The Case of the Missing “No”: The Relationship between Pedagogy and Interaction

This article reviews the relationship between pedagogy and interaction by analysing numerous extracts from Second Language (L2) classroom lessons using a Conversation Analysis (CA) methodology. The particular case examined involves the preference organisation of repair in form and accuracy contexts. In general, pedagogical recommendations tend to assume that the L2 classroom does not have an interactional structure of its own. However, in the particular case here, the pedagogical message works in direct opposition to the interactional message. The relationship between pedagogy and interaction is necessarily reflexive; I conclude that it would be preferable for pedagogical recommendations to work in harmony with the interactional organisation of the L2 classroom, rather than in opposition to it.