Interactional Competence

Interactional Competence (IC) focuses on language use as
1) action,
2) context sensitive, and
3) inescapably co-constructed by participants.
Within this framework, the focus is on the resources (linguistic and otherwise) and practices (ways of conducting an action) that participants use to understand each other and to meet interactional goals. Teaching materials designed for IC generally include the use of authentic/unscripted interactional data, and tasks that require students to interact in meaning-focused ways.

Workshops

What is Interactional Competence

About this workshop Introduction Dr. Richard Young (University of Wisconsin-Madison) discusses the concept of Interactional Competence (IC), situating it historically among different understandings of competence as have been defined in linguistics, and defining it based upon what language users have

Rethinking Strategies in Interaction: Actions and Resources

About this workshop Introduction Communication strategies have been defined in Second Language Acquisition as compensating for a lack of linguistic competence, and as requiring planning. This workshop problematizes this view, suggesting that a focus on interaction as action (as presented

Beyond the Sentence

About this workshop Introduction Dr. Thorsten Huth (University of Tennessee-Knoxville) introduces how language use can be thought of in terms of action, and highlights how the context these actions occur in are integral for understanding their meaning. He then defines

Role Plays: Practicing Politeness and Preference

About this workshop Introduction This workshop focuses on open-ended role plays that center around interactionally / pragmatically sensitive situations, with two goals in mind: 1) To provide examples to show how being polite or impolite is done (including phenomena such

Instructional phases to teach how to do things with words: The case of requests

In this workshop we discuss: – the instructional phases used for teaching IC; – a sample lesson that focused on IC in German; – and how to develop IC-related tasks for the classroom. Download presentation Sample class

Teaching intercultural knowledge: rejecting an invitation and pursuing acceptance

In this workshop we discuss: – the definition of intercultural knowledge; – how this was incorporated into a sample lesson plan in Spanish; – and how to create a lesson focusing on intercultural targets. Download presentation Sample class

Conversation closings in face-to-face interactions

Kevin García Cruz (CLIC, Rice University): 1) introduces and discusses his approach to teaching conversational features in the L2 classroom, which includes: a reflection on language usage in the students’ L1; a contrastive analysis of L1 and L2 conversation closing sequences; an analysis

Expanding Basic Question-Answer Sequences

Katharina Kley (CLIC, Rice University) discusses (1) making students aware that minimal expansions occur in both English and German; (2) having students identify minimal expansions in authentic English and German interactions, and contrast and compare expansions in both languages; and

1st Semester German – Repairs

Repair initiations: What to say when one doesn’t hear or understand.

2nd Semester Spanish – Being an Active Listener

In this lesson, students explore common responders in Spanish used to indicate that one is following and understanding what is being said during a conversation. Attention will also be paid to continuers such as “ah” and “ajá” and responders used

1st Semester Italian – Active Listening – Asking for Information

Students develop the awareness of an interaction as a co-constructed process between the speaker and the listener, and they gain the ability to take on the role of active listener by practicing the use of topic expansions in a conversation.

1st Semester Chinese – Expressing Agreement – A Birthday Party

Students are guided to analyze the discourse functions of three expressions of agreement – 好(hǎo) , 好的(hǎo de), 好啊(hǎo a) which are used frequently in natural conversation. Then, students write short skits using these features.

1st Semester French – Discourse Markers – A Dispute

Students are guided to identify the presence of discourse fillers in a natural conversation, to develop awareness about the collaborative nature of spoken interactions, and to develop the ability to apply features of collaborative discourse to any conversational setting.

2nd Semester Korean – Responsive Tokens – Identify Responsive Tokens

This sample lesson plan provides practical ideas for teaching responsive turns in Korean as a second language using authentic language data to enhance students’ recognition and production of responsive turns and their various functions.

2nd Semester Spanish – Expanding a Conversation Topic – Talking About Familiar Topics

Students learn about ways to expand a conversation by asking follow-up questions, making additional comments, and stating opinions. Additionally, they are guided to notice features such as overlaps and interruptions and how they occur in spontaneous (unplanned) conversations.

Interactional Competence