‘I like the song and nice video’: a pupil-led activity in the young learner EFL classroom with implications for pedagogy

ABSTRACT

Design and content of classroom activities are crucial to foreign/second (L2) language learners’ motivation, be they children or adults. Lifeworld relevance and learner autonomy are two important aspects in building motivational L2 curricula for adults (e.g.), but such considerations rarely filter through to primary school learners due to institutional-curricular priorities. Presenting a single-case micro-analysis of the interactional practices that ensue from a pupil’s presentation of her favourite song and music video in a 4^th grade English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom in Denmark, this paper showcases an example of a classroom activity with a participation framework that is sustained by the pupils’ participation and substantiated by the pupils’ own interests without losing pedagogical impetus. Our data come from an audio-video corpus of EFL classes in six Danish primary schools.

KEYWORDS:

• Young FL learners
• interactional competence
• conversation analysis
• extra-mural English

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Primary schools in Denmark are generally state-run. A semi-private school is a self-governing institution financed by user fees and state subsidiaries.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond.