Black-Barron2018

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Black-Barron2018
BibType ARTICLE
Key Black-Barron2018
Author(s) Emily Black, Anne Barron
Title Learner pragmatics at the discourse level: Staying “on topic” in a telecollaborative eTandem task
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Topic, Announcements, Computer-mediated communication, Telecollaboration, Mediated interaction
Publisher
Year 2018
Language English
City
Month
Journal System
Volume 75
Number
Pages 33–47
URL Link
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2018.03.019
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

The present paper examines topic management in the task-based interactions of German learners of English and their Irish English speaking partners. Specifically, the paper explores the resources employed by speakers to maintain cohesion in talk while transitioning topics via announcement turns. Two resources for maintaining cohesion are explored in detail: co-class membership relations and contrast relations. The quantitative results suggest that learners employ similar resources to the NS. The qualitative results reveal areas on the level of linguistic realisation of topic transitioning turns where learners exhibit some difficulty in alignment and in the use of discourse connectives.

Data for the present study is drawn from Language LINC, a corpus of telecollaborative eTandem interactions. Methodologically, the present paper applies tools from conversation analysis (CA) in a sequentially sensitive analysis of the collection of announcements. In addition to a careful qualitative analysis of each case, a quantitative analysis is presented in order to uncover variation in the methods employed by the learners as opposed to the expert speakers. This mixed method approach is considered with respect to its place in the CA research tradition (Stivers, 2015) and its fit for analyses of authentic, consequential interactions in the interlanguage pragmatic tradition.

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