Chapter published in:
Usage-inspired L2 Instruction: Researched pedagogy
Edited by Andrea E. Tyler, Lourdes Ortega, Mariko Uno and Hae In Park
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 49] 2018
► pp. 75–91

Chapter 4
On the relationship between interaction and language learning

A usage-based perspective grounded in interactional sociolinguistics

| The University of Alabama
Interactional Sociolinguistics (IS) offers a multifaceted perspective on how language is contextually interpreted, as well as a rich methodology for discovering the speaker’s choices when creating situated discourse. For those concerned with second language learning and the current usage-based turn, IS can provide important insights into language use and learning. This chapter gives a brief overview of the fundamentals of IS, followed by a set of examples concerning how an IS orientation has been implemented in practice, starting with classroom-based learning and moving into increasingly authentic contexts while at the same time increasing the agentivity of the learner. The key idea is that an approach rooted in interactional sociolinguistics highlights the development of skills in the learner to become an active agent and even an ethnographer of his/her/their own communication.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Interactional sociolinguistics: A précis
  • Contexts of language learning
  • The traditional language classroom
  • ITA training as a special situation linked to a classroom context
  • Supplementary conversation groups
  • Research as a context of teaching
  • Typically invisible language learning opportunities
  • Student is guided in becoming an ethnographer of his/her own communication
  • Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 13 February 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.49.04dav
References
Atkinson, D., & Sohn, J.
(2013) Culture from the bottom up. TESOL Quarterly, 47(4), 669–693. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Badger, R., & MacDonald, M.
(2010) Making it real: Authenticity, process and pedagogy. Applied Linguistics, 31(4), 578–582. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Hartford, B. S.
(2005a) Institutional discourse and interlanguage pragmatics. In K. Bardovi-Harlig & B. S. Hartford (Eds.), Interlanguage pragmatics: Exploring institutional talk (pp. 7–36). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
(2005b) Practical considerations. In K. Bardovi-Harlig & B. S. Hartford (Eds.), Interlanguage pragmatics: Exploring institutional talk (pp. 201–221). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Bateson, G.
(1972) Steps to an ecology of mind. New York, NY: Ballantine Books.Google Scholar
Blom, J.-P., & Gumperz, J. J.
(1972) Social meaning in linguistic structures: Code switching in northern Norway. In J. J. Gumperz & D. Hymes (Eds.), Directions in sociolinguistics (pp. 407–434). New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.Google Scholar
Boxer, D., & Pickering, L.
(1995) Problems in the presentation of speech acts in ELT materials: The case of complaints. ELT Journal, 49(1), 44–58. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Canale, M.
(1983) On some dimensions of language proficiency. In J. W. Oller (Ed.), Issues in language testing research (pp. 333–342). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Canale, M., & Swain, M.
(1980) Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1(1), 1–47. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Celce-Murcia, M.
(1995) The elaboration of sociolinguistic competence: Implications for teacher education. In J. Alatis, C. Straehle, B. Gallenberger, & M. Ronkin (Eds.), Linguistics and the education of second language teachers: Ethnolinguistic, psycholinguistic, and sociolinguistic aspects (pp. 699–710). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, A. D., & Griffiths, C.
(2015) Revisiting LLS research 40 years later. TESOL Quarterly, 49(2), 414–429. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Davies, C. E.
(1998) Maintaining American face in the Korean oral exam: Reflections on the power of cross-cultural context. In R. Young & A. Weiyun He (Eds.), Talking and testing (pp. 271–296). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2003) How English-learners joke with native speakers: An interactional sociolinguistic perspective on humor as collaborative discourse across cultures. Journal of Pragmatics 35(9), 1361–1385. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2004) Developing awareness of cross-cultural pragmatics: The case of American/German sociable interaction. Multilingua, 23, 207–231. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2005) Learning the discourse of friendship. In A. E. Tyler, M. Takada, Y. Kim, & D. Marinova (Eds.), Language in use: Cognitive and discourse perspectives on language and language learning (pp. 85–99). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
(2015) Humor in intercultural interaction as both content and process in the classroom. HUMOR, 28(3), 375–395. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Davies, C. E., & Tyler, A. E.
(1994) Demystifying cross-cultural (mis)communication: Improving performance through balanced feedback in a situated context. In C. G. Madden & C. L. Myers (Eds.), Discourse and performance of international teaching assistants (pp. 201–220). Alexandria, VA: TESOL.Google Scholar
(2005) Discourse strategies in the context of cross-cultural institutional talk: Uncovering interlanguage pragmatics in the university classroom. In K. Bardovi-Harlig & B. Hartford, (Eds.), Interlanguage pragmatics: Exploring institutional talk (pp. 133–156). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Davies, C. E., Tyler, A. E., & Koran, J. J.
