Scaffolding Peer Interaction through Table Talk within a Language-and-Content Integrated Business Curriculum: An Ethnographic Case Study in a Canadian University

Although much research in applied linguistics has focused on developing literacy skills across the disciplines, there is a limited emphasis on disciplinary-based classroom interaction in higher education (Arkoudis et al., 2013) even though classroom interaction is a “central tool for teaching and learning” (Dippold, 2015, p. 12). To that end, this session will share preliminary findings of an ethnographic case study over a 3-year period in a 2^nd year business course with increasing numbers of multilingual students (Colby et al., 2011). Using pedagogical documentation, we have gathered data through observational field notes and by using video-recorded footage of classroom interactions whereby students engage in peer-led table talks - the focal point of this analysis. Table talk is seen an integral part of students’ socialization into business communication since it not only helps students critically engage in business-related topics, but also expects collaborative interaction between multilingual students and English as a first language peers. Given the significance that table talk plays in developing students’ interactive, oral language development within business discourse, we examined peer participation through turn-taking sequences, and how the interaction facilitates students’ learning, communication, and social participation. Specifically, we analyzed occasions of footing and frame shift (Goffman, 1974, 1981) to understand how students initiate, uptake, and respond to their peers for the purposes of generating a business communication assignment. Findings suggest that we could extend our understanding of dynamic interactions among peers and develop more explicit and inclusive models of oral support for mainstreamed multilingual students into disciplinary programs.