar points/spelling when I'm teaching, and may even know the 'rule' better than myself. This i don't mind at all, and even welcome it as students are overtly polite in pointing it out. So, as far as my teaching context goes, a subcategory of challenge could be defined as 'disagreement' or 'query' rather than provocation. Thanks for all the stimulating discussion.
Lori Solbakken
Taipei, Taiwan
Reply to James | James Hobbs | January 21st, 2001
Hi James,
At the end of your last message you asked if anybody had done stuff on power in the classroom. Well, as it happens, last year I did an IIC assignment entitled: "Interaction and power sharing in the classroom: the investigation of a one -to-one lesson using conversational analysis". If you want to have a look at it, then I'll email it to you (or anybody else interested for that matter)
The basic idea was that a teacher can let go of power and if the student is prepared to take on you can have a more symmetrical classroom and largely break out of an IRF pattern that basically is a reflection of the inherent institutional power of the "traditional" teacher in the classroom. In the tape scripts we see the student taking the initiative, nominating topic etc... The lesson is in fact very cooperative and this is reflected in the discourse. So, this one was a "success".
However, just before Christmas, I had a class that turned into a disaster. One of the student's comments was to the effect that the teacher does nothing, lacks dynamism etc. I take this to be because I didn't take on the traditional teacher fronted classroom discourse and the lack of the IRF pattern probably subconsciously freaked the students and they thought that I was not teaching. Another group said they wanted more correction (in fact they said they wanted every error corrected!!). Again, I think the IRF pattern with the final evaluation/ feedback turn would have provided the kind of error correction they were looking for but a more conversational style of teaching consequent to breaking down the traditional teacher fronted class didn't provide the students with the security/ "traditional" power structure that they were looking for.
Going back to what you said earlier about challenges to the teacher, one woman in this group would often challenge my rule of the thumb grammatical guidelines. "Are you sure" she would say, followed by "well, I'll check that in a grammar book". Irritating but I didn't take the bait and she never did come back the following week to prove me wrong. I think you are right, though, when you say that this kind of challenge is more unnerving the less experience you have. Maybe (and here I am speculating wildly) it was because if the teacher breaks out of the IRF mode, to a student who wants a teacher-fronted class, the teacher is perceived as also lacking in knowledge???
By the way both the examples just cited were with small classes of business people.
Finally, you talked about recommended articles etc.. Well, I think most of my reading came from the references in the IIC module. Personally, I found a lot of mileage in the van Lier Interaction in the language Curriculum and his work on contingent interaction.
One last finally, keep in touch as I am starting to look at classroom interaction and power structures again as part of my dissertation.
Cheers,
Jonathan
Students challenging teachers | Pinkie | January 22nd, 2001
I'd like to comment on power in the classroom and "challenges" to teachers, though I freely admit near-absolute ignorance in this area. Specifically, I'd like to propose a little classification of challenges, in terms of the student's MOTIVATION for challenging...
1) Challenge as a learning strategy (simply formulating a challenge, especially in writing, is an effective way of sorting your ideas out);
2) Challenge as a tool for probing (if you don't understand something your teacher says, saying "I don't understand" very often just gets the same explanation back again; challenging is often a more effective way of getting the problem sorted out, and of clarifying whether the problem is yours or the teacher's).
3) Challenge as showing-off to peers ("Hey Pinkies, I'm cool, I'm not afraid of teacher, in fact the teacher's a jerk!" especially common in poorly socialized boys aged 5-25, I guess!).
4) Challenge as showing-off to teacher ("Hey teacher, I'm interested, I'm thinking about this, I'm knowledgeable and clever!": I guess especially relevant in any situation - like this MSc! - in which the teacher is not only pedagogic guide and classroom manager, but also arbiter of some socially or economically valuable certification).
5) Challenge as positive feedback to teacher (sounds silly, I know, but I think challenges may often be a form of positive feedback, a way of telling the teacher that her classes are interesting).
Of course, a particular instance of challenge may often have mixed motivation.
Researchers have presumably explored these questions (i.e. student motivations for student-to-teacher and student-to-peer interactions) in depth. Did Irving Goffman ever write specifically about classroom interaction?
Best,
Pinkie
Spain
Student confrontation | Stephan Hegglin | January 22nd, 2001
Hi everybody,
I have just finished my FND module and I am moving on to MET and TDA. James, Lori, Francesca and Jonathan have contributed experiences to the list that go right to the core of teaching. I have been following the recent discussion and was impressed by the frankness of the contributors. Francesca's reminiscence mirrored what I had experienced as well. It is interesting (and educational) sharing experiences which were not successfully handled on the teacher's part. In one of my FND assignments I analyzed a scene where I got caught up in an unfruitful discussion about foreigners in Switzerland. However, after some hours of transcribing and analyzing I was able to talk about the teacher as if it were someone else, and I realized that I had, by referring to the seventies and eighties, unwillingly been talking about a time my students had only experienced in their diapers.
