In line with the call for a process-oriented and ecologically sound approach to planning in SLA (Ellis, 2005), and with the behavioral approach adopted in other fields (Murphy, 2004, 2005; Suchman, 1987, 2007), the present work applies Conversation Analysis to the study of group planning. The participants are four groups of adult learners of Italian as a foreign language, engaged in the preparation of a classroom presentation in their L2. The analysis focuses on: 1) the collaborative production of linguistic artifacts; and 2) the complex L1/L2 alternation patterns produced by the students. This type of fine-grained, emic analysis allows to respecify group planning as an intersubjective, goal-oriented activity that is done by multilingual actors as observable behavior, consisting of a nexus of laminated actions (Goodwin, 2013) that occur in the moment and over time in and through embodied talk-in-interaction.

The present study aims to examine teacher questions in an English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom with a conversation analytic (CA) approach. Specifically, the study focuses on the sequential position of the teacher questions, and on their function in the management of classroom activities. Two activities in an intermediate leveled English classroom in Cambodia with students aged 20-24 were recorded and subsequently transcribed according to CA conventions. Thereafter, the teacher questions were identified and categorized. The findings showed that there were five categories of questions used by the teacher; that is, understanding checks, activity managing questions, repair regarding understanding and repair regarding accomplishment of task and lastly topic elaboration questions. Each category of question was used in a specific time in order to manage classroom activities, however, the findings also reveal that questions can interfere with the pedagogical focus when they appear out of context and can limit students’ participation in class.

This study addresses the usefulness of elicited imitation (EI) and automated speech recognition (ASR) as a tool for second language acquisition (SLA) research by evaluating differences among learners of Japanese. The findings indicate that the EI and ASR grading system used in this study was able to differentiate between beginning- and advanced-level learners as well as instructed and self-instructed learners. No significant difference was found between self-instructed learners with and without post-mission instruction. The procedure, reliability and validity of the ASR-based computerized EI are discussed. Results and discussion will provide insights regarding different types of second language (L2) development, the effects of instruction, implications for teaching, as well as limitations of the EI and ASR grading system.