ABSTRACT

In language classrooms, task-based interaction between language learners in pair or group work is a common feature. In particular, oral tasks are often used to provide a context for language use and to support language development of specific forms (Van den Branden, Bygate, & Norris, 2009). Increasingly, too, peer interaction tasks are used for testing and research purposes (Philp, Adams, & Iwashita, 2014), ideal because they provide a relatively authentic context for language use while also allowing for control of task conditions and variables. However, there is little reflection in the literature on how this is best done. This paper exclusively focuses on tasks used for research purposes to elicit specific language forms in the context of face-to-face interaction between second language (L2) learners.