Chapter 1. L2 Interactional Competence and Development

Topic management in French L2

“…Moreover, they can bring us further towards a more comprehensive view of the L2 learning process (cf. Hall et al 2011). Indeed, a different conceptualisation of learning is needed: the focus should be no longer on the mere linguistic level, but should include also the use of talk-in-interaction.…”

“…Deriving partially from a sociocultural theory of L2 development (for an overview see Hall et al 2011 andLantolf 2011) and partially from research on language socialisation (for an overview see Hall et al 2011 andDuff andTalmy 2011), CA-SLA investigates how learners develop their ability to participate in social interactions. Within this approach, interactional competence is defined "in terms of participants' methods 5 for accomplishing L2 talk-in-interaction" (Hall and Pekarek Doehler 2011: 7).…”

“…To demonstrate the visible changes in my data, I will use the concept of L2 interactional competence (Hall et al 2011) by taking the example of topic introduction in conversation, i.e. how a French L2 speaker introduces a new conversational topic in an on-going interaction.…”

Social interaction and competence development: Learning the structural organization of a communicative practice

“…Interactional competence involves "knowledge of social-contextspecific communicative events or activity types, their typical goals and trajectories of actions by which the goals are realized and the conventional behaviors by which participant roles and role relationships are accomplished" (Hall & Pekarek Doehler, 2011, p. 2, emphasis added, cf. Young, 2011.…”

“…Young, 2011. Specifically, interactional competence entails the ability to recognize and utilize a number of interactional patterns, including turn-taking mechanisms, linguistic and non-linguistic means, topic management, repair practices, participation frameworks, and the focus of this study -structural organization (Hall, 1993(Hall, , 1995(Hall, , 1997(Hall, , 1999Hall & Pekarek Doehler, 2011;Nguyen, 2008Nguyen, , 2012Young, 1999Young, , 2008Young, , 2009Young, , 2011. A key feature of interactional competence is that it is situated in specific communicative practices and it is situated in co-constructed social interaction.…”