Speaker
Description
This presentation explores how English and Japanese learners sustain interaction in online tandem learning through the strategic use of multimodal resources. Drawing on video-recorded Zoom exchanges, it shows how learners combine linguistic, paralinguistic, digital, and interactional strategies to negotiate meaning, maintain engagement, and collaborate effectively. The findings highlight how flexible communication supports balanced participation and offers practical insights for designing effective virtual tandem learning activities.
Short summary
This presentation explores how English and Japanese learners sustain interaction in online tandem learning through the strategic use of multimodal resources. Drawing on video-recorded Zoom exchanges, it shows how learners combine linguistic, paralinguistic, digital, and interactional strategies to negotiate meaning, maintain engagement, and collaborate effectively. The findings highlight how flexible communication supports balanced participation and offers practical insights for designing effective virtual tandem learning activities.
Keywords
online tandem learning, multimodal interaction, communication strategies
Abstract
This presentation examines how English and Japanese language learners manage and sustain interaction during online tandem learning exchanges between universities in Australia and Japan. Previous research on tandem learning has largely focused on pedagogical principles, learner perceptions, and programme outcomes (Vassallo & Telles, 2006; Klen-Alves & Tiraboschi, 2018; Elo & Pörn, 2018), with less attention to the interactional and multimodal resources learners draw on to maintain communication during exchanges. This study addresses this gap.
Using thematic analysis of video-recorded Zoom sessions, the study identifies how learners sustain engagement and collaboration through the coordinated use of multimodal resources. Participants created interactional affordances to maintain communication in the target language by strategically deploying linguistic, paralinguistic, digital, and interactional resources to negotiate meaning and complete tandem tasks. The findings demonstrate how flexible, strategic use of these resources supports balanced participation and collaborative learning, challenging assumptions that strict one-language scaffolding is necessary. The study offers pedagogical insights for designing effective virtual tandem learning activities.
References
Elo, J., & Pörn, M. (2021). Challenges of implementing authenticity of tandem learning in formal language education. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.
Klen-Alves, V., & Tiraboschi, F. F. (2018). Experiencing Teletandem: A collaborative project to encourage students in tandem interactions. Revista do GEL, 15(3), 109-130.
Telles, J. A., & Vassallo, M. L. (2006). Foreign language learning in-tandem part I: a critical review of its theoretical and practical principles. The ESPecialist, 27(1), 83-118.
| Scheduling preference | Anytime on Saturday or Sunday |
|---|---|
| Title | Strategic Communication in Online Tandem Learning |