Negotiating Meaning in Interaction between English and Spanish Speakers via Communicative Strategies

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to describe and understand how learners and their interlocutors manage to communicate meaning through the use of communication strategies (CSs). Drawing on the collaborative theory of communication, CS episodes are identified and examined to describe how learners and their interlocutors co-construct meaning. The data analyzed in this study was collected at the University of Santiago through a task-based experiment, which was both audio and video recorded. Thirty-two subjects were paired on four different dyad conditions: four dyads of intermediate learners, four dyads of advanced students, four dyads of intermediate learners interacting with native speakers and, finally, four dyads of advanced students in interaction with native speakers. For the CS identification process three different sources of evidence were used: problem indicators, native language base line and retrospective interviews. The results obtained show different kinds of communication grounding techniques. In some cases CSs are accepted by the addressees (acknowledgments, displays and demonstrations, initiation of a relevant next contribution and continued attention) while in some others the initial CS uttered by the learner is not accepted and has to be followed by a negotiation of meaning process. The conclusions reached are mainly based on a qualitative analysis.

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