ABSTRACT
This study explicates the underlying discourse structure and interactional relevancies that enable the participants in an extensive reading (ER) book club designed for second language (L2, English in this study) learning to accomplish their activity-specific agenda of sharing about books through talk. To put it simply, this study investigates the pragmatics (i.e., the language use) of ER book club talk. Through conversation analysis, I show how the participants who come from different Asian and East Asian areas use English as a lingua franca to collaboratively organise their talk on books that they read individually. I reveal identified activity phases that are pervasive in the book club practice, how they are sequentially positioned, and how they emerge and end in the course of interaction. I then discuss some of the study’s implications for research on book club talk and literacy practices. I conclude by discussing how the activity phases are designed and managed in such a way as to boost the students’ reading habits and L2 learning, which are the two goals that form the main institutional agenda of the book club.
