Exploring “Intersubjectivity Negotiation Episodes” and “Language Related Episodes” in Second‐Language Peer Interaction

Abstract

This study examines learner deliberations over their discursive plans during second language (L2) instructional tasks, which we call intersubjectivity negotiation episodes (INEs). We argue that these provide essential contexts for negotiations over L2 formmeaning mappings, known as language related episodes (LREs). Our data comes from two intact third-year Spanish classes at a U.S. public high school, where four groups of 19 total learners completed four communicative tasks over three 90-minute lessons. We found that learners spent more time in INEs than LREs overall, and in most task performances. We identified four INE functions: deliberations over discursive goals and means, progress toward task completion, and the interpretive framing of contributions. Among these, tasks with greater potentially relevant content yielded more means and progress INEs, while those requiring content from personal experience yielded more framing INEs. Individual agency and group composition also affected the amount of INEs. Theoretical and pedagogical implications are discussed.

Examining Deductive Versus Guided Instruction From an Interactionist Perspective

“…However, why this only occurred for one class and not the other is unclear: It could be a consequence of the idiosyncrasies of the small sample of participants, but it could also point to the impact of such instruction on the nature of the interaction that occurs. It could also be due to the incidental, but substantial ad hoc support provided by the teacher and the researcher in the two DED groups, but not in the PACE class (see Toth & Gil-Berrio, 2022, for more details). Together it does point to the impact of task type, learning conditions, and teaching approach on the interaction that occurs.…”

Context and Generalizability in Multisite L2 Classroom Research: The Impact of Deductive Versus Guided Inductive Instruction

“…This is especially relevant for contemporary L2 classrooms that prioritize group work to facilitate interaction and negotiation of meaning in the target language. We wish to highlight that these are not simply contextual variables to be mentioned in passing, but rather factors that permeate and shape classroom interactions during language learning (see also studies by Azkarai et al, 2022, Davin & Kushki, 2022, and Toth & Gil-Berrio, 2022, on local effects on negotiation of meaning in small groups). Through multilevel modeling, researchers can empirically account for such group variance by allowing random effects (e.g., classroom or school membership) to vary across fixed effects (e.g., instructional condition; Linck & Cunnings, 2015), ultimately enhancing reliability and the generalizability of ISLA findings to ecologically valid classroom contexts.…”

Process and Product in ISLA Research: Courage, Commitment, and Tolerance for Ambiguity

“…Although the two product-oriented studies can inform us about the relative effects of deduction vs. guided induction, the process-oriented studies (Table 1) illuminate what happened in the black box. As Table 1 shows, most of the process-oriented studies focused on the data from Walton School; two studies compared the PACE and the Deductive groups at that school (Azkarai et al, 2022;Toth & Gil-Berrio, 2022) and three focused on data from the PACE class only (Davin & Kushki, 2022;Mattson-Prieto & Showstack, 2022;Wagner & Park, 2022). The researchers also varied with regard to their use of quantitative or qualitative methods.…”

“…The LRE unit was also a feature of interest to Toth and Gil-Berrio (2022) in their examination of learners' negotiation during communicative tasks. Their interest in intersubjectivity led them to introduce an additional unit of analysis, the intersubjectivity negotiation episode (INE), which they define as "moments when learners overtly question or talk about their own or their partners' evolving understanding of L2 discursive goals."…”

“…That is because learners are engaged in a social as well as a cognitive activity during communicative tasks. As the process studies show, students have agency, which they exercise to do different things including establishing intersubjectivity with each other or not (Toth & Gil-Berrio, 2022), or negotiating meaning and form or not (Azkarai et al, 2022). These perspectives are at odds with the neat lesson planning procedures of presentation-practice-production or of PACE that we typically offer in teacher education courses.…”