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The paper presents a relatively new theoretical framework in the field of applied linguistics, more specifically, in the context of second language acquisition. Dynamic usage-based approach is a combination of complex dynamic systems theory and usage-based approaches, and it sees language development as an individual, dynamic process. In this view, L2 constructions are seen to emerge non-linearly when an L2 learner uses the L2 for the purposes of interaction. This paper focuses on some key aspects of the development of L2 learners’ repertoire, namely individual learning trajectories, non-linear development, variability, and dynamics of L2 constructions.

This article examines migrants’ agency related to the individualised and flexible practices available in Integration Training in Finland, with a focus on migrants’ Finnish language learning. The research focused on migrants who have not been studied before, namely those entering training after it had already started. The data consist of background information and interviews of 17 migrants who studied in Integration Training in 2018–2020. The interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The results show that the same practice can support the learner agency of some participants but limit the agency of others. The possibility to make choices about one’s own education varies, and choices are often related to beliefs about language proficiency. In the classroom and during work placement periods, some participants reported having had multiple chances to grasp affordances and use Finnish, others only a few. In summary, the individualised practices available in Integration Training appear to impact participants’ language learning variably, and participants’ wishes do not always align with the available practices.

This conversation analytic article focuses on changes in footing in improvisational conversations. The analytic focus is on the verbal and embodied means that signal a change of footing. The data consists of approximately nine hours of interaction videorecorded in the ‘language through drama’ classroom with Finnish language students in Romania during a period of three months. The analysis concentrates on three samples showing the changes in students’ gesture, gaze, body posture and other means of communication in addition to speech when returning to the improvisational role and to the frames of improvisation from their roles as students. The data show how the postures of students change during the change in footing and how the dynamism of embodied interaction changes simultaneously., This article examines the changes in footing in three improvisational conversations in which second language speakers of Finnish engage. The conversation analytic article focus on how the changes in footing in communication are visible through verbal and non-verbal modalities, and how the students return to the improvisational role and communication after the moment where change in footing occurs. The empirical data consists of approximately nine hours of interaction videotaped in the ‘language through drama’ classroom with Finnish language students in Romania during a period of three months. The analysis concentrates on three samples showing the changes in students’ gesture, gaze, body posture and other means of communication in addition to speech when returning to the improvisational role and to the frames of improvisation from their roles as students. The data shows how the postures of students change during the change in footing and how the dynamism in non-verbal communication changes or increases after bridging it.

This socioculturally informed study explores how highly educated Finnish language learners represent their agency in visual narratives. Learners (n=59) were asked to draw two pictures of themselves as Finnish language users and provide verbal interpretations of the drawings. The aim of using visual narratives is to reach aspects such as feelings and beliefs which might be difficult to express verbally. The data were analyzed first by using visual grammar set out by Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) and secondly by content analysis. The findings suggest that learners saw Finnish language as a tool for oral communication. However, difficulties with speaking and listening appeared to restrict learners’ agentic behaviour and manifested as a negative sense of agency. On the other hand, the findings indicate that learners had positive beliefs of their agency in the future: they saw themselves speaking fluent Finnish with other people, especially in the workplace.

Situated at the intersection of usage-based and social interactional approaches to L2 learning (CA-SLA, in particular) and informed by usage-based research, this study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the role of objects in understanding and designing language learning activities. In particular, this study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the role of smartphones in group discussions in L2 classrooms. The data comes from “learning-in-the-Wild” tasks designed for courses focusing on conversational Finnish. The interactions around these activities were videotaped and analysed using the methods of multimodal conversation analysis. The analysis shows that in the classroom discussions the students used the phones as objects to think and remember with. The potentials of the phone were used in identifying and making sense of moments of trouble and constructing objects of learning. In the spatial organisation and material ecology of the classroom, the phone also crucially shaped the organisation of participation in the learning activities.

The present study focuses on three immigrants' narratives about Finnish at vocational education. The aim is to investigate how immigrants narrate about willingness to communicate and learner beliefs and how they portray linguistic and social context in the act of narrating. The narratives are extractions from altogether 27 narrative interviews collected by interviewing nine adult immigrants, each three times during a year. The findings of the analysis suggest that even though some narratives are very individual and idiosyncratic, they are nevertheless socially constructed. Therefore, it is possible to create educational spaces, where individuals develop their beliefs about second language and also willingness to communicate.

The article explores the language of public administration from an L2 perspective. The main question addressed in the study is how professionals with an L2 background see themselves as users of the administrative registers and how their professional language skills and socialization into the administrative discourses is assessed by their colleagues and citizens as clients. The data for the study consist of interviews with administrative professionals with immigrant backgrounds (Finnish as L2) and their superiors with a majority language background (Finnish as L1). The article discusses the ideals of “good” administrative language (pertinence, clarity and comprehensibility) from the point of view of second language use and language socialization in the workplace. While the interviewees occasionally report on problems in adopting genrespecifc features in everyday administrative communication, the analysis shows that professionals with immigrant backgrounds share the overall knowledge of administrative genres and textual practices with their (L1) colleagues, and that, in their interview talk, they foreground their own agency as users of administrative language.