| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中正大學 === 外國語文研究所 === 100 === Research has shown that meaning negotiation for communication breakdown facilitates language learning, and jigsaw tasks can provide the context for significant amounts of this. While there is a considerable general literature on jigsaw tasks and language learning, there are few specific investigations on the mediation and negotiation that occur with such tasks in terms of interpsychological processes. This study was undertaken to explore how paired EFL learners bridged information gaps to carry out jigsaw tasks via two types of mediation (MSN and face-to-face communication), and its relation to their task outcomes. Three research questions guided this study: How did the participants negotiate meaning via two different types of jigsaw tasks, FTF and MSN? In what ways did the meaning negotiation via jigsaw tasks impact the participants’ summary writings? And how did they perceive the two types of jigsaw tasks as ways of learning? Fourteen Taiwanese university students, forming seven dyads, volunteered to participate in the study. Each dyad was required to complete two jigsaw tasks, one via MSN and FTF. Each jigsaw task was approached with dyadic discussion and individual summary writing. All the dyads were interviewed after they had completed both of the jigsaw tasks. Data sources included each dyad’s discussions of the two jigsaw tasks, individual summary writings for each jigsaw, and semi-structured oral interview. Two interaction patterns (one-by-one and one-to-one) and five discussion patterns (stating opinions, describing, probing, assisting in language, and requesting clarification) emerged from the results. Jigsaw mediation, FTF and MSN, did play a role in dyadic interaction and discussion. Summary writings showed evidence of the participants’ collaboration for the two jigsaw tasks, but the dyads were shown to work together in different ways. The specific features of discussion a dyad had mainly affected their summary writings. Finally, the participants valued the dyadic discussion in the jigsaw tasks as a way of language learning, and expressed their preference for the FTF jigsaw tasks. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for future research are also provided.
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