From Xu to the Development of L2 Interactional Competence: A Conversation Analytic Case Study
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Mei Yang
Mei YANG is Professor at the School of Foreign Languages, South China University of Technology. She completed her PhD (2009) in applied linguistics at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. Her research interests include second language acquisition, psycholinguistics, and foreign language education.
Xiaofei LU is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Asian Studies at the Pennsylvania State University. His research interests are primarily in corpus linguistics, English for academic purposes, second language writing, second language acquisition, and intelligent computer-assisted language learning. He is the author of Computational Methods for Corpus Annotation and Analysis (2014, Springer).
Abstract
Dialogues are fundamentally driven by xu (C. Wang, 2016, 2017), a Chinese word meaning continuation that captures the process in which interlocutors participate in interaction through the actions of (utterance) completion, (content) extension, and (topic) creation (CEC). This article reports a conversation analytic case study designed to investigate how the continuation strategies of CEC are used in real-time communication to achieve mutual understanding, and thus to construct intersubjectivity (Verhagen, 2005) and promote the development of second language (L2) interactional competence. Our data consisted of audio and video recordings of a 25-minute conversation between two L2 English speakers, one expert and one novice, and a stimulated recall interview with them. Results revealed that the expert employed CEC at the early stage of interaction to maintain successful communication, and the novice gradually aligned with the expert and used CEC to achieve mutual understanding, construct intersubjectivity, and create opportunities for interaction and learning at the late stage, displaying her development of L2 interactional competence. Our findings have useful implications for theoretical and methodological development of the xu-argument studies as well as for xu-based L2 pedagogy.
About the authors
Mei YANG is Professor at the School of Foreign Languages, South China University of Technology. She completed her PhD (2009) in applied linguistics at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. Her research interests include second language acquisition, psycholinguistics, and foreign language education.
Xiaofei LU is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Asian Studies at the Pennsylvania State University. His research interests are primarily in corpus linguistics, English for academic purposes, second language writing, second language acquisition, and intelligent computer-assisted language learning. He is the author of Computational Methods for Corpus Annotation and Analysis (2014, Springer).
Acknowledgments
We thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions. This research was funded by a grant (No. 20BYY106) from the China National Social Science Foundation and a grant (No. ZGWYJYJJ10Z003) from the 10th Foreign Language Education Foundation of China to the first author.
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Transcription Conventions
| , | continuing intonation |
|---|---|
| . | final intonation |
| ? | rising intonation |
| ¿ | slightly rising intonation |
| ↓ | word abruptly falling intonation |
| wo:rd | lengthening of the previous sound |
| = | latching (no space between sound before and after) |
| [ | overlap |
| 0.7 | pause timed in tenths of seconds |
| (.) | micropause, shorter than 0.2 seconds |
| °word° | speech which is quieter than the surrounding talk |
| WORD | speech which is louder than the surrounding talk |
| H | hand(s) |
| F | finger |
| R | right |
| IF | index finger |
| L | left |
| 2Fs | index & middle fingers |
| BH | both hands |
| 3Fs | index, middle & ring fingers |
| GZ | gaze |
| + | place where action begins, description of action |
| + | place where action begins in relation to talk |
| / | stroke or beat of gesture |
| — | holding gesture or gaze in place |
| bold | talk |
| → | gaze direction (in screen captures) |
| ⇒ | draws attention to hand movements (in screen captures) |
© 2021 FLTRP, Walter de Gruyter, Cultural and Education Section British Embassy
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- The Xu-Based Approach to Second Language Learning
- From Xu to the Development of L2 Interactional Competence: A Conversation Analytic Case Study
- L2 Syntactic Alignment in the Reading-Writing Integrated Continuation Task: Evidence From Chinese EFL Learners’ Description of Motion Events
- Effect of Interaction Intensity on Alignment and EFL Learners’ Oral Production in the Reading-Speaking Integrated Continuation Task
- An Alignment-Based Approach to L2 Learning of Chinese Numeral Classifiers
- Creative Imitation: An Answer to the Fundamental Issue of L2 Learning
- Investigating the Use of Translation Continuation Tasks in Commercial Translation Teaching: A Study on Translating User Manuals
- The Construct of the Story Continuation Writing Task: Insights From the China’s Standards of English Language Ability
- A Quantitative and Network Approach to Alignment Effects in L2 Continuation Tasks
- Effects of Reading-Listening Integrated Dictation on Chinese EFL Students’ Listening Performance
- Abstracts
- Chinese Abstracts
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- The Xu-Based Approach to Second Language Learning
- From Xu to the Development of L2 Interactional Competence: A Conversation Analytic Case Study
- L2 Syntactic Alignment in the Reading-Writing Integrated Continuation Task: Evidence From Chinese EFL Learners’ Description of Motion Events
- Effect of Interaction Intensity on Alignment and EFL Learners’ Oral Production in the Reading-Speaking Integrated Continuation Task
- An Alignment-Based Approach to L2 Learning of Chinese Numeral Classifiers
- Creative Imitation: An Answer to the Fundamental Issue of L2 Learning
- Investigating the Use of Translation Continuation Tasks in Commercial Translation Teaching: A Study on Translating User Manuals
- The Construct of the Story Continuation Writing Task: Insights From the China’s Standards of English Language Ability
- A Quantitative and Network Approach to Alignment Effects in L2 Continuation Tasks
- Effects of Reading-Listening Integrated Dictation on Chinese EFL Students’ Listening Performance
- Abstracts
- Chinese Abstracts
