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This study investigated classroom interaction in three novice-level Chinese language classrooms at middle and high schools in the US in the spring of 2021. Due to school responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, the participating teachers had shifted from teaching in a face-to-face, in-person classroom to fully online and partially online, hybrid classrooms with some students and the teacher present in the school, and some students attending through the Zoom video conferencing platform. Using complex dynamic systems theory as the theoretical framework, such classrooms were viewed as systems co-adapting in these environments to accomplish classroom goals, including the use of the target language to develop topics. Incidents of participants' use of the target language for topic development were examined for evidence of students' engagement and comprehension. There were two data sources. The first data source was video recordings of classroom interaction during lessons, collected both by the researcher who attended lessons through Zoom, and by the teachers, who recorded their computer desktop view during lessons. The second data source was recordings of stimulated recall sessions with each teacher and with focus groups of participating students, in which short video clips from a recent lesson were shown and discussed. Classroom interaction was analyzed at two scales. At the meso scale, analysis led to identifying Instructional Activities (IAs) in which participants most typically used the target language for topic development. Then, at the micro scale, typical incidents from within these IAs were chosen for Conversation Analysis of how topic development was sustained by the participants and how students displayed engagement and comprehension during those incidents. Findings suggest three IAs, typically led by the teachers with the whole class, were more typical for target language use that led to topic development: small talk, Personalized Questions and Answers and Story Asking (categorized as one IA), and discussing a text which included video clips, images, and reading materials. Five excerpts from these IAs illustrated findings about topic development, engagement, and comprehension at the micro scale. In this study, evidence of engagement was determined from verbal and multimodal actions by students within instructional activities (Jacknick, 2021). Turn-by-turn interactions within IAs were typically prompted by the teacher, whose questions projected student involvement in topic development in one of four ways: appealing to the teacher's prior knowledge about students' lives, taking up a student question or comment to develop a topic, inviting responses from students about their personal opinions, experiences, and imagined ideas, and students' interpretations and predictions regarding prepared texts. Atypically, students pressed for topic development in ways which the teacher initially resisted. In those incidents of interaction, both the teachers and the students were involved with topic development, with typically longer turns by the teachers. The imbalance in interaction may partially reflect the presumed novice proficiency level of the students (ACTFL, 2012). However, despite the differences of turn length and complexity, both the students were observed to take actions which supported topic development and displayed engagement and comprehension. Implications are discussed, such as aspects of online and hybrid interaction and classroom setup, possible implications for teacher education and development, and directions for future classroom research. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]