How does mobile learning support second language learning? Evidence from CSL learners’ turn construction in online communication

Under global public health emergencies such as COVID-19 and monkeypox, online learning for the second language (L2) has become prevalent, especially mobile learning, which provides a new training form spanning time and space for L2 learners in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Taking the turn construction of learners who learn Chinese as a second language (CSL) as a point cut, this study investigated L2 learners’ communication strategies in a mobile learning context through conversation analysis, a qualitative method. The result showed that the CSL learner adopted self-turn construction, co-construction, and turn-taking in online communication. In turn-taking, the CSL learner raised the pitch at the beginning of a new turn to a position higher than the pitch at the end of the previous turn. This study revealed the structure and approach of CSL learners’ turn construction in ‘talk-in-interaction’, enriching the theoretical research of turn construction under the transactional distance theory of L2 learning supported by mobile technologies. Copyright © 2024 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.