Electronic Devices as a Resource for Getting ‘On-Task’ and Deepening Group Knowledge: A Multimodal Conversation Analytic Investigation of a Self-Organized Learning Environment at a UK University

Ph. D. Thesis (Integrated)Mitra’s concept of Self-Organized Learning Environment (SOLE) has gained worldwide attention after receiving the $1 million TED prize in 20131 . In SOLE environments, students interact with each other, often using internet-enabled electronic devices (IEEDs) such as a tablet or laptop, and learn in a collaborative manner with little or no input from the teacher. While there is a growing body of theoretical and perception-based research discussing the affordances of SOLE environments (e.g. Mitra and Dangwal, 2010; Dolan et al., 2013; Mitra, 2014), only very few studies investigate unfolding interactions amongst students in such environments (e.g. Burgess, 2006). Using a Conversation Analytic methodology (CA) with a particular focus on multimodal resources, this study deepens our understandings of the ways IEEDs are utilized by students in a SOLE environment at a British university. The data collected for this study comprises of 12 hours of video-recorded SOLE sessions where small groups of Chinese Masters’ degree students in the UK collaboratively investigate topics related to ‘British culture’. In these sessions, students rely on both Chinese (Mandarin) and English and routinely use an IEED. Analysis reveals that students make use of various affordances of the laptop during the SOLE discussion. Firstly, IEEDs are manipulated to help carry out social actions. Students routinely use the device as a resource for ending non-pedagogical activities and getting back on-task. Secondly, the IEED is used as a resource for knowledge to the SOLE topic question. Additionally, though, it presents various challenges. The linguistic and/or topic-related contents presented on the IEED frequently prompts students to display ‘unknowing’ or ‘less knowing’ (K-) epistemic positions. Students’ claims of K- epistemic positions can trigger the relatively more knowledgeable (K+ epistemic status) student to offer assistance, with them serving as a resource for knowledge to the students with K- epistemic status. In the absence of a participant with ‘knowing’ (K+) epistemic status, the group can use the relevant contents presented on the IEED screen as a resource to work towards achieving a group understanding. 1 https://blog.ted.com/a-school-in-the-cloud-sugata-mitra-accepts-the-ted-prize-at-ted2013/ ii In summary, this thesis argues that without the presence of a teacher, interpreting and internalising information activated by an internet-connected device is a collaborative endeavour, in which participants draw on multimodal resources, including the employment of linguistic and bodily resources, the manipulation of artefacts, the use of technology, and a transition between different spatial realities. These findings add to the body of CA and Multimodal research in SOLE context, as well as the growing body of educational technology-related research and research on the uses of objects in interaction

Don’t interrupt me while I’m speaking: Interruption in Everyday and Institutional Settings in Chinese

Interruption is a common phenomenon in conversation. Previous research of interruption has focused on three main aspects: the identification of interruption in relation to overlaps or overlapping speech, the categorisation of cooperative and disruptive interruptions, and the relationship between interruption and certain social factors, for instance, power asymmetry and gender differences. However, little attention has been paid to the degree of intrusiveness. Likewise, not much has been done to explore interactional factors that may intersect with interruptions. With these important research gaps in mind, I aim to explore the relationship between intrusiveness and interactional dimensions of interruptions in the Chinese context in this study. Two sets of conversational data were collected: telephone conversations and TV talk show conversations. The conversation analytic method was used to examine the fine-grained details of speakers’ conversational interaction (Haugh, 2012). Statistical methods were used to test the relationship between factors related to interruptions. Results from a linear regression model indicate that, in both settings, speakers tend to heed and boost the current information flow (e.g., supplementing further details) when expressing affiliative stances. More specifically, in the institutional conversation, speakers orient their interruption utterances towards the their assigned institutional role and task (Goffman, 1981; Heritage & Greatbatch, 1991). In the telephone conversation, there are frequent early interruptions, affiliative interruptions, and unexpected cases where interrupters align their opinions with the other whilst disrupting the current information flow. Based on what emerged from these analyses, I argue that the Chinese speakers in the two corpora feature a high involvement (Tannen, 2005) conversational style, which means they prioritise relationship over the task in discussion. In other words, speakers tend to distinctively emphasise their enthusiasm and engagement with the other speaker, but pay less attention to the one-speaker-at-a-time turn-taking rule (Sacks, Schegloff, & Jefferson, 1974). The finding of relationship-focus of Chinese talk-in-interaction supports the argument that Chinese society largely adheres to the polychronic time orientation (Hall, 1984). This study contributes to CA methodology by combining rigorous quantification methods with close examination of sequential organisation of interruptions. It is innovative in measuring intrusiveness by incorporating two aspects of interruptions: the interrupter’s stance-taking and the interrupter’s sequential alignment with the information flow of the prior utterance. In so doing, this study contributes to the understanding of interruption by demonstrating that intrusiveness is a gradient concept on a measurable continuum rather than a binary concept that is either cooperative or intrusive. This study contributes to the investigation into Chinese talk-in-interaction, particularly speakers’ conversational style, by proposing a novel perspective: interruption. Keywords: Interruption, intrusiveness, affiliation, information flow, interruption marker, interruption timing, Chinese talk-in-interactio

Code-switching in EFL teacher talk at Chinese universities : a conversation analytical perspective

