ABSTRACT
This article describes the outcome of a study examining repair in conversations among American classroom learners of French as a foreign language. The study involved recording, transcription, and analysis of two different conversation types representing extremes in a hypothetical continuum of classroom styles, from more “natural” to more “instructional.” Interpretation of the data was guided by tools for conversation analysis, analyzing repair in terms of self- versus other-initiation and completion. Findings demonstrate that “instructional” activities produce greater amounts of the other-initiated and -completed repair, which is typical of teacher-led classroom interaction. In more “natural” tasks, repair in the second language and the resultant interactional risk are often avoided altogether in favor of code-switching. These findings suggest that certain activities considered beneficial for developing discourse competence may not produce the desired results, and that the linguistic and cultural homogeneity of many foreign language classes has an impact upon the negotiation of meaning in small group and pair work.
