Higher seminar in Bilingualism. Taiane Malabarba: Agency in the workplace: A longitudinal analysis of L2 interactional competence

This presentation addresses agency in the development of L2 interactional competence. The data come from audio-recorded guest-escorting walks at an international hotel in Vietnam, where staff members speak English as a lingua franca with international guests. Drawing on conversation analysis, I focus on how the focal participant – an experienced hotel staff member – manages small talk about the history of the hotel and the weather. The analysis shows increased agency over time in how the user/learner designs turns-at-talk to shape guests’ perceptions of their experience and construe their stay as pleasant. The talk highlights how L2 learning is shaped by locally relevant interactional demands and discusses how detailed analyses of L2 talk in the workplace can illuminate our understanding of second language learning.

Taiane Malabarba