Introduction: Context and co-construction in interaction, pragmatics, and second language applications

Abstract

The scholarship of Dr. Dale April Koike has made important contributions to applied linguistics, Hispanic linguistics, pragmatics, and language pedagogy, and her role as a teacher and mentor has affected the lives of countless students and scholars. Much of Koike’s work converges on the topics of co-constructed discourse and the contextual frames that shape and are shaped by discourse, the central themes of this volume. After highlighting significant areas of investigation in the trajectory of Koike’s scholarship, the introductory chapter addresses the relationship between context and co-construction in interaction by drawing on various theoretical perspectives on negotiated and jointly produced meanings and intersubjectivity. The three sections of the volume, Co-constructed Discourse, Pragmatics in Discourse, and Teaching and Assessment of Discourse, are presented along with their respective chapters. The chapters explore identities, pragmatic meanings, social actors and actions, and context as being co-constructed via a multitude of communicative resources (e.g., language, gesture, gaze; use of time and space in interaction). The discussions in this volume raise key theoretical and applied questions related to the understanding of context and co-construction in interaction and pragmatics research.