L3-Task: Language acquisition in a multilingual context

Abstract

L3-Task is a pilot project based on a European project proposal by the University of Vienna (Austria), the University of Alicante (Spain), the University of Barcelona (Spain), the UNED of Madrid (Spain), and the University of Jena (Germany). The pilot project aimed at implementing and investigating peer-to-peer interaction between students of a third language (L3) through blended online tandems organized by the universities involved in the project, all of which offer formal courses of third languages. The present paper focusses on the participation in oral peer-to-peer interaction in German by students who are native speakers (NSs) of Spanish (L1), have studied English as a second language (L2) and are acquiring German as an L3 within a university program based on an A1 CEFR-based framework. In order to provide these non-native speakers (NNSs) of German with opportunities to develop oral competence, online tandems were organized with students at the University of Vienna who are NSs or near-native-speakers of German (NNSs-high). During their online encounter, the tandem partners carried out task-based interactions related to the formal German language course in university education. The interactions were carried out outside the classroom, and recorded and stored by the students themselves with the help of a common video-conference platform. In this article we present samples of transcribed interactions in German by 11 tandems composed of a NNS and a NS or NNS-high. The interactions were initially set up through the use of English, which is the tandem partners´ common L2.