Negotiating structure and culture: L2 learners’ realization of L2 compliment-response sequences in talk-in-interaction

This study investigates the effects of teaching American learners of German culture-specific complimenting behavior with findings in conversation analysis (CA). Using CA as a tool to analyze dyadic L2 learner interaction, this study focuses on how L2 learners realize sequences underlying L2 compliment-responses in talk-in-interaction. Based on two data examples of NNS–NNS interaction, it will be demonstrated that (1) L2 learners display their structural awareness of the sequential organization of a particular L2 compliment-response and use it in talk-in-interaction; (2) L2 learners employ distinct discourse markers to signal to their co-participants the specific use of L2 sequential patterns; (3) L2 learners display their cultural orientation as they apply the L2 sequences and thus make the “foreign” sequences a locus for negotiating their own cultural identity. While the data suggest that teaching L2 conversational sequences may be effective to heighten L2 learners’ cultural awareness, problematic aspects involved in L2 learners’ negotiating cross-cultural differences in their talk, such as fallacious interpretations of the teaching materials and the need for displaying their own cultural orientation, are equally reflected in the structure of their talk. The data thus show the inherently social nature of L2 interaction in the context of foreign language teaching.