Meta-communication Devices Used in a Multilingual EFL Telecollaboration for Secondary School Students

Telecollaboration is used where limitations of time and place are eliminated to pave the way for global education while it provides learners with intercultural understanding and multilingual contexts where knowledge knows no boundaries. The present study aimed at running a telecollaboration course in order to realize what metacommunication devices (MCDs) proposed by Bahtina (2013) were utilized in the students’ interactions and what role English language played in this regard in a multilingual setting. The consequences of such instruction and the possible dilemmas were also taken into account. Therefore, 24 secondary school students from Turkey and Iran were non-randomly selected, grouped based on similar personality traits, and enrolled in a ten-session online course exchanging ideas and carrying out relevant tasks. As the results of the transcribed data of the videorecorded BigBlueButton and interviews revealed, MCD2 (development of a shared cognitive system) and MCD4 (development of a mechanism for dealing with misunderstandings), allotted 40% (maximally) and 11% (minimally) of the interactions, respectively. MCD1 (development of understanding and actions intended for a common goal, 29%) and MCD3 (development of linguistic understanding giving meaning to words, 15%), were the other two devices used in the interactions. English was the main medium of communication or lingua franca allotting 77% of the whole interactions. The results of this study might have promising insights for cultural understanding and language learning opportunities which could be a springboard for young learners who tend to pursue their academic studying overseas.