Simona Pekarek | University of Neuchâtel (original) (raw)

Papers by Simona Pekarek

Research paper thumbnail of Second Language Acquisition as Situated Practice: Task Accomplishment in the French Second Language Classroom

Canadian Modern Language Review-revue Canadienne Des Langues Vivantes, 2005

This article provides an empirically based perspective on the contribution of conversation analys... more This article provides an empirically based perspective on the contribution of conversation analysis (CA) and sociocultural theory to our understanding of learners' second language (L2) practices within what we call a strong socio-interactionist perspective. It explores the interactive (re)configuration of tasks in French second language classrooms. Stressing that learning is situated in learners' social, and therefore profoundly interactional, practices, we investigate how tasks are not only accomplished but also collaboratively (re)organized by learners and teachers, leading to various configurations of classroom talk and structuring specific opportunities for learning. The analysis of L2 classroom interactions at basic and advanced levels shows how the teacher's instructions are reflexively redefined within courses of action and how thereby the learner's emerging language competence is related to other (interactional, institutional, sociocultural) competencies. Discussing the results in the light of recent analyses of the indexical and grounded dimensions of everyday and experimental tasks allows us to broaden our understanding of competence and situated cognition in language learning.

Research paper thumbnail of Reported Speech in Conversational Storytelling During Nursing Shift Handover Meetings

Discourse Processes, 2011

Shift handovers in nursing units involve formal transmission of information and informal conversa... more Shift handovers in nursing units involve formal transmission of information and informal conversation about non-routine events. Informal conversation often involves telling stories. Direct reported speech (DRS) was studied in handover storytelling in two nursing care units. The study goal is to contribute to a better understanding of conversation in handover and use of DRS in storytelling in institutional contexts. Content analysis revealed that the most frequent sources quoted were oneself and patients, followed by physicians and colleagues. Further, DRS utterances are preceded by reports of situations, actions, and other reported speech, often constituting the climax of a story. Conversation analysis revealed how DRS participates in multimodal reenactments, complaints about patients, and justifying deviations from medical protocols. Results inform understanding of the uses of DRS in institutional storytelling, show how they index relevant membership categories and related knowledge and expectations, and serve as resources for making sense of non-routine events.

Research paper thumbnail of Compétence et langage en action

This paper discusses the notion of language competence in the light of recent developments, emana... more This paper discusses the notion of language competence in the light of recent developments, emanating from a social-interactionist perspective, that invite us to rethink established conceptions of language, cognition and (inter)action. The paper presents a critical reconceptualization of language competence as rooted in action -a competence-in-action -, and hence as socially situated, collaboratively established and contingent with regard to other competencies. Based on analyses of first and second language interactions, the paper develops empirical arguments that corroborate such an understanding. It then shows in how far this understanding is in line (a) with a situated view of cognition according to which cognitive processes are structured within courses of practical activitiesand hence bear traces of these activities -, and (b) with an emergentist view of language according to which language is an adaptative system whose systematicities emerge -at least partially -from its situated use within courses of practical activities.

Research paper thumbnail of Grammaire - Discours - Interaction: vers une approche interactionniste des ressources grammaticales liées à l'organisation discursive

This introductory paper discusses how recent developments in discourse-functional and interaction... more This introductory paper discusses how recent developments in discourse-functional and interactionally oriented work have drastically changed the way we look at information structure, and more generally how we understand the grammatical resources used to organize discourse. It is shown how the axis described in the title of this volume, grammar-discourse-interaction, identifies both a theoretical development regarding the way in which

Research paper thumbnail of On the contingent nature of language‐learning tasks

Using methods from conversation analysis, this paper explores ways that teacher‐designed language... more Using methods from conversation analysis, this paper explores ways that teacher‐designed language‐learning task interactions can vary in their performance due to the nature of face‐to‐face interaction. The analysis describes three task interactions from language‐learning classrooms, showing how the contingencies that are necessitated by learners working in small groups provide for different task performance as well as different potentials for language learning. The video‐recorded interactions come from two different classroom contexts: adult English‐language learners in the USA and adolescent learners of French in Switzerland. In each context, the learners are engaged in a directions‐giving task. Participants’ individual and group orientations to these similar teacher‐designed tasks lead to different co‐constructed performances of the task and, in each case, unique learning potentials.

