This study investigates the orientation of language-use practices during in-class peer work of second-year college learners of German in three different sections (classes) of a multi-section course, taught by three different teachers at a public American Midwestern research university. Qualitative analyses of recordings made over the course of an academic semester focused on differences among the three sections in terms of (1) the use of slang and profanity; (2) student dis/engagement with the task and each other; and (3) the use of the first language (English). Results show that the learners in the three course sections oriented themselves between norms established during teacher-led instruction, their institutional learner role and their individual identity. In sociocultural theoretical terms, the teacher proved a shadow participant in peer interaction and the notion of situated learning, as applied in Activity Theory, was expanded to account for the specific language-use conventions, situated in the respective classroom language speech community. (Contains 1 table and 27 excerpts.)