Interactional routines and the socialization of interactional style in adult learners of Japanese

Abstract

Interactional routines are powerful in first language acquisition contexts, socializing children into appropriate norms of language use. This paper investigates the role of interactional routines in the socialization of L2 interactional competence via analysis of 15 hours of foreign language classroom data. Results reveal that active and peripheral participation in the routines of the classroom shapes learner ability to use the follow-up turn of the IRF routine to perform assessments and other expressions responsive to their interlocutor's utterances. Instances in which teachers explicitly guide learners in the expression of alignment are rare. In teacher-fronted contexts, learners are guided to be responsive to teacher questions, and have little opportunity for expression of alignment, including assessments. Learner assessments, when they occur in teacher-fronted contexts, have particular sequential consequences, triggering extended assessment activity by the teacher. The teachers' language incorporates various follow-up turn expressions during interaction with students. Longitudinal analysis of learner language during pair-work reveals an increase in learner use of follow-up expressions, including assessments, evidencing the socializing power of both active and peripheral participation in the interactional routines of the classroom.