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Usually when people talking about language learning, they are talking about the accomplishment and development of one's cognitive ability and linguistic competence of language. It is of no doubt that how individual uses language in actual social situations is of great significance and thus should be address instructor's attention. However, to improve learner's interactional competence within a class's efforts, for me, is not that easy, or, it is hard to really make a difference. One class usually last about two hours, then how can we really help learners to be truly exposed to an authentic environment. Even though we incorporate videos of authentic speech, or invite authentic speakers to communicate with learners, we can't ensure every student get enough time to practice. What we can do in class is very limited. However, progress may happen outside of the classroom.

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To build up students’ interactional competence in their target language, it is necessary to incorporate data of authentic interactions into the class materials. I think authentic interactions can mean various kinds of interactional styles for different interlocutors, so it is important for the teacher to conduct need analyses to design instructions according to the individual needs and goals of each student. Some students may aim to use their L2 to cooperate with foreign colleagues as part of their daily job; some may want to acquire the L2 to live in a foreign country for a few months to accompany their family members there. To make sure the students receive data of authentic interactions that are likely to happen in their anticipated L2 environments, the teacher can play the role of a microethnographer, collecting interactional data in various situations and analyze the contextualization cues involved in them. In that way, the students can experience and practice conversational strategies that fit their personal needs in terms of L2 acquisition.

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I think one way of creating authentic interactions in class for both ESL and EFL is to introduce authentic materials of non-linguistic purposes. During this area which online resources abound, I believe it is not difficult for language teachers to find authentic materials on websites. Music, debates, news reports, stand-up comedies, and films can become authentic class content. Teachers' responsibility is to determine and select the materials that can contribute the most to the class objectives and students' communicative competence and direct students' attention to those interactions in the authentic materials worth learning.

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Transferring the focus of language teaching  from linguistic knowledge to interactional competence could be an effective way to create authentic interactions. The language teachers in current educational systems have a tendency to emphasize the importance of learning linguistic knowledge. As a consequence, the assessments tend to be based on standardized-test formats, such as multiple-choice questions, instead of adopting a more authentic and interactive format, such as oral presentation and group project. Therefore, by shaping the focus of language learning from linguistic knowledge into interactive competence, the language teachers will change and develop the curriculum by including more authentic conversations instead of decontextualized grammatical knowledge. In addition, the design of more interactive assessment formats could also motivate language learners to practice their interactive competence that is more practical in real-life situations.

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To help students improve their interactional competence, I think one of the most effective ways is to encourage students to practice language use within the speech community of the target language.  While in the classrooms, educators could prepare classes about tips of intercultural interaction between students and users of the target language. By studying the speech acts and speech events in the speech community, students will get the chance to learn about the social norms and contextual knowledge.

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I think the first step could start with preparing the students with the knowledge of language variations rather than just teaching the language per se. During the class, more videos in target languages that represent different cultures should be played and analyzed in terms of the differences in contextualization cues such as speech style, word choices with different interlocutors, intonation, etc. If conditions permit, students can go out and interview or record their conversations with at least 5 people from different countries/regions in that target language. Sometimes, L2 learners use the language unconsciously when talking to others so they do not know their own features of speaking the language. Through analyzing their own real-life experience, students can know better why sometimes conversations with people from different backgrounds break down. Other than that, students will also understand more about language variations and be more willing to go out and speak that language to others with confidence as L2 learners. On the other hand, if other L2 learners have difficulty in expressing themselves, they can also have the competence to interpret what others are trying to convey.

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I think one way to introduce and create an authentic interaction in a language classroom is for the teacher to provide scripts for students to work in pairs. For example, in an EFL classroom, the teacher could prepare scripts for everyday greetings or conversations that would occur in a particular situation in English, and after explaining the role and meaning of each sentence, students can practice their conversation with a partner based on the scripts. Also, another way I found useful was to compare and contrast the students' first language with English, especially some of the typical differences that exist between the two languages when it comes to daily interactions and conversations. This allowed the students to notice the differences between authentic English interaction and their first language while also introducing them to the differences between these two cultures.

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I believe that there are several steps that can be taken to help students improve their interactional competence. In a foreign language setting, it is difficult to have students go out and interact with speakers of the target language; however, if it is possible I would plan excursions to local ethnic enclaves so that my students can experience living in the target language. Prior to these ethnic enclave excursions, I would do ample scaffolding with my students to prepare them for pragmalinguistic differences in the target language.  I would do so by having my students examine recorded interactions between speakers of the target language and ask the students to identify some of the differences and similarities in how people interact in the target language. Additionally, I would have my students role-play doing certain tasks while employing certain culturally appropriate and inappropriate contextual cues. I would use this exercise as a point of entry to get my students to think more deeply about how we convey meaning with different linguistic tools so that my students can be prepared for possible crosstalk. I would also try to aid my students with repair techniques as well.  

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I believe that there are several steps that can be taken to help students improve their interactional competence. In a foreign language setting, it is difficult to have students go out and interact with speakers of the target language; however, if it is possible I would plan excursions to local ethnic enclaves so that my students can experience living in the target language. Prior to these ethnic enclave excursions, I would do ample scaffolding with my students to prepare them for pragmalinguistic differences in the target language.  I would do so by having my students examine recorded interactions between speakers of the target language and ask the students to identify some of the differences and similarities in how people interact in the target language. Additionally, I would have my students role-play doing certain tasks while employing certain culturally appropriate and inappropriate contextual cues. I would use this exercise as a point of entry to get my students to think more deeply about how we convey meaning with different linguistic tools so that my students can be prepared for possible crosstalk. I would also try to aid my students with repair techniques as well.  

