Sharing and comparing languages–how teachers and pupils co-construct language comparison interactions

Abstract

By focusing on differences and similarities between languages, pupils can increase their learning of abstract principles, metalinguistic awareness and language learning strategies (Duarte, J., & Günther-Van der Meij, M. (2018). A holistic model for multilingualism in education. EuroAmerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages, 5(2), 24–43; Star, J. R., & Rittle-Johnson, B. (2009). It pays to compare: An experimental study on computational estimation. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 102(4), 408–426). However, research has demonstrated that the possible benefits of multilingual approaches, such as language comparison, might be limited due to the nature of the classroom interaction in which these approaches are implemented (Rabbidge, M. (2019). The effects of translanguaging on participation in EFL classrooms. The Journal of AsiaTEFL, 16(4), 1305–1322). By using conversation analysis, the current study aimed to gain more insight into how teachers and pupils co-construct language comparison interactions in whole class conversations. Both the conversational structure and the teachers’ practices to stimulate pupils’ active contribution to the interactions were analysed, demonstrating a dominant conversational structure consisting of two key components. Dialogic and non-dialogic participation frameworks could be identified with the first providing pupils more opportunities to actively participate and contribute their own language comparisons than the latter. This study provides interactional evidence for the role of language comparison in making use of pupils’ diverse languages and has direct implications for teachers’ ways of shaping participation frameworks to stimulate home language use in the classroom.