Resonance Alignment in the Naturalistic Interaction Between Chinese Native and Non-Native Speakers

The notion of resonance alignment has been used in the present study to describe the process by which interlocutors synchronize their situation models and linguistic representations, and engage in the dynamic echoing and transformation of discourse elements to construct shared meaning during interaction. We employed a conversation analytic approach to investigate resonance alignment as reflected in the interaction between a native speaker of Chinese (NS) and an English-speaking Chinese learner (NNS), examining how resonance alignment generates dialogic resonance helping with mutual understanding during the interaction. A fine-grained analysis of the 230-minute Chinese NS/NNS interaction in five conversations yielded three major findings regarding resonance dynamics in naturalistic interaction: 1) resonance alignment produced three distinct typological outcomes— complete, partial, and zero resonance —through interlocutors’ adaptive coordination; 2) partial resonance emerged as the predominant form, exhibiting functional versatility across communicative contexts; 3) both complete and partial resonance played a pivotal role in collaborative meaning construction, with their effective generation serving as a critical indicator of interlocutors’ interactional competence.