Socio-cognitive Functions of L1 Collaborative Interaction in the L2 Classroom

This paper studies the use of L1 in the collaborative interaction of adult learners of Spanish who are native speakers of English. Viewed as a psychological tool that mediates human mental activity on the external (interpsychological) and the internal (intrapsychological) planes, L1 use is found to serve a critical function in students' attempts to mutually define various elements of their task, that is, to establish and maintain intersubjectivity (Rommetveit, 1985). Also, L1 is shown to be an indispensable device for students in providing each other with scaffolded help (Wood, Bruner, & Ross, 1976). Finally, this study provides evidence of the use of L1 for the purpose of externalizing one's inner speech (Vygotsky, 1986) throughout the task as a means of regulating one's own mental activity. The analysis of student interaction presented here not only highlights these critical functions of L1 in the second language learning process, but attempts to show how various communicative moves and linguistic forms achieve these functions.