Word searches in L2 peer interaction at language cafés: Opportunities for learning

Abstract

Language cafés bring together speakers aiming to practice a target language in a nonformal setting. In this conversation analytic study, interactions between L2 speakers at language cafés are analyzed with a focus on collaborative word searches and how these may occasion participants’ orientation to linguistic items as "learnables”, that is, as objects of learning. The analysis includes two extended cases of participants' orientation to learnables and draws on both on-line interaction and face-to-face interaction. In both examples participants rely on each other's language expertise, as well as on the expertise invested in online translation programs on their smartphones. They also employ additional interactional resources, such as other shared languages and gestures. It is demonstrated how the participants’ collaborative work goes beyond restoring intersubjectivity and develops into shared orientations to learnables. These orientations manifest as: a) a search for linguistic accuracy in the target language, b) meta-linguistic discussions about vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation, and c) demonstrations of learning behavior in the form of repetitions of new information about the item. The findings show that the language café, online as well as on-site, can provide room for L2 speakers to collaboratively explore items in the target language as objects of learning, and that such orientations can occur without the guidance of a facilitator who is more knowledgeable in the target language.