Development of interactional competence in L2 Japanese during study abroad: The use of modal expressions in recipient actions

This dissertation investigates the processes in which second language (L2) speakers of Japanese develop their interactional competence in using modal expressions (e.g., ne [I share your view], kamo [maybe]) as recipients during study abroad. Although previous research has found that beginning learners of Japanese use the acknowledging receipt soo desu ka [Is that so] at first and subsequently show agreement by saying soo desu ne [That's true], their later development of using receipts is yet to be investigated. Using conversation analysis as a theoretical and methodological approach, my dissertation addresses this heretofore unexplored research topic and also investigates the affordances of social interaction for the development of interactional competence.;For the purpose of capturing the benefits of study abroad for long-term development, I collected first-encounter dyadic conversations that four study-abroad L2 speakers of Japanese participated in before and after their year in Japan, and compared them with those of four other L2 speakers who stayed at the home institution in the United States. The analyses of these conversations revealed not only early stages of development consistent with previous research findings, but also a variety of interactional works that L2 speakers accomplished through receipt use at later stages of development. Although a clear advantage of study abroad was not found, the study-abroad L2 speakers exhibited higher interactional competence in engaging in opinion-negotiation activities through the manipulation of modal expressions.;I also investigated the mechanisms of learning by using multiple longitudinal case studies of the four focal L2 speakers. The analyses of the monthly casual conversations that they carried out during their one-year study abroad revealed certain interactional procedures that afforded learning, which in turn culminated in development over time. While the L2 speakers rarely received explicit corrective feedback on their misuse of receipts, their interlocutors' orientation to their recipient actions afforded them with opportunities to perform more competent actions subsequently. The L2 speakers were also able to model recipient actions after their interlocutors' in compatible sequential environments.;This study thus demonstrates that conversation analysis furnishes the theoretical and methodological resources to document development over time and investigate the mechanisms of learning.