Interactional Modifications In Chinese EFL Learners' Classroom Conversations

This thesis reports a study on interactional modifications in Chinese EFL learners' second language communication. It attempts to examine the occurrence of various modifications, their frequency and factors influencing them as well as the learners' viewpoint.The researcher recorded the conversations of a role-play and an information gap task by three pairs of English majors from Dezhou College. Of them, one pair was of mixed proficiency (the first year and the third year);the other two pairs were of the equal level, one being first year learners and the other being third year learners. They were interviewed immediately after the tape-recording. The quantitative and qualitative analyses generated the following major findings:The Chinese EFL learners used interactional modifications in conversations. The categories were similar to those in foreigner talk or teacher talk, including repetition, rephrasing, prompts, clarification requests, comprehension checks and self-correction. They concerned negotiation of meaning and negotiation of form.The frequencies of modification categories varied with task type and dyad type. Between the two tasks, the role-play yielded more negotiation of form, while the information gap task yielded more negotiation of meaning. Compared with the equal level pairing, the mixed proficiency pairing made more meaning negotiation.The frequency of Chinese EFL learners' interactional modification was lower than those found in previous studies. Various reasons might account for this phenomenon such as their focus on meaning in communication, insufficient practice, failure to identify language errors and trying to save one's own and the partner's face.Long's Interaction Hypothesis claims interactional modifications lead to acquisition. However, findings of the present study showed that learners' conversational adjustments only assisted communicative performance without facilitating acquisition of new linguistic features. Yet, although linguistic competence was not developed, learners' strategic competence (i.e., the ability to deal withcommunication problems) was enhanced. That is to say, even if interactions do not benefit acquisition of L2 code, it may help the learners to make better use of existing resources.Additionally, this study provides some guidance for Chinese L2 classroom teaching and learning. First, it helps the teachers to organize the oral practice. Second, it guides the learners to process their conversational practice, especially, to deal with communication breakdown.