Research paper thumbnail of Le débat: dispositif d'enseignement ou forme interactive émergente

Research paper thumbnail of Second Language Acquisition as Situated Practice: Task Accomplishment in the French Second Language Classroom

Canadian Modern Language Review-revue Canadienne Des Langues Vivantes, 2005

This article provides an empirically based perspective on the contribution of conversation analys... more This article provides an empirically based perspective on the contribution of conversation analysis (CA) and sociocultural theory to our understanding of learners' second language (L2) practices within what we call a strong socio-interactionist perspective. It explores the interactive (re)configuration of tasks in French second language classrooms. Stressing that learning is situated in learners' social, and therefore profoundly interactional, practices, we investigate how tasks are not only accomplished but also collaboratively (re)organized by learners and teachers, leading to various configurations of classroom talk and structuring specific opportunities for learning. The analysis of L2 classroom interactions at basic and advanced levels shows how the teacher's instructions are reflexively redefined within courses of action and how thereby the learner's emerging language competence is related to other (interactional, institutional, sociocultural) competencies. Discussing the results in the light of recent analyses of the indexical and grounded dimensions of everyday and experimental tasks allows us to broaden our understanding of competence and situated cognition in language learning.

Research paper thumbnail of Identification et observabilité de la compétence d'interaction: le désaccord comme microcosme actionnel

This paper presents an investigation of disagreement sequences understood as an actional microcos... more This paper presents an investigation of disagreement sequences understood as an actional microcosm that allows us to zoom in onto the development of interactional competence. An analysis of interactional data from French L1 classrooms in French speaking Switzerland is presented, emanating from two levels of schooling (lower and upper secondary). The analysis (a) identifies a series of observables relating to interactional competence, (b) opens a window onto aspects of its development across time and (c) sheds light on the communicative cultures at work in the two school contexts.

Research paper thumbnail of Mediation Revisited: The Interactive Organization of Mediation in Learning Environments

Mind, Culture, and Activity, 2002

This article is concerned with the social organization of mediation in learning environments. It ... more This article is concerned with the social organization of mediation in learning environments. It seeks to further articulate the sociocultural notion of mediation in sociointeractional terms, combining insights from the sociocultural approach to cognition and the microinteractionist, especially ethnomethodological approach to social activities. A microanalysis of mediation in communicative 2nd-language classroom activities where the task at hand is the management of interaction itself is presented. The microanalysis stresses the fact that patterns of social interaction, tasks, and social contexts emerge from locally accomplished socioculturally shaped collaborative activities. The analysis serves as a basis for developing a pluridimensional notion of mediation-in-interaction, which accounts for its reciprocity-based, context-sensitive, and culture-related nature.

Research paper thumbnail of Second Language Acquisition as Situated Practice: Task Accomplishment in the French Second Language Classroom

Modern Language Journal, 2004

This article provides an empirically based perspective on the contribution of conversation analys... more This article provides an empirically based perspective on the contribution of conversation analysis (CA) and sociocultural theory to our understanding of learners' second language (L2) practices within what we call a strong socio-interactionist perspective. It explores the interactive (re)configuration of tasks in French second language classrooms. Stressing that learning is situated in learners' social, and therefore profoundly interactional, practices, we investigate how tasks are not only accomplished but also collaboratively (re)organized by learners and teachers, leading to various configurations of classroom talk and structuring specific opportunities for learning. The analysis of L2 classroom interactions at basic and advanced levels shows how the teacher's instructions are reflexively redefined within courses of action and how thereby the learner's emerging language competence is related to other (interactional, institutional, sociocultural) competencies. Discussing the results in the light of recent analyses of the indexical and grounded dimensions of everyday and experimental tasks allows us to broaden our understanding of competence and situated cognition in language learning.

