Taking turns in keeping the talk going is a co-managed accomplishment. When the talk
does not flow, the moment is noticeable and accountable. I am proposing the use of a new
term, ‘stuckness’, as an organizational concept which describes certain moments in NSNNS
talk when participants temporarily lose a shared orientation as to who will take the
next turn and what to say. Two related concepts are also introduced: Flow is the
sequential moment where the talk proceeds smoothly to the next turn. Getting unstuck
demonstrates the interactional work done by participants to address any uncertainties.
The talk examined belongs to a hybrid genre which has elements of both ordinary
conversation and institutional talk. The data come from a series of talks between three
Japanese EFL students and me over a span of ten years. The collection of recorded talks
includes over 30 sessions of dyadic talk ranging in length from 20 to 60 minutes per
session. Three rules were followed: (1) English is the language of use. (2) Each session
would last for a certain length of time. (3) The NNS would tell the NS about daily
activities and special events.
By tracing how one turn leads into another, three basic questions emerged: (1) When does
talk flow in dyadic talk? (2) When do participants get stuck? (3) How do participants get
unstuck? The findings highlight participants’ resourcefulness in using topic shift,
storytelling, repair, and formulation to maintain the flow of talk. The contribution of this
thesis may ultimately rest in encouraging people (e.g., researchers, teachers, students, and
in fact anyone who is engaged in extended talk in any situation) to take a closer look at
what participants are able to do (regardless of being a NS or a NNS) to keep the
conversation going despite occasional mistiming.