Functional Diversification and Progressive Routinization of a Multiword Expression in and for Social Interaction: A Longitudinal L2 Study

Abstract

In this article, we bring together conversation analysis and usage-based linguistics to investigate the second language (L2) developmental trajectory of a linguistic construction within the complex multimodal ecology of naturally occurring social interaction. We document how, over the course of 15 months, an L2 speaker's use of the French multiword expression comment on dit [how do you say] diversifies in both form and function. Two types of longitudinal change are observed: (a) The expression expands in its context of use: "Literal" uses are observed initially to request a candidate lexical item but are later also found in requests for confirmation, (b) these literal uses become proportionally less frequent, and the expression progressively routinizes as a marker-like element used for indexing cognitive search and floorholding, and eventually also as a preface to self-correction. This routinization entails erosion in form and meaning, in concert with systematic change in co-occurring bodily-visual conduct, in particular gaze and gesture. By documenting change over time in the functional use and the multimodal delivery of the target construction, the findings evidence the longitudinal development of L2 grammar-for-interaction and showcase how linguistic and bodily resources may interface in L2 development. They also have important implications for language teaching and learning.

Learning Grammar for Social Action: Implications for Research and Language Teaching

“…The studies reported here—in particular, those by Theodórsdóttir & Eskildsen (2022, this issue), Hellermann & Thorne (2022, this issue), and Pekarek Doehler & Skogmyr Marian (2022, this issue)—align with earlier work that stresses the value of rewilding language education (Thorne et al., 2021) in the form of pedagogical frameworks and infrastructures that center on L2 learners’ needs and experiences of language use outside the classroom. This addresses “the challenge of how to dynamically integrate formal learning settings with the vibrancy and diversity of linguistic, experiential, and situational contexts out in the world” (Hellermann & Thorne, 2022, this issue, p. 93).…”

“…Second, similarly to Theodórsdóttir and Eskildsen's work, they point to the importance of examining how L2 usage patterns adjust to and develop in response to local interactional needs. This lends support to the argument that “grammatical routines may be motivated by social‐interactional exigencies” (Pekarek Doehler & Skogmyr Marian, 2022, this issue, p. 40; see also Couper–Kuhlen, 2011; Pekarek Doehler & Balaman, 2021). Importantly, the detailed qualitative analysis of the data reveals that the different uses of the multiword expression intertwine with precise embodied displays—in particular, recurrent gaze patterns.…”

“…The study by Pekarek Doehler & Skogmyr Marian (2022, this issue) traces the developmental trajectory of the multiword construction comment on dit [how do you say] in French focusing on the interplay of linguistic, prosodic, and embodied resources in turn construction. The authors’ careful analysis of longitudinal data from one learner's interactions in L2 French conversation circles over 15 months documents notable differences in formal patterns and functional uses of the construction in the beginning and end of the recording period.…”

“…Waring (2018, 2019), for example, showed how interactional practices for turn‐taking and sequential organization can be approached as teachable objects (see also Wong & Waring, 2010). Teaching materials and pedagogic frameworks do not always capture the variety of pragmatic aspects and interactional functions of linguistic resources, as the studies by Theodórsdóttir & Eskildsen (2022, this issue), and by Pekarek Doehler & Skogmyr Marian (2022, this issue) indicate. As Greer & Nanbu (2022, this issue) show, it is also possible that pedagogical approaches that emphasize written grammar influence L2 speakers’ ability to deploy linguistic resources in locally appropriate ways and give rise to practices related to written texts.…”

Combinations and Connections: Reaching Across Disciplinary Boundaries

“…It depended on CA researchers adopting a more diachronic approach to investigate the learning of social practices (Hall, 2004; Larsen–Freeman, 2004). In their present contribution to this special issue, it seems to me that Pekarek Doehler and Skogmyr Marian (2022, this issue) have met this challenge. An important decision they made was to have the focus of their research emerge from the data, not from a preordained linguistic category.…”