Research paper thumbnail of Second Language Acquisition as Situated Practice: Task Accomplishment in the French Second Language Classroom

Canadian Modern Language Review-revue Canadienne Des Langues Vivantes, 2005

This article provides an empirically based perspective on the contribution of conversation analys... more This article provides an empirically based perspective on the contribution of conversation analysis (CA) and sociocultural theory to our understanding of learners' second language (L2) practices within what we call a strong socio-interactionist perspective. It explores the interactive (re)configuration of tasks in French second language classrooms. Stressing that learning is situated in learners' social, and therefore profoundly interactional, practices, we investigate how tasks are not only accomplished but also collaboratively (re)organized by learners and teachers, leading to various configurations of classroom talk and structuring specific opportunities for learning. The analysis of L2 classroom interactions at basic and advanced levels shows how the teacher's instructions are reflexively redefined within courses of action and how thereby the learner's emerging language competence is related to other (interactional, institutional, sociocultural) competencies. Discussing the results in the light of recent analyses of the indexical and grounded dimensions of everyday and experimental tasks allows us to broaden our understanding of competence and situated cognition in language learning.

Research paper thumbnail of Reported Speech in Conversational Storytelling During Nursing Shift Handover Meetings

Discourse Processes, 2011

Shift handovers in nursing units involve formal transmission of information and informal conversa... more Shift handovers in nursing units involve formal transmission of information and informal conversation about non-routine events. Informal conversation often involves telling stories. Direct reported speech (DRS) was studied in handover storytelling in two nursing care units. The study goal is to contribute to a better understanding of conversation in handover and use of DRS in storytelling in institutional contexts. Content analysis revealed that the most frequent sources quoted were oneself and patients, followed by physicians and colleagues. Further, DRS utterances are preceded by reports of situations, actions, and other reported speech, often constituting the climax of a story. Conversation analysis revealed how DRS participates in multimodal reenactments, complaints about patients, and justifying deviations from medical protocols. Results inform understanding of the uses of DRS in institutional storytelling, show how they index relevant membership categories and related knowledge and expectations, and serve as resources for making sense of non-routine events.

Research paper thumbnail of Compétence et langage en action

This paper discusses the notion of language competence in the light of recent developments, emana... more This paper discusses the notion of language competence in the light of recent developments, emanating from a social-interactionist perspective, that invite us to rethink established conceptions of language, cognition and (inter)action. The paper presents a critical reconceptualization of language competence as rooted in action -a competence-in-action -, and hence as socially situated, collaboratively established and contingent with regard to other competencies. Based on analyses of first and second language interactions, the paper develops empirical arguments that corroborate such an understanding. It then shows in how far this understanding is in line (a) with a situated view of cognition according to which cognitive processes are structured within courses of practical activitiesand hence bear traces of these activities -, and (b) with an emergentist view of language according to which language is an adaptative system whose systematicities emerge -at least partially -from its situated use within courses of practical activities.

Research paper thumbnail of Grammaire - Discours - Interaction: vers une approche interactionniste des ressources grammaticales liées à l'organisation discursive

This introductory paper discusses how recent developments in discourse-functional and interaction... more This introductory paper discusses how recent developments in discourse-functional and interactionally oriented work have drastically changed the way we look at information structure, and more generally how we understand the grammatical resources used to organize discourse. It is shown how the axis described in the title of this volume, grammar-discourse-interaction, identifies both a theoretical development regarding the way in which

Research paper thumbnail of On the contingent nature of language‐learning tasks

Using methods from conversation analysis, this paper explores ways that teacher‐designed language... more Using methods from conversation analysis, this paper explores ways that teacher‐designed language‐learning task interactions can vary in their performance due to the nature of face‐to‐face interaction. The analysis describes three task interactions from language‐learning classrooms, showing how the contingencies that are necessitated by learners working in small groups provide for different task performance as well as different potentials for language learning. The video‐recorded interactions come from two different classroom contexts: adult English‐language learners in the USA and adolescent learners of French in Switzerland. In each context, the learners are engaged in a directions‐giving task. Participants’ individual and group orientations to these similar teacher‐designed tasks lead to different co‐constructed performances of the task and, in each case, unique learning potentials.

