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TROUBLE REPAIR AND INTERACTIONAL ST~TEGIES IN THE CLASSROOM:

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AN EXAMPLE FROM A CONVERSA1'IONAL FRENCH 'COURSE

(

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by

;'

Madeleine M. Palmer

A Thesis Submitted ta

the Faculty of Graduate studies and Rese~rch

in Partial Fulfilm.,ent of the Requirel'!'lents • for the Degree of Master of Arts

Dcpartment of Social Founddtions of Educ~tion

McGill University

Montréal, Québec t

1\pr il 1979

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( TROVBLE REPA~R AND IN~RACTION~~ STRATEGIES IN THE CLASSROOM:

AN EXAMPLE FROM ~ éONVERSATIONAL FRENCH CO?UE

. " by li

Madeleine M. ,Palmer Dep~rtment of Social Fo~ndations 'of Education:'·

ABSTRACT

1

Teaching and learning rire ca,rried, o,ut in c1as.~oom { throuqh

the inte~action of students and teachers. This study uti1izes a

sociolinguisti,c approach to analyse interaction in a, conversa-, i '

tional French seminar. The instructional",p.rocess fa ~onceiv.ed .. ."

of as the management of behavioural and linguistic errors--trouble

repair. Functiona1 French 401, offered at MCGill University, was'

selected for analysls, and after familiarization with the partic-

ipants and course methods, S lX lessons were recorded and tran-

scribed. The trouble repair interaction in these les sons 15

ana1ysed ta expose the interface between·a~ademic content ~d

interactional skilLs ~n teacherlstudent encounters. The analysis

demonstrates that students' classroom competence involves. the

mastery of both'content and mode of instruction. Tro~le repair

guides the teacher's strategies for the presebtation of learning

material, ând ~rouble repair interaction,produces normative è1a88-

(

room behaviours which facilitate the teaehing and learninq proeesal

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RECTIFICATION DES DIFFICULTES '~T STRATEGIES INTERACTIONNELLES

EN CLASSE: UN EXÈMPLE D'UN COURS DE CONVERSATION FRANCAISE

par

Madeleine M. Palmer Department of Social Found~tions of Ed'~catiori

fi .' 1

RESUME

(t Dans une classe, le processus éduc~tionnel est avant tout

une interaction entre étudiants et enseignant. Cette étude de (

, l'interaction dans un cours de ~onversatifn française ado~te une

, ( approche sociolinguistique. Le process~s d'enseignement consiste

d'abord en l 'orga~isat.Ïbn de fautes de /langue et de comportement,

autrement dit en la 'rectification des difficultés' (trouble 1

repair). L'analyse porte. sUf Le coulra, F-rançais fonctionnel

401, qui s~ donhe à l'Université MaGill. Après nous être fami­

liarisée avec les participants etfl'organisation du cours, nous ?

avons enregistré ct transcrit sbc périodes de cours. L'analyse >, •

des rectificat~bns de difficultés met en 6vidence le rapport

qui existe entre le contenu du cours et la compétence 'inter-

actionneIle' de l'enseignant et des étudiants. L'analyse démon­

tre que l'étudiant doit a~rendre des normes d'interaction ~ 1

9péci~iques pour participer au processus d'instruction et réussir

dans le cours. La rectification dew difficultés or~ente le choix

des stratégies que l'énseignant utilisera dans la présentation de

la mati·ère. tout en ,produisant dans le cours des comportements 1

1

normatifs qui fAcilitent l'enseignement.

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PREFAC~ "

This thesis was prepared and written at McGill University

wi th the financial support of a McC1on'nell "Fellawship. , ". A large

debt o~ gratitude is due to Thomas Eisemon, my advisor, for

recognizing 7he poten·ti~l of th~s resear'ch and for providing ,

constant intellectual stimulation. ~thout the moral and finan-

cia~ support of my friend, Jérôme Rousseau, this thesis would

nev~r have be~n completed. He also provided invaluable

assie-tance wi th the class transcript ions. The contribution of

Diane VincOClt of l'Université de Montréal must also be acknowl-

edged. Mlle Vincent introduced .e lo much of the sociolinguistic

work on trouble repair, including her own excellent Master'~ ,

Thesis. Many thanks go to Hêl~ne Mignault for her enthusiasm

anq for sharing her knowledge of second language teaching with

me. Finally, ~ grand merci ta the students and teachers of

'401' who allawed me ta participate in thcir classes.

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Àbstract. • • . . ~sufpé: •

)

Pref~e . • • • . • . • • 'Contents.. . • • • List of tables. . • . . •

... . .

Chapter 1 --INTRO~CTION ..•..

Summary

,

Chapter n METHODOLOGY AND BACKGROUND

Research Methods. Funètional Frencb 401 •

. Inttod ucHon.

. . ..

Grammar Instruction . Conversae~onal Instruction •. The projcct • . . • EVé'lluption •• Concrusion~

. . . ~ . .

Chapter III - PARAMETERS OF TROUBlJE REPAIR . .

/

Definition of Trouble Repair. Troubl'e Repair Sequences •.

correction Sequences. . Pro~oked Correction Sequences word Search Sequences . Clarification Sequences • . • • . • • Social Contro~ Sequences.

Summary . • . • •

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~hapter IV TROUBLE REPAIR IN CLASSROOM PHASES C' '

Trouble Repair(~nd Class' Activity

The Opening Phase • • • The Instructiona1 Phase The C10sing Phase ..... • • • •

~ · . . . . ,. . . · . .

Summary

Chapter V TROUBLE REPAIR AS AN INSTRUCTIONAL AND INTERACTIONAL STRATEGY

. . .

. . .

Functionsc of Repair Sequences . . . . . . . correction Sequences. • •• ~

provoked correction Sequences • Social Control Sequences •.• -•• Clatification and Word Search Sequences

. , Trouble Rcpû ir Throughout the Year. • • •

Sorne Priorities for Correction in' Class • . • • • • • • . • • • • . . . . .

pe1ayed Eva1uation'of Errora and Reinforcing correctionrlil

• • •

Failure of Trouble RepaiJ . . • •••

Summary • . . ~. . . . . .

Chapter VI CQNCLUSION . . . . . . . III • • •

BIBLIOGRAPEty • . ... ~. . . . . . . . . · .

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103 109

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119

122

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LIST OF TABLES \ Simple and elaborated repair sequences in the opening phase. • . • . ~ •

, , Simple and elabora~ed repair sequences in the instructionài phase. • •..

Teacher versus student-initiated repair in six French lessons

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INTRODUCTION

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Tpis thesis will describe a university level; conversa-

f tional Fréhch seminar, with the purpose of developing a model

for, analysinq instruction as an inter~ctiènal process. .r

Class-

room activit~es and b~h,vioural patterns are not simply 'givens',

'thet are generated through the interactional process th~t takes

'l>lace in the ~1asir06m. ,Interacti~n" is not only seen to charac- " o

" terise teach~n~ and,learning, but in sorne way to crea te it., A

model is sugge~ted that attempts to ~apture a central facet of

many instructional settin~, the decision-making process implicit (

in teachi~g ~trategies and student beha\tiour. This model exa~ines ~

the learning/teaching interface in an effoJt to

ipants?and their'behaviours ~nd" aChi'evemen;~s: to ~

relate the partic-

the- educational

process itself. The~structures that underlie student-teacher

(and student-studen~) interact;..ion also heJp to cre;te observable ( .

~ behaviours that are described ~n school. ethnographies, and

quanti~ied and correlated with other factors in 900ioloqioa1

s.tùdies of scho.oling.

One' facet of interactiqn, trouble repair. will be examined .. in the thesis. This set of 'ihteractionai\ phe~omena lies'at the

heart of the teacher's"development.~f, ins~ruct~o~al strategits~ , . ,

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Trouble repair-.sequences are directed at problems that develop

when speakers interact. These problems include among others

& the production of errors, mi~understandings, disasreements,

.. and forgetting word9. ~eaching i9 conceptualised as the

managemen> of these interactional problems. For, if students

. never gave wrong ansWers, misunderstood or misbehaved, teaching

,-would be almost as simple. as speaking (and learning would

involve litt le more than heaf~ng). Further, it willJ&e demon-

strated that, when the students take an active part in

the.educational process, "the1r persp~ctive on interaction cannot 1

JI-

be . ignored. Trouble repa ir interaction will be analysed to

highlight-.. the interface of students 1 learning tactias wi th the

instructor's teaching strategies. While instructors must

balan~efan individual student's need for correction against the

• necessity of maintaining the on-going activity for the whole

class, students clarify their understanding of instructional

commands in orger ta participate in learning activities. ~

The research approach used in the the~ is is si tuated

between two approaches to educatianal research, and is d~sigded

" to remedy deficierycies in bath. On the one hand. larqe scale . . comparative surveys--such as the International Ev~l~:tian of

Educat:.ional\Achiev~ment Studies, (Comparative Education Revi~w, .

Special Issue: 1974) --compare different schools and countries in

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terms of the social, economic and political inputs and outcomes

of their respective educational systems. On the other hand, ;'

schaol ethnographies provide a wealth of descriptive detail

about one educational setting--e.g. Burnett's microethnography

of urban classrooms, (1976). Both approaches have flaws. Hugh

Mehan has recently criticised the large scale comparative • surveys, not for what they éxamine but for what they ignore:

Although 'schooling' is a major vdriable in the equation that links people's background and their success in later life, the~e researchers have not directly examined the process of education (Mehan, 1978: 34).

Although correlationa1 studies are comparatlve, they do not

pravide adequate information about the teachlng and learnlng

pracesses in th~ systems they compare. Likewise, Kazamias

concludes that these researchers supply considerable informa-

~ tian apout po1itica1 socialization and economic development,

"or about the influence of outside factOrs upon the educatl0na1

system, but little, if any on teachlng, learning and the trans-

actions of the classroom," (Kazamlas, 1977: 168).

School ethnographles consider schooling from a closer

perspective. Such ethnographies typically examine a single

educatianal situation where two structures confront each other--

the social structure of the dominant society manifested in the

school and that of the student's culture, a minority culture

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wi thin that society--e. g. Sindell' s description of Mistassini .~

Cree children's education (1967). Such studies analyse

educational outputs like low achievement or high drop-out

" rates as the'product of the clash of different cultures. Thus,

\ , where correlational studies posit a congruity between culture

.... and schooling, school ethnographers dispute this.

Some anthropologists have attempted to include a

comparative element in theit descriptions. Leacock's (1971)

comparison of four schools using one c1assroom to exempiifY ~

each ~chool treated schools as culturally homogeneous institu-

tions. This last approach to comparative research, like

... correlational studies, ignores the fact that a sch~ol's culture

i5 heterogeneous, ~d different teachers' classrooms provide a

vari~ty of social or cultural experiences. The more fundamental

problem with most school ethnographies is that, although they

provide descriptions of event and behaviours in schools and

classrooms, they offer little explanation of how these

", behaviors come about. The thrust of these crïticisms is that . educational researchers should be examining what goe8 on inside

•• the schools, lhe teaching and learning processes which are

simultaneously inputs and outputs. The educational process

should be viewed as an interactional'procens: that lS

the interaction of two sets of participants, teacher and

• 1

~ students, each with their own set of strategies and expecta-

tions. Vandra Masernann has emphasized the importance of such

an interactional approach:

. My view is that it is the interface that dooms or promotes the learning process, the actual inter­action between the teacher and student, the soclal processes that occur in schools, the degree to which groups share rnutually understandable perceptions of the enterprise in which they are engaged (Masemann, 1976: 376).

In the early seve~ties, a group of soclo1inguists and

anthropologists studied the use of language in classroorn

situations (e.g. McDermott, 1974). Influenced by this research

Hugh Mehan develaped an approach he called 'constituent ethnog-

raphy', which recognized the importance of studying educational

process l'IS an interacti ona 1 process.

"..

The use of language i~ soci~l contcxts is seen by

sociolinguists to be organized by a set of rules (not unllke

the way the grammaticill production of language is structured

by syntactic, phonetic and morphologica 1 lU les) . A kllu·wledge

of the latter set of rules could he called linguistic com-

petence, to distinguish it from the knowledge of how ta use

language in different social situations, or communicative

competence (Hymes, 1972: xxxvi). The approach to ldngudg~ in

classrooms focuses on communication as a whole'. Sociolinguists

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use the notion of 'speech art' (ibid.: xxviii) to indicate

that speech has social in addition to referential meanings,

fur instance the command , "Get the book." By focusing on

interpersonal communication they recognize the importance of

para~\ngUist~c phenomena which accompany speech (Byers and

8yers, 1972). Thus , three tenets uf bociolinyuistics that

are used by constituent ethnographers are the recognition

that 1) language use is organizedi 2) communication includes

non-verbal phenomena which add information, and 3) language

has multiple meanings including social meanings. Communicative Ir

competence involves using verual anù nOIl-verbal cues to under-

stand aIl the meanings of what is said in a particular social ., contexte

A summary of two of the articles in Functions of

Language in the Classroom (cazden et al. 1972) will be

sufficient to exemplify the sociolinguistic analysis of

educational situations. Stephen 80ggs emphasized the need

for unde)standing social meanings in classrooms when he /

studied Hawaiian children's performance in answering ques-

tions in school. A t home il nd wi t.h edch other the children

spoke a non-standard form of English. 8y comparing the chil-

dren' s i'nteraction outside class wi th their interactions with

the teacher in the classroom he concluded that Hawaiian

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c!lildren "failed to answer productiv~ly because they did HOt

compLehend the standard English forms of questions addressed

to them," (Soggs, 1972: 322). Although both teachers and

students spoke English, the structure of soci~l mea~ing for e

the two groups differed, resul ting in ci breakdown of commun.i-

calion. The classroom required communicative competence in

standard English in order to participate in the learning

process.

Eliot Mishler showed how "different cognitive

strategies as weIl as different values and norms ~re car:r.i'ed

in lhe l.angua.ge used," (Mishler, 1972: 267) byanalysing

teacher-student instructional interaction in first grade

classrooms. He illso pointcd out thùt two kinds of instruc-

tion take place in schaols:

The classroom is a socializing context where chilpren are expectcd to learn 'avout' something and at the same time ta learn certain rules of proper and appro­priate behaviour (ibid.: 280).

Mishler examined the Jifferent ways teachers used discipline

and analysed the no~ativc messages produced in social control

interaction.

Soyys' sLudy demonstrated one aspect of communicative

competence required in H~waiian classrooms, which constitutive g

.ethnographers caU interactional skills. Bremme and Erickson

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set out to define these' interactional skills r~uired in

classrooms. They discovered that a competent student must

know ho ..... :

1) to determine what social situation, or context. is happening now, fro~moment to moment within the occasion;

2) to interpret the social meaning of others' behaviours in the 1ight of the social situation happening now; and

3) to identify and produce, from amon9, one's 'repertoire' of behaviours, those forms considered appropriate alternatives now, in 'this.' social situation (Bremnte and Erickson, 1977: 153-154).

In another study, Erickson found that students' interaètional

skills as delllons Lrd led in the ir 'communication style' affected

the treatment they received from s~hool counse110rs:

The more alike counsellors and students were in terms of social identity and commùnication style, the more smooLhly the counsellinq intcractjon would proceed and the more special.he1p counsellors were likely to give students (Erickson, 1975: 45).

The effect of interactional ski t 1s on career patterns

is c1ear when we remember that counselling sessions are

encounters that determine a student's choice of acad'emic goals

and course work. If a student's interactional skills affect -:7 how school personne! treat and eva1u~te him, ~hen these skills

have very rea! consequences ori student achi~vement, the iden-

tification of t~!ent, etc.

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Mehan substituted 'interaction' for the linguists'

notion of 'communication' and outlined the importance of inter-

action in ·the educationa1 process:

The central tenet of constitutive studies of the school is that 'objective social facts,' such as students' intelligence .• scholastic achievement, or career patterns, and 'routine ?atterns of behavior.' such as classroom

(prganization, are accomplished in the interaction between teachers and students, testers and students, principals and teachers. Rather than merely describe rec~rrent patterns of behaviour or seek correlations among variables, ,onstitutive analysts study the structuring activities tbat construct the social facts of education (Mehan, 1978: 36).

Mehan analysed nine primary school lessons in an

,., attempt to elucidate the genesis of routine classroom organiza-

tion. He described the students' and teachers' speech acts

with referencè to their instructional~unctions, and discovered

that "instructional speech acts followed a specific sequential

pattern most of the time:

An initiation act by one classroom participant (most frequently the teacher) is followed by a reply act (mo~t often from the students) which, in turn, is followed by an evaluation act (Mehan, 1978; 41).

Thua, Mehan found that class interaction was routinely

organized into instru:tional sequences involving initiation-

reply-and-evaluation. Further he found that a turn-taking

process guided the students' participation in these sequences.

From this he concluded that classroom competence involved the

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.kiJ.~· integration of academic knowledge and interactional

, . As in other communities, competent participation in the classroom involves the use of certain skills a~d abilities. In the case of 'the classroom, competence involves the inte~rntion of academic knowledge a~'-, interactional skîlli. To be successful in the class­room, students must not only master '~ademic subject , matter, but also learn the ~ppropriate form in which to cast their academic knowledge. Classroom competence

\

thus involves matters of form as weIl as of content (ib id.: 49).

In this st~tement Mehan adds to the socioiinguistic notion

of competence developing a notion of classroom competence.

~s constituent analysts have done, thiH thesis will .

take an interactional approach to edOcatio'n utiH.slng socio-

linguistic insights to provide a better understanding of

classroom inter~ction. Such interaction will be elaborated

in two different w~ys. First, student and teacher behaviour /

will be examined to clarify the inl::iLrucLional sLrategies and

learning tactics that underlie these behaviours (cf. Mishler,

1972). At the same time, the interface between the learning

(and teaching) of acaqemic knowledge and interactional skills

~ill be studied (cf. Bremme and Erickson, 1977; Mehan, 19~8).

Mehan pointed out the importance of one dimension of the inter-

actional process, turn-taking procedures, which organize who

speaks when in class. This thesis will analyse what i8 said

and do ne in classes in relation to trouble repaire Trouble

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repair occurs when prob1ems arise during interpersonal inter-

action. Its major function is to reestabJish communication

• by c1arifying misunderstandings, correcting errors, etc.

