Inspecting Interaction in Microteaching and Authentic Classroom Settings through a Conversation Analysis Perspective

Abstract

The rise of the Sociocultural Theory has featured individuals as members of a social group. It primarily asserts that individuals learn best in relation with other people, and language learning is not an exception. A great number of research studies have been conducted to investigate the role of interaction in language learning, nature of talk in interaction, and different aspects of conversations in diverse settings. Subsequent to the discovery of the power of interaction; teachers’ use of language, and skills in managing the interaction in the classroom have also gained importance. Some studies solely focused on the interactions of in-service teachers. However, the number of studies addressing the interaction managed by pre-service teachers in the microteaching and real classroom settings comparatively has remained scarce. The present research emerges out of this need to explore the interaction in microteaching and authentic classroom settings in a comparative manner through a Conversation Analysis perspective. Three language teacher candidates’ teaching implementations at two different settings were recorded, the interactions were transcribed, and committed to an in-depth analysis. The results primarily revealed the unbridgeable gap between the interactions in the microteaching and authentic settings. As a proof for the previous studies, interaction was found to be facilitating for language development. Lastly, the significance of roles and identities, and how they shape the interaction has also been revivified.