This contribution to the special issue reviewed 79 longitudinal studies of language learning from the past 20 years. The survey divides the studies into the particular contexts in which the learning interactions take place and the types of objects for analysis the studies address. The review shows a rapid increase in longitudinal studies using CA methods, an embrace of the construct known as interactional competence as the goal for language learning, and the influence the research has had on language pedagogy.

In the context of changing demographics at regional universities (including our own), we highlight an ongoing project at our university that addresses the last area of acceptable bias in English-medium higher education: bias against speakers of other languages and non-standard dialects of English. We discuss the hegemonic aspect of the Standard Academic English used by default at most US institutions of higher education and its role in potential discrimination against users of languages other than English and dialects other than the Standard. Data from over 2000 surveys, 55 follow up interviews, and three focus groups from faculty, staff and students in the university community are being analyzed. Preliminary findings show pervasive ignorance of the nature of language variation and how that plays a role in continuing discrimination against those who use other languages and diverse varieties of English even in our very multilingual setting. We conclude by outlining next steps, including the development of onboarding materials for new faculty, staff, and students.

With a forward-looking and problem-solving mindset, this article aims to combine theoretical knowledge and empirical evidence from different schools of thought in the field of second language (L2) learning and teaching-namely, instructed second language acquisition, generative linguistics, and an ecological perspective that includes multiple frameworks. Acknowledging numerous fundamental differences in our theoretical and methodological perspectives on how to conduct research, we are united on two fronts: First, we believe that researchers with differing theoretical commitments can and should work together to advance L2 research. Second, differing theoretical beliefs are potentially of limited relevance to those who will implement our pedagogical suggestions, that is, practitioners. In this article, we first present our individual perspectives regarding L2 learning and teaching (Perspective 1 by Michel and Sato, Perspective 2 by Alexopoulou, and Perspective 3 by Thorne and Hellermann). In the final section of the article, we unite our voices by prioritizing the educational practices upon which we agree, including the fact that all L2 learners bring their individual backgrounds into the classroom, the necessity of L2 use for L2 learning, and the role of L2 education for people's overall quality of life.

In this final article in this guest-edited issue on synergies in second language acquisition and teaching (SLA/T), we attempt to bring together the main content of this issue in an overall, combined synergy statement, concluding this project as a whole. Let us remind readers of the project: A shared effort by 17 scholars taking 11 different perspectives on SLA/T is not the norm in our field. Our aim has been to promote the intermingling and cross-pollination of ideas, on the conviction that such efforts are needed to promote a field that is more than simply the sum of its parts, which are quite dispersed. In this article, we take up the challenge of synergizing the synergies. Taking into account the group synergy statements (Articles 2-4 of this guest-edited issue), we explore those areas where we find synergies, commensurabilities, and complementary insights based on cross-pollination among a collection of scholars representing diverse perspectives on SLA/T.

This coda describes various affordances and constraints associated with technology-rich language teaching and learning. It begins with a discussion of articles in this special issue of Classroom Discourse and then expands to engage with broader dynamics associated with uses of digital tools in language education. In particular, we address research issues relating to technology-rich activity such as the complexity of multimodal transcription and analysis when mapping multiple semiotic fields, potential challenges presented by polyfocality, the implications of response latency on the sequential organisation of talk, the historically and experientially formed cultures-of-use of digital communication tools as they may inform patterns and expectations of behaviour, and the potentially active role of various technologies as co-constitutive of the morphologies of action of teachers and learners in technology-rich settings.

Drawing on usage-based approaches to the study of language learning-including recent research on mobility in interaction, embodied approaches to cognition and communicative action, and innovations in place-based language learning in the wild-this article uses methods from ethnomethodological conversation analysis to investigate video recordings of 3 English language learners playing an augmented reality game that advocated for environmental stewardship. The analysis focused on 1 aspect of the game, an oral report about different green technologies, which was repeated 3 times due to technical difficulties. Analysis reveals emergent interactional dynamics that included (a) the use and creative reuse of multiword expressions, and (b) aligned interbodied cooperative practices that together supported (c) the building of a discourse structure for making oral reports that were part of the game narrative. The analysis highlights the semipermeable, collaboratively produced, and emergent nature of grammar for social action. Implications for pedagogy include (a) the consideration of structured unpredictability in language task design, and (b) a (re)conceptualization of language structure and language development as both an individual and group achievement.

