"My major is English, belive it or not:)" – Participant orientations in nonnative/native text chat
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11139/cj.30.3.393-409Keywords:
synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC), second language learning acquisition, interaction, L2 selfAbstract
In their interactions with native speakers (NS), nonnative speakers (NNS) often position themselves as relative novices. For example, they may orient to the language expertise differential by apologizing for their linguistic ineptness or by making self-disparaging remarks about their second language (L2). This is true even for advanced learners in settings which foreground language learning (Hosoda, 2006). By and large, previous research on NNS/NS interaction has narrowly focused on instances where L2 ineptness interferes with mutual understanding. Widening the scope of analysis, this study considers such orientations more broadly, including those where perceived L2 shortcomings did not trigger miscommunication.
Using extracts from a corpus of dyadic NNS/NS task-based interactions in quasi-synchronous CMC (SCMC), this study seeks to document ways in which advanced NNS participants position themselves and are positioned by NSs. The findings show that, as a group, these orientations to participants' differential language competence do not primarily occur in (other-)repair sequences but rather elsewhere in the interaction. The data suggest that they serve a range of social functions, including (re-)indexing an L2 social self, building and maintaining social solidarity and intersubjectivity with the coparticipant, and ratifying the power of the native speaker (see Kramsch, 1998).
References
Arundale, R. (2006). Face as relational and interactional: A communication framework for research on face, facework and politeness. Journal of Politeness Research,2(2), 193-217. doi: 10.1515/PR.2006.011
Averianova, I. (2012). The language of electronic communication and its implications for TEFL. Procedia –Social and Behavioral Sciences, 34, 14-19.doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.02.004
Bakhtin, M. (1981). The dialogic imagination.Austin: University of Texas Press.
Belz, J.,& Reinhardt, J. (2004). Aspects of advanced foreign language proficiency: Internet-mediated German language play. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 14(3), 324-362.doi: 10.1111/j.1473-4192.2004.00069.x
Brouwer, C., Rasmussen, G.,& Wagner, J. (2004). Embedded corrections in second language talk. In R. Gardner & J. Wagner (Eds.), Second language conversations(pp. 75-92). London/New York: Continuum.
Brown, P.,& Levinson, S. (1987). Politeness.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K. (2005). Identity and interaction: A sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse Studies,7(4-5), 585-614.doi: 10.1177/1461445605054407
Crystal, D. (2001) Language and the Internet.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Crystal, D. (2005) Txting. The gr8 db8. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Danet, B. (1998) Text as mask: Gender and identity on the Internet. In S.Jones (Ed.), Cybersociety 2.0: Revisiting computer mediated communication and community(pp.129-158). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Danet, B. (2001) Cyberpl@y: Communicating online. New York: Berg.
Danet, B., Ruedenberg-Wright, L., & Rosenbaum-Tamari, Y. (1997). Hmmm. Where’s that smoke coming from?” Writing, play and performance on internet relay chat. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication,2(4), np. Retrieved January 30, 2007, from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol2/issue4/danet.html
del-Teso-Craviotto, M. (2006).Language and sexuality in Spanish and English dating chats. Journal of Sociolinguistics,10(4),460-480.doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9841.2006.00288.x
Dresner, E.,& Herring, S. C. (2010). Functions of the nonverbal in CMC: Emoticons and illocutionary force. CommunicationTheory, 20(3), 249-268.doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2885.2010.01362.x
Du Bois, J. (2002, November) Stance and consequence. Paper given at the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, New Orleans.
Du Bois, J. (2007) Stancetaking in discourse. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: Benjamins.
Fisher, K., Phelps, R., & Ellis, A. (2000). Group processes online: Teaching collaboration through collaborative processes. Educational Technology and Society, 3(3), 484-495.
Gass, S. M., & Varonis E. M. (1985). Task variation and nonnative/nonnative negotiation of meaning. In S. M. Gass and C. G. Madden (Eds.),Input in second language acquisition(pp. 149-161). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Gass, S. M., & Varonis, E. M. (1986). Sex differences in non-native speaker/nonnative speaker interactions. In R. R. Day (Ed.),Talking to learn: Conversation in second language acquisition(pp. 327-351). Cambridge, MA: Newbury House.
Georgakopoulou, A. (2005). Computer-mediated communication. In J.-O. Östman & J. Verschueren (Eds.), Handbook of pragmatics online(pp. 1-20). (Loose-leaf). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Retrieved January 15, 2007, from http://www.benjamins.com/online/hop/
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction ritual: Essays in face-to-face behavior. Chicago: Random House.
