The Effect of Learner Proficiency on Interactional Moves and Modified Output in Nonnative-Nonnative Interaction in Japanese as a Foreign Language.

Abstract The present study, building upon Pica, Holliday, Lewis and Morgenthaler’s 1989 (Comprehensible output as an outcome of linguistic demands on the learner. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 11(1), 63–90.) study on modified output, examines the impact of learner proficiency in learner–learner interaction, particularly on opportunities for modified output through interactional moves. Data were collected from learners of Japanese using two different types of tasks. Subjects were divided into three groups (Low–Low, High–High and High–Low groups). The results showed that mixed level dyads provided more interactional moves than same level dyads, but the frequent occurrence of interactional moves did not lead to the greatest amount of modified output. The findings have implications for interactional moves and learners’ modified output, and represent an extension of the research on learners’ output to another foreign language, Japanese.

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