Article published in:
Dialogue in Multilingual and Multimodal Communities
Edited by Dale Koike and Carl S. Blyth
[Dialogue Studies 27] 2015
► pp. 107–137

‘Tú no eres española’

Teasing of L2 learners in host family communities of practice

| Illinois State University
Teasing has been defined as a humorous speech genre in which a co-present participant is the target of joking (Boxer and Cortés-Conde 1997). Research on teasing in everyday conversation has revealed a range of functions, including social influence, identity negotiation, conflict resolution, bonding, and amusement (e.g. Mills and Babrow 2003). While teasing has long been studied from ethnographic and conversation-analytic perspectives, the insights and methods from this research have heretofore not been applied to teasing involving L2 learners. The present study addresses this topic, analyzing teasing in conversations between L2 learners studying abroad in Spain and their Spanish host families and applying a communities of practice framework to examine teasing practices.
Published online: 10 July 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/ds.27.04shi
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