Input-and-interaction-(SLA)

ExternalfactorsInputandinteractionBasicConceptionsTheinteractionistviewoflanguagelearning:Languageacquisitionistheresultofaninteractionbetweenthelearner’smentalabilitiesandthelinguisticenvironment.Long(1990)ascitedinEllis(1994)proposedthatinteractionisnecessaryforthesecondlanguageacquisition.“互动主义观点”(interactionistview),即二语习得是学习者智力与语言环境共同作用的结果,学习者的加工机制决定并受到输入的影响;同样地,输入的质量也受到学习者内部机制的影响。（杨党玲2004）Threeaspectsofverbalinteraction:Interaction:Ellis(1985)definesinteractionasthediscoursejointlyconstructedbythelearnerandhisinterlocutors（对话者、谈话者）andinputistheresultofinteraction.Input:Whatisavailabletothelearner.Inputisthelanguageofferedtothelearnerbynativespeakersorotherlearners.(Albakri:110)Intake:Whatisactuallyinternalizedbythelearner.Production(output)isthelanguagespokenbythelanguagelearnersthemselves.(Albakri:110)Feedbackistheresponsegivenbytheconversationalpartnerstotheproductionofthelearner.(Albakri:110)7.1Methodsforinvestigatinginputandinteraction7.1.1ThedatacollectedtostudylearnerlanguageThesedataconsistedoftranscriptionsoftheinteractionsinwhichthelearnerstookpart,involvingbothdetailedlinguisticanalysesanddiscourseandconversationalanalysis.7.1.2ResearchmethodsExperimentalresearchseekstopredictandexplainbehavioroutofcontext;ethnographicresearchseekstoprovideacontextuallyrichinterpretationofbehaviorthatleadstoagroundedunderstandingofthephenomenathatarebeingstudied.(Brown&Gonzo2006:7)1)Experimentalandpseudo-experimentalstudiesThesestudiesaredesignedtoinvestigatetheeffectofspecificvariablesoninputandinteraction.Experiments:Twominimalcriteria:Atleasttwogroupsmustbeincluded.Thesubjectsmustberandomlyassignedtooneofthegroups.Twogoals:Toestablishcause-effectrelationships;toextendtheexplanations/predictionsoftheresultsofthestudytothebroaderpopulation.(Brown&Gonzo2006:4-5)Quasi-experiments:Ithasbothpre-andposttestsandexperimentalandcontrolgroups,butnorandomassignmentofsubjects.(Nunan1992:41)2)IntrospectivetechniqueIntrospectionistheprocessofobservingandreflectingonone’sthoughts,feelings,motives,reasoningprocesses,andmentalstateswithaviewtodeterminingthewaysinwhichtheseprocessesandstatedetermineourbehavior.Particularlycontentiousistheassumptionmadebyresearchersthattheverbalreportsobtainedthroughtheintrospectioncarriedoutbytheirsubjectsaccuratelyreflectstheunderlyingcognitiveprocessesgivingrisetobehavior.(Nunan1992:115)(1)Someearlyintrospectivemethods:Freeassociationtask:Subjectswererequiredtosaythefirstwordtheythoughtofinresponsetoastimulusword(Nunan1992:116).Thinking–aloudtechniques:Arethoseinwhichsubjectscompleteataskorsolveaproblemandverbalizetheirthoughtprocessesastheydoso.(2)Someintrospectivemethodsusednowadays(Brown&Gonzo2006:7)Diaries:Diariesarefirst-personaccountsoflanguagelearningorteaching.Casestudy：Thestudyofasingleindividualisakindofethnographyintermsofitsmethodanditsconcernforstudyingthephenomenaincontext;howeverthequalitativemethodsofethnographycanbesupplementedbyquantitativedataandstatisticalanalyses.Themethodofdatacollectionisnormallynaturalisticandlongitudinal.Discourseanalysis:Initsmostgeneralsense,discourseanalysisfocusesontheanalysisofwholetexts(oralorwritten)ratherthandiscretesentences.Thelanguagedatacanbenaturallyoccurringelicited,orinvented.Theproceduresusedintheanalysisoflanguageincludebothqualitativemeasuresandquantitativemeasuressuchascodingandcounting.7.2Typesofinputtolanguagelearners7.2.1Inputtext:native-speakerusageAnumberofstudieshaveexaminedwhatmightbecalled“inputtext”bytryingtoestablishwhatnativespeakersactuallysayorwrite.Anumberofresearchershavewarnedofthedangersofmakingassumptionsaboutthenatureoftheinputthatisaddressedtolanguagelearnersonthebasisofdescriptionsoftheabstractsystemofthetargetlanguage.7.2.2Inputdiscourse:thedescriptionofmodifiedinput1)DefinitionInputdiscourse:thespecialkindof“register”thatisusedwhenspeakersaddresslanguagelearners.nativespeakers’talkcaretakertalkforeignertalkinterlanguagetalkteachertalk2)Caretakertalk看护者的话(1)DefinitionWhencaretakersspeaktoyoungchildrenwhoareintheprocessofacquiringtheirL1,theytypicallyadjusttheirspeechinanumberofways.Theregisterthatresultshasbeenreferredtovariouslyas“baby-talk”,“motherese”(妈妈的话),“caretakertalk”and“child-directedlanguage”.(2)CharacteristicsStyle:Caretakersadjusttheirspeechformallysothattheinputthatchildrenreceiveisbothclearerandlinguisticallysimplerthenthespeechtheyaddresstootheradults.Speed:Slowerspeed.E.g.Thespeechaddressedtotwoyear-oldshasonlyhalfthespeedusedwithotheradults.Pitch:higherpitch.Lexis:Caretakersuseahigherratioofcontentwordstofunctorsandalsorestricttherangeofvocabularyitemsemployed.Syntax:alowermeanlengthofutterance(MLU).Topic:thekindsoftopicsthatgettalkedabout.A.Tofollowthehere-and-nowprincipleB.TofindthetopicsthatarefamiliartotheirchildrenC.Toallowthechildtoinitiateandcontrolthedevelopmentoftopics.Interactionalmodifications:Tomakeplentifuluseofattention-gettersCaretakersshouldbeparticularlyskilfulinthestrategiestheyusetosustainandextendaconver