Participant-driven L2 learning in the wild: An overview and its pedagogical implications

The objective of this chapter is two-fold: (1) using interactional data from L2 Danish “in the wild”, i.e., in non-classroom, non-pedagogically designed settings, I continue previous work on L2 speakers’ naturalistic learning behaviors to map out systematically the processes and practices involved in the understanding, learning, and teaching activities in which the L2 speakers participate and (2) I discuss further how to ground experiential L2 pedagogies in natural empirical data based on the interactional, usage-based perspective on L2 learning as experiential discovery.

Initiatives to support L2 learning in the wild are spreading, arising from the assumption that L2 learning is fundamentally usage-based and experientially driven. My contributions here are (1) a scaffold-building pedagogy that draws on, exploits, and influences L2 students’ social lives through recordings, feedback and challenges; and (2) a task-based template that turns curricular assignments into participant-driven activities outside of class.