My ongoing PhD project "Negotiating 'competence': Metapragmatic stancetaking in interactions of L1 and L2 users of Japanese" investigates how perceptions of communicative competence are co-constructed through metapragmatic discourse. I'm interested in ideologies of language (learning) and how cultural discourses about language intersect with interactional practices. I also explore L2 users' lived experiences of language/s on the basis of language portraits and narratives.
This article analyzes how communicative competence and politeness are co-constructed in one episo... more This article analyzes how communicative competence and politeness are co-constructed in one episode of <i>Easy Japanese for Work</i>, an online video-program for learners of Japanese. The episode analyzed in this article introduces a young man from Vietnam whose language use toward his superiors is deemed ‘too casual’ when asking for permission at work. He tackles a role play challenge that is evaluated by two experts of Japanese language education and business manners, who suggest a key phrase to make his Japanese ‘more polite’. Throughout the program, the experts, the learner’s superiors at his workplace, and the narrator evaluate his performance. My analysis exemplifies how a single discursive element uttered by the learner (<i>daijoobu desu ka</i>, ‘is it OK?’) is entextualized and metapragmatically evaluated as insufficiently polite. It is shown that, apart from verbal indexical expressions, various semiotic resources, such as gesture and gaze, but also visual-textual means, e.g. subtitles, and colors, are employed to position the learner as someone who is in need of adjusting his language use in workplace interactions.
This contribution deals with the use of playback interviews in interactional sociolinguistics, a ... more This contribution deals with the use of playback interviews in interactional sociolinguistics, a method wherein participants review audio or video recordings of their conversations and provide retrospective commentary. I first outline a brief history of the development of the playback method and how it was incorporated into the interactional sociolinguistic research agenda. As theoretical frameworks for playback interviews and their application to research on language ideologies remain underexplored, this article introduces three concepts from linguistic anthropology-citationality, reflexivity, and interdiscursivity-to theorize playback interviews from a semiotic perspective. Departing from these theories, playback interviews are contextualized within broader social dynamics, including participation frames, power, and rapport that are inherent in the interviewing process. Drawing on source recordings from interactions between L1 and European L2 users of Japanese in Tokyo, and playback sessions with the L2 users, I illustrate how playback interviews contribute to language-ideological inquiries, for example, perceptions of style and code-switching. The analysis showcases the method's potential to unveil participants' metapragmatic awareness and explore the intersection of linguistic structure, practice, and ideology. Playback interviews are positioned as a valuable tool for investigating language ideologies, offering new methodological perspectives through retrospection and reflection on communication.
This article analyzes how perceptions of communicative competence are discursively constructed in... more This article analyzes how perceptions of communicative competence are discursively constructed in interactions of L1 and L2 users of Japanese. Talking about appropriate language use is an inherently metapragmatic activity and therefore a product of metapragmatic stancetaking practices - here conceptualized as social actors’ positioning vis-à-vis potential and limitations of language use. The analysis shows that the interactants take stances toward (1) a general competence to speak Japanese, (2) a competence to translate into Japanese, and (3) competence in an honorific register. L2 users’ communicative competence is subject to interactional negotiation and evaluation. Naturalized links between competence, nationality, and identity are established through comparison, giving rise to intercultural discourse as a site for the (re-)production of native speaker ideologies.
In diesem Beitrag reflektiere ich über die Zusammenhänge von Mobilität, Emotionen, Ideen und Wahr... more In diesem Beitrag reflektiere ich über die Zusammenhänge von Mobilität, Emotionen, Ideen und Wahrnehmungen im Kontext der öffentlich/privat-Distinktion während meines Feldforschungsaufenthalts in Japan. Dabei präsentiere ich meine Aufzeichnungen in einem Forschungstagebuch als eine reflexive Methode, durch die ich meine eigene Position und die damit verbundenen Annahmen über soziale Beziehungen im Feld kritisch hinterfragen konnte. Während meiner konzeptionellen Auseinandersetzung mit dem Tagebuch wurde mir die Notwendigkeit bewusst, mich stärker auf subjektive Perspektiven in meiner Forschung zu fokussieren. Dies führte dazu, dass ich im Verlauf meines Aufenthalts meine Forschungsmethoden anpassen konnte.
