L2 Journal: An electronic refereed journal for foreign and second language educators

This paper contributes to the much debated yet still largely unanswered question of how second language (L2) learning is anchored and configured in and through social interaction. Using a socio-interactional approach to second language (L2) learning (e.g., Hellermann, 2008; Mondada & Pekarek Doehler, 2004; Pekarek Doehler, 2010), I examine students’ search for the meaning of a lexical item and subsequent use of the same item. This study is longitudinal in design and attempts to understand how participants orient to a lexical item as an object of learning to co-construct locally enacted and progressively more complex interactional repertoires in the target language. The data consists of recorded interactions between learners of German as they work on a project outside of the classroom for several days during a two-week period. The analysis involves tracking multiple episodes where a vocabulary item is used and attended to by the group of learners. Learners engage in learning practices and create opportunities for L2 learning through interaction, employing strategies such as timely peer assistance and appropriation of new conversational meanings.