Pre-service language teachers’ resistance to teacher trainer advice on task design for video-mediated L2 interaction

ABSTRACT

In pre-service language teacher education contexts, it is challenging to provide hands-on training on task design for technology-mediated settings. This study presents insights from language teacher education activities that aim to tackle this challenge with a multi-step approach consisting of (1) pre-service teachers’ collaborative task design conversations in groups, (2) whole-class feedback sessions, (3) implementation of the tasks by actual L2 learners via video-mediated interaction, and (4) pre-service teachers’ reflective practices based on the recordings of video-mediated task implementations. We present two cases across these multi-step activities by closely examining the teacher training classroom interactions using Conversation Analysis and also by drawing on the written task design sheets and reflections on video-mediated interactions. More specifically, we document the central role that pre-service teachers’ resistance to teacher trainer advice plays in displaying and defending their knowledge about the technological and pedagogical aspects of their task design. We conclude that resistance practices create multiple teacher learning opportunities and maximise space for pre-service teachers’ displays of knowledge about task design for video-mediated L2 interactions.

KEYWORDS:

• Language teacher education
• task design
• video-mediated interaction
• virtual exchange
• resistance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fatma Badem-Korkmaz

Fatma Badem-Korkmaz is a PhD candidate and research assistant in the department of English Language Teaching at Hacettepe University. Her research interests primarily include classroom discourse and interaction, conversation analysis, and teacher education.

Semih Ekin

Semih Ekin is a PhD candidate and research assistant in English Language Teaching programme at Hacettepe University. His research areas are telecollaboration, virtual exchanges, task-design, conversation analysis, and teacher education.

Ufuk Balaman

Ufuk Balaman is an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics in the department of English Language Teaching at Hacettepe University. Using conversation analysis as research methodology, his research primarily deals with technology-mediated interaction for L2 learning, teaching and teacher education.