Reflection on Interactionist Theory – Livia Rosi – 5º Period

The Interactionist theory comes from many contrary ideas of the input
hypothesis defended by Krashen. In the interactionist, leaners need to be active
participants when received an input. The fact of just hearing new features will
not be enough to a successful learning process. We acquire a language though
a nativism cognitive approach and also considers environmental factors, the
social context. Social interaction now plays a very important role in the leaning
process.
In Long’s Interactionist construct he determines that we need strategies
for negotiating meaning. We can use repetition, clarification request,
adaptations in order to make communication comprehensible.
This theory puts a spotlight on something very important in language
acquisition: the importance of interaction. No one can deny this importance. We
use language to interact, we learn it by using, by making mistakes, by trying to
be understood. Language is rule-governed cultural activity. Comprehensible
output is extremely relevant, we need to be able to internalize and perform our
“input”. Comprehension comes ahead of production. But we cannot obliviate
others aspects of language learning, interaction is extremely important but not
the only path to succeed.