(1989) Face-to-face with English speakers: An advanced training class for international teaching assistants. English for Specific Purposes, 8(2), 139–153. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Flowerdew, J.
(2013) Discourse in English language education. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Garcia, R. M., & DeFeo, D. J.
(2014) Finding your “Spanish voice” through popular media: Improving students’ confidence and fluency. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 14(3), 110–131. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gumperz, J. J.
(1982) Discourse strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1992) Contextualization cues and understanding. In A. Duranti & C. Goodwin (Eds.), Rethinking context: Language as an interactive phenomenon (pp. 229–252). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
(1996) The linguistic and cultural relativity of inference. In J. J. Gumperz & S. C. Levinson (Eds.). Rethinking linguistic relativity (pp. 374–406). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
(2015) Interactional sociolinguistics: A personal perspective. In D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen, & H. Hamilton (Eds.), The handbook of discourse analysis (2nd edition, Volume I, pp. 309–323). Malden, MA: Wiley.Google Scholar
Hymes, D.
(1974) Foundations in sociolinguistics. Philadelphia, PA: The University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Kang, S.-J.
(2005) Dynamic emergence of situational willingness to communicate in a second language. System, 33(2), 277–292. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kasper, G., & Wagner, J.
(2014) Conversation analysis in applied linguistics. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 34, 171–212. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kramsch, C.
(1986) From language proficiency to interactional competence. Modern Language Journal 70(4), 366–372. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Labov, W.
(1972) The logic of nonstandard English. In William Labov, Language in the inner city: Studies in the Black English vernacular (pp. 201–240). Philadelphia, PA: The University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Morita, N.
(2000) Discourse socialization through oral classroom activities in a TESL graduate program. TESOL Quarterly, 34(2), 279–310. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Norton, B.
(2013) Identity and language learning: Extending the conversation (2nd ed.). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Roberts, C., & Cooke, M.
(2009) Authenticity in the adult ESOL classroom and beyond. TESOL Quarterly, 43(4), 620–642. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Rubin, J.
(1975) What the “good language learner” can teach us. TESOL Quarterly, 9(1), 41–51. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, R. W.
(1983) Interaction, acculturation and the acquisition of communicative competence. In N. Wolfson & E. Judd (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and language acquisition (pp. 137–174). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
(1990) The role of consciousness in second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 11(2), 129–158. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, R. W., & Frota, S.
(1986) Developing basic conversational ability in a second language: A case study of an adult learner of Portuguese. In R. R. Day (Ed.), Talking to learn: Conversation in second language acquisition (pp. 237–326). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Shively, R. L.
(2013) Learning to be funny in Spanish during study abroad: L2 humor development. Modern Language Journal, 97(4), 930–946. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Stoller, F. L.
(1995) Examining the value of conversation partner programs. Applied Language Learning, 6(1–2), 1–10.Google Scholar
Tyler, A. E.
(1994) Effective role-play situations and focused feedback: A case for pragmatic analysis in the classroom. In C. G. Madden & C. L. Myers (Eds.), Discourse and performance of international teaching assistants (pp. 116–133). Alexandria, VA: TESOL.Google Scholar
Tyler, A. E., & Davies, C. E.
(1990) Cross-linguistic communication missteps. Text, 10(4), 385–411. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tyler, A. E., & Ortega, L.
(2018) Usage-inspired L2 instruction: An emergent, researched pedagogy. In A. E. Tyler, L. Ortega, M. Uno, & H. I. Park (Eds.), Usage-inspired L2 instruction: Researched pedagogy. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tyler, A. E., Jeffries, A. A., & Davies, C. E.
(1988) The effect of discourse structuring devices on listener perceptions of coherence in non-native university teachers’ spoken discourse. World Englishes, 7(2), 101–110. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Weninger, C., & Kiss, T.
(2013) Culture in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks: A semiotic approach. TESOL Quarterly, 47(4), 694–716. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ziegler, N., Seals, C., Ammons, S., Lake, J., Hamrick, P., & Rebuschat, P.
(2013) Interaction in conversation groups: The development of L2 conversational styles. In K. McDonough & A. Mackey, (Eds.), Second language interaction in diverse educational contexts (pp. 269–292). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Baicchi, Annalisa & Paolo Della Putta
2019. Constructions at work in foreign language learners’ mind. Review of Cognitive Linguistics 17:1 ► pp. 219 ff. Crossref logo
Kraut, Joshua
2018.  In Usage-inspired L2 Instruction [Language Learning & Language Teaching, 49], ► pp. 187 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 31 march 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.