During this research stay, CritiCC’s PhD candidate Mora-Rodriguez participates in data sessions and seminars on conversation analysis, with a focus on bilingual interaction. The main objective of this research stay is to work under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Timothy Greer on the bilingual interaction that takes place at police border checks that Mora-Rodriguez analyzes for his doctoral thesis. This experience is a good opportunity to deepen the study of multilingual conversations, as well as how to apply the discipline of conversation analysis in bilingual settings. In addition, Japanese universities have a large number of scholars working on conversation analysis, which is helping Michael further develop his knowledge in this area of study.  

Activities:

As part of the CAN-KANSAI research group, Mora-Rodriguez shared his data on conversations between police officers and civilians in the border area between Spain and France (La Jonquera – Le Perthus). In front of professors from different universities (Kobe, Kyoto and Osaka), Michael presented examples of the use of English in conversations at border checks. One of the main interests of this data session was to discuss and examine how border-crossers who are English native speakers accommodate their use of English as a foreigner talk so that police officers can understand them.

Also, Mora-Rodriguez participates in data sessions organized by the SWELL research project, which stands for simulating the wild through experimental language learning, with interactional data in second language (L2) English in, for example, cooking classes. 

Overall, Mora-Rodriguez participates weekly in seminars in which him and graduate students discuss research on conversation analysis in bilingual interactions.