The scientific network Uncooperativeness and Second Language Acquisition: Conversation analytic perspectives investigates uncooperative behavior in interactions involving L2 speakers. It takes into account different interactional contexts (e.g., everyday interaction, classroom interaction, conversations-for-learning, workplace interaction) as well as different modes of interaction (e.g., physical co-presence, video-mediated communication) with speakers of various first (L1) and foreign/second languages (L2). Methodologically, the network members approach L2 uncooperativeness from a conversation-analytic and interactional-linguistic perspective, that is, through emic, data-driven approaches that rely on recordings and transcripts of interactions in order to describe participants’ verbal and nonverbal conduct as it is produced in the interactional here-and-now.

The network pursues three main objectives:

• to identify the practices and actions that L1 and L2 speakers treat as uncooperative, and to analyze responses to different forms of uncooperative behavior;

• to investigate the development of L2 speakers’ interactional competence with regard to avoiding, projecting, performing, or responding to uncooperative or dispreferred actions;

• to transfer the research findings into practical fields of application, such as language learning, teacher education, and workplace communication.

The network is planned for a duration of three years (July 2025 to April 2028). The international network consists of 20 researchers, 12 of whom are based at research institutions in Germany and 8 at institutions outside Germany.