Hancock, J.T. (2004). Verbal irony use in face-to-face and computer-mediated conversations. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 23(4),447-463.doi: 10.1177/0261927X04269587
Hauser, E. K. (2003). "Corrective recasts” and other-correctionof language form in interaction among native and nonnative speakers of English(Unpublished doctoral dissertation).University of Hawai‘i.
Heritage, J. (1984) A change-of-state token and aspects of its sequential placement. In M. J. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structure of social action: Studies in conversation analysis(pp. 299-345). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Herring, S. C. (1999) 1999. Interactional coherence in CMC. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 4(4). Retrieved February 20, 2008, fromhttp://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol4/issue4/herring.html
Herring, S. C. (2001) Computer-mediated discourse. In D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen & H. E. Hamilton (Eds.), The handbook of discourse analysis(pp.612-634). Oxford: Blackwell.
Herring, S. C. (2007). A faceted classification scheme for computer-mediated discourse. Language@Internet, 4(1). Retrieved February 15, 2013, from http://www.languageatinternet.org/articles/2007/761
Hosoda, Y. (2000). Other-repair in Japanese conversations between nonnative and native speakers. Issues in Applied Linguistics, 11(1), 39-65.
Hosoda, Y. (2002) Analyzing Japanese native-nonnative speaker conversation: Categories, other-repair, and production delay. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Temple University.
Hosoda, Y. (2006). Repair and relevance of differential language expertise in second language conversations. Applied Linguistics, 27(1), 25-50.doi: 10.1093/applin/ami022
Kalin, M. (1995).Coping with problems of understanding: Repair sequences in conversations between native and non-native speakers(No. 36). University of Jyväskylä.
Kasper, G. (2004) Participant orientations in German conversation-for-learning. Modern Language Journal, 88(4), 551-567.doi: 10.1111/j.0026-7902.2004.t01-18-.x
Kasper, G., & Ross, S. (2003). Repetition as a source of miscommunication in oral proficiency interviews. In J. House, G. Kasper & S. Ross (Eds.), Misunderstanding in social life(pp. 82-106). Harlow, UK: Longman/Pearson Education.
Kehrwald, B. (2008). Understanding social presence in text-based online learning environments. Distance Education, 29(1), 89-106.doi: 10.1080/01587910802004860
Kehrwald, B. (2010). Being online: Social presence as subjectivity inonline learning. London Review of Education, 8(1), 39-50.doi: 10.1080/14748460903557688
Kramsch, C. (1998). Language and culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kramsch, C. (2009). The multilingual subject. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kurhila, S. (2001). Correction in talk between native and non-native speakers. Journal of Pragmatics, 33(7), 1083-1110. doi: 10.1016/S0378-2166(00)00048-5
Lantolf, J.(1996). Second language acquisition theory-building: 'Letting all the Flowers Bloom!' Language Learning,46(4), 713-749.
Lantolf, J. P. (Ed.). (2000).Sociocultural theory and second language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lantolf, J. P., & Appel, G. (1994).Vygotskian approaches to second language research. Westport, CT: Ablex Publishing.
Lantolf, J., & Thorne, S. L. (2006).Sociocultural theory and the genesis of second language development. New York: Oxford University Press.
