Drawing from Interactional Sociolinguistics (IS), this article presents an analysis of a Research Group Meeting in Microbiology occurring at a mid‐western US university. We focus on the performance of a South Korean postdoctoral scholar who claims limited proficiency in English and demonstrate how he makes valued contributions by leveraging embodied semiotic resources alongside verbal ones. The analysis also highlights the co‐participants’ openness in accepting non‐standard linguistic and discourse features in working toward shared professional goals because of the way this activity is framed. Such an orientation to interaction suggests distributed practice, where co‐participants take joint responsibility for the generation of meanings. Based on the findings, we question institutional policies that privilege advanced proficiency in normative English grammar for skilled migrants, which leads to unfairly judging their competence. We encourage a focus on how participants frame their tasks to judge what semiotic resources are critical for different professional interactions. Findings also have theoretical implications that help IS develop in the direction of embodiment, beyond verbal contextualization cues, individual competence, and intercultural misunderstandings.

中文翻译：

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研究组会议中的符号学资源丰富：如何构建语言能力

本文借鉴了互动社会语言学（IS），对美国中西部一所大学的微生物学研究小组会议进行了分析。我们专注于一名韩国博士后学者的表现，他声称自己的英语水平有限，并展示了他如何利用言语符号和言语符号资源来做出有价值的贡献。分析还强调了参加者为实现共同的职业目标而接受非标准语言和话语功能的开放性，因为这种活动的框架方式。这种互动的方向暗示了分散的实践，其中参与者共同承担意义的产生。根据调查结果，我们质疑制度性政策，这些政策优先考虑熟练移民在英语规范语法方面的高级熟练程度，从而导致对他们的能力进行不公平的判断。我们鼓励关注参与者如何制定任务以判断哪些符号资源对于不同的专业互动至关重要。研究结果还具有理论意义，可以帮助信息系统朝着体现的方向发展，而不仅仅是言语情境暗示，个人能力和跨文化误解。