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K. Grady

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I can create authentic interactions in a class to promote interactional competence through in-class peer-to-peer collaborative interactions and leveraging media technologies. In the first case, I can encourage role-playing strategies within specific social or work-related contexts to guide the dialogue. I can structure the role-plays so that diversity among learners is embraced. Such a step would require the involvement of learners with different interactional and communication competencies and linguistic or cultural backgrounds. After such peer-to-peer interactions, I will encourage collaborative discussions in the class. The discussions will revolve around how students effectively or ineffectively adjusted their speech to the effects that the speakers intended to have on the listener. I would also encourage students to highlight how they anticipated the listeners’ responses, cues, and any misunderstanding. Such discourses will offer students a suitable learning space to also evaluate how non-verbal cues played a role in effective communication or in facilitating misunderstandings. To promote authentic interactions during the in-class discussions, I would ensure that a turn-taking approach is adopted. Additionally, I would avoid error correction to encourage authentic peer-to-peer reviews. Repeating such activities periodically will help learners nurture authentic interactions while improving their interactional competence.
Another step to promoting authentic interactions would entail leveraging technology. In particular, I would plan to use reviewed TV shows in English as an Additional Language class. Consequently, I would encourage in-class conversation assessments. Conversations and interactions in TV shows are appropriate because they are representative of real-life interactions.

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Based on my own language learning experience, the grammar and conversation in a textbook is not an ideal authentic material. instead, it is the lines in the TV series, movies and the lyrics in some English songs that helped me learn a more authentic English. Especially the lines in some animation movies that I saw when I was young. The lines are specially designed for the scene, and that makes them more authentic than the textbook. I got used to watching American animation movies when I was young. Apart from the lines, the suprasegmental is also perfectly manifested in these interactions, for example, the stress and intonation of the sentence. I like to mimic the characters and try to dub for some of the clips in the movie, and that was really helpful in getting familiar with the authentic interactions. So I think the teacher can not only suggest the students watch some movies, TV series, but can also choose some clips and give the students opportunities to practice the lines and dub the clips in the class to get familiar with the stress and intonation of these sentences in daily interactions.

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In order to achieve interactional competence by creating authentic interactions, I think it depends on how students want to do the interactions. We cannot just force them to talk with an authentic English-speaking person if they are not willing to practice English in this way. So, for students who are not willing to have the conversation in the first place, we can give them some options of American TV shows to let them watch and observe the interaction between the interlocutors. For example, how they start the conversation and maintain the flow of the conversation by using contextualization cues. Also, how do they change their topics and structure their sentences? What are some slang terms they use? And how would you use what you observed in your conversations? After finishing the observation and thinking about these reflection questions, students can report to the teacher their findings. Next, the teacher could encourage them to record their speeches when interacting with an English-speaking person, and let them do a self-analysis about what the contextualization cues they used, what did not go well, etc. As for other students, the teacher could just let them record their conversation whenever they interact with an English-speaking person, and then ask them to do the analysis similar to the steps that I just mentioned. Then, during the class, the teacher could use these recordings as authentic materials to do the instructions. After the class discussion and practice, they could somewhat improve their discourse styles and contextualization cues in the next conversation.

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As far as I am concerned, the first step for authentic interactions is resorting to authentic materials. The authentic materials here do not necessarily refer to standardized textbooks, but are materials that are used or created by authentic language users. Linguistic knowledge presented on textbooks are not always correct or widely used by native speakers. When I was in middle school, one of my ways to enhance my interactional competence was to expose myself to authentic English, such as listening to English songs, watching English movies, watching English TV series, etc. When immersed in an English environment, I could not only gain lexical resources used by native speakers, but also mimic the pronunciations and intonations. The second important step is to not shy away from practicing in real life. If the former method equips me with necessary theoretical knowledge for authentic English, pushing myself to actually speak with someone facilitates me to obtain practical skills. Interacting with individuals from English-speaking countries promotes me to use the vocabulary and phrases I learned previously, and learn new expressions continuously.

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As English is my second language, I thought that the most effective way for me to improve interactional competence is by observing native speakers’ interactions and mimicking lexical choices, pronunciation, and intonation. With less exposure to authentic conversations, students will not be able to establish an awareness of interactional competence. Thus, I suggest that instructors can ask students to watch a video, such as an episode of a TV series or a recording of people’s interaction, to discuss their observations of native speakers’ conversations. Moving from observation, instructors can guide students to learn the cultural backgrounds behind these authentic conversations so students can better understand the contextualization cues in interactions. The last step is to ask students to apply what they have learned in a period of time and engage in real conversations to accumulate more experiences in using appropriate lexical choices.

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In class we discussed how interactional competence would be more effective in a class that was already established.  What are some steps that can be taken in order to create authentic interactions in order to achieve interactional competence?

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In class we discussed how interactional competence would be more effective in a class that was already established.  What are some steps that can be taken in order to create authentic interactions in order to achieve interactional competence?

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Something I have done for adult learners (In Philly) is to have them go out into the world and try to speak at for instance Wawa or speak English with anyone they can find in an ostensibly "Authentic" area, it doesn't need to be with a native speaker as that is certainly not representative of "Authentic Interaction" in Philadelphia. After this they are told to report what was said and how they felt about it, what was their feeling. Once in class they would report their experiences and as a class we would work through issues they had or talk about what they thought went well. I think in this way encouraging learners to go out into the world and use English is immensely useful as it helps encourage students to go out and use English, gives them tools they need to make repairs during review, and builds confidence as students share their experiences and they realize it isn't just them who runs into similar issues.