Volume 51, Issue 4

Several debates have recently addressed complementarities and/or (in)compatibilities between two lines of research concerned with second language interactions: Focus on Form research and conversation analytic work on repair in second language interactions. While our expertise primarily lies in the latter, we follow up on recent calls emanating from the former for more qualitatively oriented analysis. In this paper, we report on a study of correction in naturally occurring French L2 classroom interaction addressing the following question: how is attention focus on form distributed among the participants and interactionally organized across the temporal unfolding of talk? We show the analytic difficulty of determining precisely whose focus we observe in focus on form episodes. The findings substantiate an understanding of attention focus – along with the cognitive orientations of participants – as a process that is interactionally occasioned and organized, and the transformation of which into joint focus hinges on the local contingencies of talk.

This paper examines learner response processes during a Dynamic Assessment (DA) of L2 reading comprehension. We present a detailed case analysis of an L2 French learner whose success in responding to a comprehension item obscures her understanding of the text and the challenges it poses. This aligns with research indicating that learners may orient to such assessments as problem-solving rather than comprehension activities (Rupp, Fern, and Choi 2006). In DA, learner response processes are externalized through dialogue with the assessor, or mediator, who does not simply document these processes but intervenes. We trace how the mediator regulates learner orientation to the task, pursues reasons behind learner choices, and cooperates with the learner to create opportunities for learning during the assessment.

This study compared production of modal perfect sentences by native English speakers and advanced non-native English speakers from Asian L1 backgrounds in discourse and discourse-free contexts. In experiment 1, native and non-native speakers reconstructed modal perfect sentences from sentential anagrams under time pressure. Both speaker groups were faster to construct modal perfect sentences than closely matched control sentences. In experiment 2, native and non-native speakers read and responded orally to stories designed to elicit modal perfect. The results revealed that non-native speakers produced significantly fewer modal perfect sentences than native speakers. Taken together, the findings suggest that although non-native speakers from Asian L1 backgrounds have the syntactic capability to produce modal perfect under constrained conditions in a sentential anagram task, they are less likely than native speakers to produce such constructions in particular discourse contexts, perhaps as a result of differences in cultural background. Implications for English language instruction are discussed.