Contexts of Co-constructed Discourse: Interaction, Pragmatics, and Second Language Applications

This collection showcases cutting-edge developments in co-construction in discourse. Drawing on the pioneering work of Dale A. Koike, the volume contributes new understandings of how speakers jointly negotiate meanings, contexts, identities, and social positions in interaction.

The volume is organized around three key themes in co-construction―co-constructed discourse, pragmatics in discourse, and teaching and assessment of discourse―and builds on the introductory chapter that situates the discussion on context and co-construction as fundamental to understanding meaning-making in interaction. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives across strands of linguistics and education, chapters explore both the contextual elements that frame co-construction processes and the distinct dynamics between action and language use across a wide range of interactional contexts, including sports commentary, interviews, everyday conversation, classroom discourse, and digitally mediated settings. Taken together, the book highlights the impact of Koike’s contributions on existing research in pragmatics and discourse and exhibits the potential for her work to frame scholarship on emerging interactional contexts.

This volume will be of particular interest to students and researchers in discourse studies, pragmatics, applied linguistics, second language studies, and language education, as well as those interested in interaction across diverse contexts.

Lori Czerwionka is Associate Professor of Spanish and Linguistics at Purdue University. Her research on pragmatics and discourse focuses on mitigation, speech acts, and intercultural communicative competence. She has published in edited volumes and journals, including Journal of Pragmatics, Intercultural Pragmatics, Hispania, and International Journal of Learner Corpus Research.

Rachel Showstack is Associate Professor of Spanish at Wichita State University. Her research on co-construction and pragmatics in Spanish heritage language education appears in Language and Intercultural Communication, the Journal of Spanish Language Teaching, and the Journal of Language, Identity, and Education. Her current work addresses language and Latinx health.

Judith Liskin-Gasparro is Associate Professor Emerita of Spanish and Applied Linguistics at the University of Iowa. Her research on the development and evaluation of L2 speaking proficiency in classroom or immersion environments has appeared in peer-reviewed journals and volumes, including The Modern Language Journal, Foreign Language Annals, Hispania, Applied Linguistics, and three Routledge volumes.