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Interactive alignment between bilingual interlocutors: Evidence from two information-exchange tasks*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2014

PAVEL TROFIMOVICH  and
SARA KENNEDY
PAVEL TROFIMOVICH*
Affiliation:
Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance, Concordia University, Montreal
SARA KENNEDY
Affiliation:
Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance, Concordia University, Montreal
*
Address for correspondence: Pavel Trofimovich, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal, Quebec, CanadaH3G 1M8[email protected]
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Abstract

This study investigated the occurrence of interactive alignment between bilingual interlocutors communicating in a shared second language (L2). Thirty university-level students from various language backgrounds completed two information-exchange tasks in L2 English. Excerpts from the beginning and end of the interactions were presented to ten native-speaking listeners who rated each interlocutor individually and both interlocutors as a team for speech and personality variables, including degree of alignment. Results revealed interactive alignment which encompassed different aspects of interlocutors’ speech and personality characteristics in each task. Theoretical and practical implications for alignment as a sociocognitive phenomenon in lingua franca contexts are discussed.

Keywords

interactive alignmentbilingual interactionlistener perceptionsreferential communication taskslingua franca communication
Type
Research Notes
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , October 2014 , pp. 822 - 836
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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Footnotes

*

This research was made possible through grants from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture. We are grateful to Vanessa Copeland, Jennifer Foote, Luke Ptak, Carla Pastorino, Ricole Lui, and Michelle Lee for their help with data collection and analyses. We also thank anonymous BLC reviewers for their helpful input and feedback on the content of this manuscript.

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