An important part of instruction consists of dealing

with errors. In Mishler's description of teacher-student

interaction and its implications for teaching strategies, for

. , instance, one teacher's behaviour is described as follows:

The teacher both asks the questions and evaluaLes the answers. Most important1y, her successive questions take previous answers into account. Thus, when her question about what 'rea11y makes up a church' does not produce the correct answer, she reformula tes her question in such a'way .. ,. as to take the wrong answèr into account and at the same time to orient the children in the right direction. The full process includes Immediate corrective feedback so that errors are not pcrmittcd to hnng in the air, succes$~ve reformulél t ion~ of the que§J:.ion so as to narro.." down the range of possible ùltbrnatives, and explicit

.confirmation of the cor.rc'ct answer when it is expressed (Mishler, 1972: 281-282).

Mehan also observes in his study that when the reply called

for by an initiation act is not forthcoming, the teacher

"employs a number of strategies, including prompting alter

incorrect,or incomplete replies and repeating or simplifying

initiation acts," (Mohan, 1978: 42). Mohan and Mishler

describe similpr phenomena. This kind of repair ~eserves to

be emphasized. Error correction is central to teaching

strategy·because students always have incomplete knowledge.

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Learning invo1~es the production of errora,- an~ teaching i9

quite often the management of errora, as Mi~hler clearly

indicates.

other'fprms of repair are important in classrooms •

. In particular, repair of behavioural problems or social

control. As I have noted previously, Mehan's research

described the operation of teacher-studenL interaction guided .. by turn-alloc~tion processes. This involved the obligation

(

of specifie people to respond to specifie initiating speech

acts:

There was an obligatory co-occurrence relatio~ship between initiat~r and respondent in turn allocation Just aB Lhere was ,uch a relationship between initiation nnd replY,acts in these lessons ...• If these co-occurrence relatiorrships were broken, the participants accounted for the absence of the expected relationship by sanctioning violations (e.g., "Wait a minute, wait ~ minute, raise your hand"). They engaged in recovery work to repair the turR allocation

~ machinery and thus restore the normative 'brder of inter­ac~ion (Mehan, 1978: 47-48).

Turn-taking procedures are necessary for the smooth running ,.fj

of the class. Thus violations of these norms must be swiftly

o

dealt with if learning and teaching interaction is to proceed.

In this thesis, the exam·ination of trouble rep~ir

interaction will illuminate learning and teaching s~rategies .. ~

evident in student and teacher behaviour. A survey of the

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literature on trouble repair will be presented in Chapter III,

where an operational definitiçn of the phenomena included in

trouble repaîr will be

'\... sufficient,to say that

developed. At this point it i8 , . trouble repair is an important inter-

actional phenomenon within classrooms. Teaching can be viewed

as thé management of production o~errors, and the smooth run-, ,,', . ~·A;'

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ning of t'êÂl'cher-student interacti;n i9 in part maintained by 1,' ~

~.-/

social control repair. ~

Thus, this thesis,will focus on one

aspect of classroom interaction. The sociolinquistic analysis

of the organization of this form of interaction wilf be used

to explain teacher and student behaviour in terrns of their

underlying teachirig and learning strategies, as weIl ,as the

. \ 1nterface between the content of instruction and the inter-

actional skills that are transmitted in classrooms.

One of the best ways to analyse ~he interface of

instructional content and interactional skills ~~ by exam-

ining a second language class, where conversational learning

ia important. In a second language classroom, owhere the

medium of instruction antl the material of instruction ane

identical, the integration of academic knowledge and inter-

actional skills i5 most clearl~ demonstrated by the teacher's

repair behaviour. Corrèction of grammatical errors is an

, 1

important i nstructional behaviour in a conversational language

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( cla~s. Similarly, the

15 ...... (

students' academic goals :nélUde

linguistic competence in the target ianguage. But, in a . conversational c1ass, academic goals also include communicative

competence, and the teacher will èorrect errors in the domain

of language use as weIl. Finally, the students demonstrate

and develop classroom competence by u9ing the target language , -'

to participate in activities. Correction, plus re~ir

strategies initiated by students, will be reldted to behavioural

and organizational aspects of classroom co~petence. Thus, by ,

studying interaction in a French language course designed to

develop communicative and lin~uistic competence, trouble repair

( will be seen to fulfill both an instructional (academic) and

inter~ctiona1 (proc~ssual).

Trouble repair ls cri-tical to lei'rning and teaching • •

in most classrooms but is most prono~nced ln a 'conversational

language course. Functiona1 French. 401, offered at McGill

~niversity, was se1ected for study. Th~ course design calls

for- a small teacher-pupil ratio: eight students for every

instructor. One of the objectiv~s of this thesis is to

consider trouble repair as a learning tactici that i9, to

include the students' perspectives on the educational situa-

tian. This course was se1ected for the analysis because the

( low teacher-pupil ratio and the course design promised a high

)

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level of student partic'ipation,. ,. \

The model of trouble repair , "

as an instructional and interactional strategy is most

applicable in this kind of course and least applicable in a

1ecture teaching situation.

Summary - ,

This thes i5 will examine the i'rit;er'actional nature of 1

teaching and- leaÈbing. It will be shown that trouble repair

interaction accounts for much of the observed behaviour. And

ilt i5 claimed that the paf.!:: of t:J1e educational process that i9

explained by, trouble repair is the most important part. Further, , 1

a model of trouble rcpai( interaction will be developed that

relates the particip~nts' behaviour ta instructional and inter-

actional strategies. This model serves two purposes: first,

it explains the class participants' behaviour, and second, it

demonstrates the articulation of teaching and learning of '"

i~.demlc knowledg~ with interactional skills. . .

~~l ' \ This thesis has bath theoretical and practical signif-

, , icance. First, it consists of ~n addition to the literature

on the interactional proceas in classrooms, an impprtant

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~ 1

aspect of education that has been neglected by some researchers ~ 1 ...... and mistreated by others~, By focusing on the interactional

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process, the thes~s serves to êxplain outputs of educational

systems rather than simply aescribing them or correlating them Q

with other outputs. j..' seoond contribution of thïs thesis

relates to the

the ~anagement

conceptualization of teaching and le~rning tS of errors an~ interactional problems. ~lthou'h

these interactional phenomena have been studied outside schools,

they hav.e yet to be .applied to the exchanges in classroom '"

settings. subsequent chapters, l will relate the partic-p

. ,

ipants' trouble repair behaviour to their interactional and'

instructional strategies in developing a model of the teach-

... i~g and learning process.

In th~ next chapter. the fieldw~rk for this thesis

will he descrihed and a description of Functional French 401

will he provided. Chapter three will develop the notion of

trouble repair, describing the basic kinds of rep,air sequences ,

obsen~ed in the classroom. Chapter f~ill deal with the

of repair in the context o~ students' and teacher's use

different activities. And chap~er five will bring out sorne ..)

~of the instruc\fonal and interactional functions of the various

types of'repair.

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CHAPTER II

'METHODOLOGY AND BACKGROUND

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Research Methods

Functional French 401 has sixt y-four students and three

instructors who meet in the-Centre de langue française for

d~ily classes. The mnjority of students are in their final

year at'McGill, and come from aIl faculties from Engineering, J

to Social Work. The students are taught in class groups of

eight: two classes meet at nine a.m., une at ten, two at

eleven, and one every hour until two p.m.

The initial research design called for observing aIl ,

"eight groups of students, and recording two lessons with each

group for the analysis of trouble repair. Questions of scope

and the fact that the goal of this thesls is to develop an

explanatory model, not to compare teacher or student variable

across groups, led ta selecting three classes taught by the

course director for analysis. Two lessons from each group

were recorded and transcribed. Thus, the corpus of tran-

scribed classes analysed for the thesis consists of six

lessons, eilch lasting approximately an hour. Three o~ these

lessons cover grammatical topics and three cuver conversational

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19

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20

topics following the distinctlon made by the course instructors.

. , Contact was ~stablished with the course director and

oLller instructors in September, and permission was received

to attend classes. observatlons began in mld-October after

cla 55 member~hip had stabi l ized (the first few weeks are

chaotic until the sludents' schedules ~re established).

Instructors net with the studenLs three tlmes a week on Monday,'

Wednesday and Friday. Each week they would lnform me of the

instructional activities planned for the following week, and

the observatio~ schedule was based on this information.

Preliminary observa'tions preceded the recordlng of clClsses ,for

the corpus. During October and early November each class group

was visited twicc nnd taped at least once, in order to get to

know

were

the students

recorded ~ and instructors. These initial observations

two reasons. First, practice was obtained

in recording field-notes which identified each speaker as

they participated; a form of notation whicn required rapid

and accurate identification of students. Second, the record-

ings were made to familiarize the students with the presence

of the tape recorder, microphone and observer (to reduce the

~

observer effect). By the end of this period, everyone became

used to my presence and usually ignored me during the class.,

-.... .- _ .... ~ . - . " ) . ~ .

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21

Five of the six lessons were recorded in the two week

period from November 2lst to December 5th. The sixth was

recorded in the first week of April. While taping classes, J

field notes were kept which identified each speaker and

recorded paralinguistic phenomena such as gestures, facial ;<!'t ,

expressions and eye contact.

Most of the classes taped for the corpus were selected

from the beginning of the year in order to obtain a high level

of trouble repair involving classroom competence. To check if

behavioural repair was less frequent later in the year, plus

verifying the pattern of repair interaction throughout the

year, observations continued in the second term on an

occasional basis. One tape from the second term ia included

in the corpus ta illustrate the interaction style that is

achieved once students have a greater classroom competence.

The instructor introduced me ta the stuJents in her

class as a former stud,ent of Functiona1 French 401 who had

returned ta write a thesis on the course. The thesis was

descr ibed as an ana lys,is of second language tea.ching rnethods

and activities. This information was provided at the first

meeting with a class, student or instructor. During the c!ass

period, the researcher was a passive observer .responding only

,,/" ,_ri. ,,,' ,.l, ....

22

() to direct questions. Before and after classes, 1 interacted

informally with teacher and students. The instructor (whorn

1 will call Anne-Marie Labelle), whose six lessons are analysed

in this thesis, invited former students to sit in on classes

fairly,frequently. Thus, both she and her students were used

to strangers attenqing class.

In addition to the classroom observations, 1nformation

about the coursé design and background information on the

instructors and students were obtained during informaI inter-'1>.,.,

views. In addition, the instructors often ate lunch together

in one of the offices, and l would join them when I was carry-)

ing out observations in the centre. These informaI meetings

provided an opportunity 'to clarify or supplement ifli'('ormation

from class observations, as weIl as to observe the teachers

Rlanning schedules, and chatting about amusing or frustrating

events in their day. As weIl as meeting informally with the

director, one open-ended interview was conducted towards the

end of second term, during which she reviewcd the year and

her impression of her classes.

After the school year ended, the six les sons were

transcribed following transcription conventions used by socio-

linguistic researchers on trouble repair (e.g., Schegloff,

., ,J '

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23

Jefferson and Sacks, 1977). (In thése transcriptions, the

students were assighed pseudonyms.) According to these

conventions interrupt,ions were marked by double slashes in

the turn of the speaker who was interrupted, and the over-

lapping words of the speaker who interrupts a~e enclosed in

square brackets. A colon at the end of a word or syllable

means that

stutter or

that lasl sound is prolonged, an 'x' indicates a

hesitati~ sound, and a hyphcn ~s attached to

words that end abruptly. The letters hh or RH indicate

laughter (the latter wh en everyone laughs).

These six transcript~ included the behavioural and

paralinguistic observations recorded during the taping. In

addition, pertinent information about .class atmosphere,

relevant comments from the teacher or students before or after

class, the activity the instructor planned to animate during

the instructional phase, and other background information from

the fieldnotes were also col~e~ted.

The information contained in fieldnotes from class Il

observations, informaI meetings ~ith the instructor and the

open-ended interviews provided back~round fot the analysis

of trouble repair interaction in thé six lessons. In the , _r"

next section, one piece of relevant~aCkgrOUnd information,

0-_- .,_. __ .~ _______ _

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24

the course methodology and pedagogie rationale, as expressed

by the instructors or published in course manuals and other

documents, will be described.

\ Functional French 401

Introduction

The Centre de langue française at McGi11 has offered

'~ three levels of French courses for êhe past ten years.

Functional French 401 is the most advanced, intensive course.

The language of instruction and co~munication between students

and instructors is French. AlI students have had sorne previous

instruction in French (usua1ly at least high-school instruc-

" tion). The goal of the course i8 ta provide these students

with linguistic and communicative competence in French which

approach ~ilingualism~ In an article in the McGill Journal

of Education, the director of the course stated the goal as

taking the students from "le stade passif de connaissance" ta

"le stade actif d'instrument", (Martin et Mignault, 1975: 141).

~~ In the first stage students have a limited vocabulary and

cannot use the language with ease. In the second stage,

grammar and vocabulary have been integratedCthrough practice

and instruction and students have improved their communicative

competence in French.

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25

The instructional emphasis of Functional French 401 ,

is on using the target language in social contexts as opposed

to studying about the language or its literature. This

distinction is the major difference between courses offered

by the Centre de langue française and courses offered by the

French Department, at McGill. Practice using the language

" is stressed. Instruction is generally Iimited to review and

explanation in .response to students' questions or learning

difficulties. To maximize student partiaipation, class groups

are smail. Groups of eight students meet in the Centre de la

langue française five days a week throughout the school year.

During class the three groups analysed in this thesis sat

around a table. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday students

meet with an instructor, and on Tuesday and Thursday they meet

with a monitor. Monitors are francophone students at McGill.

They are not responsible for formaI instruction or evaluation

as they have no teaching qualifications. (Even their status

as linguistic mqdels could be questioned as aIl monitors

come from outside the Province of Québec and May not have

attended schpol in French.) . Their major responsibility is

, to ani~ate discussions with the students, providing additional

conversatiohal practice and accustoming the students to a

variety of accents. Monitors work under the supervision of

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26

the class in~tructor and are assigned discussion topics or

1 1'" simple games, while the bulk of the course instruq,tion and

evaluation is carried out during the instructor's classes.

In addition to class sessions, students participate

in a number of activities which are considered part of the

curriculum. They attend plays in French language theatres

(usually preparing for these outings by reading and dis-

cussing the pla ys in advance). Other activities include

group dinners, pa~ties, films, and visits tO,bars or bottes ,

à chanson in the francophone areas of Montréa 1., In addition,

each student prepares and carries out a small research project

which involves interviews with francophones.

Students register for the course following an oral

interview with one of the ~nstructors in the centre. During

\ this interview, they are asked why thcy wish to study French

and are 9iven an idea of the amount o( work that will be

expected of them. This is a popular course with limited

.' space 50 priority is ù'sually given to finaJ. year students.

The discussion of reasons for taking the course give the

instructor an idea of the students' oral competence as weIl

as their enthusiasm or motivation. Following the interview

the instructor rates the student' s language skills. '- The

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27

teachers' past experience with the linguistic and communicative

competence reqt ired to profit from this course guideg their

evaluation: a rating of l represents the average level

expected for the course', and plus or minus is added to identify

studentB ~ith above or below average skills. In general, the

instructors try to ensure that there are not too many below

average students in ~ny one group.

The course has two main inst~uctional foci, the

'" development of ')ramrna tical kno"Jledge (rou'Jhly corresponding

to linquistic co~petence) and the development of vocabulary ... and idiomatic expressions required by a number of social situa-

t ions (rou3hJ y cor H'spond ing ta communi Crl tive competence).

'-.., Both oral and written language skills are taught in this

course, but oral skills are emphasized in the classroom. ,

Although there can be sorne overlap, ~lch lesson usually

concentra tes on a gramMatical or a conversatianal topic;

three classes of e,~c'l type wer':! recorded for this' analysie.

Gram~ar Instruction

A cla89 group wi~ discuss one grammar area for three .,

weeks, writing a test at the end of the third week. AlI groups

study eight gr<lmrnal!' oreas throughout the year, but the order,

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28

in,which they are present~d will depend on the lan:;uage learn-

ing problems expe~ienced by the particular class group.

Information ~beut a particular grammar area is found

in the students' grammar text, En bonne forme and in abbre-

viated ferm in the course manual, Vouloir c'est pouvoir. As

students already have a basic knowledge of French grammar from

their high sehoel studies, théy are responsible for reviewing

the relevant chapt ers in their texts on their own when a

grammar tepie io assigned. The course manual also centains

sets of exereises designed by the instructors of Functienal

French 401. During the first ~'eek of a thre€-wee~ grammar

period, the students will be asked to complete the pre-test

in the Qanual, correct it and report on their performance in

class. This pre-test i5 dcsigned to identify the problems

that students may have with each grélmmar t9pic.

After preparing for class by reviewing and completing

the pre-test, the students bring questioQs, raised by their

homework, to class. Students review the material for them-

selves and note problems they have completing the pre-test and

other written exercise.s. There are few,prepared lectures;

rather, the instructor responrls to the students' questions. r

She May a1so ask"students questions about the grammar tapie,

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29

~~------;­

........ p ",r

providing explanationa when they can't answer. Th~s. instruc-

tion is presented in grammar classes based on the lacunae in

the students' grasp of the information.

The manual containe additional simple written exerci~es

which the students are supposed to complet~ at home. Like the

" pre-test .. these exerqises are not marked by the teacher, but

questions arising from the exercises or a group review of

"section~ of the exercises often form the basis of class activ­

ities. Oral practice of the structures ~ake Pla~e in c~ass through 1earning'games, drilla, or mise en situation~ctivities •

.. One lesson recorded for this thesis contains mise en situa,tion

activiti~s designed ta provide practice in negative forms.

One student imagined that,he had a problem, and the others

asked about hi& problem and made suggestions to help him. The

firet student ~as supp~sed to be stubborn, an~ rejéct al1 ~ r-

suggestions and answer'negatively to aIl questions.

After reviewing the grammàr topic on their own, dis-

cussing problems and oral practice using the structures in

class, the students writ~ a test towards the end" of the third

week. Unlike the exercises in Vouloir c'est pouvoir, this

test is marked. The gra~a~ test is about the same level of

difficulty as the pre-test. Thus, if the students solve the

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30

problems brought out in the pre-test, they should perform quite

weIl on the marked test.

