The interactionist hypothesis holds that conversational interaction facilitates second language (L2) learning by providing learners opportunities to receive meaningful input, modify their output, and attend to language form. Although research has often explored the efficacy of different types of L2 instruction (deductive or inductive), few studies have done so from an interactionist perspective. This study explores smallgroup interactions of 19 L2 Spanish learners from two intact high school classes as they completed four communicative tasks following either deductive or PACE instruction on the pronoun se. We examined the nature of the student group interactions in each class, focusing on negotiation of meaning (NoM) strategies and language-related episodes (LREs). The deductive participants used more NoM strategies, and produced more LREs than PACE participants. Regardless of the type of instruction, the majority of LREs dealt with vocabulary and were resolved correctly. Task conditions also mediated the outcomes of feedback and LREs.

This study examines learner deliberations over their discursive plans during second language (L2) instructional tasks, which we call intersubjectivity negotiation episodes (INEs). We argue that these provide essential contexts for negotiations over L2 formmeaning mappings, known as language related episodes (LREs). Our data comes from two intact third-year Spanish classes at a U.S. public high school, where four groups of 19 total learners completed four communicative tasks over three 90-minute lessons. We found that learners spent more time in INEs than LREs overall, and in most task performances. We identified four INE functions: deliberations over discursive goals and means, progress toward task completion, and the interpretive framing of contributions. Among these, tasks with greater potentially relevant content yielded more means and progress INEs, while those requiring content from personal experience yielded more framing INEs. Individual agency and group composition also affected the amount of INEs. Theoretical and pedagogical implications are discussed.