University Mohamed Kheider, Biskra. First Year Master. Faculty of Arts and Languages, Applied Linguistics. Department of English, ‘The equation, as far as the interactionist hypothesis is concemed, is that the peculiarities of input, i.e. the discourse addressed to the learner will explain the development of the learner's output In contrast to the work of Chomsky, more recent theorists have stressed the importance of the language input children receive from their care-givers. Language exists for the purpose of ‘communication and can only be leamed in the context of interaction with people who want to communicate with you. Interactionists such as Jerome Bruner suggest that the language behavior of adults when talking to children (known by several names but most easily referred to as child directed speech or CDS) is specially adapted to support the acquisition process. This support is often described to as scaffolding for the child’s language leaming. Bruner also coined the term Language Acquisition Support System or LASS in response to Chomsky’s LAD. Colwyn Trevarthen studied the interaction between parents and babies who were too young to speak. He ‘concluded that the tum-taking structure of conversation is developed through games and non-verbal communication long before actual words is uttered. Teacher's Talk, -1- Second language development is characterized by teacher —talk which probably represents the single most important kind of input. -2- The question is not ‘how much teacher-talk is there in a lesson? But ‘what kind of teacher-talk is there?” -3- Leamers typically go through ‘silent periods’ while they are learning. It is especially during these ‘silent periods’ that teacher's input is useful. -4- Comprehensible input is essential. The teacher is usually the best and sometimes the only person who can provide comprehensible input. is teacher-talk helpful? First of all, teacher-talk is usefull when the following conditions are met. These conditions all relate to verbal factors.. It is broken into sense groups: (sense relations: relations of meanings which exist between words e.g. sameness or oppositeness). It is simplified but not unnatural . It is more redundant than ‘ordinary speech’ and words and structures are naturally repeated or're-cycled? at regular intervals (superfluous). 4, It is broken into ‘short paragraph’ segments to encourage or invite students to interrupt, comment and ask questions. 5. When new vocabulary or structure is taught, typical examples are given, 6. The teacher gets regular feedback through questions -especially ‘open questions’ or two step questions (closed question + follow-up as below, using parallels to get examples from the class.) en T: Do you like English food? 8: No, T: Oh? Why? T: Do you ever get angry? 8: Yes. ‘T: When was the last time you got angry?-And why did you get angry? 7. Variety of elicitation (method of obtaining reliable linguistic data from native speakers.) and explanation techniques are used, including: *use of context; ‘enactment (perform on: as though on the stage of a theatre); ‘illustration. Eillis's Eight Conditions of Useful Teacher's Talk: 1. A high quantity of input directed at the learner. 2. The leamer’s perceived need to communicate in the L2. 3. Independent control of the propositional content by the learner (e.g. control over the topic choice) 4, Adherence to the ‘here and now’ principle, at least initially.5. The performance of a range of speech acts by both native speakeriteacher and the leamer (ic, the Jeamer needs the opportunity to listen to and to produce language used to perform different Janguage functions). 6. Exposure to a high quantity of directives. 7. Exposure to a high quantity of ‘extending utterances (e.g. requests for clarification and confirmation, paraphrases and expansions), 8. Opportunities for uninhibited ‘practice’ (which may provide opportunities to experiment with using ‘new forms’). Criticism of Eilts’ Eight Conditions: Are we to assume that is it enough simply to direct a high quantity of input at the learner? If learners don’t understand, they switch off. Input, as Pit Corder pointed out, is not the same as ‘intake’. So, how can we direct a ‘high quantity of input as learners and keep them engaged and involved? (Ellis, by the way, answers the question himself later in his book. The ‘high quantity of input’ occurs through interaction between teacher and leamer or teacher and class.) -What exactly is a ‘perceived need’- or rather, by whom is it supposed to be perceived? Clearly it cannot be simply the way learners perceive their own need to communicate. Is it important, for example, for the teacher to ‘perceive’ this need and to give clear evidence of this perception in the way people normally indicate if I have a problem I want to communicate to you, and you sit there listening patiently but don’t ask questions, don’t respond, do nothing but sit there in the classic pose and position of a Freudian analyst, how am I to know that you are interested in what I am communicating? In ordinary life, people give evidence of their desire to listen to ‘perceived needs to communicate’ not only by listening but also by asking questions, offering advice, consolation or support, and so on. In other words, people indicate interest in other people’s talk by talking themselves. Limitations of Input Theories These theories serve as a useful corrective to Chomsky’s early position and it scems likely that a child will lea more quickly with frequent interaction. However, it has already been noted that children in all cultures pass through the same stages in acquiring language. We have also seen that ‘there are cultures in Which adults do not adopt special ways of talking to children, so CDS may be ‘useful but seems not to be essential. As stated earlier, the various theories should not be seen simply as alternatives rather each of them offers a partial explanation of the process. 3