Just an interesting little protocol from a role play done by two of my
students in class last week, which I am analysing. The situation was
co-constructed by May and Urn (full marks for creativity!). May has
returned a handbag that she bought from Urn's shop, which was scratched,
torn inside, and had a loose strap:
Urn: May I help you?
May: Uh…Yes…uh yesterday I buy a… a BLACK bag..handBAG. A black handBAG.
Yes. But...I went home I get uh some problem. This handbag inside there is
uh… inside…inside the handbag is torn.
Urn: Is torn?=
May: =Yes a::nd the outside of the handbag is scratched.
Urn: Hm Mm?
May: And then I…I see the stripe…the strep (strap) of the handbag is
loose so I would like t:o give this for this problem.
After Urn decides that the complaint is legitimate, she brings a new
handbag for May, however it is not the same size. Urn obviously wants to
make this clear to May, but she can't say what she wants to. Many times in
the classroom the other interlocutor would help out - provide assistance
through collective scaffolding and they would co-construct an utterance
that fulfills the meaning desired by Urn. In this case, May did not choose
to do this, but instead she continued on to fulfill her motive to get a
replacement...
Urn: Okay. I check the new one, but…uh…BIGGER THAN…than you…than uh
bigger than than the one before yours…bigger than the one=
May: =okay never mind. I.. I.. I like this handbag. Can I exchange that?
Urn: Yes, but same style, but BIGGER than that one.
May: Okay. Never mind. I don't MIND.
Urn: You can pay more for large?=
May: =is it the same price?
Urn: Er…No. It's expensive than that one. A little…expensive.
Interestingly, this was all done in a regular old EFL classroom (15
students doing similar conversations) without any props etc. Just the
desire to interact socially in a language that they do not use outside of
this inauthentic context. I am very interested in applying AT to this: if
anyone has any interest, I'd appreciate the dialogue (I finished the full
transcription this morning together with a narrative of the entire 55
minute classroom lesson).
Phil
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