Language-related episodes

Abstract

A language-related episode (LRE) is any part of a dialogue where language learners 'talk about the language they are producing, question their language use, or correct themselves or others' (Swain and Lapkin 1998: 326). LREs were initially units of analysis to examine the goal-appropriateness of discourse used in the completion of classroom tasks. This descriptive construct, which is based on instances of language use termed 'critical episodes' (Samuda and Rounds 1993), has since been used in classroom research to identify the degree to which language learners address recently learnt or problematic features of the target language, allowing for the systematic categorization of these episodes by researchers. LREs have been studied in the discourse of speakers of English and French as a second language, often in classroom studies investigating collaborative learning. Frequently, these studies have attempted to illustrate the role of comprehensible output in second language learning. Research into LREs provides increasingly fine-grained analyses of learner productions, subcategorizing LREs as meaning-based, grammatical, orthographic, or according to varying degrees of negotiation for meaning. The table below summarizes studies of learner production that employ 'language episodes' as part of their methodology. These studies were conducted in classroom settings. The following episode, taken from a study by Storch (1998: 294–95) demonstrates how classroom-based research can o¤er descriptive accounts of learners who, during the course of interaction, have their attention drawn toward grammatical features of their target language. Here, the students are working on a collaborative text reconstruction task. This episode relates to the choice of preposition: