Training Learners to Negotiate for Meaning: An Exploratory Case Study

Abstract

This paper reports on an exploratory case study investigatingthe possibility of training second language learners to beeffective interlocutors in second language learning tasks. Thestudy followed a pre-test, instruction, post-test design. Fourlearners completed a picture difference task, then receivedinstruction on negotiation for meaning, and finally completeda different version of the picture difference task. Learners alsoparticipated in stimulated recall sessions at each stage of theexperiment and completed a questionnaire at the end. Findingssuggest that learners are receptive to instruction on negotiation,that such instruction has the potential to enrich the quantityand quality of negotiation between learners, and thatinstruction on negotiation for meaning may also enhancelearners’ motivation for learning