Conversational InstEuction 1/

AlI classes not specifically devoted to graromar topics

are seen as conversational classes. Discussions, free conversa-

tions, games, d~bates, and outings aIl provide practice in'

developing c\nVersational skills.

provid~ the basis f6r'discussion~:

Assigned readings often

students select articles

from French language newspapers o.r magazines for future dis-

cussion. ~ividual students èan be asked ta make class ~~

presen,ta tions on topics of their own chops ing, which in t4-t"n

give rise to discussions. The mise en situation is also used

t:.'

to develop com~unicative competence. For instance, students " ~

could select a common interactional setting such as a.skin.~

directions in a strange city, job interviews, renting apart-

" ments, etë., and act out these situation~, exchanging roles.

AlI these conversational activities are used to create

a body of vocabulary items and idiomatic expressions thatr ths • students must learn. Studencs are responsible for expressions

and vocabulary us;;; in clase sessions. They should record

them in a note book and review the lis'ts periodïcally through-

, \ \ \ \ ...

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31

out the year. Ta assist this process, and to develop common

voeabulary and expressions for evaluation, the teacher records

~ new vocabulary, corrections and il'iteresting or use.ful idioms

during conversational classes. She will then project these

with an overhead projector at the beginning of a s~bsequent

6lass. Thus, during most discussions and mise en situations

the instruetor prefers to organize the specifie activity and

,then sit back and observe the interaction, r~cording voeab-

ulary, interjecting with corrections or with missing words

when the students can't find a term in French. How much she

i8 able to do this depends on how self-animating and' lively

the group i8, and her participation can vary from constant

questions ta elicit participation ta occasional corrections

and brief interjections with information. The more active

participa Lion required of the instructor, the sparser the

Ireeord of vocabulary will be for that class session. 'l'hus,

the ideal situation is that the students carry on a conversa-

tional activity w~ile the instructor corrects. records

, vocabul~ry and ensures 'that the more reticent students pa ic-

ipate.

f • Usually the students write a vocabulary, test the

week as they write a_ g~amma'r test. The material eovered ~n

this test 1s based on the teacher's record frOM the past three "

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32

weeks' conversational class~s. But test items can also be

drawn from earlier classes. This is designed to ensure that

the students review the language material throughout ~he year.

The Project

One major activity combines all the student's language

skills and puts them to use in a francophone milieu. no

This

activity is the annual project. By December, students are . required to submit a proposaI outlining a smaii research tapie.

The ba~ic-condi~on of this researeh is that it ask a ques-

tion that can be answered by going out and interviewing [ranco-

phones. A wide variety of topicis are chosen including such

subj eets as the t1dap_La ti on of immigrants to Québec life,

health care for senior êltizens, organized crime, and attitudes

to the referendum. After the topie has been approved by the

instructor, the students design a questionnaire, find a group

of respondents and administer the questionnaire in interviews.

The interviews form the basis of a class presentation which

takes place dur ing the months of Fehruary and March. Present-

ations artd ensuing discussion~ can tûke up to three elass 1

sessions depending on the complexity of th~ student's topie

aad c;e interest it generates. Finally, the studenls write

up a research report, including their proposal, questionnaire

( i . , ~ -"~"

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and a résumé of their findings, and submjt this to the

instructor. Both the written report and the student's class

presentation are rnarked.

Evaluation

The students write two tests every third week, one

la

on vocabulary and expressions and another on grammar. The ~

eight grammar tests are worth fifteen per cent of a student's

final grade, as are the eight vocabulary tests. Other written

work (usually weekly assignments such as business letters,

o

compositions on various topies, etc.) is worth ten per cent.

The projeet as a whole is worth twenty per cent (ineluding the

.. written and orâl elements). Twenty per cent of the grade is

based on the student's attendanee and participation. And a

final twenty per cent is based on the student's progres9 in

oral skills from the beginning of the year.

In order to evaluate the last two items, participa-

ti6n and progress, the instructor ke~ps extensive records on

. eaeh'student in her cahier d'évaluation. In this, oshe records

eaeh student's particular language problems and the progress

he makes in overcoming them, as well as his marks on all the

written a9s~gnments, witn comments on the lanquage problems

demonstrated in !hese. At the beginning of second term, the

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34

instructor has an individual interview with each student which

lasts approximately one hour. During th}.s interview, she goes

through the student 1 s record in her. cahier with him. Based on

this information, she give~ guidelines on his priorities for

the second term--whether he shou~d participate more, be more 1

careful in his oral expression, concentra te on grammar exer-

cises, etc. She may aiso remind him of the ev~luation criteria

if there seems .to be any confusion in his mind. At the end

of the year, a second interview takes place during which time

the instructor tells"the student in cetail how he performed

over the year.

The instructors of Functional French recognize that

persona lit y plays a role in language learning. For example,

shy individuals do not get as much oral practice as more

extrovertid students. Thus, the interview will also be used

to encourage shy student( to participate more; but when mark-

lng the student on participation the instructor tends to take ~.

sucb personality aspects into consideration. ...

An individual

developmental model ls used for grading the students in this

course. Evaluation iB based on extensive knowledge of the

student, both as a language learner and as an individual.

According to the instructor, although a shy student may not

participate as much as an ext'rovert a t the end o~ the year l f

, .

(. '~,,. - , -, 1'"

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35

he or she has made progress from the beginning of the year,

,this will be taken into account.

To succeed in this course, a student has to demonstrate

the ability to use French in interactional settings inside and

outside the classroom. Developing this competence r~quires

taking the responsibil\~y to participate ~ctively in classes

and pay attention to one's own language development. Partic-

ipation is also important because passive students creat~

passive groups which reduces the amount of practice in French.

Conclusion

Class activities in Functional French 401 are designed

to provide a gradcd development of oral skills. l Initially

the sludents spaak French within the confines of the classroom

while accumulating syntactic and semantic information and

practice. Grammar topics are covered systematically to fili

in the gaps in the students' linguistic competence. A variety

of social situations are imitated in class, developing a

'functional vocabulary and providing practice in language use

in a variety of social contexts. By the middle of first term,

1. A sirnilar approach is used with written ski Ils by graduaI increases in the length and standard of language demanded in written work, culminating in a fifteen to twenty page research report.

~ '\ .. l, .,.' • ',~ " .... if ~~ ('f" .. vJ#~~ :.; n .. -

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36

~

the class ventures into the 'city for meals, plays and other

outings, but with the security of the instructor's presence

and of being in a group. Students are also encouraged to

speak French on their own--travelling to school and shopping,

et<;:. Fi.nally, the research proj'ec4orces tt)e stud~ts to

combine aIl their oral skills in fairly demanding soçial

settings, interviews. Thus, the students' knowledge, skills

and confidences are built up thro~gh the year until they are

able to carry out extended, extemporaneous i~teractipns in ,

French with strangers. The acquisition of classroom competence

is critical as this interactional skill is necessary to acquire

aIl the other competencies expecteà in the course. How

trouble repalr interaction is used to develop classroom

/ competence and communicative C'ompetence \'Jill be demonstrated

in Chapters IV and V. Chapter III will develop an oper08tional

definition of trouble repa ir dnd identi fy the various r'epair

sequences that occur in class. \

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•

CHAPTER Ill: ''\,

PARAMETERS OF TROUBLE REPAIR

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The nature of trouble repair behaviour will be

delineated in this chapter. First. the notion 'trouble repair'

will be defined with reference to current sociolinguistic \

research and the instructional setting, and the basic struc-

tures of a trouble L'epair sequence will be outlined. Next,

five types of trouble repair sequence observed in the class-

room--correction sequences, provoked correction sequences,

//' ward search sequences, clarification sequences and social

control sequences--will be elaborated describing the sort of

) problem tltat each sequence addresses as well as the signaIs

used to initiate repaire

Definition of Trouble Repair

The interactional phenomena that are the object of

thia thesis are known collectively as trouble repair. They

include auch behaviour as correction and social control. In

this seetion, trouble repaîr will be located within the inter-

actional Betting of the classroom. The distinction between

correction and repair will he made clear, and an operational

definition of trouble repair will be developed. ()

38

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39

As the approach to classroom activity in this thesis

is interactional,' we are concerned with the exchanges between

participants in a seminar situation, and with how these

exchanges are organized in relation to the activities that

make up the class period. For this purpose, the second

language seminar is seen as a speech exchange system (cf.

Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson, 1974),2 in which the partic-

ipants are involved in a variety of, speech exchange sequences.

J Within a particular speech exchange system sorne

utterances seem to be tied to each other and belong together:

these sets of related utteralices are known as sequences. For

example, in his constitutive allalysis of primary school class-

rooms, Mehan located instructional sequences consisting of

2. Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson use the notion of speech exchange system in their article on turn:' taking in conversations (1974). In this a'rticle, conversation ia described as a speech exchange system (i.e., a specifie environment where participants interact with eaeh other). Meetings, debates, interviews, ceremonies, press conferences, and therapy sessions are among the many possible speech exchange systems that could be described. Sacks et Al. agree with Goffman that speech exchange systems are organ­ized, "not merely' '·in terms of who speaks to whom in what language, but as a little system of mutually ratified and ritua11y governed f-ace-tcrface action," (Goffman, 1964 cited in Sacks II al., 1974: 697). A1though interaction i8 rule-governed in all speech exchange systems, different rules of interaction may obtain for different situation •.

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three utterances: initiation act, reply aèt, evaluation act

(Mehan, 1977: 42). utterances in sequences do not simply

happen to occur tog€ther but are linked to each other:

A sequence is then not merely the name of a series of utterances that h~ppen to occur one after another, but a type of organization that i8 possibly analogous to the sentence (Jefferson, 1973: 55).

\

Another common type of speech-exchange sequence in the class-

room involves correction. Correction is found in aIl sorts

of speech-exchange systems:

What speakers avoid doing is as important as what they do. Self-correction of speech and writing, and the correction of others in conversation ("1 can't understand wha t you say") l, in classrooms and over editorial desks i8 an unending business (Iio li nger, 1965: 248, cited in Schegloff, Jefferson and Sacks, 1977: 361).1,

Bolinger's use of the example "1 call't understa.1d what you

say" brinqs out one of the important Iunctions of correction

in conversation; the alteration of an utterance in the inter-

ests of accuracy or clarity. In other words, a speaker will

often repeat, part of his own utterance ta clarify or modify , what he is saying. Or, if a listener thinks a speaker had

made a mistake, ~,."ay attempt to correct or clarify this.

The importance ;If correction and ~ther repair to communica­

tion i8. clear in Vincent's definition:

J'appell~ correction la rectification d'un énoncé d~jà émis visant à rét.ablir une situation de

. ( .. ~ ,~~~~~ .~ -- 1

(

(

41

communication. Elle est faite par un des locuteurs en présence qui juge pertinent d'apporter une telle rectification à un moment précis (Vincent, 1978: 1).

In essence, a repair sequence cornes about wh en an

utterance i8 produced th~t is perceived as problematic. It

may contain an error (and produce correction as in the above

citation), it may he ambiguous and thus open to misunderstand-

ing,_ or the listener may not have heard exactly what was said.

The first and moat w\portant step in the production of repair

is the perception of a problem. Any participant, including <1 •

the person who is speaking, can perceive a problern and attempt

to rectify it. In the classroom speech-exchange system repair

sequences take on new signific?nce due to the instructional

goals. For example, the clarification of misunderstanding or

ambiguity can be central to a student's comprehension of the

teacher's presentation of learning material. At the sarne

time, the correction of errors is an important teaching

behaviour which guides the student's acquisition of knowledge.

This will be elaborated in Chapter IV.

Before going any further, lêt us distinguish clearly

between the terms 'repair' and 'correction'. Repair comprises .

'more than correction. The latter involves replacing an error

by what is correct (Schegloff, Jefferson and Sacks, 1977: 363).

.'

'.

!

o

.....

~.,

42

The statement, "1 can't understand what you say;" need not

be caused by an error, nor does it replace any part of a

preceding utterance. Thus, repair i8 "neither contingent

upon error, nor limited to repl~cement," (ibid.). That is,

repair can take place where the utterance that is altered

contains no hearable error, mistake or fault, as in this

example from the beginning of a conv~rsational class:

Teacher: Bon, alors, qu'est-ce que vous avez à raconter de la pièce maintenant? Vous

* l'avez lue, vous l'avez bien lue, et tout le monde est là, ou presque.

The instructor i9 addressing the class when she replaces

"vous l'avez lue" with "vous l'avez bien lue". The first

statement is neither grammatically nor semantically incorrect.'

In this example, repair involves a modification for emphasis

rather than a correction of a mistake.

The second reason that c~rrection'is not an adequate

term is that not aIl repair involves the replacement of one

• itemwith another. Schegloff et al. provide the exarnple of

the ward search: "which can occur if an item (e. g. a word)

is not available when due. (This) is in the damain ta which

." An asterisk indicates the turn in which a repair sequence is initiated by the signalling of a problem. In this case. the signal and the r~pair take place simultaneously •

"': T -- - .-, . .... , .. .-'_'.,' l,

c)

(

-----~----_._--

43 o ,

'J we are addressed but is not a "replacement' or a 'eorrection', l'

" (ibid.: 363). Word searches are fairly common in the class-

room. In~the following excerpt, again from a conversation

class, everyone is chatting about what style,of dress would

suit various students. Sorne feel that Lee would look wonder-

fuI in period costume.

*

. . . Lee:

3

Un homme de dix-septième 'siècle mais aVec le le:: ({he. describes circles near his ears with his hands».

Les boucles?

--<-

Deborah: Boucles d'oreilles, avec les boucles d'oreilles d'or? (to Stephan and Lee». . .

In this example, ône student cannot rememb~r t,he word for

earings~ He signaIs his trouble and requests help from ëhe

other members of the class by repeating 'le le' and drawing

out the last syllable while miming the missing word. ,other

students recognize his problem and supply 'the missing item.

But Stephan did not produce an error, his tur~ was simply

incomplete. Thue, the other students' suggestions act to

complete his turn rather than replacing an item within his

utterance.

-3. The three spaced periods mark. unrelated utterances' (fram a second conversation occurrinq simu.ltaneously wJ.th '''this exchange) that have been omitted 'for' purpoaea of clarity.

..

.. ' - ... ~ .............. ". h.,_ ", ..... ~I'h~'

. \

,. ,)

/,

-~"-'----- ~ -' .....".' • .,...:.._.--..--- -------'-'---==~

-----, ,

o

)

44

In th~ last two examples, stude~ts perceived a problem 1

in an utterance, but in neither case was that'problem the

production of an error. Thus, we will follow Schegloff,

Jefferson and Sacks' practice and refer to, the general domain

of trouble repair which will be defined as follows: W

Trouble repair consists of a set of interactional

sequences invo~virig:

1) the perception of one's own or another's utterance

as problematic:

2) th~ production of a signal' to that ef~ct, followed

by

3) one or a number of repair attempts •

. ' ~ trouble repair sequenc~ contains three steps, but'at the

behavioural level the signal is the first observable indica-

tion. Thus, a basic trouble repair sequence begins with an .. ihitiating turn containing a signal that an utteranc~ is

, . problematic, and ends with the turn that completes the 're'pair.

The signal can be linguistic -(questions, repeti tions, etc.,)

or paralinguistic (gestures, facial expressions, intonation; \ .

etc.,) or both. At any given mome~t the participants in'the ;-

lesson can be divided into two groups: the speak~r and the

hearers •. Repair s€9uences han be' initiated either by the

speakf!r (sel f-ini tia tion) or one of the hea'r~rs (other-:-, , '

\

,

! 4S

t ,e· f ~ initiation) • Similarly, the repair can be completed by

eithèr of the parties: self-repair or other-repair. The ;. ,

,p

dist"inction 1S "important instructionally, for while thé

initiationf'step involves the recognition of a probl~m in an

utterance, the completion of repair involves the ability to

produce l~nguistically and situationally appropriate language.

Thus, two dif~erent asp~cts of communicative competence are ,

, . involved in repair initiation and completion.

when examining the classroom interaction repair

dl.. " sequences were analysed in terms of whether the teacher or a \.

studênt initiat~d the repair. ,

Initiation rather than comp.le-, ~ " ,

tion of repair was chosen for two reasons. F!rst, it is the ,

ini~iating turn that begins a repair sequence. Thus, initiation

defines one boundary of the se~uence. Second, Many errors are ~,

left ûncorrected in classrooms, as in informaI conversations • ~

. ~ :

, )

T~e initiation of repair indica~es that the particular trouble /

,

'., 1

" , is"important to'the initiator. This becomes relevant when "

repair is viewed as an instructional and interactional .. ..,

.. strategy. As, will be elaborated· in Chapter V, the instructor ,1

selects which ~rrors to correçt and which to ignore during

class'activities. This selection ia related to her inatruc-,

tional priorities, both within the context of1-,.a pa,rticular .~ '" "

activity or.les~on and throughout the whble course. Similarly,

t ..

t~ ____________ ~~~~~~~~~~~~

)

/)

46

the etudent's signalling of trouble indicates a) what errors

• the y are aware of, bl what aspects of language learning they

are concentrating on, and c) (in clarification sequences) what

part of the learning material needs further explanation.

Thus, initiation also is an index of the student's priorities

as they Iearn the second language.

Sometimes a repair attempt is not immediately success-

fuI and results in the insertion of a second repair initiation

into an on-going sequence. One example would be if a student

didn't understand the instructor's correction and responded by

initiating a clarification sequence, asking her to repeat or

explain her correction. In these cases, once the second,

subsidiary sequence is completed by the required repair, the

first problem i5 then resolved. This kind of complex sequence

only occurred in five per cent of the cases of repair iden­..

tified in the six lessons. Most often they consisted of the

instructor correcting or provoking correction, or of the

students initiating a clarification sequence, during an on-

90in9 repair sequence.

In the f~owing section, the various repair sequences

referred to above will be identified: i.e., word search,

correction, proveked correction, clarification and social

(

<-

(,

- - -----------------

-~.

47

" control sequences. These ~equences will be described in terms

of who may initiate and complete the repair and in te~ms of

the kinds.of interactional problems that are addressed by eacA

sequence-type.

Trouble Repair Sequences

... correction Sequences

Correction seq~e~ces involve the replacement of a mis-

take or error (that violate linguistic rules) by a correct

item, as in the example ~elow where the instructor corrects

one of the students during a discussion of their projects:

Brian: Et pour moi, j'ai trouvé que um les gens que j'ai entrevuevé ah: ne connais rien hh. Et - . pour ah Il

* Teacher: Ne savent rien. Brian: Oui, ne savent x rien. Et ah pour .•• savoir

ces choses, et j'ai dQ lire •.• et y avait x par le liaison entre les deux parties x du projet.

