The interactional achievements of repair and correction in a Mandarin language classroom

Tsui-Ping Cheng

doi:10.1515/caslar-2014-0010

Article

The interactional achievements of repair and correction in a Mandarin language classroom

Tsui-Ping Cheng graduated with a PhD in Second Language Acquisition from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa in 2013. She is currently an adjunct assistant professor at the Graduate School of Commerce and Management at the Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan. Her main research interests include classroom code-switching, video analysis of embodied actions, and the application of conversation analysis to second language interaction and materials development. E-mail: tsuiping@hawaii.edu

Published/Copyright: October 1, 2014

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From the journal Chinese as a Second Language Research Volume 3 Issue 2

Abstract

This study examines the different interactional achievements of repair and correction in a Mandarin language classroom from a conversation analysis perspective. The sequential analysis of teacher-initiated repair and correction shows that while repair indicates participants' relative epistemic stance and makes visible the contingent process of securing intersubjectivity, correction serves to monitor students' language production and accomplish teaching. By means of various repair practices, teacher and students are able to maintain and restore a shared understanding of the instructional activity that they are doing together. This intersubjectivity is the foundation upon which a space for teaching and learning is created, maintained, and defended. In correction sequences, the practices of repetition and overlap underscore teacher and students' alignment with a pedagogical focus of linguistic accuracy and make relevant their situated institutional identities. Regardless of the distinctive achievements in interaction, repair and correction are both practical resources that enable and sustain classroom instruction.

Keywords: conversation analysis; repair; correction; Mandarin pedagogy

About the author

Tsui-Ping Cheng

Tsui-Ping Cheng graduated with a PhD in Second Language Acquisition from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa in 2013. She is currently an adjunct assistant professor at the Graduate School of Commerce and Management at the Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan. Her main research interests include classroom code-switching, video analysis of embodied actions, and the application of conversation analysis to second language interaction and materials development. E-mail: tsuiping@hawaii.edu

Published Online: 2014-10-1

Published in Print: 2014-10-1

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/caslar-2014-0010

Keywords for this article

conversation analysis; repair; correction; Mandarin pedagogy