Input, Interaction, and Output in L2 Acquisition

This chapter deals with input, interaction, feedback, and output in second language (L2) acquisition. The interaction approach attempts to account for learning through the learner’s exposure to language, production of language, and feedback on that production. Interaction, simply put, refers to the conversations that learners participate in. Interactions are important because it is in this context that learners receive information about the correctness and, more important, about the incorrectness of their utterances. Interaction researchers are usually interested in eliciting specific grammatical structures to test whether particular kinds of interactive feedback on non-target-like forms are associated with learning. The interaction approach, for the time being, is focused primarily on the role of input, interaction, and output in learning. The interactional feedback episodes and the stimulated recall comments that were provided about the episodes were coded and analyzed. The interaction approach, like most other accounts of L2 acquisition, is primarily focused on how languages are learned.