Vocabulary explanations in beginning-level adult ESOL classroom interactions: A conversation analysis perspective

Abstract

Recent studies have examined the interactional organisation of vocabulary explanations (VEs) in second language (L2) classrooms. Nevertheless, more work is needed to better understand how VEs are provided in these classrooms, particularly in beginning-level English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classroom contexts where students have different first languages (L1s) and limited English proficiency and the shared linguistic resources between the teacher and learners are typically limited. Based on a corpus of beginning-level adult ESOL lessons, this conversation-analytic study offers insights into how VEs are interactionally managed in such classrooms. Our findings contribute to the current literature in shedding light on the nature of VEs in beginning-level ESOL classrooms.