Teacher: (nods to Brian)).

In this correction sequence, the initiation and completion of

'" repair occur simultaneously, when the hearer (the instructor)

interrupted with "Ne savent rien." (As this thesis is an anal-

ysis of trouble repair interaction, correction that does not

involve alternation between turns--such as the example on page

42-~will not be analysed. Self-correction is a very common

. <,

"'l' • " 1

)

{)

48

phenomenon in speech, but the analysis of its incidence is

closer to the domain of lin~uistics than educational research.)

In the classroom, sorne form of acknowledgement of correction

was sometimes observed, as in the above example.

provoked Correction Sequences

In these sequences, ehe hearer signaIs that there is

a problem in the speaker's utterance, but does not immediately ... rectify it. Instead, his signal constitutes a request for the

speaker to correct himself. Like the sequences described

above, provoked correction is usually addressed to violations

of linguistic rules, and is always other-initiated. In the

following excerpt from a grammar class, the students are re-

reading a negation exercise they had completed at home: t

Chester:

Frances:

* Teacher:

Frances: * Teacher:

Fral'lces: Teacher:

( (Reading) ) raconter ce ( (Reading) ) ne peux pas

"M. Retard, pouvez-vous nous nous qui c'est passé?"

"Je regrette M. l' inspecteu~, je vous racontez."

Je ne peux pas: continue» .

«intonation--invitation to

..• vous racontez. Me racontez quoi? .•• um: ••. vous le racontez. (nods» Mh-hmm. «rising intonation--invitation to/continue with exercise».

In this example, the ins~ructor signaIs that the student's

utterance was incorrect (initiates repair) by repeating it up

to the point where the error occurred. The last word is drawn

,( ,

A~·t ,~-,~:~ \'J

~Jf,

'''1

(

~ (

49 '\

out indicating that the student should pick up the utterance

from that point and complete it correctly. When the student

i9 unable to do so the instructor uses a second, different

provocation strateqy containing a hint about the nature of

the error. This time, the student successfully completes the

repair. other techniques for provoking correction include

"­frowning, negative noises, shaking heads, or a repetition of

the error with questioning intonation. AlI of these techniques

are signaIs that the previous utterance contains a problem as

,weIl aB requests for a correction of that problem. In the

above example, the speaker was able to repair his utterance. (

If the speaker cannot do so, one of the hearers will produce

the correct form, as below:

Stephan: On avait un ~ument sur ou elle demeure. < Elle a dit Il Lasalle.

* Teacher: «loudly)) Un quoi? Vous aviez quoi? Stephan: Une ah:: un ah Deborah: «smiling)) discussion hh Stephan: discussion «everybody smiles)). E e elle a

dit que:: elle demeure à Lasalle, j'ai dit Lachine.

Here, the teacher's signal took a questioning form, but the

student could not remember the correct word for argument. The

fact that another student corrected Stephan with a smile and

then everyone smiled indicated that this error had been

corrected before. Provocation of correction '\: used by the

teacher when she is sure that the students know the correct

"

)

C)

\ , ~', *~;.3· ·~t~~~ ";~t [~ , ",>

" , '-i.J .... , .. v ..... :4. ~_ ".f.,., .. ~~

50

form, i.e., the material has already been covered in the

course. Although the teacher will correct a student after

she has provoked correction, she prefers that either that

student or one of his colleagues will produce the correc-

tion if they are dealing with old material. This point will

be elaborated in Chapter V.

Word Search Sequences

One.example of a word search sequence has already

been described (above p. 43). A word search sequence is

always self-initiated because the problem is that the speaker

cannot complete his turn. Usually this is because a student

cannot remember the approp~iate term he wishes to use~ i.e.,

a lexical item is missing. He resorts to paralinguistic

.signals (repetition, drawing out syllables, gestures and

inquiring looks directed to the other participants) to ask 1

for help. If the missing item is fairly o~vious, as in the

example provided above, other participants will come to his

aid and suggest possible completions to his utterance. Some-

times, the speaker will aceep~ the suggestions and continue.

Word searches are often used by Btudents while participating 1

in classroom activities dUe to their partial competence in ..

French •.

(

(

---- -- .. - ------_._--------'-----------

51

Clarification Sequences

A hearer will initiate the repair of a speaker's

utterance if i t is n0t: clear, (as BoliJ.ger suggested, above

p. 40). In this situation, the hearer is not sure what has

been said or whether he understands what has been said. He

therefore requests the speaker to repeat or explain his

utterance using a variety of signaIs. Generally a repetition

of the problematic part of the utterance with a questioning

intonation is a request for an explanation, and a question

word (quoi, ou, qui, etc.) or sound like 'Hmm?' is a request

ffor a repetition. The latter type,of signal is illustrated

in the following example which tooK place while the studepts

were explaining to the teacher why they were aIl so tired

tha t morning:

Celinda:

Celinda: Teacher:

'If Celinda: Teacher: Celinda:

Mh-hmm. Moi je mène un vie de chien. «Various students HH quietly» Je me suis / / réveillé e~ à [Les doléances de] la classe de dix heures hh. Oui? Hmm:? Les quoi? Les doléances. Oui, les doléances •

, six heures et demi. ••• Je me suis levée de

The fa,ct that the teacher interrupted Celinda meant that the

student could not,hear what she said. SO she produced initia-

tion signaIs which requested ~he teacher to repeat .~s dol'an­

ces'. ~larification sequences correspond to 'misapprehension

! !

1

ft)

, " .',

o

()

52

sequences' identified by Jefferson in conversation:

The rule seems to provide that if a statement is made and is" followed by a demonstration/assertion that a hearer did not understand, then the one who made the statement may/must provide a clarification (Jefferson, 1972b: 305).

These sequences are initiated fairly often by students in

their attempts to understand either vocabulary items or

language rules.

Social Control Sequences

This kind of trouble repair sequence is not neces-

sarily directed to an utterance. Social control repair

sequences are always initiated by the teacher, and are

directed to the students' behaviour when they deviate from

classroom norms. They are analogous to correction sequences

directed to students' utterances when they deviate from

language rules, and play an important role in guiding the

behaviour of the students. In the following excerpt, one

student is leaving early. Before he goes, the instructor

takes the opportunity to chide him about his participation in

class. He has just finished giving his phone number ta 'the

other students, sa the teacher first repeats the last four

digits for them to copy down:

.'

" '

(

(

Teacher:

*

Marcos: Teacher:

Marcos: Teacher:

----------_._--~

53

~éro cinq sept six, «to the whole claes,then she turne to Marcos» ~

J'aimerais bien q'tu te réveilles un peu ••• T'es endormi. Ou t'es là t'es pas là, t'es endormi. {(sighs» C'est moins bien Il que ça allait, là. [Hier •.• ] ay? ça va, moins bien que ça allait. Je je je- il me semble que tu regardes ta montre ({looks at her own watch miming impatience» •... Comme acte de présence ça ne vaut pas grand'chose. Je veux parler avec toi apr~s «1» Mmoui.

Like a correction sequence, the signal that the student's

behaviour is unacceptable is intended to provoke a repair,

although the acting out of that repair is not necessarily as ,

immédiate as for language. In this case, the repair was

directed at the student' s participation in class, including

an implicit reminder tha t the students are marked on that

aspect. Although these kinds of repair sequences are not ~ ....

frequent, they are an important technique for dealing with

such things as absences, lack of participation, inadequate 1

.'

preparation or attention, etc. Also, social control sequences

are usually~ected to repeated Qr common infractions of the

norms as ia implied in the instructor's comments above.

Summary

In thià chapter, trouble repair has be'en defined as

an interactional sequence involving the initiation of repair

, .

o

\

, ()

\ '

54

by the production of signaIs to the effect that an utterance

la problematic, followed by one or a nu~er of repair

attempts. The distinction between who initiates and who

completes a refair sequence is important because the two steps

involve different skills. Thus , the various types of repair

• sequences are coded in terms of whether a student or the

. instructor do es the tritiation. It was pointed out that

initiation is the pertinent factor, because a) it defines

the beginning of a repair sequence and b) because it is i

related to students' learning tactics and the teacher's instruc-

tional priorities. (In Chapter V" fit will be shown that who

completes the repair also has instructional significance.)

1)

Five kinds of repair sequences have been outlined:

correction sequen~es, usually directed ta violations of 11..

~inguistic rules, where the initiation and completion of

repair take place in the same turni

2) provoked correction sequences, directed to similar prob-

lems, where the first opportunity to repair is given to

the speaker followed by other class members:

3) ( word search sequencès, where the speakèt signaIs his inabil-

ity to complete his turn and hearers come to.his aid:

r, • ;, .... .! ,,1,

,

(

55

4) clarification sequences, directed to problems of compre-

hensibility in another's utterance, where a variety of

signaIs can produce repetition or explanation: and

, 5) social contiol sequences, where the teach~r siqnals by

1 1

scolding, teasing or lecturing, that the/ stude'nts 1

Of behaviour is transgressing class~oom norms.

In the fo~lowing chapter, the repair sequences id~n-

tified in this chapter will be located and analysed in the 1

different class phases and activities df the six léssons

recorded for this thesis.

l.r . .

o

=0

() CHAPTER ry

TROUBLE _~PArR IN CLASSROOMS PHASES

o Il

,-::- -~---',---r' ~-~ ,-~~~

,~: :/~",' ~, , .' ~'t

, , , '

"

c

~he openinq phase starts while the students and teacher

are arrivfng and taking thei~ places around the table. InformaI

dialogu~s and conversations occurred in the opening phases of

most lessons. In two lessons the instructor projected the . l-

vocabulary from a previous class which the students cop~ed_

down, occasionally raising questions about some of the words or

phrases •. In the sam~ way, conversations gave rise to ques-

tions about vocabulary or expressions and to the teacher's

answers and explanations. In sorne lessons. the teacher also

handed back assignments with comments, recorded the attendance,

and organized the Christmas gift exchange between class members •.

Thus, the opening phase is a relatively unstructured period

lasting an average of five minutes and usually ending with

'one 'Of two activities: either the teacher handing back work

o! projecting vocabulary from the previous class.

The instructional phase begins with the teacher's ., introduction of the day's planned instructional activity~ ,In

two conversation lessons this was the discussion~of a play,

~, which told the story of a gang of smugglers. ~ll the ~ '.

classes planned to attend a performance'of this play in the

o

1 ,

o '.' ..

58

near future';' and the students were supposed to have read

excerpts from the play in preparation. In one of the three """

conversatio~al lessons, which took place late in the second

term, the students disèussed their experiflnces in executing •

their class projects, and theit evaluation of the ~rojec~ as

a learning ~xperie~ce. When discussing a reading the

lnstructor uses the activity to present the relevant vocabulary ,

for the studentsi >

in the case of the plây, theatrical terms .

and expressions woulp be noted as weIl as the vocabulary 'uséq

in the story. Wh~n one class was inadequately prepared, the

instructor ~ried to find a new topic for discussion that would

require a specifie situational vocabulary. One student

announced that he was taking a course on human sexualinYi the. . ~

ins'tructor used the ensuing discussion to present commar.

e~pressions assaciated with taking and teaching courses as

we~l as the vocabulary associated with sexual relations and

physiology. In the three grammar lessons on negation, the

instructor took a slightly different ap~roach in each class ••

Ouring the first les~on on the topic with one class she

presented a brie~ '(five minute) lecture,' followed by a group ~

r~view of the negati9n exercises. After the class had reread

. the exercises and discussed'problems that a~ose from this,

the instructor led a drill, rapidly asking questions which the

.' . , t " , •

" ' ..

. ," 1 1

j

1 - 1 , ;

î r

, r

, i ~ f

.l ,

" J

59

~students were supp~sed to answer negatively_ Zn aJlother lesson

tQe students started out by askinq questions.based!on their 00 ~ ~. 1

'f exercises, and then ca~ried oüt the negation drill. . ~ , The

. e.ntire i~~truct~ru:l plias~ .Of" the t.;m. le.~o: [ acting out a mise en situation (described above p.

spent:

29) desiqned '9

i .' , , to practise negative dialogues.

, \ "

, , Other subjéets a~e discussed during the instructional ,

-', phase ,in ad,dition ~o the planned instructional tapie. For -instanqe, du~ing one grammar lesson, a class also arranged

,<

transportation to the theatre, pianned the fOllowing weekls .

schedule, and engaged in a lengthy consideration of clas~room ,

problemso' Jokes, stories and' informal conversa tio'ns can

intersperse instructional activities. Although it is not . .. ,"

normal practice, students ca~ arrive and leave durinq this . 1

'phase; in· one elass, a student arrived late, and in another

\

"

a student left early.

- ." \ ' The' closing phase is no.rmally introd~ced when the , tif! . .

instructor aS8 igns hom,~worK art tal~s about, ,he next lestSon 1 s . C.l • • • ""t . '

a~tivities. 1his phase i8 very brief: after the homework has • G'

been °aSSigned students start ~o \eave,' sorne may stay lMhind to .. ask questions ôr chat. Both the openinq ~nd e108in9 pha.es

are open-ended'as ~he atudents 'are arrivinq and 'leav~~ at , ,

\ .

.. .

l,

.'

o

0 , l "' .... ,..

- 60

that time. Most teaching takes place during the instruc-

tional phase, but instructional activities can also occur

-' daring the other phases. ' For example, vocabulary lists are

typically presented and discussed during the opening phase.

Organizational activities such as assigning and returning

homework, ,or discussing future class activities us~ally take

" place during the opening and closing phases. Thus, both

instructional and' non-instructional activities occur du;ring

lessons. , " "

In the next section, the insertion of trouble repair

sequences into the on-going instructional and non-instructional

activities in each phase will b~analyse~.

Trouble Repair and Class Activity "

To da~, aIl research on trouble repair has dealt

·with speect':"exchange s,ituations outside the classrooms (in

conversationsr interviews, therapy sessions, etc.) •• The

insertion of repair into classroom activities does not follow

the same pattern as in ether socia~ situations. , '

tion~ troubles are quickly resolve9 so that the

the conver_ation, can continue:

In conversa- /

~in activity,

'" '

: 1

•

c

c

, J

~1

La hors-séquence est généralement brève, et une trop longue correction ou discussion concernant celle-ci pourrait entratner une distorsion au niveau de ~a commun~cation (vincent, 1978: 2).

In her examination of side-sequences,4 Jefferson describes

the re1ationship bètween repair sequences and the activities

they interrupt. During an on-going activity--a conversation,

game, etc.--a side sequence is brought about by various

initiation techniques (see Chapter III, for sorne of these

techniques), which is fo11owed by a return to the on-going

activity. She describes the interaction as a series of

sequences: "On-going sequence, side sequence, return to on-

going sequence" (Jefferson 1972b: 316). 1 Once the repair has 1

been completed, the subject of the ~epair sequence (the

problematic part of an utterance) is nol;; usually referred

to aga in. In the French classes sorne of the interaction

corresponds to this pattern. But, in about a quarter of the

cases, the subject of the repair sequence becomes the topic

of further discussion •. These cases are cal1ed e1aborated

sequences, the interaction wou1d be as follows: on-going

Jefferson described as side-sequences correction, provoked correction and sequences. "

,

~ ....... _----,;;......-;----:--.::::

~i

1

,,'

()

62

sequence, side-sequence, elaboration of side-sequence and

(possible) return to the on-g01n9 sequence. The insert.ion

of troUble repair sequences into lessons differs from the

norme of trouble repair interaction in conversations because

the goals of conversations and lessons are different.

,..--In the following sections, in addition to character-

ising trouble repair in different phases, it will be shown

that elaborated sequences are generally associated with

particu1ar kinds of instructional activities.

The Opening Phase

Table 1 ilkustrates the incidence of the various types

of repair sequence during t'e opening phase of a'll six classes.

Although aIl forms of repair take place, not all participants

initiated the same kind of repair sequence.

"

7::~, \'i:! ~ ~\~ ~:~:-,,,,' :.: ;*' ~': ~:" ~:>

, • di

"

J i f t !

~!

"""'l'#o~'"

f\ - -111---- r

TABLE l

• SIMPLE AND ELABORATED REPAIR SEQUENCES IN THE OPENING PHASE

Sequences Ini tia'ted by Teacher Initiated by Students

Unelaborated Elaborated Unelaborated Elaborated

Correction 10 7 0 0

provoked 1 1 Correction

0 0 ,

Clarification 3 0 5 3

Word Search 0 0 2 2

Social Control 4 0 0 '\ 0

t Other 0 1 0 2

Total 18 9 7 7

~

li

,

Total

17

.... 2

11

4

4

3

41

" , , "

~,; .' , .. ,

o

o

o·

64

Eight~five per cent of the student-initiated repair

sequences w~re either clarification or word search sequences,

wi th clarification sequences being the mos~common. Thus,

student-initiated repair was basically directed to seeking

help

were

(through word search ~equences) or checking what othèr'

saying (through clarification seque~). As a learn-

ing tactic, the students initiated these sequences either to.

request missing words or phrases in order to participate in

the class, or to check their understanding of what the

teacher wàs saying. (Only one clarification sequence was

addressed to another student, which occurred when that

student~as trying to explain the meaning of a word to the

rest of the class.)

Correspondingly, eighty-five per cent of the teacher-

initiated repair sequences were correction, provocation of

correction or social control sequences. Again, one kind of

sequences was predominant--correction. These three kinds

"' of repair sequences have,definite instructionai functions. ~

AlI the teacher's correction sequences responded to utterances

that violated linguistic ~ules including rules of'language

use. In addition, provoked correction indicated that the

students ahould know the correct form of the problematic part

of their utterance. SociaI control sequences were directed to ./

(,

($

, 1

(

65

inappropriate behaviour on the students' part: ,such ., behaviours included, absence, late arrival, low standards

of work or inadequate progress.

Thus, trouble repair se~uences acted to further the

'--­teaching and learning interaction in the class, but were

used in slightly different ways by the instructors and the

students. In general, students sought information thr~ugh

word search sequences and used clarification sequences when

they were not sure what the teacher was saying. The teacher,

on the other hand, concentrated on provid~ng feedback through

correction and provoked correction (the latter directed to ./

material the students had already covered~, and guidLng

behaviour through social control repair sequences •

.. Elaborated sequences were elosely related to the

instructional activities of the class. A sequence,was coded ..

