Olcay Sert
I am the editor-in-chief of Classroom Discourse (Routledge) and the author of Social Interaction and L2 Classroom Discourse, published by the Edinburgh University Press in 2015. My main research approach is conversation analysis and my research deals primarily with classroom discourse, interactional competence, and language teacher education.
Supervisors: Steve Walsh and Paul Seedhouse
Supervisors: Steve Walsh and Paul Seedhouse
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Books by Olcay Sert
Professor Numa Markee, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign:
Sert’s must read book introduces conversation analysis to readers who are not familiar with the power of this methodology, while simultaneously providing a detailed theoretical discussion of cutting edge issues in the field. And his contributions to understanding teacher education as a data driven enterprise are both provocative and enlightening.
Papers by Olcay Sert
Anahtar Sözcükler: Konuşma Çözümlemesi, Tıp Eğitimi, Standart Hastalar, Hasta-Hekim Etkileşimi
Abstract: Previous research on medical interaction has shown that there is a link between effective doctor-patient interaction and success in medical services (Drew, Chatwin ve Collins 2001). In relation to this, there are now a growing number of studies on doctor-patient interaction in medical education, and many universities in the world have started using communication training and samples of “standardised patients-medical student” interactions in order to help students understand clinical encounters. In this paper, preliminary findings based on a database of standardised patient-medical student interactions in a Turkish university will be presented. The data comes from a video corpus of 71 simulated patient-medical student interactions. The study employs a Conversation Analysis methodology, investigating participants’ verbal and non-verbal contributions in talk from micro-analytic and sequential perspectives. One of the phenomena that emerged from the database is the interactional trouble that emerges once a medical student displays previous knowledge on a patient’s case. The findings show that after such displays of knowledge, interactional troubles including repair sequences, long silences, and attempts to terminate on-going talk emerge. These findings may have contributions for developing training programmes in Turkey and beyond, as they point us to interactional troubles that are important in medical communication.
Anahtar Sözcükler: Conversation Analysis, Medical Education, Standardised Patients, Doctor-Patient Interaction
Anahtar Sözcükler: Konuşma Çözümlemesi, Epistemik İlerleme, Çevrimiçi Görev Temelli Etkileşim, Yabancı Dil Olarak İngilizce
A CONVERSATION ANALYTIC INVESTIGATION INTO CO-CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE IN ONLINE TASK-ORIENTED INTERACTION
Abstract: Task-based interaction in foreign language learning has long been a focus in applied linguistic research. It has been argued that the intersection of computer-assisted language learning and task-based language learning, especially when combined with an enriched negotiation of meaning, can facilitate foreign language development. In this article, we analyse the co-construction of participants’ knowledge within the use of a game designed to facilitate online task-based EFL interaction. Unlike theory, researcher, and code driven traditional SLA studies, we employed Conversation Analysis methodology. The focus of our study, in which screen recordings as well as 20-hour long L2 interactions have been used, is the orientations of participants right after they find the correct answer and the epistemic progression that unfolds from that moment on. Our analyses show that the multimodal resources used by the participants and the norms of the task-based interaction form intertwined sequential actions, and the dynamics of epistemic progression unfold through orientations of participants to such actions. Our study can contribute to the applied linguistics studies on epistemic states and stance, to foreign language learning, and to computer mediated task based interaction design.
Keywords: Conversation Analysis, Epistemic Progression, Online Task-based interaction, English as a Foreign Language
Anahtar Sözcükler: Konuşma Çözümlemesi, etkileşimde konuşma, dizisel düzen, uygulamalı dilbilim, mesleki etkileşim
Abstract: This article introduces Conversation Analysis (CA) methodology and some of its applications that are widely used in social sciences. With its microanalytic and sequential approach, CA methodology has gained a major role across disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, and (applied) linguistics. This interdisciplinarity has enabled CA methodology to have a place in all fields related to social interaction, and facilitated the surfacing of research areas such as classroom interaction, patient-doctor interaction, and courtroom talks. The main aim of this article is to provide an introduction through a comprehensive review of the principles, data collection procedures, and analytic categories of CA such as sequence organization and repair. The second aim is to illustrate CA in practice on a micro-analytic and sequential basis using the analyses of naturally occurring talk in Turkish based on audio and video data. These analyses have shown that CA not only uncovers the dynamics of mundane conversations but also has the potential to contribute to patient-doctor interaction, language classroom interaction, and teacher education in the Turkish context. This comprehensive review that offers a Turkish terminology for ethnomethodological CA also sets out to bring new insights into social sciences in Turkey in order to lead to a methodological shift and development in the field.
