Dealing with ‘Trouble Spots’ in Interaction in the English as a Foreign Language Classroom

Abstract: This study focuses on ‘trouble spots’ that occur in the English as a Foreign Language classroom. A trouble spot is an umbrella term for all types of language problems that arise. This means that it covers the trouble sources of repairs, corrections as well as problematising activities in the classroom. Ten different instances of trouble spots are identified and documented in the study. These are grouped into four different categories depending on how the trouble spot occurred, who initiated it and how it was resolved. To investigate the classroom interaction Conversation Analysis was chosen as a method and two different English lessons in two different Swedish upper-secondary schools were filmed. In order to investigate the trouble spots the following research questions are addressed What types of trouble spots arise in the English language classroom and how are they signalled as trouble? How are the trouble spots dealt with by teachers and students? The results confirm that most trouble spots are identified and handled by the speakers themselves and that the second-most involved person is the teacher. This is expected as there is a preference for self-initiated self-repair in ordinary conversation. However, in classroom interaction the preference organisation is not always similar to that of ordinary conversation. Correction in the classroom is often other-initiated without it being face-threatening. Furthermore, the context of the task at hand is very important when it comes to how trouble spots are resolved.