Online Second Language Acquisition: Conversation Analysis of Online Chat

263 Pages·2010·0.84 MB·English

by  Vincenza Tudini

Online Second Language Acquisition
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Online Second Language
Acquisition
Conversation Analysis of Online Chat
Vincenza Tudini
Continuum International Publishing Group
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© Vincenza Tudini 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or
retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
Author has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988,
to be identifi ed as Author of this work.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-0-8264-4240-6 (hardcover)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India
Printed and bound in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
List of Abbreviations ix
1. Introduction: Online Intercultural Talk-in-Interaction 1
Which Online Chat? 1
Why and How CA? 4
Insights from Previous Literature on Online
Foreign Language Chat 8
The Corpus Used in the Study 11
Conclusion: Summary of Research Aims and Objectives 15
2. Towards a Defi nition of Online Intercultural Chat:
Insights from SLA 17
Introduction 17
Motives of Native Speakers and Learners in Chat:
A Pedagogical or Social Context? 17
Chat Jargon and Regional Varieties of Italian
in the Presence of Foreign Language Learners 19
Previous Comparisons of Online Text and
Audio/Video Conversations 20
Visual Saliency and Noticing 21
From Apperception to Output: Application of Interactionist
SLA Models to Online Chat 24
Teacher and Foreigner Talk in the Chat Room 26
Triggers of Conversational Repair: What Do Native Speaker
and Learner Participants Repair in Chat? 29
Conclusion 32
3. Turn-Taking, Adjacency Pairs and Sequencing 33
Introduction 33
How Turn-Taking Works in Online One-to-One Text Chat 35
Split Adjacency Pairs 36
vi Contents
Lack of Contiguity Between Repairable and Correction 41
Split Turn Constructional Units (TCUs) 46
Conclusion 51
4. Conversational Repair in Online Intercultural Chat:
Initiation and Resolution by Self or Other 52
Introduction: Pursuing Understanding and SLA
in the Foreign Language Chat Room 52
Who Initiates and Resolves Repair Sequences
in Intercultural Online Chat? 56
Conclusion 95
5. Other-Repair in Online Intercultural Chat: When
Native Speakers Do Correction 97
Introduction 97
Other-Initiated Other-Repair: Exposed and
Embedded Correction 97
How Correction is Organized 106
The Interactional Relevance of Repetition after Exposed
Correction in Online Intercultural Chat 114
The Signifi cance of Vocabulary: Native Speaker Ensuring
Understanding of Social Status Through Extended Other-Repair 116
Conclusion 124
6. Mitigation and Play in Repair Sequences: Native Speakers
and Learners Constructing Intersubjectivity 127
Introduction 127
Preference Organization in Repair Sequences: Dealing with
Dispreferredness of Repair 128
Strategies to Set Up an Expert Novice Relationship 129
Native Speakers Playing Tutor 135
Mitigation through Accountings 141
Learners’ Face Work around Other-Initiated Self-Repair
(Clarifi cation Requests) 148
Mitigation through Correction-Apology and
Correction-Appreciation Routines 152
Native Speakers Explaining Grammar 154
Native Speakers Orienting to Meaning and Disattending to
Linguistic Expert Role 157
The Role of Emoticons 159
Conclusion 165
Contents vii
7. Insights from Unsuccessful Repair Sequences 167
Introduction 167
When Mutual Understanding Fails 168
Conclusion 175
8. Implications for SLA Research and Language Teaching 177
Introduction 177
Productive Repair Trajectories in Online Intercultural Chat 177
Visual Saliency and Multimodality as Conversational Scaffold 189
Intercultural Pragmatics in Online Chat 193
Conclusion 197
9. Integrating Online Chat in Foreign Language Programs:
Suggestions and Resources 201
Introduction 201
Setting Up Partnerships 201
Online Conversation Topics 202
Choosing Appropriate Chat Software 202
Integration of Online Chat through Assessment 203
In or Out of Class? 204
Social Diversity of Native Speaker Interlocutors 204
Encouraging Noticing through Learner Reports 205
Appendix 1 Full Extended Chat Session of One Native-Speaker-
Learner Dyad Including Papaveri Sequence 207
Appendix 2 Complete Brief Multiple Chat Sessions of One Learner,
Including Sono Andata Sopra Sequence 222
Appendix 3 Instructions on How to Access Facebook Chat 236
References 239
Index 245
Acknowledgements
I am indebted to Tony Liddicoat for drawing my attention to potential
applications of Conversation Analysis to online intercultural talk. I am also
grateful for his guidance, comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of the
manuscript, especially those which enriched the analysis with alternative
interpretations of participants’ interactional intentions. Any errors and
omissions in this text are entirely my own.
Thank you to the students of Italian at the University of South Australia,
who so enthusiastically participated in this study. I hope it does justice to
their resourcefulness and initiative within a relatively new and unorthodox
learning environment. I also wish to acknowledge my colleagues Giancarlo
Chiro, Milena Ciroli and Isobel Grave, and the professional staff at
the School of Communication, International Studies & Languages, for
their support during the fi nal stages of writing and submission of the
manuscript.
I wish to acknowledge my commissioning editor Gurdeep Mattu and
assistant editor Colleen Coalter for their patience with my many delays.
Angela Scarino and Kerry Green’s support was also essential to the success-
ful completion of this study, as was the work of translator Rosanna Kelly.
Finally, I wish to thank my husband Giuseppe for his moral support and
for putting up with my absences. I am also grateful to my son Marco for
impatiently urging me to fi nish the book.
List of Abbreviations
CA = Conversation Analysis
SLA = Second Language Acquisition
Chat = text chat, as opposed to face-to-face conversation or voice chat
which refers to online audio communication; voice chat may or
may not include face-to-face communication via a webcam.
NS = native speaker
L = learner
NNS = non-native speaker (when citing other studies otherwise L is used)