L2 ‘Second-order’ organization: Novice speakers of Japanese in a multi-party conversation-for-learning
Issue: Vol 5 No. 3 (2008) JAL Vol 5, No 3 (2008)
Journal: Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice
Subject Areas: Writing and Composition Linguistics
Abstract:
This paper illustrates how L2 novice speakers of Japanese co-construct a contingent conversation by themselves with no L1 speaker’s or instructor’s assistance. Using conversation analysis, the study examines turn-taking organization in the data. The L2 speakers employed question sequences (Question-Answer-Follow up) to manage turn allocation among themselves. The study analyses the turn transitions in a sequence when the questioner has selected the next speaker to answer but no answer is forthcoming or it is delayed. Multi-modal resources such as eye gaze and contingent face expressions in particular seem to play an important role in the selection of a next speaker. In L2 data examined, a third party self selects him/herself as the next speaker in place of the original responder. This second-order case (Stivers and Robinson 2006) is in effect because of the L2 speakers’ attentiveness towards progressivity of the conversation. I argue that this phenomenon evidences a specific context of ‘conversation-for-learning’.
Author: Keiko Ikeda
References :
Allwright, R. L. (1984) The importance of interaction in classroom language learning. Applied Linguistics 5 (2): 156–171. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/applin/5.2.156
Carroll, D. (2000) Precision timing in novice-to-novice L2 conversations. Issues in Applied Linguistics 11 (1): 67–110.
Carroll, D. (2004) Restarts in novice turn beginnings: Disfluencies or interactional achievements? In R. Gardner and J. Wagner (eds) Second Language Conversations, 201– 220. London: Continuum.
Chaudron, C. (1988) Second Language Classroom: Research on Teaching and Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fanselow, J. (1977) The treatment of error in oral work. Foreign Language Annals 10 (5): 583–593. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.1977.tb03035.x
Fröhlich, M., Spada, N. and Allen, J. B. P. (1985) Differences in the communicative orientation of L2 classroom. TESOL Quarterly 19 (1): 51–62.
Goffman, E. (1974) Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. New York: Harper and Row.
Goodwin, C. (1980) Conversational Organization: Interaction between Speakers and Hearers. New York: Academic Press.
Goodwin, M. (1983) Searching for a word as an interactive activity. In John N. Deely and Margot D. Lenhart (eds) Semiotics, 129–38. New York: Plenum.
Goodwin, M. H., and Goodwin, C. (1986) Gesture and coparticipation in the activity of searching for a word. Semiotica 62 (1–2): 51–75.
Hauser, E. (2009) Turn-taking and primary speakership during a student discussion. In H. Nguyen and G. Kasper (eds) Talk-in-Interaction: Multilingual Perspectives, 215–244. Honolulu: National Foreign Language Research Forum.
He, A. (2004) CA for SLA: Arguments from the Chinese language classroom. The Modern Language Journal 88 (40): 519–35.
Hellermann, J. (2005) Syntactic and prosodic practices for cohesion in series of three-part sequences in classroom talk. Research on Language and Social Interaction 38 (1): 105–130. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327973rlsi3801_4
Hellermann, J. (2008) Social Actions for Classroom Language Learning. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Kasper, G. (2004) Participant orientations in German conversation-for-learning. The Modern Language Journal 88 (4): 551–567. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0026-7902.2004.t01-18-.x
Koshik, I. (2002) A conversation analytic study of Yes/No questions which convey reversed polarity assertions. Journal of Pragmatics 34 (12): 1851–1877. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00057-7
Koshik, I. (2005) Beyond Rhetorical Questions: Assertive Questions in Everyday Interaction. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Koshik, I. (2009) Questions and other prompts in teacher-student conferences. In A. Freed and S. Ehrlich (eds) Why Do You Ask?: The Function of Questions in Institutional Discourse, 159–186. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lee, Y. (2004) Instructional work of examples in language classrooms. Linguistics and Education 15 (1–2): 99–120. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2004.10.003
Lee, Y. (2006) Towards respecification of communicative competence: Condition of L2 instruction or its objective? Applied Linguistics 27 (3): 349–376. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/applin/aml011
Lerner, G. H. (1996) On the place of linguistic resources in the organization of talk-in interaction: ‘Second person’ reference in multi-party conversation. Pragmatics 6 (3): 281–294.
