This contribution follows the current research in conversation analysis (CA) in the field of second language (L2) acquisition, which emphasizes the crucial role of social interaction in language learning and the importance of active participation. This perspective conceives learning as involving not only the acquisition of language skills, but also the development of a set of interactional resources for participating in L2 social interactions (Hall & Pekarek Doehler 2011). These resources include appropriate turn-taking and co-constructing larger sequences of social actions with others, in order to engage in classroom activities. Increasingly, studies also shed light on learners' participation through use of multimodal resources, including gestures, gaze, and manipulation of classroom artifacts.
Explanations are one of the most typical activities in the language classroom and are often the responsibility of the teacher. In this paper, I examine how L2 French learners provide multimodal and collaborative vocabulary explanations (Fasel Lauzon 2014, Morton 2015, Tai & Khabbazbashi 2019) and thus challenge the traditional institutional roles and become active participants in the classroom interactions (Merke 2016). Providing explanations require mobilizing language, logical thinking, and adaptating to others and context. They can thus present a challenge, particularly when learners have limited L2 resources and cannot rely on a shared L1 in the classroom.
My data consist of 50 hours of video-recorded whole-class interactions in a language school for adult migrants in Switzerland. Students are following intensive L2 French courses at a beginner level. The study draws on multimodal CA to investigate how learners provide collaborative (i.e., co-constructed by different participants) vocabulary explanations and how these explanations are organized, distributed, and locally accomplished.
More specifically, I discuss (1) how learners mobilize a set of multimodal resources, including depictive gestures, gaze and classroom artifacts to provide vocabulary explanations and (2) how participants co-construct larger explanatory sequences in a collaborative way.
My analysis highlights how this activity allows learners to exercise their participation and demonstrate both linguistic and interactive expertise by challenging traditional institutional roles. My findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the functioning of collaborative explanations in the L2 classroom and, in particular, of the specific participatory dynamics in language classes for beginner learners with migrant backgrounds. They also highlight the multimodal participatory strategies deployed by learners, enabling them to participate actively even with limited language resources.
Fasel Lauzon, V. (2014). Comprendre et apprendre dans l'interaction: les séquences d'explication en classe de français langue seconde. Peter Lang.
Hall, J.K, & Pekarek Doehler, S. (2011). L2 interactional competence and development. In J.K. Hall, J. Hellermann & S. Pekarek Doehler (Eds.), L2 Interactional Competence and Development. Multilingual Matters
Merke, S. (2016). Establishing the explainable in Finnish-as-a-foreign-language classroom interaction: student-initiated explanation sequences. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 9, 1-15.
Morton, T. (2015). Vocabulary explanations in CLIL classrooms: a conversation analysis perspective. The Language Learning Journal, 43(3), 256-270.
Tai, K.W.H, & Khabbazbashi, N. (2019a). Vocabulary explanations in beginning-level adult ESOL classroom interactions: A conversation analysis perspective. Linguistics and Education, 52, 61-77.
