The development of practices for participation of three adult L2 literacy students in classroom interaction

Authors

• Laura Eilola Tampere university

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23997/pk.136863

Keywords:

adult L2 literacy students, development of interactional competence, Finnish as a second language, multimodal conversation analysis, request for assistance

Abstract

This multimodal conversation analytical study examines the development of interactional competence
of three adult L2 literacy students in classroom interaction. The analysis focuses on the focal students’
requests for assistance. The longitudinal video data for the study were gathered during eight months.
First, the analysis identifies two different learner profiles: type A, who actively participates in classroom
activities from the beginning, and type B, whose active participation increases over time. Second, the
analysis shows that requests for assistance become a routine for type A. In addition, the analysis demon
strates that when the request for assistance sequence unfolds, the type B learner develops their ability
to act in a way that is understandable and acceptable for the interlocutors. These findings suggest that
in addition to focusing on special linguistic expressions, turns or actions, we should take the sequence
as the analytical unit in longitudinal L2 research. Moreover, the results of this study demonstrate that
when examining the development of interactional competence, the strength of multimodal analysis
lies in the opportunity to analyze the use of embodied resources and sequential progress of situations
comprehensively.