Compensatory strategies adopted by Chinese EFL learners in virtual exchange with native speakers

Abstract

Compensatory strategies play an important role in second language (L2) processing because of limited language knowledge and ensuing anxiety and could help assure understanding and void communication breakdown. Previous studies about compensatory strategies largely adopt laboratory settings and neglect the strategies in authentic oral communication. Accordingly, the present study investigated compensatory strategies used by Chinese university students in online videoconferences with their US peers during a five-week virtual exchange project. We interviewed 27 Chinese students twice, once after the first-week videoconference, the other after the last-week videoconference. The English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in this study could adopt compensatory strategies of different levels. Their strategy use, however, was not flexible enough as several types of strategies were repeatedly used, while other types were rarely implemented. The virtual exchange could help the EFL learners employ compensatory strategies more often, of higher levels, and with increased immediacy. The results can help to establish more targeted English teaching and learning.

The influence of a group of Chinese EFL teachers’ beliefs on lesson planning with video-based synchronous computer-mediated communication: A qualitative multiple case study

“…Notwithstanding the significant growth in the number of online EFL learners, scarce attention has been paid to VSCMC with Chinese young learners (Coyle & Reverte Prieto, 2017, Yu, 2018. Specifically, numerous examples of the implementation of VSCMC in EFL teaching could be found in Chinese university settings, such as online English discussions on Zoom (Zhang & Chen, 2021), language exchange with English native speakers on Zoom (Feng &Shirvani, 2021;Sunaoka, 2018), task-based learning on university-developed platform . Besides, a variety of tools can be used for VSCMC teaching in China, such as interactive classroom (e.g., ClassIn, CCtalk), social media tools (e.g., QQ, WeChat, Skype), and remote meeting tools (e.g., Zoom) (Quadir & Zhou, 2021).…”