Co-construction and scaffolding in interaction

In this excerpt, Sophia and Anna B are co-constructing a lexical item and a question form.

Sophia uses the wrong word, “하루”(one day) for “하늘” (the sky). Sophia seems to know that “하루” is not the correct word because she makes gestures with her hands to represent the sky. Nevertheless, Sophia attempts a phonological approximation. The other learner, Anna B whispers and takes time to think about what Sophia means, and then provides the correct word, “하늘” (the sky). Sohphia does not uptake the word immediately in her turn. She omits the word “하늘” when she asks Anna B. the color of the sky. Anna B answers Sophia’s question including the subject “하늘”. Then, Sophia finally uptakes it. Here Anna B and Sophia co-construct a lexical term and successfully accomplish the task.

When Sophia asks about the color of the sky, she uses the incorrect question form, “몇 색” (how many color). Despite the error, Anna B understands what Sophia means and answers the question. In line 93, when Anna B asks the color of the door, she also uses the incorrect question form “멏 색” (how many color). She seems to pronounce the expression inaccurately and tries to repeat that part again. At this moment, Sophia notices the error that they have both made and provides the correct form, “무슨 색” (what color). Although Anna B says “yes” to Sophia’s recast, so it is not clear whether she has noticed the correct form. However, Sophia shows the evidence of self-repair in line 98 by using the correct form, “무슨 색” again in her question. This excerpt shows that the interactional context provides opportunities to repair and learn linguistic forms as well as to confirm their learning.