| This study examined native-speaker (NS) - non-native speaker (NNS) interaction in a casual, synchronous computer-mediated exchange. The participants included 15 students, instructors and an administrator in an MA TESOL program. The first part of the study investigated the participation of interactants in terms of output. The remainder of this study drew on aspects of Systemic Functional Linguistics analysis to determine how participants engaged in topics or themes, used cohesion, invoked evaluative language, displayed familiarity with others and employed humour. The study revealed that (1) the NNSs as a group participated more frequently than the NSs in respect to gross number of turns and words used; (2) both the NS and NNS groups initiated an approximately equal number of themes; (3) both NSs and NNSs employed cohesive ties similarly, and (4) there was a high degree of solidarity and community among the NSs and NNSs regardless of their student/instructor or NS/NNS status. |
