Schedule: 2009-09-12 (10:00 - 10:45)
Parallel Session 5 (Room A-35)

Title: Collaborative scaffolding in online task-based voice interactions between advanced learners
Authors: Marie-Madeleine Kenning
Abstract: This paper reports some of the findings of a distinctive innovative use of audio conferencing involving a population (campus-based advanced learners) and a type of application (task-based language learning) that have received little attention to date: the use of Wimba Voice Tools to provide additional opportunities for spoken interactions between advanced learners of French. The research experiment had a dual aim: a) to examine the suitability of voice chat environments as a platform for sustained interactive talk (along the lines of Vetter and Chanier, 2006, but with a number of significant differences) b) to study the nature of interactions between advanced learners, with particular reference to the processes supporting collaborative activity, including the incidence of negotiation for meaning.
After a brief summary of the rationale and main characteristics of the experiment, the paper, which is informed by interactionist and socio-cultural models of language learning, focuses on the strategies used by three NNS-NNS dyads to resolve language problems as they worked on four tasks adapted from the published literature on task-based learning in a text chat environment (e.g. Blake, 2000; Pellettieri, 2000). Extending the classical model of negotiation for meaning (Varonis and Gass, 1985) to cover other instances of language related episodes identified through discourse analysis of the empirical data, the study offers a detailed account of the incidence and nature of negotiated interaction and collaboration between advanced student-partners during the four tasks. Particular attention is paid to the trigger for negotiation, the person initiating negotiation, how repair is performed (including the occurrence of meta-talk), and by whom. Differences across tasks are highlighted, together with the implications for materials development. The paper ends with a short discussion of some methodological issues and of the impact of affordances on collaborative activity.

References:
Blake, R., 2000. Computer mediated communication: a window on L2 Spanish interlanguage. Language Learning and Technology 4 (1), 120-136.
Pellettieri, J., 2000. Negotiation in cyberspace: the role of chatting in the development of grammatical competence. In: Warschauer, M., Kern, R. (Eds), Network-based Language Teaching: Concepts and Practice. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 59-86.
Varonis, E. M., Gass, S., 1985. Non-native/non-native conversations: a model for negotiation of meaning. Applied Linguistics 6(1), 71-90.
Vetter, A., Chanier, T., 2006. Supporting oral production for professional purposes in synchronous communication with heterogenous learners. ReCALL 18 (1), 5–23.
Keywords: online voice interactions, voice chat, task-based learning, negotiation for meaning, learner collaboration, advanced learners

Main topic: Innovative e-learning solutions for languages

Biodata: Marie-Madeleine Kenning is Senior Lecturer in the School of Language, Linguistics and Translation Studies at the University of East Anglia. She has been involved in research on the impact of technology on language teaching since the early 1980s, and is the author of over 40 books and articles. Her latest book: ICT and language learning: from print to the mobile phone was published by Palgrave in November 2007.
Type of presentation Paper presentation

Paper category Research

Target educational sector Higher education

Language of delivery English

EU-funded project No

Schedule:	2009-09-12 (10:00 - 10:45) Parallel Session 5 (Room A-35)
Title:	Collaborative scaffolding in online task-based voice interactions between advanced learners
Authors:	Marie-Madeleine Kenning
Abstract:	This paper reports some of the findings of a distinctive innovative use of audio conferencing involving a population (campus-based advanced learners) and a type of application (task-based language learning) that have received little attention to date: the use of Wimba Voice Tools to provide additional opportunities for spoken interactions between advanced learners of French. The research experiment had a dual aim: a) to examine the suitability of voice chat environments as a platform for sustained interactive talk (along the lines of Vetter and Chanier, 2006, but with a number of significant differences) b) to study the nature of interactions between advanced learners, with particular reference to the processes supporting collaborative activity, including the incidence of negotiation for meaning. After a brief summary of the rationale and main characteristics of the experiment, the paper, which is informed by interactionist and socio-cultural models of language learning, focuses on the strategies used by three NNS-NNS dyads to resolve language problems as they worked on four tasks adapted from the published literature on task-based learning in a text chat environment (e.g. Blake, 2000; Pellettieri, 2000). Extending the classical model of negotiation for meaning (Varonis and Gass, 1985) to cover other instances of language related episodes identified through discourse analysis of the empirical data, the study offers a detailed account of the incidence and nature of negotiated interaction and collaboration between advanced student-partners during the four tasks. Particular attention is paid to the trigger for negotiation, the person initiating negotiation, how repair is performed (including the occurrence of meta-talk), and by whom. Differences across tasks are highlighted, together with the implications for materials development. The paper ends with a short discussion of some methodological issues and of the impact of affordances on collaborative activity. References: Blake, R., 2000. Computer mediated communication: a window on L2 Spanish interlanguage. Language Learning and Technology 4 (1), 120-136. Pellettieri, J., 2000. Negotiation in cyberspace: the role of chatting in the development of grammatical competence. In: Warschauer, M., Kern, R. (Eds), Network-based Language Teaching: Concepts and Practice. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 59-86. Varonis, E. M., Gass, S., 1985. Non-native/non-native conversations: a model for negotiation of meaning. Applied Linguistics 6(1), 71-90. Vetter, A., Chanier, T., 2006. Supporting oral production for professional purposes in synchronous communication with heterogenous learners. ReCALL 18 (1), 5–23.
Keywords:	online voice interactions, voice chat, task-based learning, negotiation for meaning, learner collaboration, advanced learners
Main topic:	Innovative e-learning solutions for languages
Biodata:	Marie-Madeleine Kenning is Senior Lecturer in the School of Language, Linguistics and Translation Studies at the University of East Anglia. She has been involved in research on the impact of technology on language teaching since the early 1980s, and is the author of over 40 books and articles. Her latest book: ICT and language learning: from print to the mobile phone was published by Palgrave in November 2007.
Type of presentation	Paper presentation
Paper category	Research
Target educational sector	Higher education
Language of delivery	English
EU-funded project	No