Jigsaw and free discussion in synchronous computer-mediated communication (s-cmc)

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is increasingly used in FL classrooms in asynchronous (AS-CMC) and synchronous (S-CMC) modes. This study focuses on S-CMC. The literature documents that S-CMC increases students' participation, allows learners to construct knowledge collaboratively, creates community among the members of the class, and equalizes participation among students. Two common tasks used in S-CMC are the jigsaw and free discussion. When analyzing the use of these tasks in S-CMC in FL, one notes that the use of either the jigsaw or free discussion tends to be localized in two different theoretical frameworks: the interactionist theory and the sociocultural theory. Researchers employing these tasks have emphasized negotiation of meaning in the jigsaw, and quantity and syntactic complexity in free discussion. The two theoretical frameworks and their accompanying scales do not have to be in conflict. There is no reason for the lack of examination of students' language quantity and syntactic complexity in studies of the jigsaw, or vice versa. Therefore, this study examined quantity, syntactic complexity and negotiation of meaning in the jigsaw and the free discussion. Further, recently researchers have been calling for a consideration of accuracy. Thus, students' performance in this study is examined using the four scales of quantity, syntactic complexity, accuracy and negotiation of meaning in the jigsaw and the free discussion. Results of this study show that the jigsaw task produces significantly more accurate language and negotiation of meaning than free discussion. The free discussion produces significantly more quantity and subordinated clauses than the jigsaw. The present results help inform practitioners of which task to use when intending to measure a specific language feature. The collaborative and process oriented characteristics of S-CMC demand new evaluation tools and a research agenda congruent with the medium. Further investigation is needed to examine whether the four proposed scales are appropriate for this medium, and on the ways to score learners' language when performing a joint activity.