When I read Jonathan's contribution I was quite astonished to hear that what could happen to me as a non-native speaker (<<"Are you sure" she would say, followed by "well, I'll check that in a grammar book">>) happened to him. I had a similar experience.
Three months ago I got a new student who had been to Alaska for a year. He was a little bit frustrated to be in a mixed level class. He kept correcting me all the time because he could not differentiate between American English, slang, and British English. Although he had an excellent pronunciation, his knowledge of the language was not overwhelming. I tried to stay friendly and give him special tasks to his liking. Once I used the phrase "If I were you.........." He interrupted me again saying, "Mr. Hegglin, it is <<if I was you.>>"
This time I got a little bit angry because he cut short our discussion which was not focused on the language. I told him that we would discuss this after class. This gave me time to think about our problem without making a unsuitable remark. After the lesson I was in a less defensive position emotionally. In cases like these I have learnt that the question, whether I was right or wrong, was not as important as the continuation of our mutual understanding. After this I wrote him a friendly letter asking him to write back. He did so and matters improved. He stopped interrupting all the time. Now he has stopped challenging me and I am not sure, whether my remarks have been a threat to his self-conception. I try to give him more chances to bring in what he knows so that he has not to put me to the test.
All the best
Stephan
Reply to Stephan | Pinkie | January 23rd, 2001
As brought home by Stephan's post, my hopelessly over-theoretical classification of student motivations for challenging was clearly missing at least one major category, i.e. challenging as negative feedback and/or manifestation of frustration and/or request for attention and "respect".
The cases documented by Francesca and Jonathan presumably also fall into this category (?).
In any case, I should probably have distinguished between a) challenge meaning a type of utterance ("I disagree with you", or "I query what you say") and b) challenge meaning a deep-seated and pedagogically negative rejection of the classroom situation, a.k.a. confrontation. The former need not necessarily reflect the latter (see Dominic's post); and the latter can presumably be expressed in ways other than the former (for example, by sulky silence). At any rate, that's how it seems to me.
Rob: any chance of a 5-line summary of Sacks on challenges?
Best,
Pinkie
Spain
Challenges | James Hobbs | January 24th, 2001
A wonderful discussion we've got going here. So interesting that I can't resist joining in again. Is there anybody out there who doesn't have an opinion about student challenges?!
One small point that got me thinking was Pinkie's reference to Goffman. I haven't read much about him, but the concept of 'facework' seems to have some relevance to this area. In TDA I read Brown and Levinson about Face Threatening Acts, and it seems that we could have some mileage here thinking in terms of FTAs. From this perspective the nature of a challenge will be determined by a combination of
A) what is being challenged
B) what form the challenge takes
C) the teacher's reaction.
A) As for what is being challenged, the list may be long, but to start with I can envision challenges such as:
1. Challenge to the teacher's status as knower of English; e.g. Stephan's student challenging his use of "If I were".
2. Challenge to the teacher's status as knower of some fact not related to language; "Actually, James, the capital of Australia is Canberra, not Sydney."
3. Challenge to the teacher's choice of task; e.g. Francesca's student saying the question isn't interesting.
4. Challenging the teacher's style; e.g. requesting more correction.
5. Challenges to the teacher's opinion; e.g. Aleka's discussion of the picture, in which there is no "correct" answer (and the potential threat to face is less significant?)
B) Form of the challenge. In my reading about academic writing I learned how an FTA can be bald-on-record, as in "Your opinion is nonsense", or hedged, as in "I could be wrong, but I'm not entirely sure that your opinion is correct." When it comes to classroom challenges, they could range from the "polite queries" that Lori's students present her with to the "confrontations" that Pinkie refers to (and I agree that sulking/ saying nothing could actually be one of the most threatening challenges).
C) Teacher reaction. To repeat Reynolds' argument, a challenge is only made into such by the teacher's reaction. I once got into a heated argument with another teacher concerning a small point of grammar. At one point the teacher said "Don't argue with me. I was an English major!" By thus laying claim to the status of knower, that teacher had perhaps increased the potential threat to his face. If the teacher doesn't lay claim to this status, and accepts that he/she could be wrong, we are left with the question, "What, if anything, is being threatened here?"
Any potential for developing this framework into an assignment, or should I take it out the back door and shoot it before it grows into a monster?
Replies welcomed!
James
PS: Dominic: I really enjoyed reading your posting as you threw some interesting new slants into the argument, but I have to disagree with you about one thing:
I think that instead it points to influences that: A) shape students outside of school that taught them to not challenge authority figures in general; and B) in my case at least, institutional practises in other classes and at other stages in my students' academic career, that also taught them to not challenge authority figures in general. So, I'm not certain that talking about the teacher's power in the classroom and how that inhibits students is an appropriate theoretical perspective.
I think A and B are perfectly true, but surely "authority" is just another word for "power" (my dictionary defines it as "the power to judge, act or command"). In other words, students are raised not to challenge those in positions of power. I think these examples make the concept of power in the classroom more, not less, appropriate.
