Abstract
International audience This study examines the socio-affective competences of trainee teachers of French as a foreign language during one-to-one online tutoring interactions. Our theoretical framework explores the competence of emotive communication (Arndt & Janney, 1991) through the multimodal analysis of face work acts (Goffman, 1967, 1974). We report on two particular phenomena: firstly, the use of smiles as a tool to introduce interactional breakdown as well as a softener for face threats; secondly, the interactional synchrony that occurs in situations in which the tutor and trainee feel the need to align and maintain mutual understanding.