There has been considerable research and innovation relating to pedagogies that interface world languages (L2) education with opportunities for interaction and learning that occur in settings that are primarily or fully outside of classroom contexts (or ‘learning beyond the classroom,’ LBC). This chapter begins with a review of pedagogical approaches and reported learning outcomes that emerge from projects that incorporate instructed language learning with school-exogenous social formations and environments such as (1) participation in fandom and fan fiction authoring, (2) exploration of urban spatialities and linguistic landscapes, and (3) supported participation in naturalistic everyday encounters (“learning in the wild”). Each illustrates numerous possibilities for synergistically uniting the analytic rigor of instructed L2 education with the immediacy and vibrancy of language use in non-institutional, informal, and vernacular contexts. As part of this review, we include discussion of recent LBC projects that involve the use of locative mobile media and augmented reality (AR) activities designed to engage world language learners in structured activities outside of the classroom. In conclusion, an evidence-based argument is made for continued exploration of opportunities for learning beyond the classroom, as well as the pedagogical amplification of such experiences in instructed settings, in order to increase the ecological validity and developmental power of language education.

In what has been termed the global era, individuals from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds frequently participate in joint activities that require intercultural communication. Concomitantly, research on communication in contexts involving mobile technologies is nascent, and investigations addressing pragmatics in particular are few. In this article, we examine place-based mobile augmented reality (AR) apps, which have been shown to provide learners with valuable opportunities for location-situated social and collaborative interaction and embodied experience of place. We focus on cataloguing social actions, specifically directives, in 4 groups of mobile AR game players using English as a lingua franca (ELF) to communicate. We uncovered a variety of directive strategies, both verbal and nonverbal, that are rarely discussed in pragmatics teaching and learning yet were critical to the unfolding communicative action. Implications of the study findings for pragmatics instruction are provided within the broader recommendations for ELF pragmatics.

This paper investigates the actions and practices for connected discourse in English conversation. Three university students met weekly for 94 weeks to practice speaking and were video recorded. Each participant made a 10 min presentation about a topic of interest and then the three participants had a conversation. Using ethnomethodological conversation analysis (CA), we examined how participants moved from an orientation to one type of speech exchange system (the monologic presentation) to another (the 'conversation') and specifically, the actions and practices for getting the conversation started. We show how an orientation to an interview type of speech exchange system changes to something more conversation-like over the course of the 94 weeks and how changes in particular actions are concomitant with changes in turn allocation, turn construction, and turn taking practices. The findings provide further evidence for the co-constructed nature of language. Implications for understanding change or learning as a group enterprise are also considered. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Integrating concepts and techniques from ethnomethodology and sociomaterialism, this article inves- tigates the observable material processes involving human action and place-based contexts of language use enabled by locative media. The focal pedagogical intervention utilized mobile augmented reality (AR) activities, the development of which was inspired by research on learning ‘in the wild.’ Applying the principle of reverse engineering, we introduce a pedagogical approach termed ‘rewilding’ for its emphasis on designing supportive conditions for goal-directed interaction outside of classrooms. Three instances of AR materials use are presented from an out-of-class activity associated with university-level language courses involving a quest-type AR game called ChronoOps . Video data of 3-player groups were transcribed using conventions from multimodal conversation analysis. The empirical investigation il- lustrates meaning making through visible embodied displays, the performance of new actions through incorporation of public semiotic resources, and the contributions of the material surround as actants in the flow of interaction. Analysis illustrates that mobile AR activities enable languaging events among assemblages of environments, mobile devices, and embodied experience. We conclude by outlining the affordances of mobile AR activities as one example of rewilding approaches to creating material conditions for language use and learning.

Conversational storytelling involves producing multiple turns that are sequenced consecutively to form a connected whole. Producing a connected story is a challenging task for second language (L2) speakers because their language use may generate repairs of various kinds. In this regard, L2 tellers have the dual obligation of moving their stories forward while managing language issues that may interrupt the progress of their telling. The present study was designed to trace how language issues are handled during L2 storytelling and what relevance this has on the topical themes of the stories-in-progress. The data were taken from two corpora in which nonnative speakers of English engaged in storytelling sessions. The findings revealed the diverse ways in which language issues are exposed or embedded through repair sequences. While tellers’ uncertainty regarding language use often prompts repairs, these repairs are subject to their contingent decisions to resume their stories. This study provides insight into how language moments are configured into storytelling sequencing, a topic that has received limited attention in applied linguistics.

