What do teachers do? A look at the oral skills practices in the LESLLA classroom

Abstract

"This paper concerns what teachers say in their verbal interactions with their LESLLA students during the practice of the oral skills. Many studies have focused on interaction in the L2 classroom (Chaudron, 1988; Ellis, 1990, 1999; Gass, 1997; Johson, 1995; Mackey, 2007; Van Lier, 1988, 1996, 2001) but none have taken a look at interaction during the practice of the oral skills in the literacy classroom. This paper will do just that. Most of the studies in the past focusing on the L2 classroom have not taken the L2 literacy classroom into account. Consequently SLA theory is largely based on the performance demonstrated by literate, and often highly educated L2 learners. Bigelow & Tarone, who have undertaken one of the few experimental studies on the effect of literacy on the oral production of a L2 state that ‘The failure to investigate illiterate learners has resulted in SLA theory that may not account for the full range of contexts in which human beings learn L2’ (Bigelow & Tarone, 2004:690)"