“Congratulation your birthday” - Linguistic and Sequential Characteristics of Social Actions Co-constructed by Korean L2 Learners

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the sequential social actions of Korean L2 learners. Social actions are sequenced temporally by observing the interactions participants have with each other. L2 learners’ interactional resources are deployed along interactional sequences, which are then expanded in some combination of before, during, and after an adjacency pair is completed with a second pair part. Applying inter- and intra- turn relational analysis on the transcription of recorded talk-in interactions will reveal how the first pair part is responded to by the second pair part in terms of preferences and what the pairs are doing in relation to the co-participants. For this purpose, interactions of Korean university students have been recorded and transcribed for analysis of pairs and expansions as well as for linguistic resources. The findings indicate that actions may be performed directly or indirectly with expansions while conversational sequences are developed. Further, language usages distinctive from common uses are found especially in saying “Congratulations” for different purposes, for example offering birthday wishes and others. These results indicate the need to reflect what is and what is not being taught in English language education.