Abstract
Second language speakers often encounter communication problems caused by a lack of linguistic resources in the second language. Communication strategies are employed by second language speakers to overcome these problems, in order to convey their intended meaning and continue the current conversation. Through analyzing the actual conversation data, this study focuses on one such strategy, switching languages, and shows how second language Japanese speakers smoothly switch over to English. It is argued that (1) the switch to English occurs most frequently in the context of performing a word search, (2) linguistic expressions of speech difficulty or word searches foretell a potential switch to English, and (3) non-linguistic resources accompany English expressions so that the intended meaning becomes clear.
