Bringing the expert to the fore
Learner practices for reproducing teachers' institutional identity during teacher-led and open pair-work interactions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24232672 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Soheil Kargar Dahr, Baqer Yaqubi (0000-0003-0658-7634), Sajjad Pouromid (0000-0002-1657-8224), Mahmood Dehqan (0000-0003-4344-7307) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Pages | 101072 |
| Publication date | 2026-12-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Learning Culture and Social Interaction (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2210-6561 • E-ISSN: 2210-657X |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.lcsi.2026.101072 |
| OpenAlex | W7221626840 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 25 |
Within the institution of the language classroom, participants for the most part display their orientations to the institution-specific identities of expert and novice on a turn-by-turn basis so as to materialize teaching and learning as the institutional business of this setting. While existing conversation analytic (CA) studies have shown how the institutional identities of expert and novice are constructed in language classrooms, little attention has been given to how language learners may actively bring these identities to the fore through interactional practices. Drawing on 22 h of video-recordings from Iranian EFL classrooms, our study illustrates how language learners reproduce their teachers' identity as experts during both teacher-led and peer interactions. Our analysis showcases two practices through which learners accomplish this: (1) downgrading certainty; and (2) displaying insufficient knowledge. Our findings also indicate that the teachers respond to such learner practices by either aligning with the preferred action projected by learners' turns, or departing from it through the enactment of their institutionally sanctioned rights. In this study, we refer to the former as negotiable , and the latter as non-negotiable aspects of teachers' expert identity. We further argue that teachers' orientations to negotiable or non-negotiable aspects of their expert identity are contingent on the pedagogical goals of the moment. Our study thus sheds light on how learners may actively make relevant institutional identities and how teachers respond to such learner practices in keeping with the pedagogical goals of the ongoing classroom interaction.
classroom interaction · Expert knowledge · learner practices · pair work · Innovative Education and Learning Practices · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
Scaffolding in Teacher–Student Interaction
The interactional management of claims of insufficient knowledge in English language classrooms
The Role of Tutoring in Problem Solving
‘Being the Teacher’
Epistemic Search Sequences in Peer Interaction in a Content-based Language Classroom
Constructing L2 Learning Spaces
The workings of multiple principles in student-teacher interactions
Pre-service teachers’ hinting practices in managing responses in a microteaching context
‘Doing being an expert’
Managing Control and Connection in an Adult ESL Classroom
Multiple Temporalities of Language and Body in Interaction
Epistemics in Action
So What's Up?”
Mobilizing ‘context’
When extending wait-time is not enough for student participation
The Epistemic Engine
A Simplest Systematics for the Organization of Turn-Taking for Conversation
The epistemics of social relations
| Highly cited | No |
|---|