Keywords: Conversation Analysis, talk-in-interaction, sequential organization, applied linguistics, institutional interaction
Professor Numa Markee, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign:
Sert’s must read book introduces conversation analysis to readers who are not familiar with the power of this methodology, while simultaneously providing a detailed theoretical discussion of cutting edge issues in the field. And his contributions to understanding teacher education as a data driven enterprise are both provocative and enlightening.
Anahtar Sözcükler: Konuşma Çözümlemesi, Tıp Eğitimi, Standart Hastalar, Hasta-Hekim Etkileşimi
Abstract: Previous research on medical interaction has shown that there is a link between effective doctor-patient interaction and success in medical services (Drew, Chatwin ve Collins 2001). In relation to this, there are now a growing number of studies on doctor-patient interaction in medical education, and many universities in the world have started using communication training and samples of “standardised patients-medical student” interactions in order to help students understand clinical encounters. In this paper, preliminary findings based on a database of standardised patient-medical student interactions in a Turkish university will be presented. The data comes from a video corpus of 71 simulated patient-medical student interactions. The study employs a Conversation Analysis methodology, investigating participants’ verbal and non-verbal contributions in talk from micro-analytic and sequential perspectives. One of the phenomena that emerged from the database is the interactional trouble that emerges once a medical student displays previous knowledge on a patient’s case. The findings show that after such displays of knowledge, interactional troubles including repair sequences, long silences, and attempts to terminate on-going talk emerge. These findings may have contributions for developing training programmes in Turkey and beyond, as they point us to interactional troubles that are important in medical communication.
Anahtar Sözcükler: Conversation Analysis, Medical Education, Standardised Patients, Doctor-Patient Interaction
Anahtar Sözcükler: Konuşma Çözümlemesi, Epistemik İlerleme, Çevrimiçi Görev Temelli Etkileşim, Yabancı Dil Olarak İngilizce
A CONVERSATION ANALYTIC INVESTIGATION INTO CO-CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE IN ONLINE TASK-ORIENTED INTERACTION
Abstract: Task-based interaction in foreign language learning has long been a focus in applied linguistic research. It has been argued that the intersection of computer-assisted language learning and task-based language learning, especially when combined with an enriched negotiation of meaning, can facilitate foreign language development. In this article, we analyse the co-construction of participants’ knowledge within the use of a game designed to facilitate online task-based EFL interaction. Unlike theory, researcher, and code driven traditional SLA studies, we employed Conversation Analysis methodology. The focus of our study, in which screen recordings as well as 20-hour long L2 interactions have been used, is the orientations of participants right after they find the correct answer and the epistemic progression that unfolds from that moment on. Our analyses show that the multimodal resources used by the participants and the norms of the task-based interaction form intertwined sequential actions, and the dynamics of epistemic progression unfold through orientations of participants to such actions. Our study can contribute to the applied linguistics studies on epistemic states and stance, to foreign language learning, and to computer mediated task based interaction design.
Keywords: Conversation Analysis, Epistemic Progression, Online Task-based interaction, English as a Foreign Language
Anahtar Sözcükler: Konuşma Çözümlemesi, etkileşimde konuşma, dizisel düzen, uygulamalı dilbilim, mesleki etkileşim
Abstract: This article introduces Conversation Analysis (CA) methodology and some of its applications that are widely used in social sciences. With its microanalytic and sequential approach, CA methodology has gained a major role across disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, and (applied) linguistics. This interdisciplinarity has enabled CA methodology to have a place in all fields related to social interaction, and facilitated the surfacing of research areas such as classroom interaction, patient-doctor interaction, and courtroom talks. The main aim of this article is to provide an introduction through a comprehensive review of the principles, data collection procedures, and analytic categories of CA such as sequence organization and repair. The second aim is to illustrate CA in practice on a micro-analytic and sequential basis using the analyses of naturally occurring talk in Turkish based on audio and video data. These analyses have shown that CA not only uncovers the dynamics of mundane conversations but also has the potential to contribute to patient-doctor interaction, language classroom interaction, and teacher education in the Turkish context. This comprehensive review that offers a Turkish terminology for ethnomethodological CA also sets out to bring new insights into social sciences in Turkey in order to lead to a methodological shift and development in the field.
