Synchronous (Onsite) Novice Learners’ Collaborative Work in Reflective Discussion Activities more

Sat, Apr 29, 16:00-16:25 Asia/Seoul

This study focuses on how reflective discussion activities is sequentially organized and collaboratively achieved by low-level learners who have limited opportunities for managing interaction. The study examines 34 video recordings of paired post-reading discussion activities among Japanese high school students using conversation analysis as a theoretical and analytical framework. Based on the preliminary analysis, the participants use what they have read as a shared resource to maintain conversation. When one participant has difficulty speaking further and there is a pause, the other treats it as a difficulty that both have to bear responsibility for. Reading the common material during class has enabled this practice. Additionally, it allows the other participant to make up for the initial difficulty, helping in constructing further turns or shifting to another topic. The results show the novice learners’ collaboration functions as affordances to explore their thought and indicate possible teachers’ roles as mediators of learning.