The Analysis of Conversation Topics in a Tutoring Context

Tutoring, one of the possible components of an immersion context, has not been studied systematically on the relationship between tutoring and second language learning (SLL). Especially no studies have been done through discourse analysis on which topics are discussed in natural tutoring sessions, and which topics motivate tutors and tutees to initiate the conversation or to hold the conversation long or short. Therefore, the present study investigated the relationships between topics and the number of talk turns and of conversations in terms of talk-turn generating power (TGP), conversation generating power (CGP), and average duration of a conversation (ADC) in unstructured tutoring sessions of four of 13 Korean college students who attended a study abroad program. The results showed that topics such as academics and cultural aspects had strong talk-turn and conversation generating functions and that topics such as religious aspects, food, and amusement park had low conversation generating function but high talk turn generating function, which means that though being avoided, once those topics started being discussed, the conversation lasted relatively long. More findings are discussed in relation to their implications for SLL.