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Towards an Epistemology of Second Language Learning in the Wild

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Conversation Analytic Research on Learning-in-Action

Part of the book series: Educational Linguistics ((EDUL,volume 38))

Abstract

This chapter argues that a new epistemology for the field of SLA, rooted in sociology rather than in psychology, is taking form with radical consequences for the organization of second language practices, including learning and teaching. Central elements in this new epistemology are the following elements to be discussed in the chapter:

  1. 1.

    Learning is bound to participation in the life world and therefore to the personal history of each learner.

  2. 2.

    Spoken language is the primordial mode of mundane social interaction.

  3. 3.

    Classrooms need to feed on the everyday practices of the students and to center on support students to establish life world relations.

  4. 4.

    In the social interactions in which language learners engage, trouble in the talk will often trigger repair practices through which new language material is offered by the co-participants.

The chapter outlines the argument and methodology that lie behind this new epistemology, drawing on Ethnomethodology (EM) and Conversation Analysis (CA), thereby reformulating second language learning as an embodied, sociological project. Finally, the chapter discusses the consequences of this sociological perspective on learning for conceptualizing second language teaching in the form of the development of resources for creating social infrastructures for learning.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In this chapter, mother tongue will be used for language(s) learned during childhood. Foreign languages are taught in schools but not spoken in the life world of the students. Second languages refer to those languages that are regularly used in the life world of the students

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Design and Communication, Universitetsparken 1, Kolding, Denmark

    Johannes Wagner

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  1. Johannes Wagner
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Correspondence to Johannes Wagner .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Applied Linguistics, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA

    John Hellermann

  2. Department of Design and Communication, University of Southern Denmark, Sønderborg, Denmark

    Søren W. Eskildsen

  3. Center for Applied Linguistics, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

    Simona Pekarek Doehler

  4. Department of Language and Communication Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Arja Piirainen-Marsh

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Wagner, J. (2019). Towards an Epistemology of Second Language Learning in the Wild. In: Hellermann, J., Eskildsen, S., Pekarek Doehler, S., Piirainen-Marsh, A. (eds) Conversation Analytic Research on Learning-in-Action. Educational Linguistics, vol 38. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22165-2_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22165-2_10

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