Discourse and language learning across L2 instructional settings by Eva Alcón Soler & Maria-Pilar Safont-Jordà (eds.) (review)

Discourse and Language Learning Across L2 Instructional Settings, edited by Eva Alcón Soler and Maria-Pilar Safont-Jordà, assembles a number of studies of discourse in second language learning (L2) settings. Following a brief introduction by the authors on the importance of exploring the relationship between discourse and language learning from multiple perspectives, 13 studies are presented in four separate sections: discourse in L2 learning contexts, discourse in content and language integrated contexts, discourse in new language learning contexts, and issues for further research in discourse and language learning.

In the section on L2 learning contexts, Tragant and Muñoz offer a longitudinal investigation of the language practices of elementary teachers and learners in a foreign language (FL) Spanish non-immersion context and the significance of elicitation and elaboration moves for the nature of English discourse produced in class. Blanc, Carol, Griggs, and Lyster focus on English and French teachers’ lexical scaffolding strategies and their impact on elementary students’ lexical processing in a Canadian immersion school. Tognini and Oliver’s chapter explores the use, affordances, and limitations of students’ L1 in supporting teacher-learner and peer interactions in French and Italian primary and secondary FL classes in Australia. Finally, Tateyama draws on a conversation analysis (CA) perspective to study student and teacher repair interactions in role-play activities and their impact on student learning and the achievement of pedagogic goals.

The section examining discourse in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) contexts includes a chapter by Llinares and Morton arguing in favour of the affordances of a socio-interactionist approach drawing on CA, situated learning theory, and systemic functional linguistics to analyze the lexico-grammatical features of language use in CLIL classrooms. Nikula looks at peer group work in Finnish secondary history CLIL classes taught in English and the unique opportunities for interaction found in CLIL contexts when compared to traditional language classrooms. Smit reports on a longitudinal analysis of the evolution of question-initiated exchanges and their link to students’ growing engagement in a Viennese university hotel management program while underscoring the role played by English as a lingua franca (ELF) in CLIL classes.

Exemplifying research conducted in new language learning settings, House explores issues of identity and face in advisor-advisee interactions in a German university context, describing the code switching to L1 and use of “I + Verb” constructions (e.g., “I think”) present in these ELF exchanges when negotiating potentially facethreatening instances. Cots and Espelt present the case of a recently arrived immigrant girl in a secondary school in Catalonia, tracing the links between language learning, structure, agency, participation, and engagement in communities of practice in both immigrant reception classrooms and mainstream classrooms. Looking at discourses as they occur in digitally mediated interactions, Félix-Brasdefer draws on a corpus of e-mail exchanges between university L2 students of Spanish and their instructors to study discursive variations in the opening and closing sequences of e-mails and the importance of L2 learners’ pragmalinguistic and socio-pragmatic knowledge.

In the final section on further research issues, Azkarai and García Mayo examine the influence of gender on communicative language tasks and the impact of matched versus mixed-gender dyads in classroom activities with university Spanish-Basque learners of French. Salazar’s chapter focuses on corrective feedback and analyzes recordings of Spanish university students engaging with their instructor in feedback interactions. It also draws on stimulated recalls with these students discussing errors “noticed” during these feedback interactions to show how both explicit and implicit feedback can lead to learning. Finally, Portolés-Falomir and Martin-Laguna report on a study of code switching behaviour exhibited by multilingual learners acquiring a third language. Drawing on discourse produced by primary school Catalan-Spanish learners of English, instances of L1 and/or L2 use when working in English are documented and categorized to identify the various functions...