Input, Interaction, and Second Language Production

The role of conversational interactions in the development of a second language has been central in the recent second language acquisition literature. While a great deal is now known about the way in which nonnative speakers interact with native speakers and other nonnative speakers, little is known about the lasting effects of these interactions on a nonnative's linguistic development. This paper specifically investigates the relationship among input, interaction, and second language production. Through data from native–nonnative speaker interactions in a direction-giving task, we show that both modified input and interaction affect task performance. However, only interaction has an effect on subsequent task performance.