In this article the focus is on methodology for analysing learner-learner oral conversations mediated by
computers. With the increasing availability of synchronous voice-based groupware and the additional facilities offered by
audio-graphic tools, language learners have opportunities for collaborating on oral tasks, supported by visual and textual
stimuli via computer-conferencing. Used synchronously with real-time voice-based work, these tools present learners with the
challenge of learning a new type of oral interaction, and researchers with the need for developing methodologies for redefining
L2 oral competence in these environments. In this paper we address the latter. We examine approaches from the interactionist
branch of Second Language Acquisition research, and we question the ability of this model of language learning to fully account
for the processes that take place when learners are interacting with machines while talking to each other. To complement the
socio-cognitive insights of that school, we look to interactional linguistics and to social semiotics. Building on findings
from these fields, we offer a qualitative discussion of the discourses evidenced in conversational data from two distance-learning
projects that use synchronous voice in conjunction with other stimuli, in an intermediate French programme at the UK Open
University. We then present detailed conclusions about the methodological challenges involved in analysing the oral
competence of students who use these tools.