~s elaborated if the elass continu~d to diseuss the subjeet

of the repair sequence after the r~pair was completed.

Elaborations varied from a single supplementary turn to ~n

explanatory lecture. Students might ask furthér questions or

the teacher could expand Oh her expl~nation8 or provide

related information. ~n this section, we wil~ examine,the 1

relationship between elaborated and unelaborated s~uenceB

f- '. ...

-,

" ,

o

o

o

'. 66

and theSparticular activity going on at the time the repair

, took place.

There is considerable variation in the incidence

of elaborated sequences in the opening phases of the six

lessons. In two, (one almost entirely devoted to planning

the gift exchange, and the other where the clasa talked

informally until the teacher returned sorne homework to the

students with comments), none of the trouble repair sequences

were élaborated. At the other extreme, in one opening phase 'i

the teacher's first comment in an informaI conversation led

to a discussion of the phrase 'machin chouette' and related

expressions. In this opening ph~se, aIl but one of the repair

sequences were elaborated.

-If we group the various activities that can occur in

the opening phase, we find four main types: 1) Planning

future class activities: two classes organized the Christmas

9ift exchange, and one class discussed what Québécois songs

they would listen to in a future class: 2) returning home-

work to students; 3) informal conversation, and 4) projection .

of vocabuJary from previbus classes. There were no elaborated •

, repair sequences associated with the firet two types of

.. orqanizational activity. In two of the informal conversations,

..

:/,,1; 7; ~-: , ~ 1 1

':~\,:"' .4.

- . - ---- r'

(

(

67

the teacher used an expression the students did not under-

stand. After a student asked about the expression, the

who le class discussed the particular vocabulary items ('faire

une scène', and 'machin chouette'). The projection of

vocabulary lists also produced questions from students about

sorne of the words on this liste These questions and the

teacher's answer are aiso vocabulary discussion. All the

incidents of elaborated repair sequences are associated with

these vocabulary discussions.

Because of this high rate of elaboration during

vocabulary discussions, much time is devoted to the topics

of the repair sequences. That is, repair sequences raise

subjects that continue to be discussed. In this way, the

students' problems in learning the material (as'brought out

by repair sequences) dictate the content of instruction,

because the instructor is always involved in the elaborations.

EÜher ohe is arerin9 the students' questions or she

initiates additipnal information related to the preceding

repair sequence. Thus, during voc'abulary dhcussion, repair

serves a d'ual function. Correption acte as feedback to the

student, while repair sequences in general ,determine the

content of instruction by bringing out specifie topics for

~further discussion.' All kinds of repair sequences were used

1.

.. tl'

.~ ~I

f •

w: , .

o

/ !

()

1 !

~f 1

"

68

during this activity, and the functions of the vari?us kinds

of seqUehce have been described above.

During the other class activities, repair seems to

be used primarily as feedback to the students and to facil­

litate th~ carrying out of the,activity. The lack of elabora-

tion in those activities might be due to their nature compared

to vocabulary discussion. Vocabulary discussion is an acti.ve

learning and teaching activity. The class is involved in

discussing the language as an abject of study. In the other Lr--

activities, students and teachJrs are prirnarily using the

~- J language to ca ry out~1:h&-ae1:ivi ty. The teacher does not

do the s tuden

ipate. But,

on-going activit .

~ ~e students on their errors, nor

seekin~nformation in order ta partic-

language is subordinated ta the

the four social control sequences

teacher was handing back homework.

is one of the opportunities for the teacher

to comment on a student's progress and effort in the course.

In general, inte,raction during the opening phase is

casual. As the students and teacher arrive, they interact

inforrnally in pairs or smali groups. For example" in one

class, two students were chatting before the instructor

(.

(

,

69

appeared (during which the y praQuced two repair sequences, -

one word search and one clarification sequence). Once the

instructor arrived, she engaged a third student in discussion

while a,nother conversation took place at the same time. The

class moves into funetioning as a unit when the teacher

initia tes returning homework, presenting vocabulary from past

classes with the overhead projeetor, or planning activities.

Two lessons with one group of students are interest-

ing in this respect. The instruetor was more~eserved in

these classes and chose to present the vocabulary as soon as

she entered the room. In one lesson, aIl discussion revolved

around this instructional activity. Observations throughout

the yea'r indicated that the projection of vocabulary does not

necessarily exelude generai conversation initiated by studènts.

The instructor wouJd respond if the students initiated a -J'-

conversationai topie. These students Were generally more

passive than the other two c~asses and did not initiata con-

versation. The fact that the opening phase was restricted to

1 · d' ~ , vocabu ary d~scussion, an that 1ts atmosphere was less

animated and warm than other classes, probably reflects the

teache.r' s dissatisfa'ction with the passive nature of the class.

For instance, she responded to a student~8 quest'ion about one

1 , \

\ \

\

• f o

(J

o

. 70

of the vocabulary items with a cross, tIIls étaient tous , ..

absents la dernière fois," before answering'.

In the opening phase, both instructional and non-

instructional activities take place. Students use word

search and clarification sequences to participate in aIl the

activities, and the teacher most commonly uses correction.

Handing back homework occasioned two social control

sequences related to the students' work. Apart from this, I>i

activity does not seem to affect the kind of repair sequences

in the opening phase. On the other hand, whether or not a

repair sequence is followed by further discussion of the

topic raised by the repair sequence, is closely related to

the nature of the activity that the repair interrupts. If

the activity is instructional (as in the case of presenta-

tion of vocabulary lists) 'repair is commonly elaborated.

"Eleven o'ut of sixteen repair ,sequences that occurred during

the presentation of vocabulary lists were elaborated. Two

informaI conversations also'produced elaborated repair

sequences. In both ~ases, the'subject had been changed

from the orig~~c 'of the conversation to a discussion

of the meaning~ot words the ins~ructor had used--the activity

. had switche~ from a conversation· ta a vocabulary ·'discussion.

'.

c

c

( ..

,-

,\ 1

=

J

71,0"

lt seems that as~-soon ~'s a student asks a question abk the

language, even in the context of a non-inst~uctional activity,

both students and te~chers turn their atten~ion from using

the language to carry out other activities to talking about "

the langu~e, and the discussion becomes an instructional •

activity: Thus, to a certain extent, the conversational natm

that repair should be brief is observed in non-instructiohal

interaction. But?s soon as the language becomes the to~ic

of discussion, repair ia used as a teaching mechanism and

gives rise to explanations, additional question and further

discussion. \,

The Instructionallphase !

.:! Table 2 b low shows the distribution of trouble repair

sequences during he instructional phasè. The general -out-

line is similar t that found in the openi~g phase. First,

the te.ch'e" ;epai~S interaction' .lmost' t':"ee time. as 'mach as

the stude~ts 'do. 1nd over eightY-~iVe per cent ot her .repair '

involves correcti1n or provo'ked correption. Over seventy per c

cérit~ of the studEmlts' repairs involves clarification and' word

search sequences. \ j Il

\ 1

)

i ___ ~ ____ ~~~~

:~~?rep;~?\~:,~~ '~~.~. " - ' "

o "

o

z: ~

1

V

TABLE 2

...,

c '

SIMPLE J\ND ELABORATED REPJ\IR SEQUENCES IN THE INSTRUCTIONJ\L PHASE ~ o

"

, ~ s!!quences ~ Initiated by Teacher Initiated by Students

. Une1aborated E1aborated Unelaborated Elaborated , , " .;.

0 - . Correction 152 0 '32 8

0

3 , . -. Provoked ~ 26 15 6 0 Corr~ction

" , , . \

c 0

, Clarification 4 2 30 SJ . .

5) . .

"- 1

-

Word Search 0 ~. # 0 27 :,\ Il . .

J ~

l'

. Social Control 16

~ 3 , 0 0

~ , l,

Ott&~ , -

4 3 9 ' . 1 . _ f . , '.

. ,;t

Total 20& 55 -- 80 }..6 , -~ ------

.', _.: .... ~~~, ... ;. l-'J"~ - .

o

TQta1 .

195

. 47

-, ,

43

36

. . 19

!

, 17

t

357

".

" •

1

1 If> '.

,- ..

Cl' 1"

~I , ) \

• , ~,

, '+ 1

\ " , , , . ..

" , i

#

L )

, r /

" .! ' . t ."

1 ~

f·

..

'''-

)! b ),

l 1 toC:)

---... • ~ '" '\ ,.

v , -----

\

~

, . "", Il

73 Î

r' (

) Thus.., a .. t~e 1 es: on :';"~es inta the' instrOlctianal phase, with , • , , 1 ((

• ). l ~ ~

,the int~oduotion Qf the day~s planned instructional aetivity, 1'" 1 •

the partic~pants eont!nue to' iJ~~rae\ i~ ·th~ f~Bhi~n e~tablished , ,~ \ .

during the ·opening'phase. ~h~ • (J' )

stud~nts' e)rors ~y' or~eç~in~ te~eher responds t9 some

l ' ,

them ~nd w~e~ Sh~ ~feels that

• ' 1 -, '

"

able to eorr~ct themse\veè, js~e provokes '\- . ,

, , them fo ëor The stadents check at ls being

,

\~ 'said b~ othérs thr~ugh el~r~ffcation sequences an " . ., 1

s~ek words

rch sequences. to par~icipate'in the in~eractidri.through word se

'\-. " , :.(',', '" \ ... ... ~, ..

, Elev~n di/fe~ent' activities" lasting ~~om \seven to ,. "

' ..

\ \ . \ l

fifty,four mi&utes, took placeJd~ripg the Instr~ctlonal phase. ! ~ , ~ 1 \

l The activit"ies in' gràmmar lesso";s wer~:" 're'-readin~ .. the pre-' , . ,

! tests ~he'. t uden~s 'ha~ ~r~pà~.id a~ ~i.C'U.S (ng . the "~n8W"r;,; que~,tiJ' no f~~'~;;-" :.t~n~8 'a~ut 'negation, b ... ed on t~eir ~

_ cf ';..... '. , exerci, es,~ 'wi th an,we'rs and expl~n~ tions from t~e t~ache~; a"

~eqation dri~l: a mise en situation designed to pr~ctic~

, . Tf neqa~iu.~ cgalogue'.. In conversation 'l!!ssons tl;le activities

d.~ere: e di:sc':\rUion of .th, ptay~~: (wh'en"one\?l~U{81 had . ~ ~ 1.

not pr~pared to discu~s ~h~ p!ay) a convers~tiçn ~oVèt1ng a . ,

·;.vide range of topies • the" teacher sea:tche«( for 'a 8ui~e .. ' «'~ - '\..... •.

discussion topiei' ~ discussionfabout a ~ou~se on human 1 l "l __ • ,- • ~ '"

/~ 'Î\~' ~

sexua~itY: a~ ~V~luati~ ~f't~e,pr~blems and benefit~ of the

.. students" '-projec:t: 1 an analysis, of the cl~ss 1 atm08~ere and

" .

-' . '. .. " . t -~. j. \

"- j t'

"

'1 f ' , - ,

1fl

() il ' ,

\ .., .

1

\ . 1 . o

J

\' &

74 (

\r

ways to improve it. In both conversation and grammar lessons, . shorter periods o~ime were devoted to two activ(fies: organ-

~ , izationa1 discussions, and vocabul~ry discussions.

Th~ insertion of repair into the i~eraction during 1

the activities listed above will be an~lysed.in terme of two

, 'variables: f

rate of r~pair and rate of èlaboration. w )

The rate

of repair, exprEi'ssed in the number of repair sequenceâ per L ,

minute. var~d from less than .5 s~quence per minute to 2.75 •

se~ences per minute. The average rate of repair d~ring the,

instructional pHase was 1.4 sequences per minute. A rate of

less than.oJe sequence per ~inute,is considered low, around

1.5 sequences per minute is average, and above 2 sequences

"per minute is a high rate of repaire The number of sequences'

tbat were elaborated ranged from less than one in ten to

'th

over ha If. Approximate1y twenty-five per cent,of t!he sequences li ~

in the insd:'ructional phas,e were elabor~ted. For any given

acti~ity, ~ low ~ate of eiabotation is ~ess than twenty per

cen~ of thel sequences, an average rate falls between twenty ~'~ .

and tni~ty per cent, and if over thirty ~er cen~ of the ~

sequences are e1aborated this is a high rate of elaboration.

t Whén the Vë'lrious activities that dccurred during. the

instructional phase are examined in terme. of rate of repair

'"

-,-,.""'--,

, , , . , f -,-' l'J, (

.' .

c

, -'

1

' ....

. 0,

l

and rate

clusters.

assoa'iated.

,or'" ; study.

in both

answer

these activ

75

laboration certain activities are grouped in \0,

first c~uster consists of activities that are , ,

high rate of elaboration (from ~3% - 56%).

qf elaboration occurs in a specifie kind of

when the French language is the object of

-e activities Were: the vocabulary discussions

rand conversational lessons, the~question and

nega~ion, a~ ~he negation drill. AlI of

arE!' instru~tion:?- activities; in vocabulary

discussions the sUb,ect was lexical aspects of th~ langU~ge,

and the que tians and answers and the drill were devoted to

syntactic a of the language. ln add:i:ti.on, 'aIl act,ivities '\ ...

involved q and answer sequences. In the drill, the

, '" instructor sed questions that required negative answers and

,'" analysed t answersi in the'other two acttvi;ies, t~. students

asked ~ue~t ns. During these kirids of instructional inter-

action',' the goal is the students 1 understanding of the material.