Keywords: Conversation Analysis, talk-in-interaction, sequential organization, applied linguistics, institutional interaction
References
Broth, M. and Lundell, F. F. (2013). Napouléon’s sequential heritage. Using a student error as a resource for learning and teaching pronunciation in the French foreign language classroom. Classroom Discourse. 4(1), 89-109.
Mashford-Scott, A. and Church, A. (2011). Promoting children’s agency in early childhood education. Novitas-ROYAL (Research on Youth and Language). 5(1), 15-38.
Reed, B. S. (2012). A conversation analytic perspective on teaching English pronunciation: The case of speech rhythm. International Journal of Applied Linguistics. 22(1), 67-87.
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References
Glenn, P. and Holt, E. (Eds.). (forthcoming). On laughing: Studies of laughter in interaction. London: Continuum.
Holt, E. 2011. On the nature of laughables: laughter as a response to overdone figurative phrases. Pragmatics. 21(3), 393-410.
Icbay, M.A. and Yildirim, A. 2013. The construction of shared laughter in an institutional setting: Who laughs at what in the classroom?. European Journal of Research on Education. 1(1), 37-47.
Jefferson, G. 2004. A note on laughter in ‘male-female’ interaction. Discourse Studies. 6(1), 117-133.
Sert, O. 2013. Epistemic Status Check as an interactional phenomenon in instructed learning settings. Journal of Pragmatics. 45(1), 13-28.
References:
Huth, T. 2011. Conversation Analysis and Language Classroom Discourse. Language and Linguistics Compass. 5(5), 297-309.
Üstünel, E. and Seedhouse, P. 2005. Why that, in that language, right now? Code-switching and pedagogical focus. International Journal of Applied Linguistics. 15(3), 302-325.
In an attempt to extend the original conceptualisation of CIC (see Walsh 2006) with a multimodal approach, this presentation will illustrate two additional constructs of the phonomenon; namely ‘successful management of claims of insufficient knowledge’ and ‘effective use of gestures’. The study draws on 16 hours of video-recorded interactions in two English language classrooms in Luxembourg. The analysis was carried out using Conversation Analysis, by also drawing on the use of multi-semiotic resources including gaze, gestures, and body orientations. The findings show that teachers’ use of interactional resources like ‘Designedly Incomplete Utterances’ (Koshik 2002) and embodied vocabulary explanations (Sert 2011) may lead to ‘micro-moments of understanding’ even after a claim of insufficient knowledge. The findings further illustrate that some hand gestures, when embodied in explanation, repair, and elicitation sequences, can be conducive to student participation and learning. Sample recordings and extracts will be presented to the audience using Transana software, which enables a multi-layered illustration by combining multiple synchronous video clips and related transcriptions. The findings of the research extend the scope of CIC with its multimodal approach, and have clear implications for language teaching, reflective practice, and language teacher education.
References:
Koshik, I. (2002). Designedly incomplete utterances: A pedagogical practice for eliciting knowledge displays in error correction sequences. Research on Language and Social Interaction. 35, 277–309.
Seedhouse, P. (2008). Learning to talk the talk: Conversation Analysis as a tool for induction of trainee teachers. In Garton, S. & Richards, K. (Eds.), Professional encounters in TESOL. (pp. 42-57). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Seedhouse, P., and S. Walsh. (2010). Learning a second language through classroom interaction. In Seedhouse, P., Walsh, S. and Jenks, C. (Eds.), Conceptualising learning in applied linguistics. (pp.127-146). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave MacMillan.
Sert, O. (2011). A micro-analytic investigation of claims of insufficient knowledge in EAL classrooms. PhD diss., Newcastle University, UK.
Sert, O. and Walsh, S. (2012): The interactional management of claims of insufficient knowledge in English language classrooms. Language and Education. DOI:10.1080/09500782.2012.739174
Walsh, S. (2006). Investigating classroom discourse. New York: Routledge.
