Interactional context in L2 dialogues

In recent years, second language acquisition research has focused on the performance of advanced and pre-advanced L2 learners (non-native speakers; henceforth NNSs), the former having received less attention. The present study draws on dialogues about future plans and route directions between advanced NNSs and a single native speaker (EVA). It is hypothesized that a NNS needs more time to construct utterances because her/his level of fluency has not reached the level of automatization that a native speaker (henceforth NS) possesses. A NNS, therefore, takes advantage of the interlocutorʹs turn to acquire the necessary tools to continue the dialogue and to gain time, using interactional strategies such as repetition, coconstruction, metalinguistic asides and trailing-offs. Furthermore, the route-direction frame is more rigid than the future plan frame, due to the more complex macro-context. Thus, the more difficult the communicative task, the more likely it is that the NNS will use interactional strategies as scaffolding devices. Comparisons with NS–NS dialogues confirm this hypothesis.