When experts stumble: responding to L2 learners’ language-related initiating actions

This article investigates moments in less institutionalised L2 learning interactions when language experts encounter difficulty responding to learners’ language-related initiating actions. Drawing on methods of Conversation Analysis and Interactional Linguistics, we examine how such moments are managed in L2 tutoring sessions and language tandem sessions. In such cases, learners request assistance in more explicit (e.g. direct questions addressed to the language expert) or implicit (e.g. word searches) ways and make an expert’s response relevant. Such actions can address, for example, the use of a lexical item, differences between related lexical items, and the workings of particular grammatical constructions. The empirical analysis focuses on how language experts publicly display trouble responding to these initiations and the different methods they employ for resolving the trouble. The analysis shows that these methods range from providing tentative explanations and conditional confirmations to consulting external resources and treating the learner’s initial action as non-answerable. These findings contribute to research on epistemics in less conventional L2 learning and teaching settings and can inform L2 pedagogy by unpacking the details of how language experts navigate moments of uncertainty.