Analysis of telecollaborative exchanges among secondary education students: Communication strategies and negotiation of meaning

Abstract

This study presents the analysis of a corpus of 12 telecollaborative interactions, recorded on video, between British and Spanish secondary education students during a telecollaborative project funded by the European Commission. The main aim is to analyse negotiation of meaning in these telecollaboration exchanges which are perceived in the literature as a sign of meaningful interaction. It is essential to study instances of telecollaboration in order to identify the possible affordances in the acquisition of communicative and intercultural competences. Smith’s (2005) Model of Computer-Mediated Negotiated Interaction based on Varonis and Gass (1985) is employed to analyse the video interactions between Spanish and English students to find how learners deal with linguistic mistakes or any other type of communication problem during synchronous peer interaction. The results show that students employ a wide variety of strategies to negotiate meaning, while avoiding overt correction unless it is absolutely necessary to avoid communication breaking down. Skilful use of corrective techniques and resolving communication problems was also observed. These strategies led to fluid interactions and efficient task completion. Students were seen to readily take the initiative when tackling negotiation of meaning and correction and were provided scaffolding, a task that is normally carried out by teachers in more traditional settings.