The Teacher Behind the Curtain: Investigating L2 Learning in (e)Tandem Settings

The variety of learner-to-learner learning environments grouped under the label (e)Tandem share the objective of fostering meaningful communication between L2 speakers with different backgrounds through in-person or online interactions. Despite the focus being on content, attention to form is higher in (e)Tandem conversation than in spontaneous exchanges, because participants are expected to mutually act as experts in their first or proficiently spoken language. Negotiation of form is therefore a natural component of (e)Tandem interaction as well as negotiation of meaning. Furthermore, as a socially-situated and goal-oriented learning context, (e)Tandem is acknowledged to provide an ideal environment for the acquisition of pragmatic competence in the second language. Due to these characteristics, (e)Tandem practices have especially attracted the attention of second language pedagogy researchers toward two areas of investigation: focus on form and the development of L2 pragmatics. The chapter discusses a number of studies that are representative of the two areas.