Une réalisation de l’apprentissage partagé dans un environnement multimédia

This paper attempts, firstly, to document the nature of the linguistic exchanges between pairs of intermediate and advanced students of French who engage in interactive tasks in a CALL environment; and, secondly, it examines the extent to which that interaction is relevant to second-language learning by way of comparison with a small-group, task-based, interaction in a traditional oral class, involving students of the same level of competence. In a search for methods for describing and evaluating CALL use, this exploratory investigation provides support for the adoption of an ’interactionist’ perspective which claims that the language of the participants is central to learning, and that the use of discourse analysis methods is helpful. It is anticipated that computer-mediated interaction shares with a traditional face-to-face contact many of the same interactional features which are believed to make oral negotiation beneficial to learning. However, as this small-scale study suggests, the potential of computer-mediated interaction to facilitate language learning is seen as stemming from a combination of the interactive features of conversation with reflective aspects of learning as participants co-construct knowledge with their more or less experienced peers