The Icelandic Village: Participation in Everyday-Life Interaction in Icelandic.

• Main Authors: Theodórsdóttir, Guðrún, Friðriksdóttir, Kolbrún
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Icelandic
• Published: Milli Mála 2014
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: https://ojs.hi.is/millimala/article/view/1403

Participation in second language interaction outside the classroom is important in learning a second language. Recent research shows that language learning takes place in second language interaction. Classroom teaching needs to take into account the reality of students’ lives outside the classroom. The second language society has many opportunities for L2 interaction. Students at the University of Iceland have had trouble taking advantage of these opportunities and they have experienced the reluctance of some Icelanders to participate in interaction with beginners in Icelandic in everyday interaction. Icelanders tend to respond in English when they attempt to speak Icelandic. The L2 speaker is thus responsible for interaction taking place in the target language and may need special methods to gain the cooperation of the Icelanders. The pilot project “The Icelandic Village“ deals with these issues as it provides a specially designed environment for the L2 learners to use and practice Icelandic at the same time as they go about their daily lives. The Icelandic Village has real businesses, such as a bakery, a café and a library. The staff in these businesses have agreed to speak only Icelandic to the L2 learners. The classroom teaching is based on the students’ interaction in the Village. L2 learners in the pilot project have participated in several surveys on their experience in learning a new language this way. These surveys show that the learners are very positive towards the Icelandic Village.Keywords: L2 Icelandic, Second Language Acquisition, Conversation Analysis, The Icelandic Village, CA-SLA Miklu máli skiptir fyrir þá sem eru að læra annað mál að taka þátt í raunverulegum samskiptum utan kennslustofunnar. Nýjustu rannsóknir sýna að þar felast miklir möguleikar á máltileinkun og kallað hefur verið eftir því að vinna í kennslustofu taki í ríkari mæli mið af þeim daglega veruleika sem málnemar lifa og hrærast í. Þeir sem læra íslensku sem annað mál við Háskóla Íslands hafa rekið sig á að erfitt reynist ...