The Frequency and Resolution of Language Related Episodes in Collaborative Dialogue of Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Dyads

Collaborative dialogue proposed by Swain (2000) has been grounded on co-construction of knowledge by L2 learners drawing upon their shared resources. The current study investigated the collaborative dialogue produced by Iranian EFL learners while engaged in problem-solving tasks on L2 pragmatics. The purpose was to identify the effect of collaborative dialogue on acquisition of request and apology speech acts. Moreover, the study explored whether the frequency and resolution of language related episodes (LRE) s during collaborative problem-solving tasks differed across High-High, High-Low and Low-Low dyads. The participants were 89 EFL learners who were assigned to High-High, High-Low and Low-Low dyads following a pretest on L2 pragmatics. The dyads were engaged in collaborative problem-solving tasks for seven sessions during which samples of their collaborative dialogues were audio recorded and analyzed in terms of the frequency and outcome of LREs. Results revealed the effect of collaborative dialogue on development of L2 pragmatics in all dyads. Also, H-H dyads were found to produce LREs more frequently than H-L and L-L dyads. Regarding the outcome of LREs, H-H dyads resolved most of LREs correctly while the number of incorrectly solved episodes was roughly similar in production of H-L and L-L dyads. The findings offer pedagogical implications to EFL teachers and educators on how to best pair learners in collaborative activities.