Explicit positive assessment as a compliment in one-on-one language teaching

Abstract

This multimodal conversation analytic study explores the multifunctionality of explicit positive assessments (EPAs) in one-on-one Japanese language teaching. Focusing on selected segments in which learners treat instructor's EPAs as compliments, this study investigates how instructors design focal assessments to make the learner's next action conditionally relevant. The analysis identifies several distinct linguistic, sequential, and multimodal features of the focal EPAs that collectively contribute to making the assessment more interpretable as a compliment to its recipient. The study further demonstrates that EPAs with identified interactional features make the referent of the positive assessment more attributable to the learner, thereby rendering these learners' subsequent responses a relevant next action. The findings highlight the role of the instructor's configuration of various interactional resources in conducting assessments. They also contribute to a deeper understanding of positive assessment as social action and illuminate the multifunctionality of assessment in language pedagogy.