Liddicoat, A. (1997). Interaction, social structure, and second language use: A response to Firth and Wagner. Modern Language Journal, 81(3), 313-317. doi: 10.2307/329305
Long, M. (1983). Native speaker/non-native speaker conversation and the negotiation of comprehensible input.Applied Linguistics, 4, 126-141.doi: 10.1093/applin/4.2.126
Long, M. H. (1996). The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition.Handbook of second language acquisition,26, 413-468.doi: 10.1016/B978-012589042-7/50015-3
Markee, N. (2000). Conversation analysis. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Nakahama, Y., Tyler, A., & van Lier, L. (2001).Negotiation of meaning in conversational and information gap activities: A comparative discourse analysis. TESOL Quarterly, 35(3), 377-405.doi: 10.2307/3588028
North, S. (2007). ‘The voices, the voices’: Creativity in online conversation. Applied Linguistics, 28(4), 538-555.doi: 10.1093/applin/amm042
Norton Peirce, B. (1995). Social identity, investment, and language learning. TESOL Quarterly,29(1), 9-31. doi: 10.2307/3587803
Pica, T. (1994). Research on negotiation: What does it reveal about second-language learning conditions, processes, and outcomes?Language Learning, 44(3), 493-527.doi: 10.1111/j.1467-1770.1994.tb01115.x
Pica, T., & Doughty, C. (1985). Input and interaction in the communicative language classroom: A comparison of teacher-fronted and group activities. In S. M. Gass & C. Madden (Eds.),Input in second language acquisition(pp. 115-132). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Pica, T., Kanagy, R., & Falodun, J. (1993). Choosing and using communication tasks for second language research and instruction. In G. Crookes & S. M. Gass (Eds.), Tasks and second language learning(pp. 9-34). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Rampton, B. (1990). ‘Displacing the ‘‘native speaker’’: Expertise, affiliationand inheritance,’ ELT Journal,44(2), 97-101. doi: 10.1093/elt/44.2.97
Rellstab, D.H. (2007). Staging gender online: Gender plays in Swiss Internet relay chats. Discourse & Society, 18(6), 765-787.doi: 10.1177/0957926507082195
Ricento, T. (2005). Considerations of identity in L2 learning. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research on second language teaching and learning(pp. 895-911). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Rouzie, A. (2001) Conversation and carrying-on: Play, conflict, and serio-ludic discourse in synchronous computer conferencing. College Composition and Communication, 53(2),251-299.doi: 10.2307/359078
Sauro, S. (2009). Computer-mediated corrective feedback and the development of L2 grammar. Language Learning & Technology,13(1), 96-120. Retrieved February 2, 2012, from http://llt.msu.edu/vol13num1/sauro.pdf
Sauro, S. (2013). The cyber language exchange: Cross-national computer-mediated interaction. In K. McDonough & A. Mackey (Eds.), Second language interaction in diverse educational contexts(pp. 129-146). Amsterdam, Philadelphia: Benjamins.
Scarcella, R., & Higa, C. (1981). Input, negotiation, and age differences in second language acquisition.Language Learning, 31(2), 409-438.doi: 10.1111/j.1467-1770.1981.tb01392.x
Schegloff, E. A., Jefferson, G., & Sacks, H. (1977). The preference for self-correction in the organization of repair in conversation. Language, 53(2), 361-382.doi: 10.2307/413107
Shea, D. P. (1994). Perspective and production: Structuring conversational participation across cultural borders. Pragmatics, 4(3), 357-389.
Short, J.A., Williams, E., & Christie, B. (1976). The social psychology of telecommunications. London: Wiley.
Tu, C.H. (2000). On-line learning migration: From social learning theory to social presence theory in CMC environments. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 23(1),27-37.doi: 10.1006/jnca.1999.0099
Tu, C.H. (2001). How Chinese perceive social presence: An examination of an online learning environment. Educational Media International, 38(1), 45-60.doi: 10.1080/09523980010021235
Tudini, V. (2010) Online second language acquisition. Conversation analysis of online chat. New York: Continuum.
Vandergriff, I. (2013).A pragmatic investigation of emoticon use. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Vandergriff, I., & Fuchs, C. (2009). Does CMC promote language play? Exploring humor in two modalities. CALICO Journal, 27(1), 26-47.
Vandergriff, I., & Fuchs, C. (2012). How to Laugh Online -Humor Support in Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication (SCMC)” HUMOR. International Journal of Humor Research, 25(4),437-458.
van Lier, L. (2004). The ecology and semiotics of language learning. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
van Lier, L., & Matsuo, N. (2000). Varieties of conversational experience: Looking for learning opportunities. Applied Language Learning, 11(2), 265-287.
Varonis, E. M., & Gass, S. (1985a). Miscommunication in native/non-native conversation.Language in Society, 14(3), 327-343.
Varonis, E., & Gass, S. (1985b). Non-native/non-native conversations: A model for the negotiation of meaning.Applied Linguistics, 6, 71-90.doi: 10.1093/applin/6.1.71
Warner, C. (2004). It’s just a game, right? Types of play in foreign language CMC. Language Learning and Technology 8(2), 69-87. Retrieved June 1, 2012, from http://llt.msu.edu/vol8num2/warner/default.html
Walther, J. B. (1992). Interpersonal effects in computer-mediated interaction: A relational perspective. Communication Research, 19(1), 52-90.doi: 10.1177/009365092019001003
Walther, J. B., & Tidwell, L. C. (1995). Nonverbal cues in computer-mediated communication and the effect of chronemics on relationalcommunication. Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, 5(4), 355-378.doi: 10.1080/10919399509540258
Wong, J. (2000). Delayed next turn repair initiation in native/nonnative speaker English conversation. Applied Linguistics, 21(2), 244-267. doi: 10.1093/applin/21.2.244
