Chapter 4 illustrated the patterns of word search sequences among the participants in L2 interactions in an ELF context as a large group (i.e., a complex system). We focused on the initiation of word searches, attempts to recover the self-initiated word searches, and the ways in which prosody-initiated recovery attempts are responded to by their partners. Chapter 5 investigates if the word search sequences initiated by four Japanese participants changed over time. It examines the patterns in the use of word search sequences over time between the four lead participants and their interlocutors.

The chapter is divided into five subsections. First, we will analyse the overall patterns of change found among the four Japanese participants, namely Ami, Maya, Yoko and Tomoko. This includes the participants’ overall English language proficiency and the quantified frequency of word search sequences. We will then give a detailed analysis of the word search sequence patterns of the four main participants and their fixed partners as shown below: