Interaction: Activity 1
Interaction between learner and native speaker
Please read the information about interaction before working through these activities.
To see what Pari and Fereshteh do when required to respond to a question about a Persian word they do not understand, look at the videos from their interview and for each learner indicate:- Whether you think the learner knew the word “pelan” (movie plot) before the interview.
- Whether and how the learner negotiated for meaning. Does the interlocutor affect the way the learner negotiates meaning?
- Whether you think the learner might have learned the word as a result of the negotiation.
Transcript
(PDF)
Fereshteh Interview
Transcript (PDF)
Please type your answers to the questions in the box below.
When you have finished typing your answer, click to compare your response with the Learner Language staff response.
1. Did the learner know the word “pelan” before the interview?
Neither Pari nor Fereshteh knew the word “pelan” before it was supplied in the interview.2. Does the learner negotiate for meaning? How? Does the interlocutor help in negotiation of meaning?
Pari negotiates for meaning. First she asks the interviewer to repeat the word for her by saying, “dobare, bebakshid” (one more time, sorry); then the interviewer repeats the phrase “ye pelan” (one plot). Pari repeats the phrase: “ye pelan” with rising intonation signaling a question in Persian and waits. She cannot answer the interviewer’s question without knowing the meaning of this word so the next step for her is to say directly she does not understand the word “pelan”. The interviewer explains the meaning, and then Pari successfully answers the question.3. Do you think the learner might have learned the word as a result of the negotiation?
Fereshteh also negotiates for meaning. Right after she hears it, she asks, “pelan chi mishe? Chi?” (what does plot mean? What?). The interviewer repeats her question but replaces the word “pelan” with its synonym “ghesmat”. Unfortunately, Fereshteh still has a hard time understanding that word as well and she tries to answer without knowing exactly what to say. Then the interviewer rephrases her question so that finally Fereshteh understands the question.
Both learners appear to comprehend the meaning of the word “pelan” (movie plot) after negotiation but neither uses the word again in this interaction. Both certainly received comprehensible input on “pelan” and had to produce it during their interactions, so the conditions for acquisition were present for them in the interaction.
