Input and Interaction and
Second Language Acquisition
by
Riyana Dewi
Riana Eka Budiastuti
Inti Englishtina
INTRODUCTION
Three major theoretical positions:
• Behaviourist position “Say what I say”
• Innatist/mentalist position “It’s all in your
mind”
• Interactionist position “What do you
mean?”
Behaviourist
 The Behaviourist framework holds that imitation
(and reinforcement) of language input is the primary
mechanism in language acquisition. Without input,
learning cannot occur.
 Input is comprised of stimuli and feedback. With the
stimuli, the person speaking to the learner models
specific linguistic forms and patterns which learner
internalizes by imitating them.
 Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1957) Verbal Behaviour
• Speech as observable behaviour
• LA1 = acquisition of a set of behaviours in a process of
imitation and habit formation
• Stimulus response reinforcement
Mentalist
Learners are equipped with innate knowledge of the
possible forms that any single language can take, and use
the information supplied by the input to arrive at the forms
that apply in the case of the L2 they are trying to learn.
In 1959: Noam Chomsky’s review of Skinner’s Verbal
Behaviour, that innate abilities; biologically programmed
for language and talking is like walking
Input vs Intake (Corder, 1967)
 Input : what is available to the learner, what goes in
one ear and out of the other.
 Intake : what is actually interalized; what is integrated
into the current interlanguage system.
The innatist/mentalist position:
“It‘s all in your mind.”
• Language Acquisition Device / Universal Grammar
contains all and only the principles universal to all
human languages.
• Samples of the language serve as a trigger to activate the
LAD / UG
• Child then matches innate knowledge to the structures
of the particular language in the environment 
acquisition
• LAD works successfully only if stimulated at the right
time.
Interactionist
Two different types of theory:
1. Cognitive interactionist theories, acquisition is seen as a
product of the complex interaction of the linguistic
environment and the learner’s internal mechanism, with
neither viewed as primary. Language develops as a
result of the complex interplay between the uniquely
human characteristics of the child and the environment
in which the child develops.
2. Interaction in social orientation or verbal interaction is
a crucial importance for language learning as it helps to
make the ‘facts’ of the L2 salient to the learner. Crucial
element is the conversational give-and-take between
children and adults.
The characteristics of input to
language learners
Input studies have focused on two issues.
a. Input text : native-speaker usage
b. Input discourse : the description of modified input
 Caretaker talk
 Foreigner talk
a. ungrammatical input modifications
b. grammatical input modifications
c. interactional modifications
d. discourse structure (discourse management and
discourse repair)
e. the function of FT
 Interlanguage talk
Input text : native-speaker usage
 language use is both communication and
cognitive activity
 language is simultaneously a means of
communication and tool for thinking
 language is both process and product
Caretaker talk
 Caretaker talk is derived as people who interact with young
children often intuitively modify their language. Adults choose
simpler sentences and vocabulary, repeat themselves, and
paraphrase what children say. This simplified (modified) input is
thought to help with language acquisition, though children may
receive it from a variety of sources, including older siblings.
 The caretaker’s use of inverted yes-no questions (Have you
been sleeping?) and children’s development of verbal auxiliaries in
L1 English
 Caretakers’ speech is derived primarily from the communicative
goal of engaging in conversation with a linguistically and
cognitively less competent partner, and sustaining and directing
attention, not teaching.
Foreigner talk
• Foreigner talk: language directed towards L2 learners.
• In general, foreigner talk adjustments reveal speech patterns that
would not ordinarily be used in conversation with NSs.
 Features:
• Slow speech rate
• High frequency vocabulary
• Short and simple sentences
• Offering corrections
 Functions:
• Helpful for understanding
• But may not lead to learning
– Simplification resulting from discourse
elaboration/modification are more likely to aid
comprehension than simplification at the linguistic level
– Greater amount of semantic detail available in an
elaborated text that allows learners to make inferences
from the text
.
