Negotiation of meaning and multimodal interaction in a web conferencing-based beginners' Chinese class

Nowadays, the increased robustness of web conferencing tools enables language educators to use a variety of modes, such as, text, graphics, audio, and video, to communicate simultaneously with learners at a distance. From both interactionist and sociocultural perspectives on second language acquisition (SLA), learner-learner interactions provide opportunities for negotiation of meaning and collaborative learning, which may facilitate their second language learning. However, as Hampel and Stickler (2012) proposed, there is a paucity of studies on learners’ multimodal interaction influenced by combined tools in online language classes. This empirical research aims to fill the gap by investigating the implementation of task-based language teaching (TBLT) approach in a web conferencing-based online beginners’ Chinese class and its influence on learners’ interactions and participant patterns. Further, it intends to shed light on task design in the synchronous computer mediated communication (CMC) environment. In this exploratory study, 8 beginning-level Chinese students at Macquarie University conducted two online sessions delivered by the web conferencing platform called Blackboard Collaborate in the first semester, 2013. A mixed methods approach was adopted. 1) The teacher and learners’ multimodal interactions were recorded and analyzed quantitatively in order to illustrate participant rates. 2) In-depth interviews were conducted after the completion of the two sessions to gather learners’ feedback on the technical environment and the task designed. 3) Varonis and Gass’s (1985) model was used to identify the instance of negotiation of meaning in learner-learner interactions through discourse analysis. The results illustrate how TBLT and the online multimodal platform can be utilized in first year Chinese teaching to promote collaborative learning, and its influence on the participants’ communication patterns and their L2 learning.