In common with most language schools in the UK, the one I was working for in March 2020 was suddenly forced to move all its provision from face-to-face to virtual, due to Covid-19 lockdown measures. The platform chosen was Zoom.

On the face of it, language-learning lends itself to a ubiquitous learning framework – online platforms can and do provide chunks of language that can be absorbed and practised.

However, a major goal for most language learners is ‘fluency’. The meaning of this is a somewhat vexed question, but is quite neatly defined by Daniel Morgan: “how ‘smoothly’ and ‘efficiently’ a second language (L2) speaker can speak on ‘a range of topics in real time’ ” (in Sandoval 2019).

Clearly, acquiring this ability is a process that requires a lot of time and practice. In a class, peer-to-peer interaction is most commonly used (pair work or group work), as it enables full participation from all learners simultaneously. Teachers in the language learning classroom will devote a lot of time to setting up scaffolded activities that promote meaningful conversation practice, but crucially will monitor, facilitate and provide feedback to learners.

In a physical classroom, interaction patterns can be encouraged, or even necessitated, by the architecture of the seating arrangement. The diagram below illustrates how this can work:

(from Harmer (1998) How to Teach English):

The goal is for learners to enhance their autonomy in managing natural discussions and conversations. There are three key features of this type of conversation management that I would like to draw attention to:

· Turn-taking is when “the end of one speaker’s turn and the beginning of the next’s frequently latch on to each other with almost perfect precision an split second timing” (Cook 1989). Consequently, deliberate pauses and overlap in turn-taking carry meaning. Overlap, for instance, occurs in about 5% of cases, and when it does, “it has some particular significance: signalling annoyance, urgency, or a desire to correct what has been said.” (Cook 1989)

· Back-channelling signals “a noise, gesture, expression, or word used by a listener to indicate that he or she is paying attention to a speaker” (Nordquist 2018). Back-channelling has many important functions, such as indicating that you wish a speaker to continue, or to clarify meaning (ibid.):

“Fabienne: I was looking at myself in the mirror.
Butch Coolidge: Uh-huh?
Fabienne: I wish I had a pot.
Butch Coolidge: You were lookin' in the mirror and you wish you had some pot?
Fabienne: A pot. A pot belly. Pot bellies are sexy.”
(Pulp Fiction, 1994)

· Repair describes how errors or misunderstandings are corrected by the speaker (‘self-repair’) or other participants in the conversation. “Sometimes […] the learner’s message is simply unintelligible, and some kind of more obtrusive intervention is necessary to repair the breakdown” (Thornbury 2005). By its nature, there is a need for real-time spontaneity to employ this strategy (ibid):

Learner: …so I phone the doctor and ask for a consulta…

Teacher: I’m sorry? A what?

Learner: I ask for a, er, for see the doctor.

Teacher: An appointment?

Learner: Yes, ask for appointment.

In a Zoom class, these strategies are compromised by the limitations of the technology. Turn-taking is arbitrated by the platform’s inability to allow overlapping speech, and will automatically ‘give the floor’ to the most recent speaker, with a short delay before another can interject. This results in confusion when there is an interruption to the speaker, magnified when there are multiple interruptions, and is often followed by a long pause where the speakers wait for the dust to settle.

A crucial feature to enable peer to peer interaction in Zoom is the break out room. A description of this can be seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkK5WEf6xgk

Below is a video which suggests how break out rooms can be used for language interaction activity:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ9hsFGiGAU

This is a successful idea for an activity, or series of activities, but note that it is set up for a one-to-one class, rather than a group.

This illustrates the central issue with Zoom breakout rooms. Whilst they afford the opportunity for peer-to-peer interaction, it is important to note the following limitations:

· For the purposes of natural interaction, break-out rooms are less effective where there are more than two speakers – by virtue of the technological limitations on turn-taking outlined above. This means that the key conversation management features outlined earlier: turn-taking, back-channelling and repair become logistically difficult to achieve. The ability to use emoticons (such as a ‘thumbs up’ symbol to indicate agreement) can mitigate this but are hardly a substitute for spontaneous verbal overlapping response.

· The teacher is only able to monitor one break-out room at a time whereas in a physical classroom, the teacher can monitor all learners simultaneously and move between interaction units based on need.

In conclusion, it would seem that there is a gap to be addressed regarding natural speaking interaction in the ubiquitous language learning context. The Zoom platform currently affords learners the opportunity to simulate the conventions of online conversations, but not those of real-life face-to-face discourse.

References

Cook, G. “Discourse.” Oxford University Press, 1989.

Harmer, J. “How to Teach English.” Pearson Education Limited, 2008.

Thornbury, S. “How to Teach Speaking.” Pearson Education Limited, 2005.

Nordquist, R. "Back-channel Signal Communication." ThoughtCo, Feb. 11, 2020, thoughtco.com/back-channel-signal-communication-1689153

Sandoval, E. “How Do We Measure Language Fluency?” BBC Future, Sept. 04 2019, https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190903-linguistic-fluency-proficiency-second-language-learning

Flipped Classroom Tutorials “How to use Breakout rooms in Zoom for Teaching and learning” YouTube, Mar. 23 2020 https://youtu.be/VkK5WEf6xgk

PlanforfunESL “Ideas for Teaching English on Zoom” YouTube, Mar. 24 2020 https://youtu.be/uJ9hsFGiGAU