Chapter 5. Interlocutor differences and the role of social others in a Spanish peer tutoring context

Michele Back | University of Connecticut

Peer tutoring is a valuable component of additional language learning due to interactions with a knowledgeable interlocutor. Yet many are unaware of the role of what Lantolf (2015) termed “social others” on interlocutors’ and learners’ perceptions and constructions of the target language and culture. Social others include persons who interlocutors perceive as having equal, more, or less knowledge; written texts; and previous or potential selves. Social others do not have to be physically present for mediation on expertise to occur. In this chapter, I analyze video data from Spanish language peer tutoring sessions, triangulating with interview excerpts highlighting peer tutor knowledge and roles. I show how peer tutors mediated their ascribed epistemic stances of expert through social others and co-constructed their own knowledge with learners. These findings interrogate ways in which knowledge is traditionally perceived, highlighting the complex ideologies that surround knowledge of a target language and culture.

Keywords: epistemic stance, epistemic incongruence, peer tutoring, social others, interlocutor differences

Published online: 21 January 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.53.05bac

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