Age Differences in Negotiation and Feedback in Classroom and Pairwork

This study examines whether differences exist in the provision and use of negative feedback, according to the age of the learners and the context of the interaction. The data were collected from 20 classrooms (10 adult and 10 child ESL classes) and 32 NS‐NNS dyads (16 adult and 16 child). Transcriptions of these formed the basis of analysis and were coded to reflect three parts of the conversational exchange and the interactional patterns to which these could be assigned. The results showed that learners both received negative feedback in response to their non‐targetlike utterances and used this feedback. Further, the findings indicated that the age of the learners and context of the exchanges did indeed affect the pattern of inter‐ action.