Nudge, nudge: teacher interventions in task-based learner talk

Abstract

In this article I consider two practical questions for the management of learner-centred group work in the light of the notion of Comprehensible Output (Swain 1985). First, should teachers intervene when communication among learners breaks down? Second, if we intervene, what form should that intervention take? I discuss extracts from three adult EFL classes, where learners resorted to conversational repair in order to clarify faulty expressions used in performing a communication task. In two cases the teachers used different repair tactics to ‘nudge’ the group towards a successful resolution. In the third case, the effect of the teacher's intervention was to stifle a learner's attempt at repair. In their different ways the extracts suggest that we should resist the temptation to step in as soon as learners encounter communication problems, and that any eventual intervention needs to be tailored to the specific difficulty.

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