Exploring L2 learners' Task-related Identities in a Reading Circle Task Through Conversation Analysis

Using conversation analysis as the research approach, this study explores how L2 learners utilize their task-related identities during task interactions and how those identities are used as resources for task management. Eight students in an ESL academic reading class formed two groups while they did their reading circle task for six rounds. In each round, the students took turns to be in charge of a specific role in the discussion session (i.e., discussion leader, notetaker, vocabulary definer, and contextualizer). Data was collected from all rounds and analyzed for emerging patterns. Results showed that (a) the participants used each other’s assigned identities skillfully to orient the group to the institutional goal, and (b) the participants used their own existing obligations to problematize the task interactions. By providing insights on those dynamic task-related identities, this study broadens our understanding of interactions happening at the task implementation stage and suggests pedagogical implications.

Reading Circles With Sherlock Holmes Graded Readers

One elective class of 6 students at a small private university in Japan read Sherlock Holmes graded readers for one semester in a reading circle class. Reading circles involve students reading books and having discussions with a specific role, such as the Discussion Leader, Passage Person, Word Master, Summarizer, or Connector. These reading circle roles are explained using examples from students’ written notes, which were made to help them with the discussions. This provides a representation of the kind of oral output instructors may expect if they decide to try reading circles in their classrooms. Comments from the instructor’s reflective log and student surveys are reported to give greater insight into how future reading circle courses could be implemented. It was concluded that this activity may be useful to encourage interest in L2 reading at institutions with no extensive reading program. リーディングサークルクラスを選択した日本の大学生６人が、一学期に渡り、英語多読本「シャーロックホームズ」の読書に取り組んだ。リーディングサークルとは、ただ単にグループで本を読むだけでなく、Discussion Leader, Passage Person, Word Master, Summarizer, Connectorなどの役割分担を各メンバーに持たせ、会話や討論を繰り広げることである。これらのリーディングサークルの役割については、学生が書いたメモの例を用いて説明するが、このメモは、討論の際に役立つように、学生に書かせたものである。これは、リーディングサークルを授業で実施する場合に、教師が期待するであろう学生の口頭の発言に相当する。リーディングサークルコースを実施する際に、より深く理解できる様、教師の日誌、学生のアンケートのコメント内容をここに報告する。この活動は、 英語多読コースのない大学で英語読書への関心を高めるのに役立つ可能性があると結論付けられる。

Contexts and meanings of Japanese speech styles

Interactants’ non-reciprocal use of Japanese speech styles, i.e., the addressee honorific masu form and the non-honorific plain form, is frequently treated as the salient feature constituting speakers’ hierarchical identities. The hierarchical identities in question in this study are senpai-koohai ‘senior-junior’relationships among Japanese college students. The paper presents analyses that demonstrate that the construction of these hierarchical relationships depends on context. The data derive from nine hours of audio recordings of dyadic and multiparty interactions among college students at the meetings of an extracurricular club. Conceptualizing on-stage and off-stage as frames of talk that function as context in this data set, the study finds that hierarchical identities are not foregrounded during on-stage talk, but can be foregrounded during off-stage talk when the participants’ club roles are not foregrounded; the use of non-reciprocal speech styles that lead to hierarchical identity construction is observed in this situation. On the other hand, hierarchical identities are backgrounded during on-stage talk when the participants’ club roles are foregrounded. The use of the addressee honorific masu form in this situation indexes that the speaker is engaged in a club role, such as discussion leader or participant.