PhD ThesisLocating the research setting in EFL classrooms at Mainland Chinese universities, this CA-informed research sets out to uncover the code-switching (CS) patterns and interactional features in teacher talk from the emic turn-taking and sequential development. Despite the blooming interest in translanguaging (Wiliams, 1996; García, 2009; Wagner, 2018) as a similar multilingual phenomena, CS is argued to fit the purpose of this study. This is mainly because the second/foreign language (L2) classroom cannot provide the most unbidden context that translanguaging requires, due to the predominantly unfavourable ideology and policy on free language choice (Canagarajah, 2011; Li and García, 2017). Rather, it is still demanding to understand CS use, particularly in relation to its quality that is foregrounded in the CS re-evaluation trend (Hall and Cook, 2012; 2014). Therefore, classroom interactional competence (CIC), a new perspective to understand classroom teaching (Walsh, 2006; 2011; 2013), is considered to provide an insight into CS quality on a macro-level. The CA methodology, specified as the CA institutional-discourse perspective on L2 classroom interaction (Seedhouse, 2004, p. 95), is adopted to relate the CS use to the goal-oriented teaching. Applying CA allows for understanding the EFL teacher’s language alternation on a micro-level, based on a moment-by-moment analysis. The micro-level analysis is assisted by introducing self-evaluation of teacher talk (SETT) model (Walsh, 2006; 2011; 2013) into this study, in that SETT is not only in a move to understand CIC, but also provides CA context-based analysis on teachers’ CS management within different dynamic modes of L2 classroom (Walsh, 2011). Therefore, this CA-informed study, under SETT, integrates the analysis on CS from both a macro-level (i.e., CIC in relation to CS quality) and micro-level (i.e., CA analysis in a particular mode). Drawing on 14.5 hours of audio/video recordings of nine teachers’ naturally-occurring classroom teaching from six universities in five provinces, this study has originally developed the CS-SETT framework to present a comprehensive picture of CS use in EFL teacher talk. Apart from a newly identified mode, the first primary finding included in the framework is the nuanced ways of teachers’ CS operation in orientation to the pedagogical goals in the related mode, also revealing CS as an (embedded) interactional feature in a particular mode. The developed framework adds understanding to the use of CS in relation to learning opportunities and CIC; in addition, findings highlight the importance of a CS sequential position as well as prosodic cues and/or other speech devices (e.g., try-markers, Chinese modal particles). Finally, the study contributes to our understanding of translanguaging and suggests implications for improving EFL teaching, particularly in monolingual countries

Social Networks and Linguistic Accommodation of Mainland Chinese in an Urban American Chinese Community.

The growing number of immigrants from both Taiwan and Mainland China have brought speakers of different Mandarin varieties into contact in an American context. In the Chinese community in Los Angeles, Mainland Putonghua speakers are found to accommodate their language to the local Taiwan Mandarin speakers. Social network analysis, a model oriented toward the individual, is adapted here for analyzing this linguistic situation. The conversation of 35 informants was recorded within a naturally occurring context and their social network scores were compared with their scores for nine linguistic variables selected for this study. It was found that the accommodation process among Mainland Mandarin speakers is closely related to their degree of integration into the local networks. Statistical procedures reveal significant correlations between the network scores and linguistic variable scores for the entire sample. The network and language correlation is strongest for subgroups such as women, older speakers, and speakers from Beijing and Shanghai areas. Some individual differences were observed, especially among younger speakers. This study of relationship between network structure and linguistic accommodation shows a complex process in which individuals\u27 decision based on economic and political considerations has an impact, which affects the kind of network structure and the subsequent linguistic change. While a speaker who is marginal in the community can choose from a wide range of psychological orientations during verbal interaction with others, such a choice is limited when a speaker is closely tied to a particular group that has a distinctive linguistic norm. In this sense, the long-term accommodation process, using Trudgill (1986)\u27s term, is actually a process in which speakers from other communities converge under the normative pressure from the local groups with which they are closely associated

The Normative Standard of Mandarin in Taiwan: An Analysis of Variation in Metapragmatic Discourse

It has been argued for many years that a new standard of Mandarin is developing within Taiwan, distinct from the official form based on the Beijing pronunciation, as well as the non-standard vernacular, Taiwan-guoyu. The parameters by which this new standard, Taiwanese Mandarin, may be recognized, however, and the extent to which it exists in common perceptions, remain largely unknown. In order to better describe this variety, interviews were conducted in the north and south of Taiwan to elicit metapragmatic reports on the linguistic characteristics of highly standard and non-standard speech to mark opposing ends of a continuum of standardness. The inner area of this spectrum reveals the shape of a normative standard of Mandarin in common language ideologies. A quantitative sociolinguistic analysis was also conducted to measure usage of the segments elicited in these reports. Participants indicated that the prescribed form of the retroflex initials [ʈʂ], [ʈʂʰ], and [ʂ] creates distance within interaction and marks speakers as ‘weird’ or ‘strange’. Though it represents the standardized form, it is socially disfavored in general usage, thus marking one end of the continuum. In contrast, deletion of the labial feature in [w], [f], and [y], was most highly associated with a crude lack of sophistication, ruralness, and low education, marking the other end of the continuum. In the quantitative analyses, the non-prescribed labial segments were associated with low SES, older age, and factors of local identity. The prescribed retroflex correlated with higher SES, and northern identity, and showed a change over time toward more prescribed usage. The youngest age category, however, showed a reversal of this trend. An intermediate category of the retroflex initials patterned very similarly to the prescribed form, however it was free of negative qualitative associations. Thus Taiwanese Mandarin is marked by the absence of prescribed retroflex and non-prescribed labial forms, and presence of the intermediate retroflex. Some also questioned the basic existence of a ‘standard’ Mandarin in Taiwan, or explicitly affirmed the notion of a Taiwanese Mandarin. It is evident that the nature of standard Mandarin in Taiwan is in a state of sharp ideological and behavioral change