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Article published In:
Study Abroad to, from, and within Asia
Edited by John L. Plews and Jane Jackson
[Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education 2:2] 2017
► pp. 263–294

L1-L2 speaker interaction in a study abroad setting

Communication strategies, word searches, and intersubjectivity

| University of Lethbridge

Analyzing approximately nine hours of video-recorded naturally-occurring conversations over eight weeks of study abroad between three L2 speakers of Japanese and their L1 speaker host family members, the present study uses conversation analysis to explore how the participants manage intersubjectivity using communication strategies in word searches. Specifically the study explores the following: (a) how participants deploy, manipulate, and respond to communication strategies as interactional resources used to co-construct meaning and progressively disambiguate the referent sought; (b) how strategies are used within the sequential organization of word searches to guide the trajectory of the search on a turn-by-turn basis; (c) how linguistic and non-linguistic resources such as intonation and eye gaze are used in conjunction with strategies to organize participant structure and relevant action in the unfolding talk; and (d) how a microanalytic, interactional approach can redefine our understanding of how strategic mechanisms are used and labeled in interaction.

Keywords: communication strategies, word searches, L1-L2 speaker interaction, conversational analysis, intersubjectivity, conditional relevance
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1CA and word searches
    • 2.2Communication strategies from an SLA perspective
    • 2.3Communication strategies in a study abroad context
    • 2.4Communication strategies from a CA interaction perspective
  • 3.The study
    • 3.1Setting and participants
    • 3.2Data collection
    • 3.3Data analysis
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Interactivity and progressivity: Communication strategy use within the structural organization of word searches
    • 4.2Language specific features and use of non-verbal resources with communication strategies
  • 5.Summary, conclusions, and implications
  • References
Published online: 30 December 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.16011.mcm
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