Challenges | John Bartrick | January 24th, 2001
Hello all.
The "challenge" that sticks in my mind most recently was from a small group of adult learners all from the same small town community where I live and work. They were all long time friends and although the atmosphere was never hostile it was clear that I was junior by age (I was 36 at the time!) and somewhat of an outsider.
The problem I faced was generally a rejection of my methodology and materials- all the rest was fine!!! "Tell us what the words mean" was their battle-cry, "Yes but how do you say this in Greek (L1)?" followed soon after. At the time I considered this learner style threatening and counter-productive. "If they could just be quiet and be patient for a couple of weeks they would see I know best." was what I thought.
Now I see it somewhat differently as a lost opportunity for some kind of negotiated syllabus. Come in Jonathan I remember you talking about this a while back. Perhaps my needs analysis was all wrong and I had opted for a teacher fronted, whiteboard using style, which forced these learners back into a subordinate role they chose to reject. This would support the line of argument people have been saying that a challenge is a challenge only as long as both sides allow it to be.
Yes James, I'm sure FTAs figure in there somewhere. I'm off to dig out my TDA/IIC notes.
Time's up.
Bye,
John
Reply to Jonathan | James Hobbs | January 23rd, 2001
Hi Jonathan,
Many thanks for your kind offer. Your assignment sounds right in the area I'm thinking about, so I'd be very grateful for the chance to read it.
I can really relate to your comments about some students preferring the security of IRF exchange patterns. Concerning error correction, I had a similar experience last year. After reading van Lier during the FND I started making a conscious effort to make the interaction in one particular class less teacher-centred, part of which involved resisting the urge to offer instant corrective feedback throughout the lesson. The students soon noticed the change and demanded an explanation. When I explained it they expressed absolute horror at the idea that I was making a conscious effort NOT to correct them in mid-sentence, and they insisted that I return to a "total correction" approach as that was what they thought they were coming to class for. When I made the decision to make the change I suppose I should have given a lot more thought to HOW to implement it. Looking back, the change in style was sudden, unannounced, and fairly drastic, so it's not at all surprising that the students were alarmed by it.
Your comments on challenges also gave me some more food for thought, but I feel I've been hogging the list a bit too much recently so I'll let somebody else pick up that baton.
James
Japan
Challenge | Rita Balbi | January 27th, 2001
Here is an example of "planned" challenge:
At the beginning of my teaching career I was sent to a school with a reputation of difficult students: I entered a new class of 28 sixteen year old boys and one, in an apparently sweet manner, raised his hand and asked: "teacher, is it possible to say to can?" I answered: "yes, if you mean to put something in a can". At this point I heard the boy sitting next to him make this comment: "I told you she would know!"
I suppose the challenger had hoped I would think of the modal can in order to demonstrate he knew more.
Rita Balbi
Challenges & FTAs | John Bartrick | January 25th, 2001
On the subject of challenges and Face threatening acts I managed to find the following.
Brown and Levinson (1987) "Politeness: some universals in language usage," CUP.
"Those acts that threaten the positive-face want, by indicating (potentially)that the speaker does not care about the addressee's feelings, wants, etc.- that in some important way he doesn't want H's (Hearer's) wants- include:
(a) Expressions of disapproval, criticism, contempt or ridicule, complaints or remands, accusations, insults (S (Speaker) indicates that he doesn't like/ want one or more of H's wants, acts, personal characteristics, goods, beliefs or values)
(b) Contradictions or disagreements, challenges (S indicates that he thinks H is wrong or misguided or unreasonable about some issue, such wrongness being associated with disapproval)" (p 66)
John
James'z appeal | Pinkie | February 12th, 2001
James:
You ask for transcripts of FTAs. D'you mean transcripts strictly speaking, or will you accept more or less hazy recollections?
Best,
Pinkie
Thanks Rob, und Anderer | Pinkie | January 25th, 2001
Rob:
Very many thanks- this is fascinating. Though I'm floundering way out of my depth here: time to start heading shoreward! For people like me who haven't done IIC (which I presume covers this sort of Conversation Analysis) and who really don't know the difference between Harvey Sacks and a Harvey Wallbanger, maybe this website will help.
[It certainly seems that this approach is NOT based on the assumption that people's motives for interaction are fundamentally selfish. The underlying model appears to be that interaction is a way of cooperating to create society, and of manifesting identity within it (???). Anyway, I think I'll park this topic before it turns into one of James'z monsters and has me for breakfast.]
John: You've got me thinking about All-Time Top Threes in all sorts of categories, but for the time being I'd just like to second your selection of "Voices from the Language Classroom" as one of the best FND readings.
Finally, just like to thank Aleka and Dominic for two comments that struck me as especially interesting:
The point that I wanted to make is that challenge can be a tool for the teacher and it can also be provoked. Certainly, in my class I try to use my power to (almost!) force students to challenge me.
Better get back down to Computational Linguistics!
Best,
Pinkie
Spain
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