Employing concepts of complexity dynamic systems theory, this study examines phrases that instructors initially use and that students later appropriate for their own purposes in different contexts. These phrases, over time, become shared codes among students and instructors for accomplishing relational work in English as a second language writing classrooms.
This study examines patterns of specific phrases that instructors initially use and that students later appropriate for their own purposes in different contexts. These phrases, over time, become shared codes among students and instructors in English as a second language (ESL) classrooms. Shared codes seem to illustrate the complex, emergent nature of L2 classroom interactions (e.g., Seedhouse, 2010) and learner agency in selecting and appropriating phrases for relational work. The research context is two ESL writing classrooms taught by two instructors in English-language programs at a U.S. university. Following Cameron and Deignan’s (2006) work, this study analyzes systems of shared codes in L2 classroom interactions by employing concepts of complexity dynamic systems theory (e.g., Larsen–Freeman & Cameron, 2008). By manually tracking instances of phrases over six weeks, we identified four focal phrases that emerged as shared codes from two classrooms. We employ conversation analysis for explicating local processes in which students select and appropriate their teachers’ phrases for building solidarity and constructing humor. The analysis highlights how learners engage in appropriation and co-adaptation (Larsen–Freeman & Cameron, 2008) of phrases and illustrates their pragmatic competence in using specific phrases in context appropriately. For example, one excerpt illustrates that a student appropriates his teacher’s phrase, “date with canvas” when he writes an email to his teacher requesting feedback during the weekend. This study reveals how seemingly insignificant elements of classroom practice involving teacher utterances unexpectedly afford opportunities for the students to appropriate them and thus co-construct shared codes. References: Cameron, L., & Deignan, A. (2006). The emergence of metaphor in discourse. AppliedLinguistics, 27, 671–690. Larsen–Freeman, D., & Cameron, L. (2008). Complex systems and applied linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seedhouse, P. (2010). Locusts, snowflakes and recasts: Complexity theory and spoken interaction. Classroom Discourse, 1(1), 4–24.