Lerner, G. H. (2003) Selecting next speaker: The context-sensitive operation of a contextfree organization. Language in Society 32 (2): 177–201. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ S004740450332202X
Long, M. and Sato, C. (1983) Classroom foreigner talk discourse: Forms and functions of teacher’s questions. In H. W. Seliger and M. H. Long (eds) Classroom Oriented Research in Second Languages, 268–285. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Markee, N. (2000) Conversation Analysis. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Markee, N. (2004) Zones of interactional transition in ELS classes. The Modern Language Journal 88 (4): 583–596. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0026-7902.2004.t01-20-.x
Markee, N. (2005) The organization of off-task talk in second language classrooms. In K. Richards and P. Seedhouse (eds) Applying Conversation Analysis, 197–293. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Markee, N. and Kasper, G. (2004) Classroom talks: An introduction. The Modern Language Journal 88 (4): 491–500. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0026-7902.2004.t01-14-.x
McHoul, A. (1978) The organization of turns at formal talk in the classroom. Language in Society 7: 113–120. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500005522
Mehan H. (1979) Learning Lessons: The Social Organizations of Classroom Behaviour. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Mori, J. (2002) Task design, plan and development of talk-in-interaction: An analysis of a small group activity in a Japanese language classroom. Applied Linguistics 23 (3): 323– 347. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/applin/23.3.323
Mori, J. (2004) Negotiating sequential boundaries and learning opportunities: A case from a Japanese language classroom. The Modern Language Journal 88 (4): 536–550. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0026-7902.2004.t01-17-.x
Mortensen, K. (2008) Selecting next speaker in the second language classroom: How to find a willing next speaker in planned activities. Journal of Applied Linguistics 5 (1): 55–80.
Ohta, A. (2001) Second Language Acquisition Process in the Classroom: Learning Japanese. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Olsher, D. (2004). Talk and gesture: The embodied completion of sequential actions in spoken interaction. In R. Gardner and J. Wagner (eds) Second Language Conversation, 221–245. London: Continuum.
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A. and Jefferson, G. (1974) A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language 50 (4): 696–735. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/412243
Schegloff, E. A., and Sacks, H. (1973) Opening up closings. Semiotica 8: 289–327. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/semi.1973.8.4.289
Schegloff, E. A. (1980) Preliminaries to preliminaries: ‘Can I ask you a question?’. Sociological Inquiry 50 (3/4): 104–152. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-682X.1980.tb00018.x
Schegloff, E. (2007) Sequence Organization in Interaction. New York: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511791208
Sinclair, J. and Coulthard, M. (1975) Towards an Analysis of Discourse: The English Used by Teachers and Pupils. London: Oxford University Press.
Stivers, T. (2001) Negotiating who presents the problem: Next speaker selection in pediatric encounters. Journal of Communication 51 (2): 1–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2001.tb02880.x
Stivers, T., and Robinson, J. (2006) A preference for progressivity in interaction. Language in Society 35 (3): 367–392. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047404506060179
Swain, M. (1995) Three Functions of Output in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Swain, M. (2000) The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J. Lantolf (ed.) Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning, 97–114. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tateyama, Y., and Kasper, G. (2008) Talking with a classroom guest: Opportunities for learning Japanese pragmatics. In E. Alcón Soler and A. Martínez-Flor (eds) Investigating Pragmatics in Foreign Language Learning, Teaching and Testing, 45–71. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Van Lier, L. (1984) Analyzing interaction in second language classrooms. Applied Linguistics 38 (3): 160–169.
Van Lier, L. (1988) The Classroom and the Language Learner, London: Longman.
Van Lier, L. (1996) ‘Contingency’ in L. Van Lier Interaction in the Language Curriculum: Awareness, Autonomy and Authenticity. London: Longman.