This book reports a conversation analytic (CA) study of the organization of interaction between native speakers and nonnative speakers of Finnish, based on naturally occurring conversation outside pedagogical contexts (e.g., classroom or conversation-for-learning environments). Approximately 16 hours of native speaker/nonnative speaker (NS/NNS) data include conversations among friends as well as talk in institutional encounters. Adopting CA methodology, the author provides carefully glossed transcripts for her examples, which enable nonspeakers of Finnish to follow the arguments relatively easily. Since studies on intercultural communication tend to concentrate on English-based contexts, the study represents a welcome contribution to the field by exploring a non-English context.

Following an introductory chapter, the author outlines the mechanism of repair in interaction, which is the analytical focus of the book. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 present and explore various kinds of interactional practices that revolve around the phenomenon of repair. Chapter 3 examines other-correction. Besides the (perhaps unsurprising) finding that native speakers predominantly correct nonnative speakers rather than vice versa, the analysis makes the noteworthy point that in non-pedagogic settings, repair-seeking utterances are elicited and negotiated at selected occasions, not whenever the NNS is simply in need of correction. Given that, the chapter explicates how the NNS tactfully signals the need for, and the NS engages in, repair. Chapter 4 explains repairs found in word search activity. In most of the cases observed, the NNS indicated the word search, and the search was resolved by the NS. By carefully examining each case, the author points out that the search is not always done only because of the limited lexical knowledge on the part of the NNS; rather, both participants at times engage in the activity in order to pursue a social goal (e.g., to fill out an application form) in a given context. Chapter 5 illustrates yet another repair phenomenon, the reformulation or rephrasing by the NS of statements by the NNS. Through reformulation, the NS reveals his or her understanding, and by acknowledging it, the NNS contributes to intersubjectivity.

Throughout these chapters, the author demonstrates that in non-pedagogical settings, what is treated as “reparable” and how repairs should be managed are determined and negotiated by both NS and NNS participants, and the generated solutions reflect the appropriate social context. The analysis clearly shows that participants at times move their linguistic identity (e.g., native or nonnative speakers of Finnish) to the background and instead foreground various other social roles – for example, visitors to the university and administrative staff. Dynamic social identity management of this kind can also be observed in pedagogical contexts; however, in such settings the evidence for shifts away from linguistic identities can be so subtle that it is difficult to render apparent persuasively. The data in this book enable readers to see the point much more vividly.

The author demonstrates a clear need for studies of similar design to help us better understand second-language-learner discourse. It is indeed true that to this day, non-English, non-pedagogical, and non-experimental cases are badly underrepresented in the field. More studies like the one presented in this book would certainly move us closer to a more comprehensive understanding of the L2 speaker’s social world(s).