CLIC Research Projects

Silvia Kunitz

This conversation-analytic project explores how interactional competence (IC) is operationally defined, practiced and graded in CLIC courses on campus and in CLIC study abroad programs. IC can be defined as the set of skills required to conduct an interaction effectively with a variety of interlocutors, in a variety of settings. Such ability is based on the appropriate use of the mechanisms organizing talk-in-interaction (such as turn-taking, repair, and sequence organization), coupled with the use of various linguistic and embodied resources (Markee, 2008; Pekarek Doehler & Fasel Lauzon, 2015).

Overall, it seems that: (i) previous studies have focused on very specific aspects of IC (in terms of actions or interactional skills) as identified by analysts; (ii) intervention studies have used instructional material designed and taught by experienced conversation-analysts; and (iii) even classroom-based studies have not explicitly considered the link between teaching and testing practices. What appears to be lacking, then, is an investigation of how IC is conceptualized and concretely operationalized in the classroom by teachers who do not have a formal training in Conversation Analysis (CA).

The present research project focuses on the full instructional cycle (i.e., from syllabus and task design to class implementation and assessment) in CLIC courses that have IC among their goals of instruction and that are taught by teachers without a formal training in CA. The study will thus examine how the complex endeavor of developing IC is interpreted, fostered, and implemented in L2 classrooms. In this project I will also investigate the interplay between teachers’ beliefs and students’ evaluations versus actual classroom practices.