Research paper thumbnail of Le débat: dispositif d'enseignement ou forme interactive émergente

Research paper thumbnail of Second Language Acquisition as Situated Practice: Task Accomplishment in the French Second Language Classroom

Canadian Modern Language Review-revue Canadienne Des Langues Vivantes, 2005

This article provides an empirically based perspective on the contribution of conversation analys... more This article provides an empirically based perspective on the contribution of conversation analysis (CA) and sociocultural theory to our understanding of learners' second language (L2) practices within what we call a strong socio-interactionist perspective. It explores the interactive (re)configuration of tasks in French second language classrooms. Stressing that learning is situated in learners' social, and therefore profoundly interactional, practices, we investigate how tasks are not only accomplished but also collaboratively (re)organized by learners and teachers, leading to various configurations of classroom talk and structuring specific opportunities for learning. The analysis of L2 classroom interactions at basic and advanced levels shows how the teacher's instructions are reflexively redefined within courses of action and how thereby the learner's emerging language competence is related to other (interactional, institutional, sociocultural) competencies. Discussing the results in the light of recent analyses of the indexical and grounded dimensions of everyday and experimental tasks allows us to broaden our understanding of competence and situated cognition in language learning.

Research paper thumbnail of Identification et observabilité de la compétence d'interaction: le désaccord comme microcosme actionnel

This paper presents an investigation of disagreement sequences understood as an actional microcos... more This paper presents an investigation of disagreement sequences understood as an actional microcosm that allows us to zoom in onto the development of interactional competence. An analysis of interactional data from French L1 classrooms in French speaking Switzerland is presented, emanating from two levels of schooling (lower and upper secondary). The analysis (a) identifies a series of observables relating to interactional competence, (b) opens a window onto aspects of its development across time and (c) sheds light on the communicative cultures at work in the two school contexts.

Research paper thumbnail of Mediation Revisited: The Interactive Organization of Mediation in Learning Environments

Mind, Culture, and Activity, 2002

This article is concerned with the social organization of mediation in learning environments. It ... more This article is concerned with the social organization of mediation in learning environments. It seeks to further articulate the sociocultural notion of mediation in sociointeractional terms, combining insights from the sociocultural approach to cognition and the microinteractionist, especially ethnomethodological approach to social activities. A microanalysis of mediation in communicative 2nd-language classroom activities where the task at hand is the management of interaction itself is presented. The microanalysis stresses the fact that patterns of social interaction, tasks, and social contexts emerge from locally accomplished socioculturally shaped collaborative activities. The analysis serves as a basis for developing a pluridimensional notion of mediation-in-interaction, which accounts for its reciprocity-based, context-sensitive, and culture-related nature.

Research paper thumbnail of Second Language Acquisition as Situated Practice: Task Accomplishment in the French Second Language Classroom

Modern Language Journal, 2004

This article provides an empirically based perspective on the contribution of conversation analys... more This article provides an empirically based perspective on the contribution of conversation analysis (CA) and sociocultural theory to our understanding of learners' second language (L2) practices within what we call a strong socio-interactionist perspective. It explores the interactive (re)configuration of tasks in French second language classrooms. Stressing that learning is situated in learners' social, and therefore profoundly interactional, practices, we investigate how tasks are not only accomplished but also collaboratively (re)organized by learners and teachers, leading to various configurations of classroom talk and structuring specific opportunities for learning. The analysis of L2 classroom interactions at basic and advanced levels shows how the teacher's instructions are reflexively redefined within courses of action and how thereby the learner's emerging language competence is related to other (interactional, institutional, sociocultural) competencies. Discussing the results in the light of recent analyses of the indexical and grounded dimensions of everyday and experimental tasks allows us to broaden our understanding of competence and situated cognition in language learning.