Home Orienting to the language learner role in multilingual workplace meetings
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Orienting to the language learner role in multilingual workplace meetings

  • Salla Kurhila EMAIL logo , Lari Kotilainen and Inkeri Lehtimaja
Published/Copyright: May 21, 2021
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

The modern work life is interactionally challenging. For many, work consists of short-term projects executed in transient team combinations. An increasing number of work communities operate in multilingual environments, and many professionals conduct their work in a language which is not their first or strongest. The flux of interactional and linguistic settings in workplaces requires communication practises that acknowledge the difference in the participants’ language skills. In this paper, we explore such practises in a Finnish non-governmental organisation, using Conversation Analysis as our method. We focus on instances in which the professionals explicitly orient to their own or their co-participants’ role as language learners during workplace meetings. The paper aims to determine how this topicalisation is performed and what consequences it has for the construction of the (professional) identity of the second language speaker. The data consist of approximately 40 h of video-recorded meetings with Finnish, Russian and English as the main languages. The analysis reveals that instances where the language learner role is oriented to are usually related to practical questions of choosing the language for the meeting or a sufficiency of linguistic resources to conduct professional activities, yet they can also be used as means to construct one’s professional identity. These instances share certain features, such as prior topicalisation of language issues and the use of contextualisation cues that can help to soften the potentially problematic nature of referring to the (co-participant’s) limitations. The article contributes to our understanding of how to support participation and professional language learning in transient work settings.


Corresponding author: Salla Kurhila, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, E-mail:

Appendix 1: Transcription symbols

[ ]

point of onset and offset of overlapping talk

=

latching between utterances

(1.5)

silence measured in seconds

(.)

micro pause (less than 0.2 seconds)

.

falling intonation

;

slightly falling intonation

?

rising intonation

,

level intonation

word

stress or emphasis of the underlined sounds

°word°

markedly quieter than the surrounding talk

WORD

markedly louder than the surrounding talk

↑↓

marked shift into higher or lower pitch

<word>

slower speech rate than surrounding talk

>word<

faster speech rate than surrounding talk

wo:rd

stretching of the preceding sound

wo-

cut-off of the preceding word

#word#

creaky voice

£word£

smiling voice

@word@

changed voice quality

(())

transcriber’s comments

(word - - )

unclear fragment of talk

.hh

inhalation

hh

exhalation

PRT

particle

*

moment of the embodied action

(described underneath the lines representing spoken interaction)

+

moment illustrated in the figure

References

Angouri, Jo. 2014. Multilingualism in the workplace: Language practices in multilingual contexts. Multilingua 33(1–2). 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2014-0001.Search in Google Scholar

Antaki, Charles (ed.). 2011. Applied conversation analysis. Intervention and change in institutional Talk. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Search in Google Scholar

Arminen, Ilkka. 2005. Institutional interaction: Studies of talk at work. Burlington: Ashgate.Search in Google Scholar

Asmuss, Birte & Jan Svennevig. 2009. Meeting talk: An introduction. Journal of Business Communication 46(1). 3–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021943608326761.Search in Google Scholar

Bakhtin, Mikhail M. 1986. Speech genres and other late essays. Austin: University of Texas Press.Search in Google Scholar

Boden, Deirdre. 1994. The business of talk. Organizations in action. Cambridge: Polity Press.Search in Google Scholar

Bolden, Galina B. 2016. A simple da?: Affirming responses to polar questions in Russian conversation. Journal of Pragmatics 100(1). 40–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2015.07.010.Search in Google Scholar

Bredmar, Margareta & Per Linell. 1996. Reconstructing topical sensitivity: Aspects of face-work in talks between midwives and expectant mothers. Research on Language and Social Interaction 29(4). 347–379.10.1207/s15327973rlsi2904_3Search in Google Scholar

Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth & Margaret Selting. 2018. Interactional linguistics: Studying language in social interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781139507318Search in Google Scholar

Day, Dennis & Elisabeth Dalby Kristiansen. 2018. Demonstrating and claiming competence in language: Doing being better or worse than others. Journal of Pragmatics 126. 90–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2018.01.003.Search in Google Scholar

Djordjilovic, Olga. 2012. Displaying and developing team identity in workplace meetings – a multimodal perspective. Discourse Studies 14(1). 111–127. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445611427205.Search in Google Scholar

Douglas Fir Group. 2016. A transdisciplinary framework for SLA in a multilingual world. The Modern Language Journal 100(S1 Suppl). 19–47.10.1111/modl.12301Search in Google Scholar

Drew, Paul & John Heritage (eds.). 1992. Talk at work. Interaction in institutional settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Eskildsen, Sören, W. & Ali Reza Majlesi (eds.). 2018. Locating learnables (and teachables) in second language talk. [Special issue]. The Modern Language Journal 102(S1 Suppl). 1–91.10.1111/modl.12462Search in Google Scholar

Eskildsen, Sören W. & Guðrún Theodórsdóttir. 2017. Constructing L2 learning spaces: Ways to achieve learning inside and outside the classroom. Applied Linguistics 38(2). 143–164. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amv010.Search in Google Scholar

