Navigating grammar explanations in online pedagogical interaction: a sequential account

Research on grammar pedagogy has shed much light on the effectiveness of different types of instruction (e.g. explicit vs. implicit, focus on form vs. focus on forms, etc.), but how grammar is explained in the moment-to-moment details of interaction remains under-researched. Using conversation analysis, this study provides a sequential account of unplanned grammar explanations from a high intermediate English as a Second Language course that was conducted entirely over Zoom for adults in a community-based programme. In doing so, eight practices for navigating the opening, core, and closing of grammar explanations are detailed in the relatively under-researched online pedagogical interaction context. Openings involved halting progressivity, isolating prior talk, and querying grammaticality, cores involved answering the query, invoking a rule, and tying back, and closings involved providing an upshot and claiming understanding. These findings contribute to the growing body of conversation analytic literature on explanations of grammar and illustrate practices that teachers can adopt and adapt to engage with talk about grammar.