DISCOURSE ASPECTS OF

INTERLANGUAGE
Discourse rules?
A: I like your sweater.
B: It’s so old. My sister bought it for me
in Italy some time ago.
 The Role of Input and Interaction

• Behaviorist : • Mentalist: • Interactionali

LL is LAD and st: Input and
environmenta minimal input LAD
lly to trigger
determined, language
controlled by acqusition
stimuli and
reinforcemen
t
• Learners’ Discourse vs. Native Speakers’
Discourse: Are they different?
• Learners’ discourse properties:
– Foreigner talk: like the way caretakers speak to
children learning L1
• Grammatical foreigner talk: slower, simplified,
• Ungrammatical foreigner talk: socially marked, often
implies a lack of respect; characterized by deletion of
certain grammatical features
• Caretakers’ speech
• Foreigner talk
– Slower pace
– Simplified
• Input modification by speaker to learner
• Negoatiation of meaning
• See exapmle on p 47
 Input Hypothesis
• Comprehensible input: I + 1
• Scaffolding:
– Mark:Come here.
– Homer: No come here
• Zone of proximal development (Vygotsky)
 The Role of Output
• Speaking: product or cause?
• Krashen: Speaking is the result of acquisition
• Swain:
– output serves conscious-raising function. Trying to
speak or write in the L2 make lerners realize that
they lack the grammatical knowledge of some
feature needed.
– Output helps learners to test hypothesis
– Learners sometimes talk about their own output.