Firth, Alan. 2009. Doing not being a foreign language learner: English as a lingua franca in the workplace and (some) implications for SLA. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 47. 127–156. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral.2009.006.Search in Google Scholar

Firth, Alan & Johannes Wagner. 1997. On discourse, communication, and (some) fundamental concepts in SLA research. The Modern Language Journal 81(3). 285–300. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1997.tb05480.x.Search in Google Scholar

Ford, Cecilia E. & Trini Stickle. 2012. Securing recipiency in workplace meetings: Multimodal practices. Discourse Studies 14(1). 11–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445611427213.Search in Google Scholar

Gardner, Rod & Johannes Wagner (eds.). 2004. Second language conversations. London: Continuum.Search in Google Scholar

Glenn, Phillip & Elizabeth Holt (eds.). 2013. Studies of laughter in interaction. London: Bloomsbury.10.5040/9781472542069.ch-001Search in Google Scholar

Goodwin, Charles. 2000. Action and embodiment within situated human interaction. Journal of Pragmatics 32(10). 1489–1522. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0378-2166(99)00096-x.Search in Google Scholar

Gumperz, John. 1982. Discourse strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511611834Search in Google Scholar

Haakana, Markku. 2010. Laughter and smiling: Notes on co-occurrences. Journal of Pragmatics 42(6). 1499–1512. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.01.010.Search in Google Scholar

Hall, Joan Kelly, John Hellerman & Simona Pekarek Doehler (eds.). 2011. L2 interactional competence and development. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781847694072Search in Google Scholar

Hazel, Spencer. 2015. Identities at odds: Embedded and implicit language policing in the internationalized workplace. Language and Intercultural Communication 15(1). 141–160. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2014.985311.Search in Google Scholar

Hazel, Spencer & Janus Mortensen. 2013. Kitchen talk – exploring linguistic practices in liminal institutional interactions in a multilingual university setting. In Hartmut Haberland, Dorte Lønsmann & Bent Preisler (eds.), Language alternation, language choice and language encounter in international tertiary education, 3–30. Dordrecht: Springer.10.1007/978-94-007-6476-7_1Search in Google Scholar

Hazel, Spencer & Jan Svennevig. 2018. Multilingual workplaces – interactional dynamics of the contemporary international workforce. Journal of Pragmatics 126. 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2017.11.005.Search in Google Scholar

Heritage, John. 1984. Garfinkel and ethnomethodology. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Search in Google Scholar

Hultgren, Anna Kristina, Frans Gregersen & Jacob Thøgersen (eds.). 2014. English in Nordic universities: Ideologies and practices. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/wlp.5Search in Google Scholar

Kalliokoski, Jyrki. 2019. Monikielisen hallinnon asiantuntijan tie suomen kielen käyttäjäksi [The pathway of a plurilingual administrative professional to becoming a user of Finnish]. In Lari Kotilainen, Salla Kurhila & Jyrki Kalliokoski (eds.), Kielenoppiminen luokan ulkopuolella [Language learning outside the classroom], 228–252. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society.Search in Google Scholar

Kasper, Gabriele & Johannes Wagner. 2011. Conversation analysis as an approach to second language acquisition. In Dwight Atkinson (ed.), Alternative approaches to second language acquisition, 117–142. New York: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Kurhila, Salla. 2006. Second language interaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/pbns.145Search in Google Scholar

Kotilainen, Lari & Inkeri Lehtimaja. 2019. Kielenvaihto monikielisissä kokouksissa – osallistujien kielitaito ja vuorovaikutuksen sujuva eteneminen [Language alternation in multilingual meetings – language skills and the progression of interaction]. Puhe ja Kieli 39(3). 221–239.10.23997/pk.76602Search in Google Scholar

Lønsmann, Dorte & Janus Mortensen. 2018. Language policy and social change: A critical examination of the implementation of an English-only language policy in a Danish company. Language in Society 47(3). 435–456.10.1017/S0047404518000398Search in Google Scholar

Markaki, Vassiliki & Lorenza Mondada. 2012. Embodied orientations towards co-participants in multinational meetings. Discourse Studies 14(1). 31–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445611427210.Search in Google Scholar

Mehan, Hugh. 1979. Learning lessons: Social organization in the classroom. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.10.4159/harvard.9780674420106Search in Google Scholar

Menz, Florian. 2017. Business meetings. In Gerlinde Mautner & Franz Rainer (eds.), Handbook of business communication: Linguistic approaches, 111–129. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.10.1515/9781614514862-006Search in Google Scholar

Mondada, Lorenza. 2004. Ways of ‘doing being plurilingual’ in international work meetings. In Rod Gardner & Johannes Wagner (eds.), Second language conversations, 18–39. London: Continuum.Search in Google Scholar

Mondada, Lorenza. 2018. Greetings as a device to find out and establish the language of service encounters in multilingual settings. Journal of Pragmatics 126. 10–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2017.09.003.Search in Google Scholar

