Teachers’ responses in student-initiated question sequences during between-desk interactions in EFL project work
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21582568 |
|---|---|
| Authors | MARWA AMRI (0000-0002-9263-7943, Mälardalen University, corresponding author), Olcay Sert (0000-0001-7513-2399, Mälardalen University) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 88 |
| Pages | 101444 |
| Publication date | 2025-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Linguistics and Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0898-5898 • E-ISSN: 1873-1864 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.linged.2025.101444 |
| OpenAlex | W4411953843 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 43 |
A defining feature of project-based English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) classrooms is teachers’ routine circulation between desks to answer students’ questions. Drawing on conversation analysis (CA), this study investigates how two teachers respond to students’ questions during between-desk interactions (BDIs) in project work. Specifically, it examines how the teachers structure their second-position turns in student-initiated question sequences that emerge during BDIs. The analysis reveals that the teachers either respond with a conditionally relevant second-pair part or with a counter-question turn that initiates an insertion sequence or reorients the student’s question, thereby shifting the projected trajectory of the interaction. These response formats are illustrated through typical pedagogical actions the teachers perform in response to different types of questions. The study concludes that the two distinct response formats observed during BDIs enable locally sensitive instructional support that is finely attuned to students’ evolving needs at different stages of their project work and to the pedagogical contingencies of the moment
Desk · Linguistics · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Sociology · Computer Science · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · Engineering · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Philosophy · Psychology
Investigating Classroom Discourse
Interaction and Grammar
Learner initiatives and learning opportunities in the language classroom
Conversation Analysis
Sequence Organization in Interaction
How Do Students Receive Help from Teachers? Initiating Assistance in Small Group Classroom Interactions
Peer involvement in dealing with teacher's insufficient response to student initiatives
Student-initiated multi-unit questions in EMI classrooms
Establishing understanding during student-initiated between-desk instructions in project work
Reference to a past learning event as a practice of informal formative assessment in L2 classroom interaction
Stance taking in conversation
Unpacking Tasks
Student-Initiated Advice in Academic Supervision
Displays of Epistemic Access
Teacher mobility during small-group instructional rounds for young EFL learners
Creating opportunities for L2 learning in a prediction activity
Talk, Text, and Tasks in Student-Initiated Instructional Interaction
Managing Competing Voices in the Second Language Classroom
Crafting Instructions Collaboratively
Asking different types of polar questions
Seeking advice
Requests
The epistemics of student problems
The co-operative, transformative organization of human action and knowledge
Basic meanings of you know and I mean
A Simplest Systematics for the Organization of Turn-Taking for Conversation
Microcomputers in Classrooms
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |