The production of verbal support turns in conversation of Italian students of E/LE. Preliminary study

Abstract

The actual article is part of a line of research that is developed into the area of Linguistic Aplicated to the Teaching of Spanish as a Foreign Language at the University of Nebrija. It is aimed to show the results obtained in a research study that is based in the methodologic, theoric frame of the conversación analysis. The aim is to analyze some peculiarities of the strategies of production of verbal support obtained from four spontaneous conversations in Spanish, carried out face to face between Italian students of Spanish as a foreign language who are studying the fourth year at the Foreign Culture & Language University of Salerno. More to the point, this article makes known the results of a research that analyses, qualitatively and quantitatively, on one hand, the frequency of the use of the verbal supports and, on the other hand, the relation between the speech turns and the verbal supports, consequently determining the contribution and influence of the listener in the interaction. In addition, it is examined the different functions of the verbal support found in the analysis of Spanish conversations in a group of eight Italian students attending level C1 (CEFR). Those results are compared with other researches carried out with Spanish native and no native speakers, talking in Spanish, to postulating some first conclusions about this matter.