Le développement de la compétence d'interaction : une étude sur le travail lexical

This paper presents an exploratory longitudinal study on how an adolescent speaker of French L2 manages word searches as part of auto-initiated other-repair. We followed Julie, a German-speaking au pair girl sojourning in a French-speaking environment, for 9 months. Based on the analysis of audio-recorded and transcribed everyday conversations, we track how Julie’s ‘methods’ for initiating word searches and calling for co-participant’s help change across the duration of her stay. Results show a shift from the use of ‘heavy’ resources that suspend the ongoing activities and focus explicitly on lexical issues towards the use of more subtle resources that maximize the progressivity of talk while still allowing the speaker to overcome lexical problems. It is argued that these changes are indicative of the development of L2 interactional competence.