The practice of ‘mediation’ in English as a lingua franca interaction

This paper investigates the mechanisms of mediation in an English-medium university seminar course. Mediation refers to a form of speaking for another where a co-participant starts rephrasing another participant's turn that was addressed to a third party. The paper sets out to investigate mediation in multiparty interaction. It adopts a situated approach and combines analysis of university seminar course interaction with interview data. The findings suggest that mediation occurs frequently in the university course analysed and that the institutional practices of the course influence the practice of mediation: the course teachers take on the role of an intermediary. Mediation seems to have three main functions: (1) It facilitates understanding between participants. By providing alternative ways of expressing the same thing, intermediaries help participants to take part in the discussion. (2) Mediation organises discourse, and it is a way for the teachers to manage interaction. (3) It also has a socialising function in that it can include evaluation of students’ contributions. Mediation is a means to engage participants who otherwise may not be able to participate in the interaction, and thus serves as a useful co-operation strategy.