The nature of negotiation of meaning between teacher and student in the second language classroom

Negotiation of meaning refers to interactional work executed by interlocutors to achieve a mutual understanding when a communication problem occurs. This type of interaction has drawn considerable attention in second language acquisition (SLA) research because it gives language learners opportunities to receive comprehensible input and produce comprehensible output. This dissertation describes an investigation of negotiation-of-meaning processes between the teacher and students in an English-as-asecond-language (ESL) classroom. The purpose is to describe (1) the negotiation process through a careful examination of classroom discourse and (2) the relationship between linguistic meanings and the social contexts in which interactions take place. A qualitative approach was employed for data collection and data analysis. Data were obtained from nine students and a teacher in an intermediate listening/speaking ESL classroom. Major data sources included classroom observations, interviews, and stimulated recall interviews. For a more focused data analysis, four distinct components of the negotiation of meaning process were identified: (1) trouble sources that caused communication difficulty, (2) the participants’ perception of communication problems, (3) the decision-making process about whether to pursue negotiation, and (4) the resolution process of communication problems. The findings of this study revealed that trouble sources are not restricted to language problems but extend to non-linguistic factors and other context-specific factors. In addition, it was found that the types of trouble sources are associated with the participants’ decision-making processes and their ways of resolving communication problems. With regard to the participants’ perception of comprehension difficulties, the data revealed a complex process influenced by the types of problem and the agents who are perceiving. In addition, the way and degree that a participant verbalizes a perception of understanding and non-understanding affects subsequent perceptions and negotiations. Regarding the decision-making process, six factors that affect the participants’ decisions are discussed in particular: institutional, situational, affective, cultural, and physical factors and receptivity. The results also showed that the nature of the classroom environment, such as the teacher’s scaffolding and the collaborative efforts of the whole class, enables negotiation processes to be constructive and productive. Taken together, the findings suggest that the teacher-student negotiation process in the ESL classroom is an enormously complex process involving both cognitive and social practices.

Negotiation of meaning refers to interactional work executed by interlocutors to achieve a mutual understanding when a communication problem occurs. This type of interaction has drawn considerable attention in second language acquisition (SLA) research because it gives language learners opportunities to receive comprehensible input and produce comprehensible output. This dissertation describes an investigation of negotiation-of-meaning processes between the teacher and students in an English-as-asecond-language (ESL) classroom. The purpose is to describe (1) the negotiation process through a careful examination of classroom discourse and (2) the relationship between linguistic meanings and the social contexts in which interactions take place. A qualitative approach was employed for data collection and data analysis. Data were obtained from nine students and a teacher in an intermediate listening/speaking ESL classroom. Major data sources included classroom observations, interviews, and stimulated recall interviews. For a more focused data analysis, four distinct components of the negotiation of meaning process were identified: (1) trouble sources that caused communication difficulty, (2) the participants’ perception of communication problems, (3) the decision-making process about whether to pursue negotiation, and (4) the resolution process of communication problems. The findings of this study revealed that trouble sources are not restricted to language problems but extend to non-linguistic factors and other context-specific factors. In addition, it was found that the types of trouble sources are associated with the participants’ decision-making processes and their ways of resolving communication problems. With regard to the participants’ perception of comprehension difficulties, the data revealed a complex process influenced by the types of problem and the agents who are perceiving. In addition, the way and degree that a participant verbalizes a perception of understanding and non-understanding affects subsequent perceptions and negotiations. Regarding the decision-making process, six factors that affect the participants’ decisions are discussed in particular: institutional, situational, affective, cultural, and physical factors and receptivity. The results also showed that the nature of the classroom environment, such as the teacher’s scaffolding and the collaborative efforts of the whole class, enables negotiation processes to be constructive and productive. Taken together, the findings suggest that the teacher-student negotiation process in the ESL classroom is an enormously complex process involving both cognitive and social practices.