This paper centers on the practices that beginning learners employ to expand topics in interaction with one peer-interlocutor. The student pairs use, for example, questions, assessments, news-markers, and word repetitions from prior talk to mobilize elaborations from the coparticipant. Implications for instruction and assessment will be discussed.
This paper centers on the practices that beginning learners employ to expand topics in interaction with one peer-interlocutor. The ability to engage in topical talk is related to the participants' interactional competence (IC). More specifically, topic management can be accomplished through the display of active listenership and the production of timely turns that fit the conversation-so-far and contribute to move it forward. At a language center of a US university engaged in IC instruction, peer-to-peer test interactions of two student groups, second-semester Chinese and German learners, were video- or audio-recorded. Topic expansions were taught in both classrooms by raising students' awareness of the phenomenon. Test interactions were included for analysis when both members of the pair received a similar average score for expanding topics; thus, three Chinese student pairs and three German student pairs were selected for inclusion in this study. The students' test interactions were analyzed with a conversation analytic lens. The analysis reveals that both the Chinese and the German student pairs use a variety of topic-expansion practices that may: (a) mobilize further elaborations from the coparticipant or (b) produce more topical talk about own experiences. Response-mobilizing practices are common and consist of: follow-up questions, confirmation checks, and return questions. Assessments, news-markers, and the repetition of words from prior talk with rising intonation (indicating disbelief or surprise) seem to elicit contributions from the conversation partner as well. On the other hand, students expand their own contributions with comments, but they also build on the interlocutor's contribution by volunteering information about themselves through comments and responses to own initial questions. The findings have implications for instruction and the development of assessment criteria and scoring rubrics, both of which will be discussed.
