Effect of promoting second language learners’ awareness of their interactional patterns on their performance in decision-making tasks in pairs

This study was motivated by the desire to build a solid understanding of how interactional competence may be developed in Japanese learners of English. To this end, it investigates the effect of awareness-raising activities on learners’ subsequent patterns of interaction when working in pairs on decision-making tasks. The main focus of the investigation was placed on topic management, a core element of interactional competence. The awareness-raising activities involved the learners analysing their topic management by using audio recordings and transcriptions of their earlier task performances. To evaluate the usefulness of the awareness-raising activities through self-analysis, this study also explored the development in the learners’ awareness and their perception of topic management. This study adopts a mixed methods approach. The participants were 88 Japanese intermediate learners of English, who attended four sessions over one week. The participants were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group. The learners’ patterns of interaction were examined both quantitatively and qualitatively at three points through pre-, concurrent-, and post-awareness-raising activities. To explore the learners’ awareness development and perspectives on their topic management, their replies to two questionnaires were also analysed qualitatively. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses of the dyads’ interactions indicated some enhancement of mutuality in interaction in their final session. There was much engagement with each other’s ideas, and features of collaborative interaction were observed. In contrast, the quantitative analysis indicated that the awareness-raising activities may not have affected the dimension of equality in terms of the amount of talk or topic initiation. Qualitative analysis of the learners’ completed questionnaires indicated definite development in awareness. The analysis also suggested that the learners’ increased awareness of the co-constructed nature of interaction underpinned the change in their interactional patterns. These results are discussed with reference to the relevant theories and empirical studies