This introduction explicates the central issues informing the chapters in the volume. We outline the epistemological development of Second Language Acquisition research as it has evolved from being predominantly individual-cognitive to a more pluralistic endeavor in which social approaches to cognition and learning are becoming central. Social interaction has been recognized as key to language learning since the 1970's but the field is still lacking in research that studies the everyday social-interactional ecology in which the L2 speaker acts. We argue that it is time to broaden contexts for empirical investigations to study language learning in the full ecology of 'the wild', that is, in out-of-classroom, real world settings that put into play the multisemiotic resources inhabiting the worlds of L2 speakers. The contributions to the volume scrutinize the affordances of 'the wild' for the development of L2 interactional competence, investigate how L2 speakers configure learning opportunities in the wild, and analyze possible ways of integrating in-the-wild-experiences into the L2 classroom agenda. Leading to new empirical understandings of the richness of the affordances for L2 learning that emerge in people's lifeworlds, this affects our conception of L2 learning, as product and process, and holds important implications for teaching practices.

Applications of locative media (e.g., place-based mobile augmented reality [AR]) are used in various educational content areas and have been shown to provide learners with valuable opportunities for investigation-based learning, location-situated social and collaborative interaction, and embodied experience of place (Squire, 2009; Thorne & Hellermann, 2017; Zheng et al., 2018). Mobile locative media applications' value for language learning, however, remains underinvestigated. To address this lacuna, this study employed the widely used construct of language-related episodes (LREs; Swain & Lapkin, 1998) as a unit of analysis to investigate language learning through participation in a mobile AR game. Analysis of videorecorded interactions of four mixed-proficiency groups of game players (two English language learners [ELLs] and one expert speaker of English [ESE] per group) indicates that LREs in this environment were focused on lexical items relevant to the AR tasks and physical locations. Informed by sociocultural theory and conversation analysis, the microgenesis of learners' understanding and subsequent use of certain lexical items are indicated in the findings. This understanding of new lexical items was frequently facilitated by ESEs' assistance and the surrounding physical environment. A strong goal orientation by both ESEs and ELLs was visible, providing implications for task-based language teaching approaches.

Language use, second-language development, and technology mediated human activity are complex processes situated in, and in some cases demonstrably interwoven with, specific material and social contexts. This study highlights the context embedded and context producing interactional practices of learning in the wild as participants in small groups notice visible aspects of their immediate environment. The groups are involved in mobile augmented reality (AR) game play and are walking across an urban university campus and adjacent environments. Video-recorded interactions from 15 groups of three participants from four languages (English, German, Hungarian, and Japanese) were observed and transcribed. Sequential, multimodal analysis revealed numerous instances of noticing environmental resources and we show how participants use coordinated gaze, gesture, and language to make relevant particular perceived objects from the built environment for accomplishing the groups’ goal-directed activity as well as for co-constructing socio-environmental infrastructures for learning.

The terms interactional competence and learning are discussed in the context of recent research in the areas of cognitive science and ethnomethodological conversation analysis studies of language learning. Two data excerpts from a longitudinal case study of a beginning learner of English are presented to illustrate (1) the difficulty of representing language learning using structural linguistic representations and (2) evidence of language learning as at-that-time appropriate embodied interaction.

Literacy, and particularly reading, is critical to success in schooling and full participation in contemporary societies. As one of the primary skills needed to develop proficiency in a language, the study of reading in additional languages has attracted significant research attention. Focusing on behaviourally visible and locally occasioned literacy events, this paper reports on an analysis of how public interactional practices for out-loud reading by small groups of English language learners facilitate the routinisation of interactional practices. The learners are participants in a mobile augmented reality (AR) activity that involves walking around a university campus in order to complete five serial tasks. Data come from video recordings of the game playing of eight groups (16 h of data) and their associated transcripts, analysed according to the principles of ethnomethodological conversation analysis. Results show that written texts that are part of the activity are given local meaning via various interactional practices that include public reading, co-reading and other embodied practices. We show how these dynamics of re-textualisation provide evidence for developing interactional practices over the course of the five tasks that are part of the activity.