Pis après: la “parola ripresa” per strutturare la conversazione famigliare in francese L2

Learning a second language is a process that takes place in daily conversation and is therefore observable in its turn-by-turn unfolding during free occurring interactions. In this contribution, we present a single-case analysis of one conversational excerpt taken from the audio recordings of a German-speaking au-pair girl learning French in Switzerland. Drawing on Conversation Analysis, we address the phenomenon of back-linking (Schegloff 1996) as regards its sequential placement and the linguistic resources employed, and we then discuss the functions the L2 speaker accomplishes through it. The analysis supports the idea that everyday interactional data need to be integrated in the studies on L2 acquisition as they uncover the online deployment of linguistic, as well as action resources. These, we argue, help us better understand the concept of L2 interactional competence and, more generally, the process of L2 acquisition.