Thus, after errors were corrected, the te~cher would give

• , • " • 1

supplementa y explanations or the ~tudents would ask additional

ques~ions. During-tne n~gati~ drill, the mo~t commqn form of

rep.r was .. J 0 ~ ..

~~~"'n~ed correction (18 of 35 sequences) and half of

these were laborated, twice by short lectures. When the l .

students 'f questions for the negation exercises, most ~f

. .

o (

!

76

the repair consisted of cor~ctions from the teacher (10 of

14 sequences) and seven of these correction sequences were - .

followed by supplementary explanation or questions. Students .

used clarification sequences most often' in" these acti vities,

and never used wqrd search. Also, the only tirne that students (

corrected each other ~th any frequency was during ,the nega-1

tion drill. J c·

The second cluster of activities exhibited a high rate Il

of repair (from 1.9 sequences per minute to 2.7 seq~ences per

, minute) and a low rate bf elqboration (from 3 • .43'>" to 16.6%). ~ , . "-

Three. of' these activities occurred during conv~rsational

lessons: the discussion of the play, Zone;. the wide ran\ing

. ~-conversation 'led by the teacher as she looked for a suitable

topie for discussion; apd -the "topic they eventuarly found,

the discussion of one student's course on human sexuality. "" ,

Il The fourth activity in this group was the mise en situation

in the 'class on negation. The goal of conversational 1

instructional activities. lS to practise the language in social

s~tuations. This contrasts wit~ thepgoal ~f developing the

,stude,pts 1 understa'nding of the material in, instructional ,

1" aetivit~es deâling with grammar. Ih order te practise, the

. ~tucJents must pa~ticipate and th~s make many errors'. ~ut the , .

~eache~ will not provide additional explanatr6ris after

,

. '

..,----Ijr------ . -- -----'---------- - --­, .

1

... J}'

~' '" 1 •

---- ._,-,' .. , l' -'::."'11::----.':'" ' •

(

...

(

(j

---.;.--------.::= -~ -- ~--

77

correction as she feels that the time is better spent lettinq

the students talk.· ~hy is·the mise en situation, a grammatical

activity, linked with ~ low rate of elaboration? A mise en ~ l ,

situation, as the name implies, lS also de~igned to let the

/ . students practise language structures in a ~ituational con-

te",-t: in thi'f;.,way, it is like a conversational instructional

activity. Further, although the structures practised in the

misi en situation were grammatical structures, which tend to :il' -1' .

need expla~at~op, this activitY4takes place after the presenta-

tion of a gr~mmar topie and the review of exercises ~ l' there­

fore: m~ the students' problems will already have been

resolved. Thus, the four activities that were characterised

'~

,by a~ high rat'e of repair and l6w,rate of elaboration were all ,

activities: in which the goal was the situational practice of

lang,\age ~ski.t.ls. While correction lS important, :M: must be

brief to allow the convers~tions to dév~pontaneously BO

that pra~tise is aS}'natural ' as possible.

togethe~ aIl of 1 There are tpree a~tivities grouped ~ , -, -

which exhibit relatively low repair (.7 to 1 sequence~ger .

minute) •. and low elaboration '(9%'to 20%). Two of these are

A ,

discussions of the class 1 progress in two very different con-, ~ ,l''il-

texts. The first involved a class which had' b'een ekperiencinq

l,'

" ) ,

, 1 Il,

. .. - . , ' .. ' :

., 1 i • ~ , ,

o

c)

0, , '

78

interactional problems: the studen~s were passive, didn!.t '

relate weIl as a,r group, and not aIl stutlents attended class

regularly. This class spent the last part of an instructional

'" phase discussing these problems. The rate of repair of . 7

o

sequence per minute was the lowest for aIl activities in which

repair occurred. The second discussion took place late in the

\ ... year, and related to an evaluation of the proj~ct by the

o students. In t.his case, ·'fllos~~.of

,-::;-w~· 1'--""1"

. they fel t tha t they had !.9f.~n;d a v (

their evaluation was positive~

lot from carrying out the , ....

~ , project. Both of these discussions are conversational activ-

ities (earlier associated ~ith a hi~h rate of repair). The type )

of inte~action observed was prod~ced by the subject of the \

discussions. In one case, the teacher and students wished to

improve the class ~tmosphere a~d language learning priorities

wère subordinaled to this purpose. The activity was started - 1

Iby a social control sequence, when the instructor commented

" on the students t lack of partipipation. Three of the five

repair seq.\lences involved soci~l control, which also reflecteâ • 1 !.

, \ .) cl i ~he behaviaural 'tapie under' d'i$cussion. During the second

, " • bl 1 1

class, the instructor wished t~e students to understand why

the project ~ ••• igne~ ~nd ta gathe~ information on it.

v:~ue fram the .t~ents· ~ers~ctive. ThiS'diScU88~on too~ •

place: in April,~near the end o~ the course, and the stùdenta 1 •

. :

c

" ;

'. . \

1 •

, ,

C.

.. $ ~

1

t -~

79

were more fluent than at the begin~in9 bf the year. This

would reduce the amount of word search and clarificatiun

sequences required for their partiqipation in a conversation.

Non-instructional activities are also characterised t

by lùw rates of repair and elaboration. In two lessons, , .

orgë;inizatio'nal activities took place during the instructional

phase. These are not' common occurrences, as such organizati~n ~

usually takes place during the qpening or closing phase. The

fir~t incident was triggered by the early'dep~rture of a

student who owned'a car. The whole cl~ss was attending a play

that night and bus drivers were on strike:· so transportation

h~-to he arranged before he left. In the other lesson, t~e . çlass had started organizing the gift excha.ngE! during the open=',q

lng phase. When one student arrived late, another student ~ ~~

told the instructorto include!him ih the 9ift exchange. The

~ teacher corrected him and then sanctioned him with: IIÇa lei préoccupe beaucoup plus que la négation, hein?", b~fore com-

p1ying. Af~er brief~y exp1aining t~e 9ift ~change to that 1

student, s~e returned immediately to an instructional -topic.

One

produced an

activity is

,>

activity~ re-reading the pre-test on neqatio~

average level of repair and\elabora~n. This \ ....

concerned with ~rammar. but exh~bits ,neitber high

1

)'

o

()

. ,

, .

<

'80

elaboration (like other grammar discussions) nor high repair

(like'the mise en situation). The lower rate of repair ie

probably explained by the fact that the students were supposed

to have completed and corrected this exercise at home. Thus,

they s,hould not have many errors. On the other hand, this was

one of the few times that the instructor corrected the stu-

de~ts' pronunciation and intonation, so the inst~uctor continued

to correct,' ,but ~orrectep different aspects of the students' (':4!~ ,rJ

\,- langu.:,~ .kill.. During this activ~ty. fifteen of the eighteen

J repair ,sequences were correction, five of which w.ere elaborated.

The students did not initiate any repair sequence, because their

particiPation copsist~d of reading or asking for explanations.

of the answers in the exercises. , 'One general comment mu~t be made before formulating

thes~findings into an instructional framkwork. To state that ,,6'

language learn~ng goals are subordinated to practice or to

the-subject. of conversation doea not imply the absence of

• tepair. Repair, including correction, continues even 1n r _

encounters observ~d àutside the class. And for much of the

.year the students need to use word searches frequently to

form their utterances.

The ~nalysis of the ~ates of repair and elaboratior in

various activities in the instructional phase locates three

, 1

, '

(

..--------

~

.. ' ... ----o

81

types of activities: .\

activities des1sned to maximize practioe "

(characterised by a high rate of repair and a low rate of - ~

elaboration), activities designed'to develop ~he stud~nts'

understanding of lexical and syntactic aspects of the language 1

(characterised by a moderate rate' of repàir and a high rate of

elaboration), and activities where the perf?rmRnce 'of the 1

activity ls a goal in itself'(characterised by low rates of

repair and elaboration). One activity did not falL into any

one of these g~SI the re-reading of the pre-test"which was

associated with average rates of repair and elaboration. Thus,

the ins~rtibn of repair 'into the instruc~ionaL phase can be

understood in terms of the goal of the particular activity, \

and the nat~re of student and teacher participation. Non-

instructional activities are Most like interaction outside the 1 ,

classroom and ·the insertion of repair sequences into inter-

action is also similar. Conversational activities where the

goal 'is to simulate social interaction, hav~ little ~~aboratiOri;

which would be disrSptive, but as they are ~nstructidnal activ-t J • ~

itiès. correction is frequent. finally, whe? tpe'goal of an , .

activity ie to understand an aspect of French .~anguage.

especially grammar, trouble ~erair plays a large roie ln ~ ~ ~ \...."...

determining what the class tal~s about, and i9 probably ~uch

more intrus ive into the interaction than in any non-educational

setting.

~ ~-",--,~~~~

, .

o

, .

(

1 • 1

1

82

'l'he Closing Phase

The closin9 phase is the shortest of aIl the phases.

Asaigning homework and planning future class activities~ the main concerna in five of the cl09ing phnses. During these

activities, no correction took place--probably due to the

fact that th~ instructor did most of the talking and the

students' participation was generally limited to comments. 1

Other repair sequences occurred twice during planning activ-

ities: First, a clariJication sequence was initiated by a

student while the instructor was reviewing the students'

problems with 'negation in order to plan her .teaching for the'

next class:

';['eacher:

celinda: * Jane: .

Teacher:

Jane: 'feacher:

Mais, est-ce qU'il y a autre chose que je n'ai pas prévu qui vous pose des problèmes? «LoolÙng at Jane» Toi, c'était l'ordx;e.' Alors, je vais vous poser Il des questions avec plusieurs négation~. (Moi aussio] ('(Looks confu~ed, stares at teacher» «(to Jane,» C 'é tait l'ordre, avec 'plus', 'jamais', tout ça? -«Nodding» Oui. Uh-huh. «She turns tp ano~ber student and continues».' ,

Second, du~ing the c10sing phase, the members of one c1ass

continued t~ organize t~e gift exchange, distributing i>the'

slips of .. paper to stu~ents who hè'ld b~en absen~ at the begin­

ning of the c1ass. ·When one student .took hi~.slip of paper

~"'r :.:r;" tJ" - --~-~~-- ...

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83 '

he announced the name on it, giving rise to a social control

comment from the instructor that the names were supposed toc

be kept secret.

Once the homework has been a •• iqne~the students are

free to leave, and they uS,ually start:~/Sack:ing up while the

instructor talks about upcoming classes. In one class, an

'" instructional activity took place after the teacher had

finished planning the ijext class when one of the students

asked a question from the exercises that thé class had b~en \

reviewing during' the instructional pha~e. The discussion

f Il . h' ' . b ~h 1 b d' h o oWlng 1S ques t10n roug t out, an e a orate teac er- ,

initiated correction 8equenc~. This was~the only correct~on

sequ~nce observed in aIl the closin9 phases. This underlines \, .

the fact that it i8 the par~icular event that is 90ing'on , ,

when repair occurs that influences, the teacher's use of repaire

If' th~ students initiate' instructional interaction, the teacher .,

will respond in an instructiona1 manner.

In two lesson~ the teacher "talked about the inatruc-

tional phase and suggested language learning tactics. At the

end of a ~rammar lesson ~or instance, she commented about how

the students should' approach learning negation, saying that -f6

1 once the basic rule~ were establishe~ in their mindB, the

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84

·0 students s~ould concentrate on learning how to interact

rapidly and naturally.

Two otger activities occurred during the closing phase.

In two of the classe~, students initiated conversations. In

on~ class a student made a joke to which the instructor re-

sponded after clarifying what he meant, and in another class . \

various people discussed two French films. The students

produced three clarificatipn sequences and one word search

sequence, and although the in~tructor participated she did

\

not correct the students. In the iijstructional phase,

conversations were characterised by a high rate of repaire .

At a l'certain poin't in the closing phase the instructor sat

back and relaxèd. Correcûtng conversations req~ires the

teacher's concentrated attention, and probably f~tigue was

as much a factor in the lack of correction as the generally

non-fnstructional nature of this phase •

. ' '\

One conversational class stands out from the other ,-

.classes. ln all ~he other cases the closing phase was

initiated by the instructor, when she started talking about

upcoming classes or assigning homework. This class deviated

from this because a student introduced the week's planning_

Around 9:45 one of the students left the clase early,

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• 85

interrupting the instructional activity. As soon as he left,

another student asked for the week's plan. The instructor

informed him that she ueually made up the'plan after their (

'class, but d d ' l, h f d' f agree to 1SCUSS 1t t en. A ter spen 1ng a ew \

minutes ~n ,0 '

upcoming classes, the 1nstructor remarked about

the students' lack of participation in class. She st~mulated

a convers,ation, about the passive class atmospherè. After

~e discussion on how to improve the atmospherè, a second

student 1eft wishing everyone a good weekend. The il1structor o

responded to his salutation, and then 'suqgested an activity

for the follôwing w~ëk:- AfteY addressing a ~inal social

control comment to one student who had not participated in ,

r the preceding discussions, the'instructor sat back and visibly

relaxed. A few students stayed and chatted br.ief,y with her ~ .

abou~ charades, and then left. ~,One student stayed on to dis-- !:~

cuss his own problems with the class.. In thi:s lesson, the

closing phase was not clearly marked. \.

In general, the closing phase consi~s of revi~in9

" the t<:lass and lookinq forward to upèoming classe's by assign-

ing homework and planning activities.- Little repair, and 'fJ '\

no 1t

correçtion, takes place unless the students initiate an l 't l

instr~ctional acti~it~. , 0

" ,.

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-./ 86

Summary

The activities and interaction of the' instructiona~ " 'i .. 1 ,

phase distinguish .... a 'grammar less.o""from a conversational . . .

lesson. Because of the explanatory goals of the activities' ~

'char;cteristic 9f grammar lessons, these class~ u1tua lly had." , 1

a higher rate of .elaboration, thnn conversetional ~~sses •.

During non-tnstructional activiyes" t?e insertion of <Z

trou~le repair into the classroom most ~esembled trouble

'> 0

repair interaction in conversations. Instructional activ-&

" ities.had a higher rate of repai,r. The teacher attempted

to reduce the disruption of discussions des'igned to prodJe

practice by cutting down on exp~anations following trouble

. n repair. (But ,during. these acti'vities, she oftten took notJ!s

on students' errors, on new items of vocabu'lary supplied 4. ~~

the discussion and on exp~essions related to the social

" situation being practiced. Thislpoint will.be developed i . l' - .

~ . Chapter V.) ,During instructional ~ctiS:'ties that dealt

with the students' comprehension of gr~mm tical'or lexical

. -, matters, troUble repair sequenc~s were often elaborated wit

supplementary questions or eltplarlations. Th'us" much class iii .

time would be spent on the. topic&- rai'sed by' repair sequenc

One interest~ng result of t~is a~alysis is that it is"the

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activity and not the phase that determines how trouble r~air

isOin~erted into on-going sequences. Little repair and •

, ,

Q' elaboration ia noted in the closing phase because little

i~strùction takes place in that phase. The openfng phase, ..

which compr~ses both instructional and non-instructional

activi'ti-es, provides tpe key. _, When students seek informatipn

about the language dr the t~acher presents informntian, bath

sJ:ude~ts and the teaœ(ter will resp~nd in .an inslrucL1C'11i'l1 c

~~nner, whic~ includes elaborating r@pair sequences.

',\ ,

Repair occurs in most activities including during ,~ f.

interaction between the'students and teacher outgide the • ...J ~ c

cf~ssi~om .. During lessons,' the teacher tends to "produce

almost three times as much re~air, mosLof it correction'..or v •

provQcations of correction ~s t,)1e st,uden'bs, who rely on word

searches ana clarificatiQn sequ~nces to participate in second

language activit~es. Ih the nei~ ch~er '. the different

types of'repair sequences ~ill be analysed in terms of the J

instructional and interactional functions they have for the

participants in a lesson. •

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CHAPTER V

TROUBLE REPAIR AS AN INSTRUCTIONAL

AND INTERACTIONAL STRATEGY

•

1 1

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When Mèhan analy~ed school clasSrooms and the inter-~ t

action tha't goes on in them, h.e identiÙed a three' part sequence

..

whiçh characterised the instructional phase. This sequence

consisted of 1) j~ teacher's initiation ~ct; 2) a student's

reply act: and 3) a teacherLs evaluation act. In elaborating

this sequence, Mehan noted that:{

If the reply called for by an initiation act does not appear in the next tu·rn of talk, teacher-student inter­action continued until it does appear. Ta ac~ieve this symmetr.y, the initi<l tor employs a number of ... strategies including'prompting after incorrect or

o incomplete replies and repeating or simplifying initia­tion acts (Mehan, 1977: 42). , ,

, ~

The use of these strategies brought about what he called

'extended sequences'. The strategies described above are

essentially trouble repair interaction, in~erted into the

three part sequence. While Mehan identifies the trouble

repair phenomenon (without labelling it), he deals with

correction as if it were a deviation from the normal inter-

action in the classroom, when in fa ct it lies at the heart

" of the ~eaching process. His deScliiption does little to tell

us of the decision making strategies that an instructor

utilizes in order to transfer and evaluate knowledge. The

89

f 'i t'!.t •

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model, initiation-reply-evaluation ie sufficient to explain

teacherlstudent interaction only if the students naver mis-

~

understand, make err~rs or devia~e from prescribed behaviour. , ,

Given that learning involves the production of incorrect

responsee, teaching ie essentially the management of this

situation. And the explanation of the teaching process must , '

deal with this facto Mehan does acknowl~dge that:

'The machinery governing te~cher-student discouree in classroom les sons seems ~ore ak!n to a·generative, interactional, model • than to a stochastic model (lb id.: 44.,) .. "·,

The generative nature of the model 'of interaction employed \

here derives. (rom the unpredictability of the students'

utterances and behaviour, which dictates a continuous decision

1 making.process on the teacher's part in order ta react to the

students' participation and incorporate this into the overall

strategy for carrying out the lesson.

Only ,some of the language' activities described in the

previous chapter correspond to the teacher-centered interaction

pattern discovered by Mehan, e.g., ·the negation drills in two

grammar lessons. During other clase activities, the students .

would often initiate interactional sequences, and students

addressed each other as weIl as the téacher. A model of

trouble repa ir must describe the set of al ternatives available

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91 . to the teacher w~en dealin~ wit~ variouB interactiona1 situa-,

CJ

tions,within 'the c1assr~~m. It must a1so take account of the

f'ct that students are not simply

e~à1uate and guide, ,t~ei~ :language

trouble repair strategies • •

passive participants, but

leàrning with their own

• Let us ex~mine the five kinds of repair.s~quence

described' in Chapte.r; III a~d discusB how these are used by ,

the students and the instructor. This will l?ring out the p

~eaching and 1earning strategies that operat~ in the ~la8s­

room. It will a1so 'b~come obv'ious that all the participants

do not necessarily view what is going on in the classroom in

the same way. This approach which includes .the evaluation of

the instructional situJtion from the point of view of aIl f)

participants is lackipg in Mehan's description.

Functidns of Repair'Seguences

correction Sequences

The instructor uses correction as a tèadhing strat~gy.

TWo hundred an(i two of the two hundred and ninety-two tea'cher-

~nitiated repair ssquences were correction 8equence~: it is

the most froquent form of rep~ir init~at~d b~,the teacher (see ;

Table 3, below p. 98). Correction has two primary goa 1s.;

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• 92

1) to provide immediate feedbacK to individua1 Itudenta when , .

they make 1inguiatic errors; and 2) to preaènt leai,n:lng , '

... ,

material to the whole class. Often after correctint an error, o •

" addressinq one individual, the teacher will then .laborate

her correctidn, addressinq the whole c1as8. Approxi~tely , ~

~twenty per cent of the' teacher-initiated co rections ~ere _

elaborated either te provide additiona1 exp ~nat~on to the" .. ~ l, '\ '"

8tudent,ma~ing the error or to brinq the in ormat~n to the " \

attention of the whole classo ~For instance, in the fQllowinq

excerpt, wh'ile revf.ewinq the negation exerci~es one student'

ha. anewered the question, "Re~~.ait-elle .,,~.ent de. gens

chez elle?" with "Non ~lle ne recevait jamals\ des qèns chez \

elle." The instructor corrects the an8wer, .. ,on elle ne rece~ 1

vait jamais de gens chez elle, JI and as'k'l!l: \

Teacher: ,Qu'est-ce que ça implique si tu dis ça? Celinda: , o .. *bh 00' Elle accord hh non, elle 'accord

ses faveurs? * Teacher: (Shakes her head))

Cel inda: Non?: \ Teacher: ~on. Parce que ça serait des gens ~ ce moment­

là. Ça veut dire qu'elle reçoit des chiens" elle ,peut recevoir des chooes, elle peut rece­~voir.autre chose, mais tu spécifies qU'elle 'ne , reç"oit jamais de <JenS chez e~le. Elle reçoit autre chose, mais pas de <Jens.

OH'

Celinda: hh Oh, O.~. hh Teacher~ «to xhe who1e class»)

<

Vous, vous voyez, vou.

"

, sentez la différence? c;t ,j fi' ,} ri

Celinda et Deborah: Q.K. C 1\

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Deborah:

