Simple language, sophisticated actions

Abstract Drawing on video-recorded data from an educational institution called Tokyo Global Gateway, we investigate how visiting students use English for sequence-initiating actions addressed either to a teacher (called an agent) or other students. As the students usually use Japanese to address another student, we analyze how they accomplish targeting the agent when they use English to address another student. By doing this, the students position the agent as a legitimate overhearer. We also investigate the resources students use to construct sequence-initiating actions and how they recycle resources from the substrate (i.e., local environment of talk, embodied conduct, and other semiotic resources). Students’ sophisticated use of resources, including those recycled from the substrate, demonstrates that their often simple language belies a high degree of displayed interactional competence. This study contributes to research on participation and language choice in educational institutions and the use of recycled resources in the construction of actions-in-interaction.