Within the communicative language teaching approach, current instructional materials often lack explicit guidance or fail to provide L2 learners with a wide range of resources in the target language. Conversation analysis (CA), which focuses on authentic talk, has been proposed as a potential resource for language classrooms. This study examines…

The human ability to anticipate upcoming behavior not only enables smooth turn transitions but also makes early responses possible, as respondents use a variety of cues that provide for early projection of the type of action that is being performed. This article examines resources for projection in interaction in three unrelated…

In classroom settings, students' competence is regularly evaluated through a default practice named Initiation-Response-Feedback (IRF) or Initiation-Response-Evaluation (IRE). In the feedback or evaluation turn, the teacher normally uses acknowledgement tokens (such as uhm, yeah, okay). These tokens perform an active role of maintaining…

Findings indicate that lapses in conversation occur when one of the participants uses responses which fail to advance the topic. Analysis of the postlapse data indicates that subsequent to a lapse, the most probable strategy is for one of the participants to pose a question which the partner is obligated to answer. (PD)

Suggests that young children use their expectations of a context-specific, normal range of pause duration in timing the onset of a turn at speaking. (FL)

Examines social differences in expectations of indirectness in conversations between married couples, both Greek and Greek-American. Concludes that Greeks are more likely to expect indirectness in the context presented and that Greek-Americans have retained the Greek communicative patterns. (FL)

Presents an analysis of the speech practices of preschool children engaged in daily play and interactions, by adopting a perspective that recognizes young children organizing social membership through talk and activity. A reading based on traditional early childhood practices is contrasted with an alternative reading showing children constructing…

A study examined the relationship between interaction involvement--a kind of communication competence--and communication behavior in a negotiation setting. Subjects, 120 college students, completed the Interaction Involvement Scale and were placed in same-sex dyads of three types: (1) mixed dyads of one high- and one low-involved subject; (2)…

An analysis of questioning strategies considers the kinds of responses that can be made to a question (different kinds of questions and their customary responses, and different kinds of response to the same kind of question). Additionally, the advantages/disadvantages to the use of the reproduction criterion in a sociological study are assessed.…

The conversational interactions of 25 mothers and their 4.5-year-old children, who had been born preterm, were evaluated during a social problem-solving task. The subject mothers tended to approach the task as a vocabulary lesson, whereas comparison mothers tended to focus on the social negotiation aspect of the task. Possible explanations for…

Studied one aspect of communication competency: how people express emotions through verbal behavior. Found, among other conclusions, that references to unpleasant emotions outnumber references to pleasant emotions almost two to one. (PD)

The way that mothers' input assists children with the use of their linguistic resources for negotiating peer interaction was studied. Two two-year-old girls and their mothers were videotaped once a month for eight months while the foursome met at a weekly playgroup. The mothers' language was analyzed in terms of the following questions: (1) Does…

Investigates the social background of oldcomer Taiwanese in Japan while examining their language behavior in intraethnic communication and in interethnic interaction with Japanese. Analysis of two conversations reveals that many Asians seek to pass as Japanese, a behavior contributing to the reproduction of the existing social hierarchy of…