Negotiating for meaning in interaction: differences between virtual exchanges and regular online activities

The present research explores the interactional nature of oral tasks carried out in two types of learner dyads in terms of their likelihood to foster negotiation for meaning during Language Related Episodes (LREs). Quantitative data analyses reveal how learners in same L1 dyads, Spanish English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners, and in different L1 dyads, Canadian learners of Spanish and Spanish learners of English participating in a virtual exchange, modify their speech using negotiations and clarifications to make it comprehensible to their interlocutors. Eighteen different L1 dyads of university learners doing a virtual exchange (Canada-Spain) and eighteen dyads of Spanish-speakers learning English at the Spanish university carried out three oral communicative tasks online following the same procedures. Data were transcribed, LREs were identified, quantified for each dyad, and analyzed to determine their characteristics in terms of types of triggers, modified output, and type of feedback provided. Initial findings point to substantial differences in meaning negotiation occurring during LREs in each group. Different-L1 dyads exhibit more clarifications, meaning negotiation, and provide more feedback, which leads to higher amounts of comprehensible and modified output than learners in same L1 dyads.