NS syntactic modifications in NS-NNS negotiations as input data for second language acquisition of syntax

This dissertation argues that data about Second Language (L2) syntax becomes available to a learner during native speaker (NS) non-native speaker (NNS) oral interaction, as a result of negotiations toward mutual comprehensibility, in completing tasks typical of communicative classrooms. Previous research has indicated that during negotiation of message meaning NSs can modify their input and increase their lexical repetitions (Pica, Young and Doughty 1987), and that these message adjustments promote NNS comprehension (Pica, Doughty and Young 1986). Such input can be further adjusted by NSs not only in terms of lexical content but also in terms of structural features (Pica, Lewis and Holliday 1990; Pica 1991a). On the basis of these findings about repetition and adjustments, the related construct of cross-sentential cues (Morgan, Meier and Newport 1989) was applied to the study of NS input during NS-NNS negotiations in the belief that it would answer in part the question of how language learners are able to acquire information about the L2 syntax without explicit grammar teaching. These cues are \u27pairs\u27 of sentences or fragments in the NS input, each containing identical constituents formed by re-iterated lexical items. The cues can reveal information about the category of the lexical items, the range of complements for which the words subcategorize, and the grammatical relations they can enter into. Twenty NS-NNS dyads co-operating on completing an information-gap and a discussion task typical of the \u27communicative\u27 ESL classroom were audio-taped. The NS input was coded for turns containing negotiation and for cross-sentential cues to the L2 syntax. The analysis of the coded data showed that the number of cross-sentential cues in NS input increased significantly in turns in which there was negotiation of message meaning as compared with turns in which there was no negotiation. It was concluded therefore that primary linguistic data about the L2 syntax can be made available to learners in NS input during interaction especially during negotiations. A post hoc analysis revealed that cross-sentential cues can provide specific information about a wide range of L2 forms and grammatical relationships