Abstract
The study seeks to identify discursive patterns of private online English lessons, perceived as satisfying by adult language learners from Russia. The analysis shows a stable discursive structure with asymmetrical role distribution between teachers and students. The study also shows that most language produced during the lessons was relatively simple and covered everyday topics. The dataset provides illustrations of two medium-specific characteristics of this learning environment: (i) the use of emoticons to complement speaking and (ii) interruptions from external users. The study raises questions regarding the use of teaching materials in private online teaching context, the learning outcomes of the identified curriculum genre and an apparent difference in pedagogic behaviour of native and non-native English tutors in relation to grammar error correction. The findings of this study will be of interest to a wide range of English-teaching stakeholders, including teachers, teacher-trainers and educational developers.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 86-100 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Linguistics and Education |
Volume | 31 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2015 |
Keywords
- Private online tutoring
- Videoconferencing
- Discursive patterns
- Lesson structure analysis