What is Strategic Interaction?

Strategic Interaction (hereafter, SI) was proposed by Di Pietro in 1987 as an approach to second language instruction that is organized around scenarios based on real life events that require students to use their second language "purposefully and artfully in dealing with others" (p vii) to achieve a fixed goal. For Di Pietro, "a scenario is a strategic interplay of roles functioning to fulfill personal agendas within a shared context" (1987, p. 41). A scenario requires a language learner to listen intently to what another student says, and to share information while pursuing individual goals. Di Pietro urged teachers to create and use scenarios based on daily occurrences but to move students beyond "routinized performances" (p. 80) by creating dramatic tension through participants' interlocked conflicting goals (such as a customer having dietary restrictions and a waiter needing to recommend a chef's special dish). Di Pietro argued that "without the element of dramatic tension, a scenario is not likely to be successful, no matter how relevant its theme might be to learners' functional needs" (p. 3).

Di Pietro (1987) expected language learners to "rise of the challenge of human interaction, with all its uncertainties and ambiguities" (p. 3) and designed a supportive learning network with multiple roles for the instructor ("teacher, coach, consultant, observer, evaluator" p. 21) and numerous opportunities for help and guidance as students (also functioning as "role players, advice seekers and givers, performers and evaluators" p. 21) work together on language and strategy development. SI is a meaningful and collaborative approach to language teaching and learning; Di Pietro placed students in "situations where the motivation to think is translated into the challenge to reach goals through verbal exchanges with others" (p. 10). He wanted the classroom to function as both a "proving ground where challenges are faced and overcome" (p. 10) and a "refuge for the learner" (p. 12) with the assistance from the teacher and other learners. For Di Pietro, debriefing involved more than a teacher correcting students' errors; students were expected to collaboratively find ways to improve their own and others' performances.

Strategic Interaction Sequence

Di Pietro's core SI language teaching and learning approach involved four steps (1987, p. 2):

1. Pre-class Preparation: Teacher selects or creates appropriate scenarios and prepares the necessary role cards.
2. Phase 1 (Rehearsal): Students form groups and prepare agendas to fulfill the roles assigned to them. Teacher acts as adviser and guide to student groups as needed.
3. Phase 2 (Performance): Students perform their roles with support of their respective groups while teacher and remainder of class look on.
4. Phase 3 (Debriefing): Teacher leads the entire class in a discussion of the students' performance.

Our Strategic Interaction Sequence and Technologies

We integrate SI phases with experiential learning theory, sociocultural theories of development, and the mediated practice of technology. Di Pietro and Dewey hold similar views regarding learning as "intelligently directed development of the possibilities inherent in ordinary experience” (Dewey, 1938, p. 69) and in that learning cannot happen by one person acting alone. Di Pietro and Dewey also shared creative and humanistic perspectives on education; for them, interpersonal communication, human contact and idea making and transfer were central to meaningful learning. Di Pietro and Lewin (1951) both stress reflection and discussion of experiences; concrete, personal experience provides "meaning to abstract concepts while at the same time providing for a concrete, publicly shared reference point for testing the implications and validity of ideas created during the learning process" (Kolb 1984, p. 21). Dewey's and Lewin's work was foundational to Kolb's cyclical model of doing, observing, thinking and planning. Dewey, Lewin, Kolb and Di Pietro all required goal-oriented action, reflection and feedback in effective teaching and learning. Argyris and Schon (1996) argued that "single loop" learning merely allows a student to "satisfice" (Simon, 1990) the current situation and does not change the student's fundamental knowledge or abilities. A common element of the experiential learning theories of Dewey, Lewin, Kolb and Argyris and Schon is the "double loop" learning process in which errors made during the first loop of experience, observing, and reflecting are corrected and then subsequently re-tested in a second experience or cycle.

From a sociocultural perspective, the building into a teaching-learning cycle of more social interaction and reflection allows learners to gain greater control over the target language as they shift from other-regulation towards increased self-regulation and control (see de Guerrero & Villamil, 1994). The key point from a sociocultural point of view is that internalized semiotic tools are utilized for the mediation of activity, and these tools are formed and internalized in and through interaction with the social world (Ellis and Barkhuizen, 2005). As Lantolf and Aljaafreh contend: “learning evolves through stages of decreasing reliance on the other person towards increasing reliance on the self” (p. 479). It is within different forms of social interaction that shifts in mediation, equitable with learning, will take place and where they can be analyzed using the microgenetic analysis method (Ellis and Barkhuizen, 2005).

