The role of "silence" in child second language interaction

This dissertation elaborates on the topic of second language interaction while addressing dilemmas of the relationship between the two distinctive, yet interdependent disciplines - second language acquisition (SLA) and conversation analysis (CA). The main attention is devoted to the role of 'silence' in child SLA. While the acquisition of second languages has been a prominent topic of research across linguistic disciplines, most SLA oriented studies are primarily focused on the learner's language development. The time preceding the onset of talk, generally called the 'silent period', thus, has received only a minor attention. It is predominantly the methodology based on cognitive and psycho linguistic traditions that restricts the SLA research to generative views, that is, focused on linguistic issues in isolation from other contextual aspects. Such an approach misinterprets a 'silent' learner as a rather passive, uncreative, routine or an imitating communicator. Conversation analysis (CA) methodology, on the other hand, focused on contextual aspects of talk-in-interaction than on the language itself, can take the notion of 'silence' within the SLA out of its linguistic isolation. This project shows that seen through the lens of CA, 'silence' can serve as an efficient and resourceful child second language..