Rethinking peer interaction in language classrooms: students and L1 peers as mediators and experts in higher education

Abstract

In today ’ s multilingual and multicultural societies, di ff erent languages and cultural orientations converge for complex purposes. This study examines how Spanish language students and their native peers (L1 peer = L1P) experiment with dynamic and culturally embedded language uses in higher education. The data included conversation recordings between students ( N = 17) and L1Ps ( N = 2). A qualitative conversation analysis of the student-L1P interaction revealed multiple and shifting learner-expert positions that led to reciprocal intercultural mediation. Both students and L1Ps mediated diverse linguistic and cultural knowledge to each other by relying on a rich array of multimodal mediational means. However, the L1Ps ’ role as peers on the students ’ level was crucial in fostering communication in the target language beyond native and non-native speaker positions.