The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Native speaker/non-native speaker discourse in an educational setting : the construction of interaction in an English language conversation scheme

Native speaker/non-native speaker discourse in an educational setting : the construction of interaction in an English language conversation scheme
Native speaker/non-native speaker discourse in an educational setting : the construction of interaction in an English language conversation scheme

This thesis is a study of spoken discourse. It examines the joint construction of native speaker / non-native speaker (NS / NNS) conversation in the semi-formal context of an English language conversation scheme. Recordings of their meetings by eight NS / NNS dyads during two years were subjected to detailed analysis, in which three major factors were considered: (1) linguistic - the contribution of features at discoursal, sentential and suprasentential levels; (2) personal - variations in speakers' expectations and performance; and (3) social - the roles of the participants as learner and teacher. The participants' views of their meetings, expressed in written reports and interviews, together with those of twenty-eight others, provided additional insights when interpreting the conversational data.

Although there was found to be wide variation in the production of features at individual level, their grouping within NS and NNS categories enabled certain general trends to be observed. NNSs were active in initiating talk at all levels, including topic, pedagogic episodes and embedded sequences. They also asked more questions. NNS topic initiation notably led to interactional, reciprocal speech events. This linguistic behaviour was consistent with their purpose in joining the conversation scheme and their social role as learners. NS discourse behaviour was complementary. NSs talked and laughed more and were more likely to continue speaking after a pause. The talk which they initiated was less interactional and more oriented to control.

The study shows that a combination of discourse analysis and speaker reflection can yield fresh insights into the content and structure of NS / NNS conversation. In particular, the application of the combined approach in the analysis of selected paralinguistic features provided suggestive results which indicate areas for further research.

University of Southampton
Williams, Simon Avery
Williams, Simon Avery

Williams, Simon Avery (1993) Native speaker/non-native speaker discourse in an educational setting : the construction of interaction in an English language conversation scheme. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

This thesis is a study of spoken discourse. It examines the joint construction of native speaker / non-native speaker (NS / NNS) conversation in the semi-formal context of an English language conversation scheme. Recordings of their meetings by eight NS / NNS dyads during two years were subjected to detailed analysis, in which three major factors were considered: (1) linguistic - the contribution of features at discoursal, sentential and suprasentential levels; (2) personal - variations in speakers' expectations and performance; and (3) social - the roles of the participants as learner and teacher. The participants' views of their meetings, expressed in written reports and interviews, together with those of twenty-eight others, provided additional insights when interpreting the conversational data.

Although there was found to be wide variation in the production of features at individual level, their grouping within NS and NNS categories enabled certain general trends to be observed. NNSs were active in initiating talk at all levels, including topic, pedagogic episodes and embedded sequences. They also asked more questions. NNS topic initiation notably led to interactional, reciprocal speech events. This linguistic behaviour was consistent with their purpose in joining the conversation scheme and their social role as learners. NS discourse behaviour was complementary. NSs talked and laughed more and were more likely to continue speaking after a pause. The talk which they initiated was less interactional and more oriented to control.

The study shows that a combination of discourse analysis and speaker reflection can yield fresh insights into the content and structure of NS / NNS conversation. In particular, the application of the combined approach in the analysis of selected paralinguistic features provided suggestive results which indicate areas for further research.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Published date: 1993

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 462446
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/462446
PURE UUID: 826a60eb-dcb6-43ff-9941-76868a734800

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 19:08
Last modified: 04 Jul 2022 19:08

Export record

Contributors

Author: Simon Avery Williams

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×