Mori, Junko & Chiharu Shima. 2021. Person reference and recognition in shift handovers: An analysis of interactions between Japanese and international care workers. Multilingua 40(1). 33–65.10.1515/multi-2019-0091Search in Google Scholar

Negretti, Raffaella & Miguel Garcia-Yeste. 2015. “Lunch keeps people apart”: The role of English for social interaction in a multilingual academic workplace. Multilingua 34(1). 93–118.Search in Google Scholar

Paananen, Jenny. 2019. Yhteisymmärryksen rakentaminen monikulttuurisilla lääkärin vastaanotoilla [Constructing mutual understanding in multicultural primary care consultations]. Turku: University of Turku dissertation.10.23982/vir.79924Search in Google Scholar

Pomerantz, Anita. 1978. Compliment responses: Notes on the Co-operation of multiple constraints. In Jim Schenkein (ed.), Studies in the organization of conversational interaction, 79–112. London: Academic Press.10.1016/B978-0-12-623550-0.50010-0Search in Google Scholar

Pomerantz, Anita. 1986. Extreme case formulations: A way of legitimizing claims. Human Studies 9(2–3). 219–229. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00148128.Search in Google Scholar

Rydell, Maria. 2015. Performance and ideology in speaking tests for adult migrants. Journal of SocioLinguistics 19(4). 535–558. https://doi.org/10.1111/josl.12152.Search in Google Scholar

Rydell, Maria. 2018. Constructions of language competence: Sociolinguistic perspectives on assessing second language interactions in basic adult education. Stockholm: Stockholm University.Search in Google Scholar

Schegloff, Emanuel A. 2001. Getting serious: Joke → serious ‘no’. Journal of Pragmatics 33(12). 1947–1955. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0378-2166(00)00073-4.Search in Google Scholar

Schegloff, Emanuel A. 2007. Sequence organization in interaction: A primer in conversation analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511791208Search in Google Scholar

Sidnell, Jack & Tanya Stivers (eds.). 2013. The handbook of conversation analysis. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.10.1002/9781118325001Search in Google Scholar

Stevanovic, Melisa & Anssi Peräkylä. 2012. Deontic Authority in Interaction: The right to announce, propose and decide. Research on Language and Social Interaction 45(3). 297–321. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2012.699260.Search in Google Scholar

Svennevig, Jan. 2012. Interaction in workplace meetings. Discourse Studies 14(1). 3–10. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445611427203.Search in Google Scholar

Svennevig, Jan. 2018. “What’s it called in Norwegian?” Acquiring L2 vocabulary items in the workplace. Journal of Pragmatics 126. 68–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2017.10.017.Search in Google Scholar

Tranekjær, Louise. 2018. The interactional management of ‘language difficulties’ at work – L2 strategies for responding to explicit enquiries about understanding. Journal of Pragmatics 126. 78–89.10.1016/j.pragma.2017.10.003Search in Google Scholar

Vöge, Monika. 2011. Employing multilingualism for doing identity work and generating laughter in business meetings: A case study. In Gabriele Pallotti & Johannes Wagner (eds.), L2 learning as social practice: Conversation-analytic perspectives, 237–264. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii, National Foreign Language Resource Center.Search in Google Scholar

Wagner, Johannes. 1998. On doing being a Guinea pig – a response to Seedhouse. Journal of Pragmatics 30(1). 103–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0378-2166(98)00021-6.Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2021-04-08
Accepted: 2021-04-17
Published Online: 2021-05-21
Published in Print: 2023-07-26

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Workplace communication in flux: from discrete languages, text genres and conversations to complex communicative situations
  3. Orienting to the language learner role in multilingual workplace meetings
  4. Negotiating belonging in multilingual work environments: church professionals’ engagement with migrants
  5. Changing participation in web conferencing: the shared computer screen as an online sales interaction resource
  6. Policing language in the world of new work: the commodification of workplace communication in organizational consulting
  7. “It’s not the same thing as last time I wrote a report”: Digital text sharing in changing organizations
  8. Regular Articles
  9. “It sounds like elves talking” – Polish migrants in Aberystwyth (Wales) and their impressions of the Welsh language
  10. Exploring lexical bundles in low proficiency level L2 learners’ English writing: an ETS corpus study
  11. Kingdom of heaven versus nirvana: a comparative study of conceptual metaphors for Christian and Buddhist ideals of life
  12. Linguistic multi-competence in the community: the case of a Japanese plural suffix -tachi for individuation
  13. Accent or not? Language attitudes towards regional variation in British Sign Language
  14. Validating young learners’ plurilingual repertoires as legitimate linguistic and cultural resources in the EFL classroom
  15. A corpus-based study of LGBT-related news discourse in Thailand’s and international English-language newspapers
  16. Academic emotions in giving genre-based peer feedback: an emotional intelligence perspective
  17. Detecting concealed language knowledge via response times
Downloaded on 27.11.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/applirev-2021-0053/html
Scroll to top button