Open AccessLearner spoken output and teacher response in second versus foreign language classrooms
Author(s) -
Eva Thue Vold
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
language teaching research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.663
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1477-0954
pISSN - 1362-1688
DOI - 10.1177/13621688211068610
Subject(s) - fluency , psychology , context (archaeology) , corrective feedback , foreign language , meaning (existential) , class (philosophy) , spoken language , focus on form , communicative language teaching , focus (optics) , linguistics , mathematics education , language education , computer science , grammar , artificial intelligence , physics , optics , psychotherapist , biology , paleontology , philosophy
It is commonly agreed that learner target language output and spoken interaction are essential to communicative language learning. This video-based classroom observation study of five lower secondary schools in Norway investigated how second language (L2) English and third language (L3) French teachers responded to their students when they spoke the target language in class. Using categories and functions from classroom interaction research and corrective feedback research, L2 English and L3 French teachers’ response patterns to learner target language output were identified and compared. Findings indicated that L2 English teachers taught in a meaning- and fluency-oriented context, frequently ignoring errors and providing ample content-related responses, while L3 French teachers taught in a form-and-accuracy context, using varied strategies to correct errors and rarely engaging with the content of the learners’ utterances. The article discusses some consequences of this lack of context shifts within subjects and recommends an increased focus on contextual differences to facilitate mutual transfer of successful practices between contexts.