Prosodic imitation as a means of receiving and displaying a critical stance in classroom interaction

Abstract

This paper investigates (Finnish) classroom interaction and explores the displays of stance and the rules of emotion in this institutional multi-party setting. The main focus of the analysis is on teacher's imitation of students' talk. The starting point is to analyze stance as a situated practice in the sequential organization of interaction, in particular in sequences that contain criticism. Although it is quite common for teachers and students to criticize each other's activities during (pedagogic) interaction, criticism is treated more or less as a delicate issue. Participants deal with the emotional elements of criticism by using, for example, various prosodic practices, including prosodic imitation. Prosodic imitation is a frequent practice among students, but the teachers imitate students' turns quite rarely and only in specific sequential environments. Teachers repeat and imitate the prosodically marked students' answers that occur subsequent to teachers' critical comments on students' behavior, and the students' self-selected turns that mimic teacher-talk and convey implicit criticism in their prosody. With the help of these prosodic practices the participants are able to receive and deal with a critical stance without jeopardizing the norms, frameworks, and “rules of emotion” valid in this specific institutional setting.