Cover not available

Article published In: Language Teaching for Young Learners: Online-First Articles

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Young learner autonomy in synchronous oral telecollaborative tasks

Participants, arena, and turns

ORCiD logo with link | BCL Université Côte d’Azur
ORCiD logo with link | Université Clermont Auvergne, ACTé, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France
Published online: 25 November 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ltyl.24031.why
Abstract
This study examines the potential of synchronous oral telecollaborative tasks to foster learner autonomy among young language learners. Previous research highlights both the language learning affordances of technology-mediated task-based language teaching and challenges for successful implementation with young learners and suggests that learner autonomy is an important mediating variable. The present article investigates autonomy by exploring learner participation during task-as-process and the teacher’s role in creating opportunities for learning in technology-mediated exchanges. We propose a new analytical framework based on the notion of arena, drawing on Goffman’s dramaturgical concept of frontstage versus backstage interaction, to inform a fine-grained investigation of turn-taking during the same task-as-workplan implemented in two French primary school classrooms with learners of English of CEFR A1 level. Quantitative analysis of the interaction data revealed contrasting participation patterns in various task phases and across different areas of the interactional arena. In one class, learners managed the task independently; the teacher intervened only once, and learners exhibited significantly higher on-task time and greater frontstage engagement. In the other class, the teacher participated in backstage task management, providing prompting and echoing, and also in frontstage interaction, and this in all task phases. The study underlines young learners’ capacity for successful L2 interaction in synchronous telecollaboration and traces critical links between learner autonomy and teachers’ interpretation of tasks.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Literature review
    • 1.Technology for Task-based language teaching (TBLT)
    • Telecollaboration and synchronous young learner interaction and autonomy
    • Investigating SCMC: Theoretical and methodological considerations
  • Research questions
  • Method
    • Context and learning design
    • Participants and classroom set-up
    • Data collection
    • Data analysis
    • Results
  • Discussion
    • Evidence of learner autonomy
    • Influence of teacher intervention
    • Implications for TBLT and SCMC
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (34)
References
Austin, N., Hampel, R., & Kukulska-Hulme, A. (2017). Video conferencing and multimodal expression of voice: Children’s conversations using Skype for second language development in a telecollaborative setting. System, 641, pp. 87–103. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Breen, M. (1989). The evaluation cycle for language learning tasks. In R. K. Johnson (Ed.), The second language curriculum (pp. 187–206). CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Butler, Y. G., & Zeng, W. (2014). Young foreign language learners’ interactions during task-based paired assessments. Language Assessment Quarterly, 11(1), 45–75. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Calvez, M., Dhif, N., Duvivier, A., Lys, N., Papon, F., Pegoraro, S., Pileyre, M., Redondo, C., Rouby, C., Tissier, B., Whyte, S., Wigham, C. R., & Younès, N. (2022). GTnum RAVEL (Ressources pour l’Apprentissage en classe Virtuelle et l’Enseignement des Langues) Scénarios pédagogiques. 1–12. Zenodo. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching languages to young learners. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Council of Europe (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dennis, A. R., Rennecker, J. A., & Hansen, S. (2010). Invisible whispering: Restructuring collaborative decision making with instant messaging. Decision Sciences, 41(4), 845–886. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dooly, M., & Vinagre, M. (2022). Research into practice: Virtual exchange in language teaching and learning. Language Teaching, 55(3), 392–406. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dooly, M. (2017). Performing Identities in Social Media: Focusing on Language Learners’ Identity Construction Online. Alsic. Apprentissage des Langues et Systèmes d’Information et de Communication, 20(1). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ellis, R. (2013). Task-based language teaching: Responding to the critics. University of Sydney Papers in TESOL, 81, 1–27.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ellis, R., & Shintani, N. (2014). Exploring language pedagogy through second language acquisition research. Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
European Commission (2024). Erasmus Plus projects. [URL] Accessed 18/10/2024.
Goffman, E. (1959/2008). The presentation of self in everyday life (Reprinted). Anchor Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
González-Lloret. (2017). Technology for Task-Based Language Teaching, In Chapelle, C. A. & Sauro, S. (Eds). The Handbook of Technology and Second Language Teaching and Learning. Wiley Blackwell, pp. 234–247. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harris, J., & Leeming, P. (2024). Speaking proficiency development in EFL classrooms: measuring the differential effect of TBLT and PPP teaching approaches. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 62(2), 509–537. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Legutke, M., Müller-Hartman, A., & Schocker-von Ditfurth, M. (2009). Teaching English in the Primary School. Klett Lerntraining.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Little, D. (2022). Language learner autonomy: Rethinking language teaching. Language Teaching, 55(1), 64–73. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Littlewood, W. (2007). Communicative and task-based language teaching in East Asian classrooms. Language Teaching, 40(3), 243–249. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Milton, J., & Garbi, A. (2000). VIRLAN: Collaborative foreign language learning on the Internet for primary age children: Problems and a solution. Educational Technology & Society, 3(3), 286–292.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mu, Q., Borowski, M., Grønbæk, J. E. S., Bødker, S., & Hoggan, E. (2024, May). Whispering through walls: towards inclusive backchannel communication in hybrid meetings. In Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1–16). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Muñoz, C. (2017). Tracing trajectories of young learners: Ten years of school English learning. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 371, 168–184. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nunan, D. (2004). Task-based Language Teaching. CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Dowd, R. (2023). Internationalising Higher Education and the Role of Virtual Exchange. Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Oliver, R., & Bogachenko, T. 2024. Task-based language learning and teaching: Differences according to age. In Shaofeng, L. (Ed.) Task-Based Language Teaching, (pp. 262–286). Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pennock-Speck, B., & Clavel-Arroitia, B. (2023). Virtual exchanges among primary-education pupils: Insights into a new arena. In Potolia, A. & Derivry-Plard, M. (Eds). Virtual Exchange for Intercultural Language Learning and Teaching. (pp. 115–132) Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. W. (2003). Discourses in place: Language in the material world. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Swan, M. (2005). Legislation by hypothesis: The case of task-based instruction. Applied linguistics, 26(3), 376–401. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Timpe-Laughlin, V., Roters, B., & Butler, Y. G. (2024). Exploring the idea of task in the context of the young language learner classroom. ETS Research Report Series, 2024(1), 1–52. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Whyte, S. (2011). Learning to teach with videoconferencing in primary foreign language classrooms. ReCALL 23(3), 271–293. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Whyte, S., & Cutrim Schmid, E. (2014). A task-based approach to video communication with the IWB: a French-German primary EFL class exchange. In E. Cutrim Schmid, & S. Whyte (Eds.). Teaching languages with technology: communicative approaches to interactive whiteboard use. A resource book for teacher development (pp. 50–85). Bloomsbury. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018). Classroom technology for young learners In Garton, S., & Copland, F. (Eds.) Routledge handbook of teaching English to young learners (pp. 338–355). Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wigham, C. R., & Whyte, S. (2024). Teacher role in synchronous oral interaction: Young learner telecollaboration. Language Learning & Technology, 28(1), 1–27. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue