A Qualitative Inquiry on Synchronous Virtual Exchange Interactions in an Interdisciplinary ESP Context

This paper seeks to underline the features of synchronous virtual exchange interactions that took place in English during an interdisciplinary transnational virtual exchange arranged between French and Spanish students in 2021. During their ten-week collaboration, twenty‑two law students from the Université de Lorraine (France) and nineteen business English students from the Universitat de València (Spain) used their legal and business expertise in jointly creating a promotional video for a fictionally created start-up. A limited sample size of empirical qualitative data drawn from the transcripts of five synchronous exchanges were analysed at two levels for this study. The first level of analysis was thematic and revealed the different ESP (and other conversational) themes in both the 2D and 3D modes of interaction. The second level of analysis identified discursive sequences as the principal unit of analysis. This revealed that while a 3D environment can facilitate interaction by providing the tools learners need to summarize a text orally and explain key ESP concepts in simple English, learners need to rely on their own language skills when it comes to interacting in 2D environments.