Walsh, S. (2011). Exploring classroom discourse: Language in action. Oxon, UK: Routledge.
The research draws upon transcriptions of 16 (classroom) hours of video recordings, which were collected over a six-week period in 2010 in a public school in a multilingual setting; Luxembourg. The findings illustrate various multi-modal resources the students use (e.g. gaze movements, facial gestures, and headshake) to initiate embodied claims of no knowledge (Sert and Walsh, 2012) and that are a focus of orientation for the teacher to interpret insufficient knowledge by initiating ‘epistemic status checks’ (Sert, 2013). It is suggested that certain interactional resources (e.g. embodied vocabulary explanations, Designedly Incomplete Utterances) deployed by the teacher after a student’s claim of insufficient knowledge may lead to student engagement, which is a desirable pedagogical goal. The findings have implications for the analysis of insufficient knowledge, teaching, and language teacher education. It also has direct implications for L2 Classroom Interactional Competence (Walsh 2006) and the effect of teachers’ language use on student participation.
Claiming insufficient knowledge (Beach and Metzger 1997) is a common, but under-researched interactional phenomenon in instructed learning environments. As a part of a recent PhD research study (Sert 2011) on students’ claims and a teacher’s interpretations of insufficient knowledge, this presentation will introduce, and describe the interactional unfolding of ‘epistemic status check’ (ESC) (e.g. ‘no idea?’, or ‘you don’t know?’), which is a frequently observed feature of teacher talk in language classrooms. An ESC can be defined as a speaker’s interpretation of another interactant’s state of knowledge, which is initiated in order to pursue certain pedagogical goals when a second-pair part of an adjacency pair is delayed. They are employed subsequent to inter-turn gaps (Schegloff 2007) that are accompanied by non-verbal cues.
The study draws on video-recorded interactions (a total of 16 hours) in ‘English as an Additional Language’ (EAL) classrooms in a public school in Luxembourg. The participants are adolescent multilingual students and a local teacher. The analysis was carried out using Conversation Analysis, with an emphasis on the use of multisemiotic resources including gaze directions, body orientations and embodiment of classroom artifacts. The findings show that teachers make insufficient knowledge relevant in classroom talk-in-interaction subsequent to certain student moves including gaze withdrawals, long silences, and headshakes. These displays of insufficient knowledge were found to be visual resources that the teacher can use in order to pursue interaction, by first initiating an ESC, and then by allocating the turn to another student. These findings have implications for the analysis of Claims of Insufficient Knowledge in general and their management in instructed learning environments in particular.
References:
Beach, W. A. and Metzger, T. R., 1997. Claiming insufficient knowledge. Human Communication Research, 23(4), 562-588.
Schegloff, E. A., 2007. Sequence organization in interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sert, O., 2011. A micro-analytic investigation of claims of insufficient knowledge in EAL classrooms. Thesis (PhD). Newcastle University, UK.
Claims of insufficient knowledge (e.g. I don’t knows) have recently been investigated both in ordinary conversations and in institutional interactions. In their pioneering Conversation Analytic work that investigated the phenomenon, Beach and Metzger (1997) found out that claims of insufficient knowledge may be deployed across achievements like (1) marking uncertainty and concerns about next-positioned opinions, assessments and troubles; (2) constructing neutral positions; and (3) postponing and withholding acceptance of others’ invited and requested actions. The phenomenon has also been discussed from a cross-linguistic perspective in ordinary conversations (Grant 2010); with a focus on differences between English as a Lingua Franca and as a native language (Baumgarten and Hause 2010); and by exploring doctor-patient conversations (Robinson 2001, Cirillo 2005). A review of literature shows that claims of insufficient knowledge in casual talk have more diverse functions and characteristics than institutional involvements (Beach and Metzger 1997). The phenomenon under discussion, however, has not been a particular focus in language classrooms so far.
This research draws upon transcriptions of 17 hours of video recordings, which were collected over an eight-week period in 2010 in a government school in Luxembourg. Following the ideas that there is a “reflexive relationship between pedagogy and interaction” (Seedhouse 2004), the paper reveals the teacher’s orientations to claims of insufficient knowledge, and tries to explain the methods of participants in projecting and enacting possible next-turns. In doing so, I used a fine detailed analysis of turn-taking, repair and preference organisation with a consideration of participation frameworks (Goodwin 2000). The findings showed that “no knowledge claims” are affected by the teachers’ turn allocation techniques and body orientations, which also project students’ next actions (e.g. initiating a second pair part, shift of gaze, longer pauses, topic shifts). It was also evident in the data that they mark uncertainty, and the students’ further contribution to the talk is dependant on the teachers’ elaborations and evaluations in the subsequent turns. These findings, among many others that will be presented, have immediate implications for classroom discourse as well as language teacher education.