Teacher: "

DE!borah: Teacher:

. . J •

93

"Non, elle ne reçoit x ne reçoit jamais de /1 • •

gens chez elle.~' Est lf!! '"jamais' nécessaire? •• /.' Est- x x'ce que c'est possible, 'Elle ne reGevait per­sonne chez elle?'· · f .. ". Ça serait possib1~,' 'Elle n~ recevait personne chez elle.' Ça vo/~t dire qu-, là ça voudrait dire elle les reçoië ailleurs. 'Non, ellé ne reçoit·persq~ne chez elle. ' Oh, bon. _) '\ Elle'peut~ recevoir à rson bureau, mais pas chez elle, hein? 1

, ./ (

/

The instructor as~s celinda,,:the meaning of 'Non, elle .

ne rècevait jàmais de gens ~hez elle' and whenfthe student

doesn't know, she provi~es th~ çJrrect meaning, with an explana-... , ,

tion. Once this student has' unperstood, she cheqks that the

rest of the class has been ;iS~ening and understande, which { 1

gives rise to a supplementary question from another student. , .

In this way, the instructor switches her atte~tion from the

indi:~idual student to the group and back aga in, using individual.

errors as a springboard, for information ditected to the whole

/ class. /' , . , .

As error correction is a teaching strategy, the teacher

has a n9rmative f6rm of interaction in mind during'and

immedia tely fol;Lowing correction sequences. ' .The teacher' 8 1

conception of an ideal correction sequence is: 1) Te~cher

co~recta: ' 2) student repeats correction. Thia mandatory

repetition ia limited to cla8aroom situations. After thè

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correctiàri sequence ia co~pleted, thet~ are three pOlsible

'ways of returning to the on-90ing activity: 1) in diseus-

sions, the student should continue his interr'upted turn:

.r 2) in drills, vo~abulary discussions, etc., anybody may

. ,

elabfrate on the~oorrection with questions;and commenta; and ,

3) d~ing organizational aC~ivities and miss en situation,

the a~ivity ie continued according to the turn-taking

priorities of that activity. Thus in cla~s: the partiçipant~o

,who may initiate a return to the on-going activity ia deter-

mined by the natu,re of that activity.

. T'Wo things are important about the ideal form of

~orrection interaction. One,· the teacher must balance the

clase' need for uninterrupted interaction with the necessity

for individualized evaluation of errors'. Experience has shown

the instructor the ~mportance of individualized and immediate

eva1uation of errors. She has found that it i8 harder to

extingui8h an incorrect form once the student has 'learned'

it, than it is to teaeh correct forms: interference errors

are particularly hard to un1earn. The instructor pereeived

learning a language as, in part, develop~ng a set,of accurate

automatic respon8es (see her recommandation to the class in a

elosing phase of a grammar 1es80n, above, p. 83). Th~dan9~r

of developing faulty automatic respons8a ia one reaaon for the

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95

importance of immediate correçtion •• Further, the students , '

, are 8SKèd to repêat the correc't form to f~ci1itate learning' l

it. " , ",.1

Psycholinguistics has shawn 'that active repetition

reinforces remembering. ,Thus, producing a correct,form ia a

'more efficien~ learning mechanism than only hearing it. , .

. The second reason why.the ~eacher requires a standard

" . form of corrective interaction relates to the necessity of

carrying out ir:t~tructional actlvities with minimal' d1sruption.

Corr~ct10n tends to interrupt the flow of conversation, in

conversations this interruption is brief and once the problem-

'atic item in an utterance hà,s ,been d'ealt with it ia never

referred to aga in. Thi~ cannot be the case in language teach-

ing,. Sometimes correcttoTls need further explélnation so the

students understand it~ other times: the instructor uses the

'students' errors as guidelines for what aspect of the material '"

to concen tra te Correction, for a .student who ia already

hasitant about language production, can be a frustrating

exper.ience. At e beginning of the year, the' students speak'

with many pauses, in incomplete sentence and with many errors.

But, practice is essential to davelop,ing competence. At the

beginning of the year, correction --inhibited -students from

speaking. I~ ouder to 8ssuage the anxiety of students, ,the

teacher instructed. them. in ",how to respond in repa ir sequences.

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... 11 l , .,

She must correct to prevent the developmaht of interference o . <

errors, but i~,conversational classes,' she aiso w~8~e~ the

students to continue despite her ,corrections. ,

The teacher's çorrection strategy is based on her

" knowledge of the language learning styles empIoyed by differ-

ent students. Sh'e noted two kinds of language learners among

her students. Sorne studénts are preoccupied with linguistic \: .

"

accuracy" and speak very hesitantly, trying to think out what Q , ,

they will say in ativance. These students tend to produce Iesa

speech and ~ess errors when they speak. The teache~'s,goal

with such studènts is to increase their fluency by encouraginq

more practice. Other students are more reIaxed in French

'interaction. Typically, these 'st'udents 'will talk quite a lot,

but will produce many more errors. The instructor must make

these students stop and think b~fore speaking. Correction

affects the two types of st~dent very dif~erent1y. A student (

concerned with iinguistic/accuf.a~y will stop and consider a

correction, 10sing his train of thought. Those concerned with ,,' 1.

fluency ofteh brush pff corrections in order ~~ continue

making a point. j

Correction involves balancing a,number of priorities.

First co~rection should not prevent the' ~ntinua~ion o~ an 1 0

(,

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97

~

inatructional activity. The notion of a norrnrtive form of 1

correction interaction both ~ivea the student a mèchanism for

i'nternalising accurate language structures, and facilitates ,

the ~ontinuatio~ of the instructiona~ act~vity. Second, the

t1!acher must consider the students' peraonalities and

lang~age learning ~actics a~ weIl as th~ kind of error that

students ~roduce (interference errors are likely to be cor-

rected each time they occur). Finally, s~e must balance the

individual needs of each student with her evaluation of the

needs of the class as a group during different activities.

~tudents generally do not correct each otner~s

lingu~stic errors .. It was more common for a student to dis­\ .. -

~gree with another speake~. The instructor encouraged the .'

students to correct each other. rhis hever became common

practice in the classes, but sorne students did correct each

" other: most commonly in grammar lessons auch as the negation 1

drill wKere all the students had studied the material on nega-

tion. Correcting each other seemed to break sorne norm of e ~

, student-student interaction. Possibly because the students

"'~ 1 .' regarded correction as a teacher's activity, ~nd thus correct-, . ing a peer could 'pe misinterpreted. The other reason, of

, course, ia, that students are uncertain about the' correct form.

As will be seen be~ow, Word Searches and Clarification Sequences

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"....,

Sequences

Correction

"

provoked Correction

, . C1arificat!on

il

Word Search

Secia1' Control

Other 0

-Total

J.

1:

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TABLE 3 ....

TEACHER VERSUS STUDENT-INITIATED REPAIR IN SIX FRENCH LESSONS

. Initiated by Teacher Initiatea by Students \

Une1aborated E1aborated Une1aborated E1aborated ,

162 40 9 3

~

21 . 0 16 6 , 0 "-

~ . " .

~ 8 2 38 10

,

4 0 " 30 . ' 1

~ 1

/' Q

22 3 " 0 0'

. .

4 4 9 3 ,

J

221 . . 65 91 23 .

~

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Total

213

49

0

58

41

~

25

20 \

406 .

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)

99 ,

, were the main student tactic to learning the language. Students

generally waited to be asked for help, i.e .• when one student ~

initiates a word search, other students Qften r~spond.

; . provoked Correction Sequences \

,. When ~ stude~t produced an error, thé teacher had

three choices: she could ignore the error, she could correct

it herself, or she could provoke a correction. Th~ instructor

provoked cthe'students to correct themselves much less often ... ,

than she corrected them. (She initiated provoked correction ,

sequences j'orty-three ~times, compared to '7or,r4,cting directiy 202

tim~.) Provocation of correction seems to fill three functions,.

tactic

Firs~provocation Of correction was, used as a teaching

~h~n the instru~tor w~s sure" at least one of the stu-~

dents knew the correct forma She provoked correction when the 1

stud~nts made an error that had been m~de before, or just~ ( .'

.following an explanation related to the error. The instructor

would provoke correction to the s~udent who\had made the \ 1

error, but if he was unable to correct himse1f, she of~en

looked to the rest of the clasq to come up with the correct

forma In the following eXélmple, i't student hilS produced a

typical anglicisM or interference error, which the class

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100

ha'd already dü~cussed:

. Stiphan:

. * Teacher: S'tephan: Oeb<lal:p Stephan:

'-, Non, on avait un argument sut ou elle demeure • Elle a dit 1/ Lasalle. ( (1.Oudly) Un 'quoi? Vous aviez un quoi? Une ah:: un ah «smiling» discuasion discussion ({the whole class smiles» E e elle a'dit que:: elle demeure\l'à Lasalle. J'ai dit Lachine.

Nine of the teacher's provoked corrections involved this kind r

of vocabulary or grammar error from material that had been

êo~ered in classes bafore.

Most of the in~idences of provocation of correction ,

wer,e aSBociated with the negation driliis which fpllowed dis-

cùss~n af the rul~ of negation, review of exercises and

explanatiqns to stuclents' questions. Thus, ehis also was "-.

material that had been covered before the production,of the

error. In the negation classes, the same principle operated.

~ If the student who had made the error could not correct him-

self, the other scudents would try.

Teacher: ~ Chester:

* Teacher: Brüm: Teacher: Philip: Carl: Philip: Chester: Philip: ;eacher:

Est-ce que tu as encore des timbres? •.. Chester. Pas encor'e? Hshakes her head» Timbres? ,S

((ignores Brian and wdits» Uh:: : Pa's plus"? Je: Pas plus? Je n'en ai plus?

1

((approvingly») Je n'en ai.plus.

' .

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101

If the students did not come up with the correct form,

the teacher would provide it herself, often with an explana-

tion. But as a general strategy, she waits to see if first,

~student who has made the ~rror can correct himself, and

then, if other students can't corfect him, she will do so.

Another use of provocation of correction was ta slow

down students who habitually made errors. The teacher

thought that these students were often careless in their

language productiqn, ,sa she would provoke correction ta make

thern stop and think before talking. But these prO\rùcations

were not always successful. The example below. is illustrative.

The instructor had asked t~ class if the play, Zone, reminded

thern of anything in their own lives:

Greg:

* Teacher:

Greg: Teacher: Greg: Teacher:

Greg: Teacher: Greg:

Oui, le besoin avoir un besoin e hh. The neéd to be needed hh. Alors, le besoin: (intonation indicating .invitation to continue») Le besoin x x Il x ((slowly» [qu 'onl ait besoin ... de !Jous Qu'on a besoin «?)) Le besoin, qu'on, alors que les,gens,.que quelqu'un ait besoin ' Ait besoin-- . de vous ... oui/ de soi [Besoin d'avoir) un pquvre «(?») ... the power.

fIere the student cannat correct himself. Further, he has

~ f problems even repeating the correct form accur~tely. Eve~tual1y

he reworded what he WaS trying to say, produc~ng yet apother

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102

error. In this instance, because the structure he needed was

fair1y comp1ex and'involved the subjunctive, the instructQ~

did not wait to see if another stud~nt could help. " She •

provoked correction,'be~re correcting him. This wes attributed

to the student's style of interaction in class. He tended to

dominate the class~s, speaking carelessly, relying on transla­~

tion whèn he couldn't find what he wanted to say in French. He

often ignored correction, and appeared angry at being inter-,

rupted. The instructor reviewed the appropriate form of

correction interaction emphasizing that a student should listen

" to the correction and repeat it. She also chided him for not

\ concentrating on h~ he structured his sentences. B.ying he

needed to be more careful and attentiVe.

Provocation of correction was also used by the teacher

to bring othèr students into the repair interaction. When she

provoked correction, the students often completed the repair,.

even when that involved correcting each other, especially . , during the negation drill. 'Provocation of correction seemed

to indicate permission for the students to correqt each other;

actually, students searched for the correct forme For the

most part, corrections were directed to the teacher, and not

t'o the student who made the error'.

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The students initiated provocation of correî(ion

only six timesi four of the instances occurred during grammar

activitiesi the other two were not directed to linguistic

errors. Four student-initiated provocations did produce

corrections (one of which was a case of disagreement), but

in aIl cases the student's provocation was supported by other

memb~rs of the c'lass including the teacher. This illustrates

the students' perception of the instructor as the authority

whose role it i9 to correct, while other students are non-. authorities 'who can be ignored. Also, the students' tended

to provoke correction in the context of a grammar drill,

where m~ch explanation had preceded the er~or, and the stu-

dents were faixly sure of their g~ounds.

Social Control Sequences

Social control sequences were directed to inappropriate

student behaviour. Twenty-five repair sequences involved social

control. Behaviours such as late arriv~l, absence, inadequate

preparation, parti~ipation or attention produced eighteen

sequences: the balance were directed to mistakes in classroom

interaction. Usually, soci~l control sequences were addressed

to individu(11s. ' But in a conversation class, the instructor

~ i"" j. 1

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( 104

addressed the class on the sUbject of participation. She

rnentioned that the only way to learn how to'speak a language

was by spea~~~g H, saying she didn' t mind classes where

people interrupted and spoke at the sarne time, but she found

it hard to understand st~dents coming to class and rernaining

silent. This gave rise ta a long discussion on the class

atmosphere. Social control sequences were also used ta

instruct students as to how ta carry out an activity. For Iv

instance, when the class couldn't understand the mise en

situation, the teacher directed their behaviour, using social

control sequences. In most classes, social control sequences

were brief interjections, immediately followed by a resumption

o'f the activity.

Six social control sequences were observed in one

les son on negation. The problern in this class was lack of

pr;parat!on. As has been mentioned earlier, the instructor

announced the week's schedulp. ana assigned hornework a week' in

advance. She expected the students ta arrive at each class,

having done their hornework and with the necessary books and

supplies. To 00 this the students had to keep track of the

schedule and ensure that they arrived prepared, normally with-

out reminders from the irstructor. Most of the students

arrived for this lesson without their exercise books, and one

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105

student hadn' t done his exercises in prepa,ration. (The e

students completed and corrected their own exercises, with-

out handing them in, so it was fairly easy to put off the l'

preparation. ) Three sequences were directed to the

individual and group lack of prepara tion. In addition, one \,

student arrived very late without his e'xercise book; when be

answered a question with an error that had been discuss~ in , ,1'

the early part of the class, the inst~~ctor corrected him and

addec'f;.. "Re.garde, tu es arrivé en retard mais j'a i expliqué

que t pas' ne' vient 'jamais avec aucune autre néga tion." A

few minutes later during the negation drill, another student

asked how he sAould answer the question: "Est-ce que tu en a

d~jà parlé à quelqu'un?". Exasperated, the teacher·remarked:

* Teacher: Ça m test éga Il ({ louder}) Ça nI' est égal! ((Impatiently)) Vous me donnez la réponse que vous voulez, pourvue qu'elle soit correcte:~ Est-cerque tu as déjà parlé à quelqu'un? sponynément, ,réponds spontanément!

The passages above illustrate an important aspect

"-of social control interaction. The teacher will comment on ; ,

undesirable behaviour (lack of p'articipation, 1ack of prepara-. tion, etc.), in an effort to extinguish it. If this doesn't

work, she escalates the strength of her social control.

Soc;al control was a device used to develop the

normative corrèction interactio~ (described in the section

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106 i .on correotion sequences). When a student apoloqised after

maldnq a mista~e, the\· ins~ruotor respond"éd: "Ça ne me g~ne - ---~ .

pas que tu refasses la même faute, mais je pr'f~re si tu

rép~tès pou~ t 'habituer à t 1 intonation. Il In another les80n',

when'a s~nt Wh~ habituaIIy made errors said he was afraid

of making mistakes she rep1ied: l ' -

* Teacher: Oui, ben, e:: je- tu pourrai~ perdre un peu de ta peur, mais il est bon que tu aies un peu peur. Parce que tu.as tendance à ne pas ~couter la correction du tout, A ne pas tenir compte de la structure. Donc, il faut que tu t'arrêtes.

Thus, social control was used to guide, the students' behaviour

in trouble repair interaction by telling them to pay atten-, t,'

tion to correction and repeat the correct forme

In general, social control sequences occurred wh en .

behaviour was observed that interfered with the smooth running

of the class. It lS interesting that such behaviou~s as inter-

ruptions and students speakinq together never gave rise to !

social cpntrol. The events that did disturb her are indicative

of her priorities in running this class. In,order to learn a

language, students must participate an~âctice, thus, Iack

of participation rather than too much participation was ,

sanctioned: The balance beeween in~ividua1 and group needa

'1

ls also brouqht out in social éon~tol instances. Students who

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,are absent, late or don't pay attention will tend to ask 1

questions that have been aaked before, and produce errors

that they wouldn't produce if they had'hear~ ~he relevant

ex~lanations. Thua, an individual's absence wastes the groupie ,1'

time, requiring repetition of correction and expljnation. ,

Interestingly, the teacher did not seem to mind students

r~peating the same errora per se, as indiçated in the comment

cited above, and in h~r general manner when dealing with errora.

She recognized that some errors are harder to eradicate than ,. others, and that atudents would take a while to grasp linguistic

struc,tures. But errars resul ting from lack of attention, effort 1 1

or participation on the student' slpart, diod""'bother her.

The students' reaction to an incident of social control

generally consisted of shifting discussion to ~nother topic as

. rapidly as possible, to help neutralize an awkward situation.

?

With the exception of one long discussion which has been -described, social control sequenceS'were short and immediately

followed by another topic. Students didn't like talking about

their .misbehaviour in class; once after the instructor had

scolded a student for not participating in class, he asked to

see her after olass to discuss it. This i8 the one case of

repair in the classroom that aots truly as a disruption, both

in the eyes of the teacher and the students. -1

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Social control sequences brinq out another im~rtant . . -'

factor in the management of instruction in theee ola~ .

, i \

The inatructor believed that in order for<tthe clase to function " i smoothly, the students should function weIl togethèr as a group.

Early in the yea;, mu ch of her effort was directed to creatinq

a relaxed friendly atmosphere" encouraging the stupents to get

to know each other weIl; to develop a more intima'te atmosphere

than is ~ommon in university classes, and making clear that a

large part of the responsibility for the success .of the course

lies with the student. By relying on the students to p,artic-

ipate actively and responsibly in each class, personalistic

factors take on great importance. This necessitates behavioural

feedback to the group and to individuals when problema arise

that c9uld affect interaction.

Social control was relatively infrequent throuqhout

the year. The students neede~ more guidance at the béqinning

l­of the year as they learned the interactiona) norma of this

course. In general, mild forms of social control were , aufficient. And by the second term, aIl the classes knew each

other better and had learned the basic interactional patterns,

e,.g., how' tb respond to correction, and the nee4 for a high

1evel of participation" and preparation. Social control in

the 8econ~ term tended to be directed to individual students

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who were putting less effort into the class than the tea'cher 1 •

·wiahed. The class grou~s functioned weIl, and the instructor

~commented that thi. year produced relatively feW problems.

, ,

Clarification and Word Search Sequences

,. Forty-eight of the 118 student-initiated ~equences

\

were clarification sequences, and thirty-seven wer~ word

search sequences. These two types of sequence made up over

seventy per oent of student-iriitiated repair.~ (See above p.98.)

In ~ssence, these two kinds o~ repair function more like

questions than the teacher'~ most common type, correction,

which acts as a statement.

Clarification sequences gave rise to two different

kinds of res~nses, repetition and explanation. About half

of the clarification initiations produced repetition (23} ,

and half produced explanat~on (25). Students asked for

repetition by short interrogative forms, and inquiring looks.

For example, dllring the negation drill, two students are

playing the raIes of a quarrelling hu~band and wije:

Patricia: C'est tout hh elle était un homme gentil Teacher: Ah bon: :

* Mike: ' Je suis quoi? Patricia: Tu es /1 un homme gentil. Taylor,: [hh gentil) Mike: Oh, oui gentil- Je pense qu'elle a dlt- x un

argentin hh.