This article analyzes how communicative competence and politeness are co-constructed in one episo... more This article analyzes how communicative competence and politeness are co-constructed in one episode of <i>Easy Japanese for Work</i>, an online video-program for learners of Japanese. The episode analyzed in this article introduces a young man from Vietnam whose language use toward his superiors is deemed ‘too casual’ when asking for permission at work. He tackles a role play challenge that is evaluated by two experts of Japanese language education and business manners, who suggest a key phrase to make his Japanese ‘more polite’. Throughout the program, the experts, the learner’s superiors at his workplace, and the narrator evaluate his performance. My analysis exemplifies how a single discursive element uttered by the learner (<i>daijoobu desu ka</i>, ‘is it OK?’) is entextualized and metapragmatically evaluated as insufficiently polite. It is shown that, apart from verbal indexical expressions, various semiotic resources, such as gesture and gaze, but also visual-textual means, e.g. subtitles, and colors, are employed to position the learner as someone who is in need of adjusting his language use in workplace interactions.
This contribution deals with the use of playback interviews in interactional sociolinguistics, a ... more This contribution deals with the use of playback interviews in interactional sociolinguistics, a method wherein participants review audio or video recordings of their conversations and provide retrospective commentary. I first outline a brief history of the development of the playback method and how it was incorporated into the interactional sociolinguistic research agenda. As theoretical frameworks for playback interviews and their application to research on language ideologies remain underexplored, this article introduces three concepts from linguistic anthropology-citationality, reflexivity, and interdiscursivity-to theorize playback interviews from a semiotic perspective. Departing from these theories, playback interviews are contextualized within broader social dynamics, including participation frames, power, and rapport that are inherent in the interviewing process. Drawing on source recordings from interactions between L1 and European L2 users of Japanese in Tokyo, and playback sessions with the L2 users, I illustrate how playback interviews contribute to language-ideological inquiries, for example, perceptions of style and code-switching. The analysis showcases the method's potential to unveil participants' metapragmatic awareness and explore the intersection of linguistic structure, practice, and ideology. Playback interviews are positioned as a valuable tool for investigating language ideologies, offering new methodological perspectives through retrospection and reflection on communication.
This article analyzes how perceptions of communicative competence are discursively constructed in... more This article analyzes how perceptions of communicative competence are discursively constructed in interactions of L1 and L2 users of Japanese. Talking about appropriate language use is an inherently metapragmatic activity and therefore a product of metapragmatic stancetaking practices - here conceptualized as social actors’ positioning vis-à-vis potential and limitations of language use. The analysis shows that the interactants take stances toward (1) a general competence to speak Japanese, (2) a competence to translate into Japanese, and (3) competence in an honorific register. L2 users’ communicative competence is subject to interactional negotiation and evaluation. Naturalized links between competence, nationality, and identity are established through comparison, giving rise to intercultural discourse as a site for the (re-)production of native speaker ideologies.
In diesem Beitrag reflektiere ich über die Zusammenhänge von Mobilität, Emotionen, Ideen und Wahr... more In diesem Beitrag reflektiere ich über die Zusammenhänge von Mobilität, Emotionen, Ideen und Wahrnehmungen im Kontext der öffentlich/privat-Distinktion während meines Feldforschungsaufenthalts in Japan. Dabei präsentiere ich meine Aufzeichnungen in einem Forschungstagebuch als eine reflexive Methode, durch die ich meine eigene Position und die damit verbundenen Annahmen über soziale Beziehungen im Feld kritisch hinterfragen konnte. Während meiner konzeptionellen Auseinandersetzung mit dem Tagebuch wurde mir die Notwendigkeit bewusst, mich stärker auf subjektive Perspektiven in meiner Forschung zu fokussieren. Dies führte dazu, dass ich im Verlauf meines Aufenthalts meine Forschungsmethoden anpassen konnte.
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