Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > Task-based interactions in classroom and labora...
View graph of relations

Task-based interactions in classroom and laboratory settings

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
Close
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>12/2005
<mark>Journal</mark>Language Learning
Issue number4
Volume55
Number of pages37
Pages (from-to)575-611
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

While there is general agreement that conversational interaction can facilitate interlanguage development, much of the research on interaction has been conducted in experimental aboratory settings. Questions have been raised about the generalizability of the benefits observed in the laboratory to the classroom setting. The current research compared interaction in classrooms and laboratories. Seventy-four university-level students learning Spanish as a foreign language worked in dyads to complete 3 different communicative activities in classroom and laboratory settings. Analysis of the interactional patterns of each dyad provided insights into the nature of the interaction in each setting. The data suggest few differences in interactional patterns between the settings. Instead, there were differences depending on the type of task that the learners carried out.