Edited by Lucy Pickering and Vyvyan Evans
[Human Cognitive Processing 64] 2018
► pp. 249–273
This study builds on Nakahama, Tyler and van Lier (2001), which showed that conversation provides a plethora of learning opportunities as opposed to decontextualized, mechanical types of activities. The study investigates second language (L2) storytelling by Japanese learners of English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) while talking with native speaker interlocutors. Major differences were found between the two groups. ESL learners produced more words and discourse markers (DMs) than their EFL counterparts. Furthermore, while the EFL learners’ narratives were monologic, the ESL learners’ narratives were dialogic and involved NS collaborations. Negotiation of meaning was found in both groups when non-understanding occurred during the storytelling. However, while the EFL learners’ errors received recasts from the NS, the ESL learners’ errors went uncorrected by their interlocutor.