Emergent learnables in second language classroom interaction

This paper studies how unplanned 'learnables' emerge in classroom interaction. A 'learnable' is defined as whatever is interactively established as relevant and developed to become a shared pedagogical focus. A learnable can thus be related to any social practice. In the context that we are studying, a Swedish as a second language classroom, we show how interactive processes constructing something as a learnable may originate not only in the use of an unknown Swedish word whose meaning is then asked for (which amounts to a verbal source for a learnable), but also in an unknown name for an object (a material source for a learnable) or an unknown meaning of a gesture (a gestural source for a learnable). These last two sources have not been much described in the existing literature on objects of learning. Through detailed analyses of video recorded classroom interaction, focusing on the ways in which participants gradually accomplish learnables, we show how learnables can arise, step by step, in and for the relevant needs of an emergent learning project that may be quite different from the teacher's pedagogical agenda. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.