R-A Chpt 3: The Role of Interaction

This chapter dealt with the importance of interaction and negociated meaning in language learning citing Vygotsky's ZPD theory. It also talked about how to deal with student errors, and that often direct correction is not helpful and that teachers should only worry about errors when they are habitual. The second half of the chapter addressed the role of grammar instruction and output in second language acquisition. While the information they offered on grammar instruction and how it is helpful when students are ready to learn specific grammatical forms, I felt that it would be very difficult to actually apply in the classroom, primarily because it sounds like it would be incredibly hard to know when students are ready, and I don't think its plausible to have an individual grammar syllabus for 30 different students. I also agree that output is a vital part to language acquisition and is what really stretches a student's target language development.