Resolving Referential Conflicts in L2 Interaction: The Effect of Proficiency and Interactive Role *

Extending the research done on the effects of different types of task and different participant arrangements used to foster negotiated interaction among L2 learners, we developed a task that presents specific referential conflicts and analyzed the solutions adopted within two different pairings of learners. Pairs in which the higher proficiency member had the dominant role engaged in little interactive cooperation and in some cases changed the task rather than negotiate a solution. Pairs in which the higher proficiency member had the nondominant role engaged in substantial negotiation work, sought each other's perspective and generally shared much more in the interactive turn‐taking and the successful resolution of referential conflicts.