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Explanations could be explicitly requested~ such as

when the instructor m~de a joke cohtrasting'par erreur' and

'par h3s:Hd~ and one student responded, "Qu'est-ce que c'est

par hasard?" But the rnajority of explanations came about in

respo~se to inquiring looks, as in the two sequences below. '

The cla~s has been trying to answer the question "Est-ce que . ,

, tu a!1 déjà parlé à quelqu'un?" and the instructor has been

prolfoking corre~tion until one student finally gets it right:.

" Brian:

* Teacher: Brian:

Teacher:

* Chester': Teacher: Chester: feacher: .

~

Je n'en, no, je n'ai pas: non, je n'ai parlé à personne. De quoi? , Oh, O.K. Uh: ~e n'en 3i pas parlé- je n'en ai parlé à pensonne. (repeats enthusiastically) je n'en ai parlé à personne! «looks atteacher with a puzzled expression» (to Ches~er» Personne est une négation. Oui «(Qoubtful voice}) Ne / / ne personne ça suffit. cant in1les wi th an example to ~x~lanatian ta Chester».

')

(and sh!:! elaborate her

Requests for repetition, as the first excerpt illustrates

are usually due ta the hearer's misunderstanding of what ~

has just been said. Requests for explanatio~, a~ the other

hand, indicat,ed that the students needed 'addit:i.anal informa-

tion to ~omprehend what was being said.

~One fairly clear distinction is brought out when one

compares the person to Wh[ a clarification sequence i8

addressed and the respons that is prOduced. The majority' of

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elarification initiations addressed ~o the ~eacher produced '\.

explanations. The majority addressed to students produced

repetitions. Although some initiation signaIs clearly .....

,requested--either'repetition or explanation, a number of -; .-'1j?, \

'" signaIs w.ê~.!i amb~g':l0us. for example an inquirin'g look, or

.the sound • Hmm? ' • Even when the signal was ambiguous, the

teacher usually explained and the students usually repeated.

Clarification sequences, as they are related to

understanding what is being said, and especïally what the

'teacher is sayi\ng, are common in grammar lessons. • These

sequences are used b6th to understand what the teacher wants

the students to do, and to understand the teacher's correc-,

tions or explanations of grammar rules and examples.

Word search sequences were another student tàetic

of asking for help. This otime, the utteranee containing the

problem would be their own. When unable to complete a turn,

they would signal their problem by hesitating. saying 'ume ter'

e,te., and by casting inquiring looks at the teaeher. Most wofd

search si~als were directed to the teacher, although both

teacher and students would respond. Sometimes the students '" ,,,

responded on ~heir own, and sometimes when the instructor /

~ ge.~rea for them to answer. Word search 18 the most common ! ~

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112

form of .student repa,ir in conversationa1 activities because

of the higher frequency of st~dent utterances and the need to

produce original sentences (as opposed to a drill).

In a second language c1ass, students generally speak. "\'

with hesitations, hesitation signaIs and ~epetitiops tha~

wou1d constitute a word search in a native speaker. Knowing

this, the teacher tends to wa'i t longer than she wou1d in a

conversation with her peers before responding to word sea~ch " ! ,

1ike signa1s. The students a1so know that long pauses are

unusual in a conversational setting, and would use phatiques, ,

or elongations of sounds to fili the space while they organize

their thoughts. If one examines classes f~om early in the

year, the students' turns are a serte~ of 'unanswered word

'search signaIs alternating with one word turns. As the

year progresses, the students' turns become longer and smoother,

and word searches become more pistinct from the genera1 style ). .

of s tudent s peec.h., Further, a t ,the begitming of the year, the

students' initiating signaIs and hesitat~on sounds are English: , ,

'ay?', 'um', ter', etc.- By the end of the year, most students'

have learned the equivalent French sounds and terms.

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113

Trouble Repair Throughout the Year

Sorne Priorities for Correctibn in C1ass

The description of trouble repair 'interactionr to date - r

has focused main1y on the ro1e of trouble repair in the con-

text of one class pepiod 'or activity. In fact, the teacher

views troùb1e repair from two perspectives. She must be

aware of 'the present instructiQnal situation and the need ,\,

for immediate feedback, and at the same time, she must b~ , aware of the evo1ution of the/course through the year. As

even the smaIl samp1e of" excerpts indicates, many errors go

uncorrected. The errors tnat are corrected, ther~fore, have

been given priçrity for a variety of reasons. Sorne errors p

that produce-linguistic interference require immediate correc-,

In addition, she will focus on different groups of

depending on the topic'al and grammatical subject of the

The course is divided)into three-week periods, during :-

which one grammar area is reviewed, practised and evaluated.

"-oNegation wàs the grammar topic covered in the grammar classes

se1~cted for this thesis. During each three-week period, the

instructor focuses on errors and prob1ems re1ated to that

grammar topic. Thirdly, st~ents develop thef langu~ge knowl­

edge cumulatively. They are supposed to assimilate old

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information with the new, as the following .-/

eXcha~}llustrates.

\" . The instructor has asked the question: "Il a déj~ envie de

• partir?", and a number of st'udents tried to, answer. Aft:er a .

number of 'incorrect responses, someone ,answers correctly.

The instructor nods and repeats the answer: # JI

Te~cIJer: /Non, i~ n'en,p pas encore envie. ~ Brl.an: JI Oh, OUl.. . • ' Teacher:

! Brian:

Teacher: Brian: ~eacher:

Richel:

. . ... Teaèher:

, ...

«ta whoie class) Ou, non il nlen a pas encore. vous'précisez pas encore hh, mais en quelques' minutes ••• hh. O~, non, il n'err a pàs envie, ou «(turning to Brian» ne le laisse p~s partir .••• Pas lui le, on laisse quelqu'un partir, complément diooct. / On dit laisse le ••. et au négatif on dit ne'le laisse pas? ( (Nods) ) O.K. «nodding». C'est une révis'ion des pronoms là, hein? Et je vais insister autant sur les pronoms, le passé composé, les formes 'du passé; tout ce que vous avez~appris avant. C'est comme une échelle, hein? Vous ajoutez. Pourquoi est-ce que vo~ avez dit que la négation c'est facile? Je L'ai trauvée ~~s difficile.

Oui, oui. hh. Mais ce n'-est pa's la négation qui est facile, qui est difficile, c'est de l'intégrer aux a4tres choses que vous' avez . ~prises. Hmm? Les pronoms, le passé composé, c'est pas la négation. La négation, elle est tbute simple. Mais comme on la met dans une phrase, elle se co~plique, mais à peine. «smiling».

'In addition to errors that may produce interference

. problems, requiring immediate feedback, and errors related to )

,

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115

the grammar.topic of the three-we~k period, the instructor also

- ,,/ responds to errors from previously covered material. In the

last case, she often accompanies correction with mild social

control comments: such as reminders that the students are

~esponsible for all that they have learned to date. Thua,

deciding which errors to correct, and how ta correct them, ,

the. instructor juggles 'a variety of information: the students' "

individual progress and language learning pr0blems, the topic

presented in class and her expectations about which students

should have learned.

Delayed Evaluation of Errors artd'Reinforcing Cdrrection

The necessity of balancing individual students' needs f)

for correction with the maintenance oF group activities means

that aIl evaluation cannot take place in cl~ss. Therefore,

. the instructor usually keeps notes during discus~ions, when

the students engage each other in conversjEîon, freeing her

to observe and record .the students' language fearning progress

and problems. This information is passed on to the students

during indi~idual interviews which take place at least twice

a y~ar. At'the beginning of the second term, each student

diacuqses his grades, effort and progress with his teacher. 1It

During the interview, the,instructor identifies ~he s~udent's

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most common errors and problem areas, and sugges~s learning

tactics that will help him improve his own language skills. ,

A second interview t_akes place at the end of the year when

the student's performance throughout the course is evaluated o

in detai).

During tWb conversational lessons, and d6ring the

opening phase of a gra~mar lesson, the teachev recorded a

total of twenty-six vocabulary items--words, idioms and

expressions. These lists pre presented in the subsequent

class, and become part of the students' curriculum for

vocabulary tests. Half of the vocabulary ~tems had been the

subject of teacher-initiated correction sequences, seven

items had been requested by student-initiated word searches

or questions, and a final idiom had been used by the teacher

in the context of a conversation.

The second purpose of the teacher's note-taking is to

develop the vocabulary curriculu~ *~r each class group. The ,

classes share a common vocabulary 'from sorne of the assigned ~

readings. But becau~e different classes discus~ different

topics not aIl classes use the same vocabulary. The vocabulary b _

. ~

lists contain situational vocabulary developed in discussions

and mises en situation. Thus, the v,ocabulary lista play an

'1 (

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117

important role in the language teaching procesSi each class

receives a vocabulary curriculum based on the material covered

in their own lessons. The li~ts also serve to reinforce cor-

rection of interference errors that have been corrected in

class. A number of items on the vocab~lary lists were the

corrected forms of these common errors. Their inclusion in

the vocabulary curriculum maximizes the students' exposure to

the correct forme It ia hoped that this will help prevent

these err6rs peing learned (and becoming 'fautes automatiques',

which are very hard to eradicate). By using the students' ,

corrected and uncorrected errors to build up their vocabulary

curriculum, the course achieves a flexibility that no text can

provide.

Failure of Trouble Repair

"

Trouble repair interaction is not always su~cessful,

as in this example from a discussion of the play Zone: one

student ia searching for a way to express the motivation of

the~leading character: -

Gregory: Oui, le besoin avoir un besoin e hh. The need to be needed hh.

* Teacher: Alors, le besoin: /1 qu'on ait besoin de vous. «slowly and clearly»

Gregory: (~e besoi~ x x x) qu'on a besoin «?»

(

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--

Teacher:

Gregory: Teacher:

* Gregory:

*

Teacher: Rebecca . & Moira: Gregory:

lIB

«atill-deliberately» Le besoin, qu'on, alors que les gens, que quelqu'un, ~ besoin ait besoin de vous .•. ou / / de soi [besoin ~avoir} un pouvre «?» ••• the power «Gestures to the class to answer him»

pouvoir pouvoir «repeats their answer but then pauses for five seconds before continuing» le le besoin être ••. am am amour ah:: tch ah shitl

Twice the student produced word search signaIs with inquiring

intonation and translation. First the teacher and then sorne

students tried to help him, but he never successfully ~omplet8d

his sentence, trying to reword his utterance rather than use

the help of the others. For the student, the development of '

trouble repair interactional skills is essential to his

productive participation in the course. The frustrated

student cited above never learned normative trouble repair

behaviour. He rarely listened to corrections, finding them

annoying, and he often used translation instead of more

appropriate word search signaIs. This student made very

little progress in the first terrn and dropped the course in

February. Although his problems were more general than a

failure to learn normative repair behaviour, his inability to

develop this'part of classroom' competence was a factor in his

lack of progressa Trouble repair fails in daily interaction

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as weIl. In classrooms, occasional fai1ures are not critica1.

But if trouble repair interaction is chronica11y unsuccessful,

the teaching and learning process will break down.

Summary

. \\ In tn1s chapter, five types of repair sequ~nce were

examined bringing out their instructional and interactional

functions. This gave rise te a model of the teaching process

" where the evaluation of a number of factors guides 'the

instructorÎs participation. These factors include: 1) balancing

group and individual needs in cterms of attention and explana~

tion; 2) the necessity of immediate feedback to prevent the

development of automatic interference errors~ 3) the student's

personality, reactions to correction and learning strategies, , \;;

) associated with 4) the class performance in language learning

as a group: 5) the conceptua1ization and orga~ization of

language lear~ing ~aterial within three-week phases and

t~roughout the yeari 6) the relation of students' errors to

this organization.

In the introduction ta this ahapter, the need for a

1

model of the instructional process that, takes into account ,-

the decision making process inherent in the teacher's

., .'

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120 \'

interaction with the students ~s demonstrated. Purther,

such a model should also account for the,student's perspective

on the instructional process. Mehan's model was criticised

for ignoring the importance of tr6uble repair in the teachlng

process as well as for omitting the viewpoint of

participants in c~sses. The students' approach .

the student

to the

language learning situation and trouble repair was des~ribed

as follows. First, students actively used trouble repair

(specifically word search and clarification) to gather informa-. .

tion from the teacher and to participate in instructional and

non-instructional activitieè. Because correction is more ,

common in a language-learning Lnstructional setting than it

is in ordinary conversations, the students found correction

disruptive at the beginnlng of the year. Over time, and once

they learned a mode of repair interaction that minimised dis-

ruption, they became less disturbed by correction. They were

aiso requ1red to learn how to seek information, in order to

say what they wanted, in a prescribed fashion that did not

inv~lve translation. Once these repair techniques were 4

learned,' and as their fluency improved, students tended to

1\

have longer utterances. ,The'y,als\1earned to distinguish '

between conversation as an end in itself and discussion of

the learning material and to alter their trouble repair

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behaviour according1y •. The use of the second language both as

a vehicle of instruction and as the subject of instructi6n

required toe a~quisition of interactiona1 ski11s on the

students' part. (One student who failed to learn these skills ~

made little progress in language learning and abandoned the

course.) Theae interactional skills permit students to monitor

their own language learning process. 1 Thus, trouble fepair inter-

action, as weIl as being, essential to the language instruction

in the classroom, is an important part of dev~loping communic~tive

as weIl as classroom competence.

" The relationship between trouble repair inside the

" classroom and other aspects of the course design was demon-

strated. It was noted that the teacher recorded notes during .. sorne classes which she 'used 'for 1) delayed correction to

individual students in interviews, and 2) for reinforcing

correction of interference errors by including them in the

voc~bulary curriculum. By monitoring trouble'repair inter­

ac~ in clase, the instructor created instructional

strategies that maintained an individua1ized approach to teach-

ing.

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CONCLUSION

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This thesis has analysed a conversational French

seminar by focusing on the interaction between teachers and

students.' In this way, the thesis is elaborating a

neglected aspect of education, tHe interactional process,

\ which links educational inputs and outputs. In order to learn,

students must develop appropriate interactional skills, or

classroom competence. In addition, trouble repair interaction

is seen to lie at the heart of the t~aching and learning that

goes on in classrooms. The instructional process is viewed as

1 )"

" , - the management of behavioural and linguistic errors.

The course examined in this thesis i5 designed to

develop fluency or communicative competence in students who

had sorne previous instruction in French. Bath written and

oral skills are important, but classroom activities are

devised to devélop oral skills in a cumulative manner:

grammatical structures are presented and practised, vocaoulary 1

developed, and the various language skills combined in dis-

eussions and mises en situa~ion. The development of language

skills.is progressive in another sense; after language informa-

() tion is presented, it i~ practised in conversational activities

/

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124 ,

that simulate various &qcial settinge (e.g., job interviews).

Once the studenœ develop a certain amount of confidence

they use lIIthei'r language skills outs ide the c1~ssroom when

the class goes out to plays, etc. Fina11y, the student~

dev'e1op a sma11 research proj'ect which requires them to

interview francophones, carrying on a dialogue- to elicit

information on their research topic. Thus, conversational

skills, such as questioning and answering, disagreeing, dis-,;.

cussing and narrating are practised first in the classrobm

and later put into use outside the instructional setting. In

this course, instruction, is perceived as filling in the gaps

( in the students' language skills, whic~ necessitates an

individualized approach to define the students' and class'

instructional needs.

The goals and instructional design of this course have

two effects on trouble repair interaction. First, as

communicative competence is the goal, the students' classroom ~

competence involves mastery of the content and mode of

instruction. For example, students use w9r~ search and

clarification sequences to seek help participating in class ..

"and ta understand what is going on. S'ut, at the same time, the

word search and clarification signals that they are learning

will be part of the communicative competence developed by the

r)

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125

course. Thus, trouble repair interaction is a learning tactic,

which is also part of the outcomes of the course. Students'

repair behaviour varied with the activity it interrupted. In

general. they use more ward search initiations in conversa-

tional activities (where they need help praducing original

utteranées) and more clarification sequences in gr~mmar develop-

ment activities (where they are,trying ,to understand t~e

material). Students alsa have ta 1earn haw to react when they

are corrected, sa that instructional aètivîties are disrupted

as little as possible, and te faci1itate remembering correct

forms.

,

The teaching pracess in this course involves constant

diagnosis and treatment of learner errors. A description of

the linguistic ski Ils required of a teacher in this course

shows this emphasis:

Il doit donc maîtriser et savoir jongler avec trois langues simultanément: la langue' anglaise (dépistage des erreurs. identification de leurs causes et mise , au point de techniques préventives et/ou correctives), la langue française (traduction des anglicismes, in­terprétation en français international) et la langue québécoise (connaissance du lexique et des expressions québécoises, passage d'une formule internationale à une nouvelle formulation qui traduit le vécu d'ici) (Martin et Mignault, 1975: 144).

Further, the errors ·that the teacher must ~nage are both

behavioural and Linguistic. Students are taught claseroom

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126

behaviours required by the course design. At the same time,

thé teacher analysed and corrected students' errora i~

diagnosing and dealing with language 1e~rning prob1e~nd gaps in language skills. Thus, trouble repair interact~n helps produce normative classroom behaviour required for

.learning and teaching to proceed, and is aiso part of the

teacher's d~velopment of strategies to present learning , •

material in the most effective fashion.

" --..,J

Thus, this thesis has analysed teaqhing and learning

processes actualized as behaviour in the classroom. The

model presented here is generative and takes into account

both the students 1 a'nd the teacher 1 s perspective'. It ansWers

the need expressed by many researchers in the field of educa-

tion for a better understanding of the classroom. In this

model, it.has been shown that trouble repair is essential to '. .

instruction, and is part of the_~lassroom competence required

for learning. Although the mod~l~)elOPed thrO~gh the

1" analysis of a second language course, it~'application is

broader. The notion that teaching and learning involves the 1 ..

management of interactional problems has application to aIl

educational situations where teacher-student exchang~.s .are . .

an important part of the teaching methodology. (This would

exclud, lecture courses in universities, and othe~ ex cathedra

c

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127

modèls of teach,ing, but would include most teaching and learn-

'. inq.situatiQns that are.conceptualize~ as a dialogue.)

'Seminars courses in university, primary school classes, and

many high school courses demand active student participa-

tion and interaction with the teacher. The more the course .'

is designed to respond to the learning behaviours 'of stu-

dents in classes, the more important, trouble repair becomes.

The demonstration of the interface between content

and interactional skills csn a~so be applied to problematIc

educational situations. Often teachers are unaware,of the • . ' ) ~ .

interactional learn1ng that must g@ on 1n classrooms even

when students share a common languagé with the tnstructor. ~

They may also be unaware of the covert social meani~s

transmitted in their inte~ction with students. Misunder~ . C .

standing gives rise to trouble repair interaction, and

analysis of these, sequences can provide insight~ into how and

why the communication process breaks down, and can sugge~

compensatory. strategies. b

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