Abstract
The present paper investigates how textbooks for learners of Italian offer samples of service telephone conversations, especially in their opening sequences, in terms of what data they use and how they present it to the learner. Textbooks are also compared to the existing conversational studies which focus on native speakers’ routines and practices. Back in 2002, Wong reported a mismatch between textbooks and naturally occurring language, which had implications for teachers and writers of teaching materials, especially if, as it is currently common practice for developing teaching materials, these are «marketed as offering authentic, natural language, or language which is true to life». The opening sequence of service telephone calls was therefore observed in the textbook extracts, looking at the presence of the interactional moves characteristic of this kind of conversation, and also at the alternation between the Caller and Operator, in terms of sequential order of the opening moves and their combination in taking turns in the conversations. Results showed that textbook Operators seemed to show convergence with real phone calls in presenting the prototypical formats and their relative frequency, whereas Callers’ first turns displayed many more differences. Both similarities and differences are discussed in detail. Practical implications are also raised with concern to textbook authors and the development of teaching materials, as well as issues related to language learning and teaching.