Development of interactional competence in Japanese as a second language: Use of incomplete sentences as interactional resources

This study investigates the development of interactional competence by second language (L2) learners of Japanese studying abroad as indexed by their use of incomplete sentences, a common linguistic phenomenon in Japanese conversations. Eighteen international students of mixed L1 backgrounds participated in the study at a Japanese university. They conversed with a peer for 20 minutes in Japanese, while the researcher participated in the conversation occasionally. Analysis of the two conversations, recorded 12 weeks apart at the beginning and end of the semester, showed a notable increase in the learners' production of incomplete utterances, although change in participant structure (dyadic between learner peers vs. triadic among learner peers and the researcher) showed no effect in the learners' use of incomplete sentences. Close analysis of the use of the incomplete sentences in sequential organization revealed the learners' development in interactional competence: Over time they became able to use the linguistic resource of incomplete utterance endings to co-construct meaning in talk-in-progress.