Second language discourse in and out of classrooms : studies of learner discourse in the acquisition of Swedish as a second language in educational contexts

Sammanfattning: A common theme for the papers in this thesis is a discourse perspective and an interactionist view on second language acquisition/learning and teaching. The results point at substantial differences between instructional activities as far as opportunities for meaningful interaction is concerned with important implications for language teaching. The bilinguals demonstrate more adult-like behavior in relation to the use of referential devices in different discourse functions than their monolingual peers. Several possible explanations for the differences in referential behavior between bilingual and monolingual students are discussed.