Luxembourg is a multilingual country with three official languages (Luxembourgish, French and German), which are well integrated into schooling system. Therefore, the adolescents learning English as an additional language and local teachers are interactionally competent in many languages that results in a considerable amount of code-switching (CS) in language classrooms. This study investigates the sequential organisation of teachers’ and students’ orientations to the alternative choices of languages in EAL classrooms from an applied Conversation Analysis (CA) perspective. The research draws upon transcriptions of 17 hours of video recordings that were collected over an eight-week period in 2010 in a government school in Luxembourg. The reason for adopting a CA methodology is that “the meaning of CS must be interpreted with reference to the language choices in the preceding and following turns by the participants themselves, rather than by correlating language choice with some externally determined values” (Wei 2002, p.164).
Although there is a growing body of research focusing on CS in classrooms, only a handful of researchers investigated the meaning and functions of CS using a CA methodology (e.g. Slottge-Luttge 2007, Bani-Shoraka and Jansson 2007, Unamuno 2008, Ustunel 2009). Furthermore, only a couple of papers (e.g. Ustunel and Seedhouse 2005) have stressed the “reflexive relationship between pedagogical focus and interaction” (Seedhouse 2008, 2010) in order to understand classroom CS. We argue that CS is oriented to by the participants as a context dependant and context renewing resource through which the teachers and learners enact learning and teaching related, as well as interactionally relevant understandings and behaviors. The findings indicate that (1) the teacher has different orientations to student initiated CS in different classroom contexts (i.e. in meaning and fluency or form and accuracy contexts; Seedhouse 2004), which is observable through preference organization and repair initiations. Additionally, (2) teacher-initiated and teacher-induced instances of CS (Ustunel and Seedhouse 2005) are found to be facilitators that create opportunities for learning by resorting to other shared languages. Finally, (3) although the teacher sometimes confirms monolingualism (English only) as the norm in the classroom (Slottge-Luttge 2007), there is a much higher tendency of accepting different language choices as long as the pedagogical agenda is pursued. All in all, the presentation will aim at giving implications for classroom language learning and teacher language education in multilingual settings. It will also be argued that the theoretical and methodological framework of this research has the potential to inform further research due to its robust analytical richness, and due to its sensitivity to multimodal resources in investigating classroom discourse and CS from a CA perspective.
References
Bani-Shoraka, H. and Jansson, G. 2007. Bilingual practices in the process of initiating and resolving lexical problems in students’ collaborative writing sessions. I: International Journal of Bilingualism. 11:2., 157-185.
Seedhouse, P. (2004) The interactional architecture of the language classroom: a conversation analysis perspective. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Seedhouse, P. 2008. Learning to talk the talk: Conversation Analysis as a tool for induction of trainee teachers. In. Garton, S. & Richards, K., ed. Professional encounters in TESOL. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 42-57.
Seedhouse, P. 2010. The Relationship between Pedagogical Focus and Interaction in L2 Lessons. In Macaro, The Continuum Companion to Second Language Acquisition, 220-246. Continuum.
Slotte-Lüttge, A. (2007). Making use of bilingualism— the construction of a monolingual classroom, and its consequences. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 187/188,103-128.
Unamuno, V. (2008). Multilingual switch in peer classroom interaction. Linguistics and Education 19, 1-19.
Ustunel, E. & Seedhouse, P. 2005. Why that, in that language, right now? Code-switching and pedagogical focus. International Journal of Applied Linguistics. 15(3), 302-325.
Ustunel, E. 2009. The sequential organization of code-switching in EFL classrooms: Teacher-initiated and teacher induced code-switching in a Turkish university EFL setting. VDM Verlag.
Wei, L. 2002. ‘What do you want me to say?’ On the Conversation Analysis approach to bilingual interaction. Language in Society 31: 159–80.