Intercomprehension as a Springboard for Exolingual e-Tandem Conversations?

The perceptions of about ninety students are analyzed in relation to two modes of interaction in synchronous e -tandems (oral competence): intercomprehension (bilingual mode: everyone speaks their language 1 in the same conversation) and exolingual monolingual interactions (a language shared by an Ll and an L2 speaker is spoken alternately, from one week to the next). The students are French-speaking (ULiege) and Dutch-speaking (KU Leuven) (undergraduate degree in Applied Linguistics). Two groups are formed: the first group exchanges by speaking his language 1 (intercomprehension) (four conversations) then the group speaks in monolingual exolingual mode (two conversations in French and two in Dutch). The second interacts directly in monolingual exolingual mode (eight conversations). The objective is to specify which type of exchange is preferred and whether the preferences vary from one cultural community to the other. Two questionnaires are completed: one after the first four conversations, the other after the last four. It seems that French-speakers think that intercomprehension is useful at the beginning of the conversations, whereas the Dutch-speakers think that intercomprehension is rather superfluous.