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This article explores the usage‐ and exemplar‐based roots of second language (L2) negation construction learning. Based on two longitudinal case studies involving two adult L2 English learners and a corpus of 63 three‐hour sessions of recorded classroom interactions, the study shows that L2 learning follows the predictions of usage‐based models of language knowledge and acquisition, as the two participants’ learning of English negation constructions is found to go from recurring expressions toward an increasingly schematic, dynamic inventory of linguistic resources. Furthermore, exploring the evolution of two negation patterns in ongoing discourse, I suggest that local usage and long‐term learning are inseparable and call for further detailed investigations of how locally contextualized interactions influence L2 development.

This study uses conversation analysis (CA) to investigate the coupling of specific linguistic items with specific gestures in second language (L2) learning over time. In particular, we are interested in how gestures accompany learning of new vocabulary. CA-informed studies of gesture have previously shown the importance of embodiment in L2 use and situated learning, substantiating the idea that gestures are ingrained in the ongoing work to achieve and maintain intersubjectivity. We investigate how the relation between talk and related embodied activities develops over time and indicates learning processes. Specifically, we show how gesture-talk combinations that the co-participants deploy at a certain point in time to display understanding are reused at later occasions. Examples investigated here are the prepositions under and across, and our data indicate that at least these specific linguistic constructions are deeply embodied in ways that change slowly over time around an iconic core, as the linguistic items are being learned, suggesting a strong link between L2 vocabulary learning and gestures.

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