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Article published In:
Pragmatics
Vol. 29:4 (2019) ► pp.571–594

The dynamic layering of relational pairs in L2 classrooms

The inextricable relationship between sequential and categorial analysis

| University of Macau

The focus of this paper will be placed upon the methods people use to interact in second language learning settings, discussing interactional aspects of language use in the ongoing production of classroom events. The extracts selected for analysis were drawn from Portuguese language lessons (for beginner and advanced students) in a Chinese university. The results show how L2 classroom participants secure joint orientation and mutual understanding of the categorial pairs (such as ‘teacher-student’ and ‘native-non-native’) being invoked in the sequential organization of the utterances. In other words, when classroom members show orientation to a categorial pair, their subsequent moves will exhibit predicates (actions) of that pair, which will be available to the analyst as phenomena to be explored. This suggests that the sequential elements of the interaction and the membership categorization work carried out by the participants require attention for praxiological enquiries.

Keywords: membership categorization analysis, sequential analysis, ethnomethodology, conversation analysis, second language classroom, Portuguese as a second language, praxiological studies, ethnomethodological studies of work
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Classroom events as phenomena of order*
  • 3.Members and membership
  • 4.Classroom talk and membership categories
  • 5.Categorizing membership and organizing the sequence of utterances in L2 classrooms
    • 5.1Categorizing natives and non-natives
    • 5.2Categorizing speakers of different language varieties
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Published online: 20 August 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.17047.mou
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