Prompting learners to use target language forms: Elicitation practices in one-on-one instructional sessions

Abstract

This paper explores instructor elicitation practices used in mandatory one-on-one instructional sessions to prompt learners of Japanese to incorporate specific linguistic items in their responses. Specifically, the study is based on a corpus of 15 h of video-recorded interactions in a study abroad program in Japan. Drawing on multimodal conversation analysis, the study investigates: (1) how instructors design and sequentially place elicitations to prompt learners to use a specific target language form while engaging in meaning-focused activities; and (2) how these elicitation designs and placements affect the accomplishment of the intended pedagogical goal. The findings contribute to the understanding of elicitation practices for specific pedagogical purposes and yield empirically based insights that can inform interactional decisions.