Negotiated meaning moves in online problem-based tasks in EFL classes

An inevitable problem of interaction has been misunderstandings. Language classrooms are one of those contexts in which these communicational breakdowns occur. This study is conducted to investigate Turkish EFL students' negotiation of meaning (NoM) moves which they utilized while they were doing an online problem-based task. 20 Turkish students enrolled in an intermediate-level EFL course at a state university are paired (n=10) and their conversations are recorded. The recordings are transcribed and instances of meaning negotiation are identified and coded. The study employed basic descriptive statistics to show the distribution of each meaning negotiation type among all data and pairs. Analyzing the discourses from transcription, some preferences are revealed. The study found that Turkish EFL students negotiated meaning during online problem-based tasks and employed a variety of NoM types, the most common type being clarification requests. The students showed a preference for correcting and repeating themselves rather than their partners. Instances of checking for self-confirmation were identified and it was suggested that they constituted promising research on understanding communicational strategies. The importance of the study was to draw attention to NoM practices in Turkish contexts and the importance of including strategy training in NoM by explaining the purposes for NoM utilized in immediate online interaction. The study contributes to the literature by highlighting the importance of meaning-making processes and their inclusion in curriculums to foster successful language exchange and co-construction of language, which contribute to facilitating second language acquisition. Keywords: negotiation of meaning, problem-based task, online interaction, strategy training.