Interactive activities: Promoting naturalistic exchanges inside/outside the second language classroom

grantor: University of TorontoOne of the ultimate goals of second language education is to enable the learners to communicate with native speakers of the target language. This thesis provides some methods of guiding learners to interact with various types of interlocutors, such as peer-learners, teachers, students of other classrooms or native speakers. The interaction starts in the classroom and extends gradually to that in a real environment outside the campus. Studies on second language acquisition and interaction inside a classroom are reviewed in order to familiarize the reader with underlying theories of 'interactive activities' and with research studies of the impacts of such activities. Then optimal conditions for second language learning through interaction are extracted. Eight examples of 'interactive activities' for learners at different levels are presented and integrated in proposals for a model syllabus of university-level Japanese as a second language, and for a model three-year curriculum.M.A