We require students to go through Di Pietro's rehearsal/preparation, performance and debriefing two times with the same scenario to create a more experiential and interactive learning process in our language classrooms.

Figure 1. Strategic interaction-based technology mediated EFL learning cycle (click to enlarge)

We also use digital video cameras and a wiki. Di Pietro suggested the use of audio or video recorders in conjunction with SI (p. 84-85) for the debriefing phase, for later study, for subsequent assignments, for evidence of learning over a semester, for models of interaction for other classes, and for capturing nonverbal aspects of interactions. Doughty and Varela (1998) provide an example of videotaping students' presentations for subsequent peer feedback. A wiki (an online system of "intensely collaborative" (Godwin-Jones, 2003) web pages that can be easily created and edited) was also used by the teacher and students in this project. Thorne and Paine (2005) outline the functionality of the wiki that makes it a useful tool for the specific pedagogical aims of our design: “Within the context of group projects, wikis enable students to adopt a “revise and roll-back” approach to the collaborative production of text and thus obviate the need to meticulously merge individual contributions in order to avoid deleting one another’s work” (p. 384). Wikis have been used by groups of language learners to collectively develop knowledge of content and target language accuracy (Kessler, 2009); and also to research and write collaboratively (Arnold, Ducate, Kost, 2009; Lee, 2010). Our purpose in this research is to use the functionality of the wiki and develop a shared digital notebook. Students and the teacher could use the wiki to store and view (from the classroom, office or home) digital video of the performances and transcribe (helping students "objectify language and prepare a corpus for the debriefing segment" (Di Pietro 1987, p. 19) and correct their utterances. Swain and Lapkin (2008) describe self transcription as a process that "take[s] speaking out of its rapid, real-time, meaning-making context and provide[s] students with opportunities to notice their own use [of a language]" (p.119) and found that immersion French students' developed a "heightened awareness of" (p. 122) and learned lexical items through the transcription of their L2 roleplays.

Figure 2. Wiki with video and text of strategic interaction (click to enlarge)

The STUDIO

Our stage for SI-based language instruction is our STUDIO: http://langcom.u-shizuoka-ken.ac.jp/studio

Strategic Interaction Resources for Teachers

Scenarios

Academic Situation: Office Hour Visit

Role A (Japanese; Student of English): You have a paper due in Professor Smith's class tomorrow. Your paper is nearly finished, but you are not satisfied with its quality. You know your paper will be much better if you have some help and more time (at least a few days) to continue writing it. Discuss this situation with Professor Smith.

Role B (Canadian; English Professor): You are very busy preparing for an overseas conference presentation later this week. You have not finished your presentation yet. A student in one of your courses has made an appointment to talk with you during your office hours. There is a paper due tomorrow in the student's class. You know that this student enjoys your class and likes English, but seems to be struggling with the level of English in the class. The student's writing quality, so far, has not been very good. Give the student good advice. Be fair to all of your students. Leave yourself enough time to finish your presentation.

Download Role Sheets for this scenario: Word Document

Professional Situation: Press Conference (adapted from Target Score textbook materials)

GloTelCom President: You must announce that GloTelCom is laying off 2,000 workers because of poor financial results. GloTelCom would like to continue to operate in the local community (you have two local plants), but GloTelCom is also considering moving operations overseas to save money. You have been conducting various negotiations with manufacturers overseas.
Goal 1: Announce the layoffs in a professional manner.
Goal 2: Avoid questions about whether GloTelCom will close its operations and move operations overseas. You do not want to discuss this now.

GloTelCom Human Resources (HR) Representative: You must announce that the layoffs are only temporary. You must announce that GloTelCom supports its workers. You must explain the benefits package being given to laid-off employees. Each laid-off worker will receive: a. three months' additional salary (severance pay) b. six months' health insurance coverage
Goal 1: Announce that the layoffs are temporary
Goal 2: Announce GloTelCom's support of its workers
Goal 3: Explain the benefits package

City Mayor: You are afraid the layoffs will adversely affect the local economy and damage your chances of being re-elected. You said two weeks ago (before you knew about the GloTelCom layoffs) that the local job market was “strong and stable.” You want to reassure the public that this is true.
Goal 1: Reassure the public.
Goal 2: Announce that the city government is working to create more job opportunities.

