ABSTRACT
Adopting a conceptualization of interactional competence as wholly co-constructed within and through interaction, this chapter presents a single case analysis of an instance of the co-construction of second language (L2) interactional incompetence. The analysis shows how the researcher, an L2 user of Japanese, is co-constructed through talk, gaze, gesture and bodily position as interactionally incompetent, as, for example, unable to complete repair initiated by another on his talk. The chapter explores interactional competence, or, more specifically, interactional incompetence. It utilizes interactional competence as a concept in which the competence/performance distinction is completely eroded. The chapter discusses how the researcher’s interactional incompetence is constructed through the actions of the different participants. When an L2 learner participates in interaction using his or her L2, he or she participates in the construction of his or her L2 interactional competence.
