“I’ve got an idea”: A social semiotic perspective on agency in the second language classroom

This paper addresses the role of multimodal fluency in establishing agency in the second language classroom. The focus of the paper is on the semiotic resourcefulness of an English Language Learner in an English as a Second Language classroom in the United States. Framed from a social semiotic perspective, fine grained multimodal analysis of teacher–student interaction during second language online writing reveals how one student demonstrates fluency with the multiple semiotic demands of the language classroom—using his fluency to commit transgressional acts that preserve agency. Implications for the role of intersubjectivity in identifying learner competencies are discussed.

► Shift in SLA from deficit models to positive views of learner interactional competencies.
► However, evidence of learner competencies remains sparse.
► Multimodal analysis reveals how one ELL preserves agency through semiotic fluencies.
► Implications provided for the role of intersubjectivity in identifying competencies.