Employee Union Representative: You are very concerned about the GloTelCom layoffs. You are concerned that GloTelCom will close its operations and plants in the local area. You believe that laid-off workers should receive: a. six months' additional salary (severance pay) b. one year of health insurance coverage. You also believe that GloTelCom should pay for re-training and educational programs for its laid-off workers.
Goal 1: Express your concerns about the layoffs and for the workers and their families.
Goal 2: Find out whether GloTelCom plans to close its operations in the area.
Goal 3: If GloTelCom announces severance packages and health insurance coverage in amounts less than what you believe laid-off workers should receive, negotiate better packages for the workers.

Journalist: You know that GloTelCom has been conducting negotiations with manufacturers overseas, but you don't have any details. You also know that the GloTelCom CEO has made four trips overseas in the last six months, but you don't have any details. You suspect that GloTelCom will close both of its local plants permanently. The mayor said in a speech two weeks ago that the local job market was “strong and stable,” but GloTelCom is laying off many workers.
Goal 1: Find out the reasons for the layoffs, negotiations and overseas trips.
Goal 2: Find out if GloTelCom will move operations overseas.
Goal 3: Ask the mayor why he/she said two weeks ago that the local job market was “strong and stable.”

Download: Word Document

Family Situation: University and Career Decisions

(roles written by 1st year International Relations students)

Role A (high school student in the 3rd grade): It is the summer of an entrance examination year. You are the child of B. You don't want to go to university. You want to go to a technical school for fashion design. You don't think university is useful. You want to be a fashion designer. Prepare to discuss this situation with B.

Role B (parent of a high school student in the 3rd grade): It is the summer of an entrance examination year. You graduated from a good university. You are the parent of A. You want your child to enter a good university. You want your child to have a life of stability. Prepare to discuss this situation with A.

Student Preparation Sheet

Download: Word Document

Evaluation Rubric

Download: Word Document

Reflection and Language Log

Download: Word Document

Video Camera and Wiki Introductory Materials

Download: Word Document

Publications and Presentations

deHaan, Jonathan, Johnson, Neil H., Yoshimura, Noriko, Kondo, Takako. (to appear, 2012). Wiki and digital video use in strategic interaction-based experiential EFL learning. CALICO Journal, Volume 29(2).

This paper details the use of a free and private wiki as the learning management system for a four-week teaching module designed to improve the oral communication skills of Japanese university EFL students. Students engaged in repeated experiential learning cycles of planning, doing, observing, and evaluating their performance of a role in a strategic interaction scenario. Each performance was digitally video recorded and uploaded to the wiki. Students then used the wiki to evaluate their video performance, transcribe and self-correct their utterances, and reflect on changes in subsequent performances. The instructor used the wiki's video and text to give students online feedback and focus post-performance group debriefing sessions. Comparisons of performance transcripts revealed syntactic, pragmatic, lexical and fluency improvement from learning cycle 1 to learning cycle 2, and observations, surveys, and interviews provide evidence for the students' ease of use of the wiki and video cameras, enjoyment of the instructional activities, and improved independence and confidence. The results suggest that a wiki, digital video, and strategic interaction-based experiential learning cycles can be effectively integrated to mediate Japanese university EFL students' oral communication development. Technical and pedagogical recommendations are elucidated.

Johnson, Neil & deHaan, Jonathan. (to appear, December 2011). Second Language Development through Technology Mediated Strategic Interaction. Asian EFL Journal.

Teaching language proficiency can be particularly problematic in a Japanese university context because of issues with low motivation (Yashima, 2002; Oda, 1993), anxiety and shyness (Kitano, 2001), and practical difficulties associated with monitoring performance and providing effective feedback to large numbers of students. Strategic interaction (SI), as proposed by Di Pietro (1987), uses the scenario as an organizing principle for classroom practice. This involves learners being given different parts or roles in a situation to be resolved through language in unfolding interaction. In this paper, we explore and detail the design of an approach to SI that is mediated by use of an online wiki space and digital video technologies. Participants at a Japanese university engaged in an SI routine within the context of learning politeness strategies for business English. Analysis of performance transcripts, a post-performance discourse completion task, and learner reflections confirm the potential that technology mediated SI holds for increasing language proficiency in this context. We argue that the data shows evidence of a shift from object-regulation towards increased self-regulation, in the genesis of language development.

