A conversation analytic investigation into EFL learners' technology-mediated task interactions

Long-standing use of tasks in second language learning environments, including digital spaces, has been deemed to promote learners' interactional skills. Nevertheless, interactional dynamics in these contexts have largely remained unexplored due to the dominance of etic perspectives and a priori assumptions in interpreting the interactional data. The relatively scarce conversation analytic research focusing on the dynamics of task interaction in technology-mediated environments predominantly centers on the epistemic domain of the interaction. Against this backdrop, this study explores technology-mediated, task-based spoken interactions of advanced EFL learners. Employing Ethnomethodological Conversation Analysis, the study investigates how specific social action formats— with a particular focus on proposals—facilitate task progression. The analysis reveals a strong preference for proposal structures in task discourse, indicating a collective and egalitarian task dynamic. The interactional uses of these structures are primarily identified as to address problems such as epistemic gaps or contradictions to task rules, set the upcoming task agenda, endorse, challenge, and circumvent the preceding proposals. Evidence from turn-design and sequential unfolding reveals that the participants orient to the fine-grained distinctions between these formats in terms of their deontic strength. Further, while the participants orient to the screen as a semiotic resource to formulate their proposals, they also employ turn-design strategies to increase their deontic strength. This study contributes to our understanding of task-based interaction in digital spaces with a particular focus on the use of proposal structures to advance the task forward. Moreover, it contributes to the theoretical comprehension of how grammatical structures are utilized to perform specific social actions in digital environments, providing a foundation for future research. Implications for practitioners, task designers, and researchers are discussed.