Asymmetries of Knowledge and Epistemic Change in Social Gaming Interaction

Abstract

While a growing number of studies investigate the role of knowledge and interactional management of knowledge asymmetries in conversation analysis, the epistemic organization of multilingual and second language interactions is still largely unexplored. This article addresses this issue by investigating how knowledge asymmetries and changing positions with regard to knowledge impact social interaction in multilingual gaming activities. Drawing on a collection of video recordings of social gaming sessions collected over a two year period and involving the same two participants, we examine how the participants orient to knowledge and deal with knowledge asymmetries while solving game related problems and tasks. In addition to detailed analysis of local aspects of epistemic organization, we examine how the participants’ epistemic positions change over time. Findings show that epistemic changes impact the social organization of the gaming activities and constitute the situation as a learning event.