Multiple yeah but s and but s across turns

This study illustrates how L2 speakers use the turn-initial particles yeah but and but as resources to calibrate task answers and as turn-entry devices in accomplishing collaborative argumentation during task-based peer interaction in EFL classrooms in Czechia and Finland. By showing how these particles are deployed repeatedly across multiple turns by a single speaker or two or more speakers one after another, we extend previous research on turn-initial particles, which has predominantly analysed individual instances occurring in single turns. Through the multiple (yeah) but s, students express disagreement or alternative viewpoints quite directly: typically latching onto or in overlap with the current speaker’s turn, and, in many cases, also with gaze directed at the co-participant. We argue that in the episodes with multiple (yeah) but s, the students’ orientation to the preference for minimising disagreement can be overridden by their orientation to task engagement, which is closely related to the argumentative nature of the L2 classroom tasks they are doing. Our findings contribute to the existing body of research on the grammar-body interface by providing a multimodal account of the use of multiple (yeah) but s as turn-initial particles.