Not enough attention has been paid to the pragmatic function of code-switching in telecollaboration as it has commonly been regarded as a sign of lack of competence in the L2 or negative transfer from the L1. For this reason, the aim of this paper is to analyse the discourse produced by participants of a bilingual telecollaboration project and its possible pragmatic implications. Based on Picoli and Salomão’s (2020) ‘principle of equality’, instances of code-switching were sought and analysed. Participants of the telecollaborative projects were a group of seven Spanish-speaking students of English and a group of seven English-speaking students of Spanish who engaged in synchronous Zoom sessions for six weeks. Language learners were expected to carry out one role-play per week, after which they were given free time to practise oral conversation in both English and Spanish. Data was gathered from the transcription of the oral conversations. In particular, only the role-plays and the cultural discussions were transcribed. Thus, a total number of 23 conversations were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Instances of code-switching were counted and classified into five categories following previous research. The results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis revealed that students mostly used code-switching for clarification, followed by last language used, accommodation, sequential subordination, and solidarity. It is believed that code-switching was used as a pragmatic strategy to support communication and avoid breakdowns in bilingual or multilingual interactions. The fact that clarification was the most used strategy could also imply that code-switching was employed to negotiate meaning. The spontaneous nature of the conversations may have been a facilitator of code-switching in telecollaboration, and, for this reason, it should be regarded as a natural practice in bilingual contexts such as telecollaboration rather than something to avoid. Understanding code-switching as a natural phenomenon aligns with the paradigm shift from the unrealistic native-speaker oriented model to the intercultural speaker model.

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Abstract Summary
Based on Picoli and Salomão’s (2020) ‘principle of equality’ this paper intends to analyse the instances of code-switching in a bilingual telecollaboration project and its possible pragmatic implications. Participants were Spanish-speaking students of English and English-speaking students of Spanish who engaged in synchronous Zoom sessions for six weeks. Data was gathered from the transcription of the oral conversations which were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Instances of code-switching were therefore counted and categorised following previous research. The results revealed that students mostly used code-switching for clarification. It is believed that code-switching was employed as a pragmatic strategy to support communication and avoid breakdowns through negotiation of meaning.

Authors:
Sofia Di Sarno-García, Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain
Ana Gimeno-Sanz, Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Sofia Di Sarno-García obtained her PhD in Applied Linguistics from the Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain) as a member of the CAMILLE Research Group. She co-edited the book Telecollaboration Applications in Foreign Language Classrooms.

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