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Becoming a Member in Social Worlds

: The interface of learning and socialization in L2 interactions
Edited by Klara Skogmyr Marian and Simona Pekarek Doehler
[Language, Interaction and Acquisition 16:1] 2025
► pp. 65–99

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Interactional competence development as task-oriented language socialization

ORCiD logo with link | Hawai'i Pacific University
ORCiD logo with link | University of Potsdam
Published online: 9 October 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lia.23044.ngu
Abstract
This article explores the connections between the development of L2 interactional competence and language socialization by analyzing interactions between a novice hotel staff member and various international guests in Vietnam. Using longitudinal conversation analysis, we trace changes in the novice’s informings about the hotel’s spa services over the course of ten months. The analysis reveals gradual changes in her interactional practices toward more effective task accomplishment. Specifically, she changed (a) the pronunciation of the word massage and (b) the listing of the spa services. These modifications are shown to be linked to the guests’ initiations of repair targeting the word massage and the guests’ expressed interest in the massage service over the other spa services. We discuss how these findings suggest a form of agentive, task-oriented language socialization in which the novice incorporates co-participants’ resources and perspectives for more effective task accomplishment.
Résumé
Les liens entre le développement de la compétence d’interaction en langue seconde (L2) et les processus de socialisation sont explorés dans cet article à travers l’analyse des interactions entre une membre novice du personnel hôtelier et différents clients internationaux au Vietnam. En nous appuyant sur une analyse conversationnelle longitudinale, nous retraçons des changements, au cours de 10 mois, dans la capacité de la novice d’expliquer aux clients les services de spa de l’hôtel. L’analyse révèle deux changements chez la novice : (a) la prononciation du mot massage, et (b) l’énumération des services de spa aux clients. Ces modifications sont liées aux initiations de réparation des clients, ciblant le mot massage, et à l’intérêt exprimé par les clients pour le service de massage par rapport aux autres services du spa. Nous discutons de la façon dont ces résultats suggèrent une forme de socialisation langagière orientée vers la tâche dans laquelle la novice intègre les ressources et les perspectives des co-participants pour un accomplissement plus efficace des tâches.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Interactional competence development and language socialization
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Setting and participant
    • 3.2Data
    • 3.3Analytical procedure
  • 4.Findings
    • 4.1Reproduction of a pronunciation format
      • 4.1.1The novice’s trajectory of change
      • 4.1.2Co-participants’ repair initiation and the emergence of [maˈʃa:ʒ]
      • 4.1.3The novice’s agency in the modification toward [maˈʃa:ʒ]
      • 4.1.4The emergence of [maˈsa:ʒ]
    • 4.2Recipient design toward favored mentionables
      • 4.2.1The novice’s trajectory of change
      • 4.2.2Co-participants’ stance displays
  • 5.Summary and discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (71)
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