ABSTRACT
This article provides an overview of recent conversation analytic research in the area of language learning and teaching. Conversation analysis (CA) is a methodology for the analysis of naturallyoccurring spoken interaction. It is a multi-disciplinary methodology that is now applied in a very wide range of professional and academic areas. CA research into language learning and teaching can be viewed as a subset of CA research into institutional talk, in which the organisation of the interaction is related to the institutional goal. Applications of CA reviewed here are closely associated with the concerns of applied linguistics. The research is also a subset of second language acquisition (SLA) research, one which is firmly located in the socio-cultural school of SLA. There are synergies with education, particularly in relation to assessment and teacher training and the study of learning processes, as well as with sociology, where CA originated. The main argument is that CA research in the area of language learning and teaching has grown exponentially over the last fifteen years. It has developed many useful applications and is used to uncover learning processes and to reconceptualise established constructs.
