The focus of this study is the potential reduction of first language (L1) use during group activities in the second language (L2) classroom through the introduction of L2 support phrases with the goal of enabling learners to carry out three information exchange tasks without resorting to communication in L1. Many language instructors tend to limit group interaction because learners would typically revert to the language they are comfortable with and thus receive less comprehensive input and feedback from peers or get a chance to modify their output in the target language. Group work in the second language classroom is, however, most beneficial as it maximizes the number of turns students take and their overall speech production.  In the study I conducted, the participants were 16 students, forming eight pairs, from beginning Spanish language classes. Those in the L2 support class received linguistic assistance while those in the no L2 support class did not receive any additional help during the three information-exchange activities completed by the participants four to five weeks apart. The transcribed learner-learner interactions were analyzed in order to reveal the extent to which beginning Spanish language learners use the L1 rather than the target language during group work, and to make observations about the communicative functions of the languages used.  The findings revealed that providing L2 support phrases to manage tasks and deliberate over language use did not have an impact on the amount of the use of L1. On the contrary, it demonstrates that verbalizing less in the L1 in learner-learner interactions does not produce more target language. Thus, this study contributes to the theoretical explanation for the use of an L1 during learner-learner interactions, which does not always align with pedagogical practices. / Spanish

A growing number of studies has shown that collaborative writing tasks facilitate second language (L2) development by providing learners with opportunities to focus their attention on language and to collaborate in the solution of their language-related problems (e.g., Choi & Iwashita, 2016; Storch, 2013; Swain & Lapkin, 1998; Williams, 2012). However, most of these studies have focused almost exclusively on L2 learners, and particularly on English as a second language learners. In an effort to address this gap and drawing from a sociocultural framework, this study investigated the interactions of Spanish heritage language (HL) learners and Spanish L2 learners enrolled in the same class. Twenty-four intermediate-level learners of Spanish, organized in four HL-HL, four HL-L2, and four L2-L2 dyads, participated in the study. As part of their regular class work, they completed four collaborative writing tasks in pairs. Participants were also asked to individually complete a pretest and two posttests. The tasks and tests were intended to elicit the present subjunctive in nominal and adjectival clauses. The interactions between each pair were recorded and coded for the nature of the relationships the learners formed (Storch, 2002) and the quantity and quality of learners’ deliberations about language choice, using Language Related Episodes (LREs) (Swain & Lapkin, 1998) as units of analysis. Results showed that the most common type of patterns of interaction the learners developed was collaboration. Moreover, three pairs displayed a dominant/passive pattern of interaction and two pairs an expert/novice pattern. Results also indicated that overall, participants produced slightly more LREs focused on form than LREs focused on lexis. Furthermore, results showed that whereas all pairs produced morphosyntactic LREs, they were more frequent in HL-L2 dyads. Lexical LREs occurred more often in L2-L2 dyads, and orthographic LREs occurred only in HL-HL dyads. With regards to learning gains, results revealed that six participants obtained high scores in all tests and did not show a score change from pretest to delayed posttest. Five of these participants were identified as HL learners. However, data also showed that 16 participants scored higher on their delayed posttest than they did on their pretest. Overall, considering that most dyads developed a collaborative pattern of interaction and achieved learning gains after task-based interaction, the data suggest that despite the differences in linguistic and cultural backgrounds, learners in mixed and matched pairs provided assistance to one another and produced LREs associated with the target structure. These findings have important pedagogical implications and thus, future studies need to investigate the best practices for teaching HL and L2 learners simultaneously and the types of tasks that encourage collaboration. / Spanish