Assembling competent participation in L2 interaction in a "simulated wild" context

Abstract

Language researchers are increasingly interested in how L2 is used beyond traditional language classrooms. In Japan, the recognition of limited opportunities to use English in "the wild" has led to the creation of English villages, sites that aim to create opportunities for language learning by simulating real-world environments and situations. Using conversation analysis (CA), this study explores an interactional practice deployed by an L1 English user to contribute to the assembly of competent participation by novice L2 English users during role-play tasks at an English village. The L1 user is shown to use incremental turn extensions, or increments, to transform emerging inter-turn gaps into intra-turn pauses. In doing so, the expert speaker claims silences as his own rather than the novices' and thus allows the L2 users a second opportunity to respond in a timely manner. Using increments, the L1 user addresses the gappiness that is common to L2 interaction and contributes to the assembly of the L2 users' competent participation. The findings further the notion within conversation analysis for second language acquisition (CA-SLA) of interactional competence as co-constructed and provide empirical documentation of naturally occurring interaction and practices in the context of an English village.