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Languaging in Language Learning and Teaching: A collection of empirical studies
Edited by Wataru Suzuki and Neomy Storch
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 55] 2020
► pp. 91–110

Chapter 4
Exploring interaction between heritage and second language learners in the Spanish language classroom

Opportunities for collaborative dialogue and learning

| University of Washington

This study analyzes collaborative writing activities completed by heritage language (HL) and second language (L2) learners’ dyads with a focus on collaborative dialogue and learning. Eight HL and ten L2 learners participated in the study, completing a total of 26 collaborative writing activities followed by tailor-made posttests. The interactions between the mixed dyads were analyzed for language-related episodes, classified according to focus, outcome, and trigger. The results of these analyses and those of the posttests confirmed that both HL and L2 learners benefited from working together, but in different ways and to a different extent. Learners’ perceptions of their collaboration and the pedagogical implications of these findings are discussed.

Keywords: collaborative dialogue, collaborative writing, heritage language learners, language-related episodes, mixed classes
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Background
    • Collaborative dialogue
    • Heritage language learners
    • HL-L2 interaction
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Instruments and procedure
    • Data coding and analysis
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusions
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 14 August 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.55.04fer
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Fernández–Dobao, Ana
2023. “Pero yo también estoy aprendiendo”: Negotiating expert and novice positions in heritage–second language learner interaction. The Modern Language Journal 107:4 ► pp. 873 ff. DOI logo
Phan, Huong Le Thu & Phung Dao
2023. Engagement in collaborative writing: Exploring learners’ control of task content and text quality. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 33:2 ► pp. 242 ff. DOI logo
Zhang, Meixiu & Luke Plonsky
2020. Collaborative writing in face-to-face settings: A substantive and methodological review. Journal of Second Language Writing 49 ► pp. 100753 ff. DOI logo

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