Mediating Concept Formation in Classroom Interaction: A Case Analysis of L2 Spanish Concept-Based Pragmatics Instruction

This article traces the mediated formation of L2 pragmatics concepts as it occurred in classroom interactions during a concept-based pragmatics instruction enrichment program in a first-semester university-level Spanish class. Building on previous research documenting the outcomes of such enrichment programs, we delve into the microgenesis of pragmatic concepts through careful line-by-line analysis of interactions between students and their teacher. We focus in particular on one student, Donna, and show how classroom interaction provided an opportunity for her to pick up and reappropriate relevant conceptual language that in turn developed into new pragmatic concepts. We argue that Donna's contributions to classroom interactions were not simply evidence of what she knew about Spanish pragmatics but were constitutive of the developmental process as it occurred in real time.