Qualitative interactional analysis of informal learning process in JSL contexts

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This study examined informal situations for the international students in Japan where language learning takes place naturally, for example, various daily social activities and extra-curricular activities outside of the classroom during the study abroad period . The study has focused particularly on their interaction surrounding ICT-tools (e.g., use of SNS, Skype, blogs, internet search engines) in PBL(Project Based Learning) activities. A conversation analytically informed, multimodal interaction analysis was adopted to analyze the collected interactional data. The findings show that their engagement in the given activities beyond language learning would provide a rich, context-driven moment for learners to acquire various dimensions of communicative competence in the target language (Japanese). The study suggests that development of interactional competence in L2 may be in fact possible only in such informal learning settings.