The author presents strategies for successful team-bonding games along with descriptions of games and suggestions for building a collaborative atmosphere before, during, and after the games.

Using conversation analysis as the research approach, this study explores how L2 learners utilize their task-related identities during task interactions and how those identities are used as resources for task management. Eight students in an ESL academic reading class formed two groups while they did their reading circle task for six rounds. In…

This article argues that language students and teachers are changemakers and that, in keeping with progressivist philosophy and the bottom-up social paradigm, they can play a powerful role in creating a better world. As our understanding of the world continues to increase, both students and teachers can use this increased understanding to initiate…

Following Ellis's (2005) call for more social and process-oriented planning research, this study explores how learners approach collaborative planning tasks in the classroom as a locally contingent activity in situ. Drawing on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, the present study focuses on a group planning stage that precedes the final…

This study investigates the impact of implementing collaborative learning from a social and dialogical perspective on seventh graders' interaction in an English as a foreign language classroom at a public school in Bogotá, Colombia. Thirty students participated in this action research where field notes, questionnaires, semi-structured interviews,…

Our paper aims to present students' interactions in a teletandem--that is, tandem through desktop videoconference [Telles, J., ed. 2009. "Teletandem. Um contexto virtual, autônomo, colaborativo para aprendizagem das linguas estrangeiras no século XXI". Campinas, SP: Pontes Editores]--telecollaborative project between third-year…

In Colombia, many institutions are in the firm quest of virtual learning environments to improve instruction, and making the most of online tools is clearly linked to offering quality learning. Thus, the purpose of this action research was to identify how the Cognitive Apprenticeship Model enhances online collaborative learning by using a chat…

Student reactions to different methods of in-class textbook use have received little attention in the literature on English language teaching. This article explores the responses of 57 Japanese university students to the replacement of teacher-led textbook lessons with small group, role-based textbook work in regular English reading classes.…

This paper reports on an exploratory, descriptive, and interpretive study in which the roles of discussion boards, the students, the teacher, and the monitors were explored as they constructed a collaborative class project in a virtual environment. This research was conducted in the virtual program of a Colombian public university. Data were…

Having acquired some degree of oral proficiency but low (or non-existent) literacy, the learning of Chinese heritage learners' (CHLs) learning needs are different from those of Chinese foreign language learners (CFLs), who have learned Chinese only in the classroom setting. Although researchers have advocated for a separate curriculum for…

The flexible language learning system we have devised at our university combines different elements: individual work on a virtual learning environment, pair-work and counseling sessions. The implementation of the system involves a new conception of the different "actors" roles. Teachers become tutors or counselors with new specific…

This study examines the online writing and revision behaviors of university language learners. In small groups, 53 intermediate German students from three classes at three different universities created wiki pages with background information about a novel read in class. All meaning- and language-related revisions were analyzed to determine whether…

This study describes an investigation we carried out in order to identify how the specific roles that 7th grade public school students assumed when they worked cooperatively were related to their development of speaking skills in English. Data were gathered through interviews, field notes, students' reflections and audio recordings. The findings…

This article reports a study examining the use of group activities in English language coursebooks published since 1990. Ten coursebooks were randomly selected for examination. The number and percentage of group activities and of group activities rated as fostering cooperation were calculated. The results are discussed in light of theory and…

It is proposed that classroom collaboration has the potential to build a classroom learning community in which students turn to each other as resources and the teacher becomes one channel, among many, for learning. The demands that collaborative work places on students are examined, and the process of building a collaborative environment is…