Abstract

Motivated by the increasing popularity of service-provider virtual exchanges (SPVEs), in which native speakers (NS) are trained, supervised, and paid by a third-party company to converse about cultural topics with second language (L2) learners, this study examines the potential of L2-NS videoconferencing conversations to foster negotiation of meaning and form-focused interactions. Students enrolled in fourth-semester Spanish classes (n = 20) were tasked with completing four SPVEs using TalkAbroad. Videoconferencing recordings from 40 thirty-minute conversations were transcribed and turns involving negotiated interaction were identified and coded according to who initiated the negotiation (L2 or NS), the negotiation type (i.e. general, cultural, lexical, or grammatical) its success (i.e., successfully or unsuccessfully resolved), and whether there was uptake or not. A Logistic regression was used to identify the factors that predict each type of negotiation and mixed effects model analysis was carried out to determine differences over time. Results indicate that the main factors predicting negotiation in SPVEs are length of negotiation and conversation recurrence. Length of negotiation was found to have a negative impact on the amount of negotiation, negotiation of form, success, and uptake. Conversation recurrence has a detrimental effect on the amount of negotiation and uptake. Familiarity with the interlocutor has a positive impact on grammatical negotiations. These results offer insights into the nature of L2-NS videoconferencing exchanges and provide leads on how to implement this type of virtual exchanges to maximize their effectiveness.

摘要

受服务提供商虚拟交流 (SPVE) 日益普及的推动，在这种交流中，母语人士 (NS) 接受第三方公司的培训、监督和付费，与第二语言 (L2) 学习者谈论文化话题，本研究研究了 L2-NS 视频会议对话在促进意义协商和以形式为中心的互动方面的潜力。参加第四学期西班牙语课程的学生 ( n = 20) 的任务是使用 TalkAbroad 完成四个 SPVE。根据谁发起了谈判（L2 或 NS）、谈判类型（即一般、文化、词汇或语法）及其成功（即，成功或失败解决），以及是否有吸收。使用逻辑回归来确定预测每种类型谈判的因素，并进行混合效应模型分析以确定随时间变化的差异。结果表明，预测 SPVE 中谈判的主要因素是谈判长度和对话重复次数。研究发现，谈判的长度对谈判的数量、谈判的形式、成功、和吸收。对话重复会对谈判量和接受度产生不利影响。熟悉对话者对语法谈判有积极的影响。这些结果提供了对 L2-NS 视频会议交换本质的深入了解，并为如何实施此类虚拟交换以最大限度地提高其有效性提供了指导。