Abstract Accumulated research on second language (L2) speakers’ use of language “in the wild” has found that learners use various mundane discursive resources to achieve intersubjectivity. Using conversation analysis as an analytical framework, this study further explores how high school students from Japan who had lived in a homestay in the U. S. display their affect and affiliation with their interlocutors in assessment activities. A sequential analysis of the assessment activities demonstrated that L1 and L2 participants collaboratively constructed expressions of emotion. This study analyzes three primary types of discursive resources: (1) prosodic and temporal organization, (2) extreme case formulation, and (3) display of an epistemic stance. L2 speakers combine these resources to work sequentially and holistically to strengthen their affiliation with the first assessments of their L1 co-participants. Interactions with L1 speakers provide L2 speakers studying abroad with meaningful opportunities to reflect on the relationships between linguistic systems, emotions, and contexts in a particular culture. Finally, it discusses the pedagogical implications of the findings.
Sachiko Kondo (2026) studied this question.