”Är det rätt?” Klassrumsinteraktion och positionering mellan vuxna L2-inlärare i en svenska som främmandespråkskontext

Abstract

For foreign language learners, possibilities of interaction in the L2 often are very restricted in everyday life. Classroom interaction between learners (peer interaction) plays therefore an important role in foreign language learning, especially in case of relatively small languages as Swedish. One of the characteristics of peer interaction is that language expert positions are more open for negotiation than in conversations with L1-speakers or teachers. Different theoretical perspectives link problems in communication which can make participants language expertise relevant to learning, and the study focuses therefore on repair and negotiation of expert positions. It analyzes interaction between participants learning Swedish as a foreign language in a German non-formal adult education institution, based on audio-recordings of peer interaction in two language courses with 16 participants. Drawing on conversation analysis the study examines which kinds of repair are used and how they are used, how participants use the common language German (mostly L1) as a resource and how expert positions are negotiated in repair sequences. Findings show that participants make use of peer interaction for ”doing being a language learner” with a distinct orientation to correctness and learning, and in frequent metacommentaries position themselves unexpectedly explicitly to their own process of language learning. The other common language/L1 is used as an important resource in handling the balancing between orientation to learning, progress in conversation and the social relationships. Expert positioning is done in ways that make the expert position fluid, relevant only temporarily and open to all participants, which leads to that participants question both their own and the others language expertise. The study concludes with reflections on the implications of the results for foreign language instruction.