Introduction: Nonnative Discourse

Abstract

Introduction: Nonnative Discourse D a v i d Olsher University of California, L o s Angeles ...understanding how nonnative speaking participants make their way in interaction needs to start with what is generally the case in the talk and other conduct in interaction... —Schegloff, 2000, p. 234 This special issue of ial on nonnative discourse includes new conversation analytic research as well as an interview o f Emanuel Schegloff addressing theo­ retical and methodological considerations in using conversation analysis to study nonnative discourse. Conversation analysis ( C A ) is an ethnomethodological branch of sociology which views the micro-interactional practices o f naturally occurring talk-in-interaction as fundamental social structures that are susceptible, via recording and transcription, to detailed empirical analysis. Though C A has been a part of the interdisciplinary community of applied linguistics for many years, only in recent years has a body of C A research on nonnative discourse begun to emerge. A s will be discussed below, there has also been growing discussion of the ways that C A may be used to critique or contribute to various areas o f applied linguistics. The articles in this issue focus on the sequential organization and turn-taking practices in nonnative discourse. The term nonnative discourse is used here to refer to talk and interaction in which one or more participants are not native speakers o f the language being used. Nonnative discourse includes a diversity of languages spoken, linguistic and cul­ tural backgrounds o f participants, configurations of speakers, and social and cul­ tural contexts of interaction. The scope of what may be considered as nonnative discourse is reflected in the articles in this issue, which include native-nonnative speaker ( N S - N N S ) interaction—a kind of intercultural communication—as well as nonnative-nonnative speaker ( N N S - N N S ) interaction— which may also be con­ sidered lingua franca talk. The articles include analysis of English as well as Japanese discourse, foreign language as well as second language contexts, and casual conversation as well as talk in an institutional context. One domain of nonnative discourse that has been the focus o f substantial research is teacher-fronted classroom interaction, building on the work o f Sinclair and Coulthard (1975) and Mehan (1979, 1985), among others. A s a practical choice for this special issue, teacher-fronted classroom discourse was excluded from the scope of research considered in order to provide a forum for research on nonnative speaker interaction in a range of other contexts, including casual conversation as Issues in Applied Linguistics © 2000, Regents of the University of California ISSN 1050-4273 Vol. 11 No. 1,5-16