In the assessment of second language oral communication, the video-call speaking test has received increasing attention as a test method with higher practicality than its in-person counterpart, but still with broad coverage of the test construct. Previous studies into video-call assessment have focussed on the individual (as opposed to paired or…

Using multimodal conversation analysis, this article analyses language learning as an "in situ" process during a teacher-assigned, experientially based pedagogical activity. The activity involved a three-part pedagogical structure, where learners first prepared for and then participated in real-life service encounters, and later…

We examine the syntactic structures exhibited by persons with dementia in conversation. Traditionally, research on the linguistic abilities of persons with dementia is either observational (reports kept by caregivers) or experimental (e.g. based on comprehension tasks), and the focus is not on the syntactic competence of the speaker. We combine…

This article is a conceptual and methodological exploration of a new construct, task interactional difficulty, and of a possible approach to assessing task demands in general. After arguing for the use of 'task difficulty' instead of 'task complexity', the notion of task interactional difficulty is analyzed, first by reviewing previous SLA…

Research on the linguistic characteristics of university classroom discourse highlights the salience, in this register, of non-informational and subjective aspects of discourse. This dimension of classroom discourse, however, has not been studied systematically. Taking a corpus-based approach, this study investigates the non-informational…

The article explores "culture talk" at the outset of first-time encounters between teachers and students of English as a foreign language in the conversation lounge of a Japanese university. It analyses the interactional procedures by which the foreign place of origin of the teacher becomes the topic of conversation following his or her…

Addresses the notion of "interaction" within performance-based language assessment, arguing that a broader professional view of performance in second-language achievement assessment is needed to permit a focus on the social dimension of interaction. The article focuses on the assessment of spoken language through interviews and role-plays within…

Focuses on differences in back channelling, repair, repetition, pausing, and private speech among Japanese and American study participants, based on sales negotiations. Findings indicate that differences in the deployment of such features as back channelling and pausing can result in pragma-linguistic breakdown, which is linked to culturally…

Presents a framework for the analysis of verbal interaction between teacher and pupils in primary-level English as a foreign language (EFL) lessons. Attempts to illuminate the support to learning which can be offered by the teacher's responsiveness to pupils. The research data-base includes audio and video tapes from EFL classes in Malaysia,…

In cross-cultural interaction in medical settings, the potential for miscommunication increases when the language proficiency of one of the interactants is low. Sources of communicative success include the ability of both parties to draw contextually triggered inferences providing a basis for making perceptual contributions and using communication…

Examines the intersection of learner identity, social position, and second-language acquisition. The article, which focuses on a case study of a white woman learning Japanese in Japan, presents a conversation between the learner and her professor to show the dynamic coconstruction of identity and sociolinguistic proficiency within conversational…