Pusan National University Explores the Use of Accounts to Manage Reluctant Participation in Microteaching Sessions

A new conversation analysis study shows how pre-service L2 English teachers soften direct nominations to encourage participation from reluctant students

BUSAN, South Korea, July 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Classrooms often fall silent when the teacher poses a question. The pause is not always due to lack of knowledge. Students may be hesitant, unsure, shy, or simply unwilling to participate, and these feelings are often shown through subtle cues such as gaze aversion, delayed responses, posture, facial expression, or quiet laughter.

Such moments can be especially challenging for novice teachers. While ensuring that the lesson is not interrupted, it is also important to avoid the impression that participation is being forced. This makes turn allocation, deciding who speaks next, not just a classroom routine, but a delicate interactional skill. It requires sensitivity, timing, and awareness of student readiness.

A new study, conducted by Professor Eunseok Ro of Pusan National University and Professor Hyunwoo Kim of Yonsei University, examined how novice teachers deploy accounts during microteaching sessions. The study findings were published in Volume 110, Issue 2 of The Modern Language Journal on March 2, 2026. "Rather than treating student reluctance as an individual trait, we examined how teachers themselves orient to and manage displays of unwillingness moment by moment in interaction. Our analysis shows how novice teachers use accounts to make turn allocation more interactionally acceptable while maintaining the progressivity of classroom talk," explained Dr. Ro.

Using conversation analysis, the researchers studied video-recorded teaching demonstrations by undergraduate L2 English education majors in South Korea. During these sessions, pre-service teachers taught in English while their classmates participated as students in a simulated classroom environment. The researchers identified three key strategies used by pre-service teachers to soften this shift.

First, teachers grounded nominations in students' visible behaviour. For example, instead of simply choosing a student, one teacher referred to the student as having a "comment face." This framed the nomination as a response to the student's facial expression rather than as an arbitrary exercise of teacher authority.

The teachers also sometimes expressed discomfort before nominating a reluctant speaker. In one case, a teacher said that choosing someone made them nervous before directly selecting a student. This expression of discomfort acknowledged the social awkwardness of assigning a turn when no one had volunteered.

Lastly, teachers often escalated participation gradually, from open invitations to whole-class instruction or direct nomination. This step-by-step movement allowed teachers to preserve the preference for voluntary participation before making participation obligatory.

The teachers also used affiliative resources such as smiles, laughter, and playful tone to manage tension and maintain a sense of classroom affiliation.

The findings highlight the significance of microteaching. Microteaching is not just a rehearsal of lesson content. "It is a space where novice teachers practice managing participation, silence, accountability, and student autonomy. Teacher education programs can use these sessions to help pre-service teachers become more aware of how they manage reluctant participants and support the smooth progress of lessons," noted Dr. Ro.

Overall, the study reveals that effective classroom participation management can depend on small details like a pause, a smile, a softened explanation, or a carefully framed nomination. The study shows that nominating a reluctant student is not a procedural act, but an interactional process.

Reference

Title of original paper: How pre-service L2 English teachers use accounts to mitigate turn allocation to unwilling participants in microteaching

Journal: The Modern Language Journal

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.70047

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SOURCE Pusan National University