(2010). Strategic Interaction through Technology. Japan Association of Language Teaching Conference, Nagoya, Japan, November 19-21.
Johnson, Neil, deHaan, Jonathan, Henman, Jim, Madden, Christopher, & Novenario, Kevin.
Strategic Interaction through Technology
Strategic interaction (SI), as proposed by Di Pietro (1987), offers a potentially powerful learning experience in the development of language proficiency, yet recently has not been widely discussed in the literature on language pedagogy. The organizing principle for classroom practice is, for SI, the scenario. This involves learners being given different parts or roles in a situation to be resolved through language in unfolding interaction. This dramatic tension, as the scenario unfolds, is seen as a vital part of the learning activity. In this forum, we present an overview of SI's sociocultural theoretical underpinnings and how technology (wiki and digital video) can assist the teaching and learning in an SI based instructional cycle. Results from four recent case studies involving SI-based instruction in various Japanese University contexts will be presented. Students engaged in repeated experiential learning cycles (Dewey 1938; Argyris & Schon, 1996) of planning, doing, observing, and evaluating their performance of a role in a strategic interaction scenario. Analysis of performance transcripts from learning cycle 1 and learning cycle 2 and post-instruction assessment measures revealed movement from object and other to self regulation evidenced by syntactic, pragmatic, lexical and fluency improvement. The forum will close with the distribution of teaching materials and a discussion of practical applications of strategic interaction in Japanese EFL classrooms.

(2010)
deHaan, Jonathan.
Wiki-based management of digital video and text for strategic interactions in experiential EFL learning.
International Wireless Ready Symposium (IATEFL / Learning Technologies SIG / JALT CALL SIG), Nagoya, Japan, February 19.

(2009)
deHaan, Jonathan.
Wiki-based management of digital video and text for strategic interactions in experiential EFL learning.
IEEE Technical Meeting on eLearning and Usability, Fukushima, Japan, October 31.

Practical Lessons Learned

Scenarios:
1. Roles need to have conflicting goals.
2. To maintain dramatic tension, students should act with new partners in the second loop, or the roles should be somewhat altered by the instructor.
3. Students can have a hard time imagining the roles.  Start off with something familiar and then advance to more complex roles.

Technology:
1. Students have varying experience with working with technology.  Allow for an "introduction to technology" lesson.
2. Recordings should be done with microphones or in separate classrooms to lessen background noise.
3. Care should be taken when uploading video to the wiki. On pbworks, "upload video" stores the video on an external server and does not consume wiki storage space. However, "upload file" stores the video on the wiki and the wiki quickly fills up.
4. Videos should not be uploaded at the end of class to avoid network bottlenecks and running out of class time.
5. Teachers without video cameras and notebook PCs might try:
a. students' mobile phones
b. a "Language Lab" with cassette recorders

Instruction:
1. Set up your own wiki and upload a few videos before trying this with students.
2. When running an SI program with first year students, it is best to start slowly with a simple script that can be easily completed without fear of failure. Build up gradually.
3. Expect there to be technology gap; some students are comfortable with the process, some not. Part of the resistance (from the perspective of the students) is the unknown technology demands. Make it easy for them with prepared sheets, and live examples.
4. Make your expectations very clear, for example, ‘No reading from your notes’…
5. As each filmed interaction is short (2~3 minutes on average) allow for practice time for each pair before filming. This will increase confidence and speaking time.
6. By changing both roles and partners for each interaction, opportunities to learn from each other will increase. For example; Student A as parent, B as child. Then B as parent, A as child. Then new partners: A as parent, C as child, and finally C as parent, A as child. Each pair practices once in each role, and films once in each role, therefore each situation is done eight times by each student (four in each role).

Researchers

Jonathan deHaan
Noriko Yoshimura
Takako Kondo
Neil Johnson
Jim Henman
Christopher Madden
Kevin Novenario