Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
The international conference of “Within and Beyond the Classroom” Istanbul Technical University School of Foreign Languages Third International ELT Days, İstanbul, Türkiye, 31 Mayıs - 01 Haziran 2024, ss.1
Classroom interaction displays characteristic features regarding “the distribution of
knowledge, access to conversational resources, and to participation in the interaction” (Drew
and Heritage, 1992, p.49). Thus, violating ‘normality’ in the classroom, such as transgression
in the participation framework, is accountable, and as such, it may threaten the social status of
the member (Hazel and Mortensen, 2017). Drawing upon Conversation Analysis (CA), this
study examines the cases in which students’ responses that do not align with participants’
normative expectations with regards to participation framework, more specifically about how
to participate and when to participate, and how they are responded to by other participants in
L2 classrooms. The analysis presents that participants produce a jocular frame by using various
resources such as laughter, assessments, and comments in response to student turns which are
treated as somewhat laughable and ‘atypical’ as they do not align with participants’ normative
expectations with regards to participation framework. As such, this study demonstrates a
delicate and complex work put in by the participants to mitigate potentially face-threatening
moments through the production of jocular frames. It also highlights the importance of how
teachers manage a balance in responding to these moments pedagogically (and thus progressing
the task-at-hand) and playing along through contributing to jocular frames created by other
participants. Overall, this study aims to provide implications for teacher training, L2 classroom
interaction, and humour scholarship.
Key words: jocular frames, humour, L2 classroom, participation framework, CA