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Interaction by textual means, also known as chat, remains the most popular form of interaction for young people (Anderson & Jiang, 2018; Statista, 2022b). In foreign language programs, chat tools allow language learners to connect with multiple L1 speakers of the target language, in a variety of technological-interactional configurations (Tudini, 2020).

Access to age-peer L1 speakers of the target language is also known to be highly motivating, especially in one-to-one chat interactions (Tudini, 2010). Given these advantages, it is, therefore, appropriate to incorporate chat in foreign language programs, to adequately prepare learners to engage in this form of social interaction in the target language.

Foreign language programs across the globe have, in fact, embraced digital environments for language teaching and learning because they extend learner interaction to naturalistic contexts beyond the traditional classroom. At the same time, digital interactions need to be adequately scaffolded and integrated in the assessment to facilitate and prioritize learning of pragmatic features of the target language.

This presentation presents one model for integration of chat interaction which was adopted at University of South Australia to promote the inclusion of regular digital target language interaction practice through assessment.