This volume collects empirical studies applying Conversation Analysis to situations where second, third and other additional languages are used. A number of different aspects are considered, including how linguistic systems develop over time through social interaction, how participants 'do' language learning and teaching in classroom and everyday…

Reviews and synthesizes speech act analysis (Austin and Searles), politeness phenomena (Brown and Levinson), rules affecting speaking (Hymes), and activity analysis (Wittgenstein). Advances the notion that the theories are complementary rather than contradictory. (EKN)

This study presents a taxonomy of the recasts that arose in communicative ESL and EFL classrooms. The taxonomy is used to examine the relationship between different characteristics of recasts and learner uptake/repair. Characteristics that were significantly related to uptake were the length of recasts (short vs. long), the linguistic focus…

The overall role played by hypercorrection in the literature on language change, language variation, and second language acquisition is reviewed. The paper argues that hypercorrection is not a completely unified phenomenon, citing an empirical study showing that quantitative methods applied to qualitative hypercorrection necessarily involve…

Current research supports the notion that language users make both unconscious and conscious choices when accommodating their language for public use, incorporating regional and social distinctions as well as notions of correctness and acceptability. Such decisions occur at the level of communicative competence and become part of the communicative…

To assist language researchers in their analysis of interlanguage, some values for the linguistic variables of Source Language (SL), Interlanguage (IL), and Target Language (TL) are set forth. Although the fundamental assumption underlying interlanguage research is that interlanguages are linguistic systems, it is difficult to describe the…

Discusses the measurability of linguistic and communicative competence in light of the performance/competence dichotomy, and proposes a method for measuring loss of communicative competence using spontaneous speech data. (11 references) (Author/CK)

The same semantic strategies for requesting are available in Spanish and English. Bilingual children use more polite strategies in speaking Spanish and more neutral ones in speaking English. (PMJ)

The development of the Conversational Unit (CU) was investigated in a semilongitudinal study of three mother/son dyads in nonstructured spontaneous communication. The children were 19 to 23 months old at the start of the investigation. Sound films were recorded monthly during bathing and feeding times. After four months, verbal and nonverbal…

Most studies of language acquisition overlook the fact that a child learns language in the context of acquiring the social skill of conversing known as "turn-taking." The few studies of verbal turn-taking in children suggest that prosodic features (suprasegmentals) and turn-taking skills are integrated by the age of two years, nine months, and…

The need for an index of development by which second language proficiency could be expediently and reliably guaged has been acknowledged by both second language (L2) teachers and researchers. In two previous L2 studies, the search for an index of development centered on an examination of learner written performance. In an attempt to construct an…

A study investigated whether sociolinguistic rules are taught as part of instruction in English as a Second Language in Japan. It was determined that of three types of institutions in which English is taught, the private language institutes offer far better language instruction than public schools or universities, and that some of the instructors…

Little is known about how children gain interpersonal access in settings where adults are not present or are unavailable. This study sought to describe children's strategies for access into and withdrawal from peer interactive episodes in a nursery school. Data were collected from direct observations of two groups of children. One group attended…

Metalinguistic knowledge, or linguistic awareness, involves the ability to focus attention upon the form of language in and of itself, rather than merely as the vehicle by which meaning is conveyed. This ability to analyze language structures lags behind spontaneous speaking and listening performance because of the additional cognitive skills…

This book is written primarily for those studying linguistic topics in the area of sign language, but also can be useful to sign language teachers who want to understand more about American Sign Language (ASL). Pen-and-ink illustrations allow the reader with no knowledge of sign language to follow the discussion. The hypothesis examined in this…