Interaction: Activity 2
Corrective feedback, uptake, and acquisition
Just because Henry notices a correction and produces uptake, we can't assume that he has acquired the target form. For that, we want to see him use the target form later, on his own. Read the table below, and then answer the questions that follow.
| Task | Line # | |
| Jigsaw | 34 35 36 37 38 ... |
H: ...en un otra parte, fue del, en el, la el abajo del la pictura. R: Mhm. De la foto. H: Es una, ¿es un buen día en su foto? Como… R: Sí, sol, calor. H: Sí, hay mucho sol en mi, en mi pictura también.... |
| (Later) 97 |
H: Sí? Sí, you tengo dos, um, dos de estas cosas en uh las ventanas en mi pictura también. |
|
| Comparison (Later still) |
19 20 |
H: ...La casa en esta pictura es similar a la casa de mi abuela. |
| 47 48 |
La pintura es… es muy es muy deferente. Hay, uh, hay, um, no s-, la problemas en la pictura (?) como aquí, aquí, aquí…< |
Does Henry notice the difference between his production of pictura to refer to a photograph and Raúl’s recast of foto? How do you know? Do you think Henry acquires this word over the course of the interaction? Explain.
When you have finished typing your answer, click to compare your response with the Learner Language staff response.
Henry clearly notices the corrective feedback in line 35, as he produces uptake in line 36. Noticing, and even uptake, however does not necessarily indicate acquisition. In his very next turn in line 38, Henry reverts to using “pictura”, and continues to do so throughout the task, as we see in his later turn in line 98 and in the later Comparison task, where he uses “pictura” but never “foto”. This would suggest a failure to acquire the word “foto”.
Even when it seems like a one-time event, uptake can indicate the learner is ready to acquire the form if it is followed up on and explicitly taught by an alert teacher.
