Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T13:42:55.768Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What Makes a Child a Good Language Learner? Interactional Competence, Identity, and Immersion in a Swedish Classroom

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2017

Asta Cekaite
Asta Cekaite*
Affiliation:
Linköping Universityasta.cekaite@liu.se
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The research presented here is an examination of how child language novices (zero beginners) develop interactional competences and repertoires in a Swedish as a second language classroom. Two 7-year-old girls’ learning trajectories are the focus in a yearlong study of their second language (L2) development. The girls’ transition from highly repetitious and formulaic production to formally and semantically more diverse discourse is documented, along with a broadening of the girls’ classroom interactional repertoires. They initiated and took part in interactions with teachers and peers and participated in a growing range of classroom discursive activities. The longitudinal analysis also documents the differences in their two learning trajectories, particularly in terms of their L2 resources and pragmatic skills, as well as their identities as successful or unsuccessful language learners (as ascribed to them by the teachers). The study illustrates an intricate and synergistic, rather than unidirectional, relationship between these two child novice learners’ competences, L2 features, and identities.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics , Volume 37 , September 2017 , pp. 45 - 61
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Björk-Willén, P. (2016). Peer collaboration in front of two alphabet charts. In Theobald, M. (Series Ed.), Sociological studies of children and youth: Vol. 21. Friendship and peer culture in multilingual settings (pp. 143–169). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group.10.1108/S1537-466120160000021008Google Scholar
Blum-Kulka, S., & Gorbatt, N. (2014). “Say princess”: The challenges and affordances of young Hebrew L2 novices’ interaction with their peers. In Cekaite, A., Blum-Kulka, S., Grøver, V., & Teubal, E. (Eds.), Children's peer talk: Learning from each other (pp. 169–193). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139084536.013Google Scholar
Blum-Kulka, S., & Snow, C. E. (Eds.). (2004). Peer talk and pragmatic development [Special issue]. Discourse Studies, 6, 291–307.Google Scholar
Cekaite, A. (2007). A child's development of interactional competence in a Swedish L2 classroom. The Modern Language Journal, 91, 45–62.10.1111/j.1540-4781.2007.00509.xGoogle Scholar
Cekaite, A. (2012). Affective stances in teacher-novice student interactions: Language, embodiment, and willingness to learn. Language in Society, 41, 641–670.10.1017/S0047404512000681Google Scholar
Cekaite, A. (2017). Emotional stances and interactional competence: learning to disagree in a second language. In Kasper, G. & Prior, M. (Eds.), Talking emotion in multilingual settings (pp. 133–154). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Cekaite, A., & Aronsson, K. (2005). Language play: a collaborative resource in children's L2 learning. Applied Linguistics, 26, 169–191.10.1093/applin/amh042Google Scholar
Cekaite, A., Blum-Kulka, S., Grøver, V., & Teubal, E. (2014). Children's peer talk: Learning from each other. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139084536Google Scholar
DaSilva Iddings, A., & Jang, E. (2008). The mediational role of classroom practices during the silent period: A new-immigrant student learning the English language in a mainstream classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 42, 567–589.10.1002/j.1545-7249.2008.tb00149.xGoogle Scholar
Duff, P. (2014). Case study research on language use and learning. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 34, 233–255.10.1017/S0267190514000051Google Scholar
Goodwin, M. H., Cekaite, A., & Goodwin, C. (2012). Emotion as stance. In Peräkylä, A. & Sorjonen, M. (Eds.), Emotion in interaction, (pp. 16–41). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730735.003.0002Google Scholar
Hall, J. K. (1997). Differential teacher attention to student utterances: The construction of different opportunities for learning in the IRF. Linguistics and Education, 9, 287–311.10.1016/S0898-5898(97)90003-6Google Scholar
Hall, J., Hellerman, J., & Pekarek Doehler, S. (Eds.). (2011). L2 interactional competence and development. Mahwah, NJ: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781847694072Google Scholar
Hawkins, M. (2005). Becoming a student: Identity work and academic literacies in early schooling. TESOL Quarterly, 39, 59–82.10.2307/3588452Google Scholar
Kanagy, R. (1999). Interactional routines as a mechanism for L2 acquisition and socialization in an immersion context. Journal of Pragmatics, 31, 1467–1492.10.1016/S0378-2166(98)00113-1Google Scholar
Kohler, F., & Thorne, S. (2011). The social life of self-directed talk. In Hall, J., Hellerman, J., & Doehler, S. Pekarek (Eds.), L2 interactional competence and development (pp. 66–92). Mahwah, NJ: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Ochs, E. (1996). Linguistic resources for socializing humanity. In Gumperz, J. & Levinson, S. (Eds.), Rethinking linguistic relativity (pp. 407–437). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pallotti, G. (2001). External appropriations as a strategy for participating in intercultural multi-party conversations. In Luzio, A. Di, Günthner, S., & Orletti, F. (Eds.), Culture in communication (pp. 295–334). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.10.1075/pbns.81.16palGoogle Scholar
Perdue, C. (2000). Organizing principles of learner varieties. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 22, 299–305.10.1017/S0272263100003016Google Scholar
Philp, J., & Duchene, S. (2008). When the gate opens: The interaction between social and linguistic goals in child second language development. In Philp, J., Oliver, R., & Mackey, A. (Eds.), Second language acquisition and the younger learner: Child's play? (pp. 83–104). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Philp, J., Oliver, R., & Mackey, A. (Eds.). 2008. Second language acquisition and the younger learner: Child's play? Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.10.1075/lllt.23Google Scholar
Rydland, V., Grøver, V., & Lawrence, J. (2014). The potentials and challenges of learning words from peers in preschool. In Cekaite, A., Blum-Kulka, S., Grøver, V., & Teubal, E. (Eds.), Children's peer talk: Learning from each other (pp. 214–235). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139084536.015Google Scholar
Rymes, B., & Pash, D. (2001). Questioning identity: A case of one second language learner. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 32, 276–300.10.1525/aeq.2001.32.3.276Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L. (1986). Thought and language (Kosulin, A., Trans.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Watanabe, A. (2016). Engaging in an interactional routine in an EFL classroom: The development of L2 interactional competence over time. Novitas-Royal, 10, 48–70.Google Scholar