Foreigner talk
Phonology
• Release final stops
• No reduced vowels
• Fewer contractions
• Longer pauses
Vocabulary
• High frequency vocabulary
• Less slang and idioms
• Overt definitions
• Use of gestures and pictures
Syntax
• Short, simple sentences and topic fronting
• Repetition and restatement
• New information at the end of the sentences
• The NS repeats of reformulates the NSS’s utterances
• The NS complete the NSS’s incomplete utterances
Ungrammatical input
modifications of FT
• Long’s study
– NS-NNS, NS-NS pairs, face-to-face oral tasks
– Little difference between the two groups (grammatical
complexity)
– Significant difference in the use of conversational tactics (NSNNS) such as repetitions, confirmation checks, comprehension
checks or clarification requests.
– Modifications to the interactional structure of conversations
that take place in the process of negotiating a communication
problem help make input comprehensible to an L2 learner.
– The more the input was queried, recycled and paraphrased, to
increase its comprehensibility, the greater its potential
usefulness as input.
– Types of tasks in which both partners are engaged may affect
the types or amount of meaning negotiation (problem-solving
tasks vs. open-ended discussions)
Grammatical input modifications of FT
Grammatical FT is characterized by modifications
indicate of three general processes: (1) simplification,
involves an attempt on the part of native speakers to
simplify the language forms they use; (2)
regularization, and (3) elaboration are directed at
simplifying the learners’ task of processing the input
and can, in fact, result in the use of language that is
not always simple in itself.
Example : see page 255 table 7.2
Interactional modifications of FT
• Long (1983) argued that modified interaction is the
necessary mechanism for making language
comprehensible.
• What learners need is not necessarily simplification of
the linguistic forms but rather an opportunity to interact
with other speakers, working together to reach mutual
comprehension.
• There are two interactional modifications that involve,
namely discourse management and discourse repair.
types of interactional modifications in FT
discourse management
- amount and type of information conveyed
- use of question
- here-and-now orientation
- comprehension checks
- self-repetition
interactional
modifications
discourse repair
repair of communication breakdown
- negotiating of meaning
- relinguishing topic
repair of learner error
- avoidance of other correction
- on-record and off-record correction
NS speaker responses to foreigner
asking the way
• Repetition
Straight down to the big junction. Big junction,
okay?
• Comprehension checks
right ?
alright?
got it ?
okay ?
NS speaker responses to foreigner
asking the way
• Verbless utterances
So you. Down there. You turn left at the Main
Road. Straight down to the big junction.
• Direct imperatives
Normal speech: If you walk straight up here to
the end of this road to the church and turn left.
FT: Up to the end of this street, to the
church….then turn left and keep walking
NS speaker responses to foreigner
asking the way
 Do deletion in questions
• Simplified lexis
What country you come from?
The grandchildren. Babies. Grandchildren.
How long…long time in
Cinema there. Picture place
England?
 Absence of inversion in
• Absence of contractions
questions
I’ll show you. I will show you
You have snow there?
You can’t mistake it
 Other deletion
If I stay at home, no good
Top road
Interaction and Negotiation of Meaning
Signals of comprehension difficulty
 confirmation checks
 clarification checks
 comprehension checks
Interaction and Negotiation of Meaning
Confirmation checks
Moves by which one speaker seeks confirmation of the
other’s preceding utterance through repetition, with
rising intonation, of what was perceived to be all or part
of the preceding utterance.
NS : did you get high marks? Good grades?
NNS : High marks ?
NS : Good grades A’s and B’s
Interaction and Negotiation of Meaning
Clarification request
Moves by which one speaker seeks assistance in understanding the
other speaker’s preceding utterance through questions, … statements
such as “I don’t understand,” or imperatives such as “Please repeat”.
NS : So you came here by yourself or did you come here with friends?
NNS : No no I …what? What you say?
NS : Did you come to the States with friends or did you come alone?
Interaction and Negotiation of Meaning
Comprehension checks
Moves by which one speaker attempts to determine
whether the other speaker has understood a preceding
message.
NS
: Okay, he’s dancing with the woman doctor.
NNS : Excuse me?
NS
: The young man doctor is dancing with the woman
doctor, right?