Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T22:05:49.163Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

HOW DO LEARNERS PERCEIVE INTERACTIONAL FEEDBACK?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2001

Alison Mackey
Affiliation:
Georgetown University
Susan Gass
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
Kim McDonough
Affiliation:
Georgetown University
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Theoretical claims about the benefits of conversational interaction have been made by Gass (1997), Long (1996), Pica (1994), and others. The Interaction Hypothesis suggests that negotiated interaction can facilitate SLA and that one reason for this could be that, during interaction, learners may receive feedback on their utterances. An interesting issue, which has challenged interactional research, concerns how learners perceive feedback and whether their perceptions affect their subsequent L2 development. The present research addresses the first of these issues–learners' perceptions about interactional feedback. The study, involving 10 learners of English as a second language and 7 learners of Italian as a foreign language, explores learners' perceptions about feedback provided to them through task-based dyadic interaction. Learners received feedback focused on a range of morphosyntactic, lexical, and phonological forms. After completing the tasks, learners watched videotapes of their previous interactions and were asked to introspect about their thoughts at the time the original interactions were in progress. The results showed that learners were relatively accurate in their perceptions about lexical, semantic, and phonological feedback. However, morphosyntactic feedback was generally not perceived as such. Furthermore, the nature as well as the content of the feedback may have affected learners' perceptions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2000 Cambridge University Press