Managing Stacy: A case study of turn-taking in the language classroom

A persistent and yet unresolved question raised by language teachers is how to ensure even participation during whole-class interaction. Neither published teacher training materials nor scholarly research on classroom turn-taking, however, have been addressed to this particular aspect of pedagogical concerns. Based on two-hour videotaped data from an adult ESL (English as a Second Language) classroom, this case study details how one teacher systematically manages the participation of a student who appears to be negotiating for more than her “fair share” of the floor. Findings of this study extend our current understanding of (classroom) turn-taking and constitute a potentially important resource for broadening and specifying language teacher education.