Conversation Analysis and Second Language Acquisition: CA‐SLA

Abstract

This entry presents the conversation analytic approach to the study of second language acquisition (CA‐SLA). It briefly outlines the historical development of the field and its reconceptualization of key concepts: Learning is viewed as a socially situated practice that becomes observable through the micro‐details of social conduct; competence is defined as a locally contingent, ever adaptive ability to use semiotic resources in social interaction at the primary site of human linguistic (and more generally social and mental) functioning; language is seen as part of a complex ensemble of multimodal resources used for meaning making in interaction; and the very object of L2 learning is cast in terms of “methods” (i.e., systematic procedures), for accomplishing second language talk‐in‐interaction. The entry then provides an overview of three key lines of CA‐SLA investigation into L2 learning: (a) microgenetic studies that investigate the local‐interactional emergence of patterns of language use; (b) longitudinal work that analyzes the expansion, over time, of such patterns into new environments of use and their increased working as interaction‐organizational devices (i.e., as part of an L2 grammar‐for‐interaction); (c) longitudinal investigations of the development of L2 interactional competence that document how, over time, L2 speakers change their practices for accomplishing precise actions, such as initiating repair, offering a disagreement, or opening a storytelling. The entry concludes by identifying current developments that open avenues for future research.