Bugs and birds: Children's acquisition of second language vocabulary through interaction

Abstract

This article is a report of a small-scale study of the effects of meaning negotiation on young children's acquisition of word meanings. The children listened individually and in small groups to directions containing words unknown to them. They were encouraged to negotiate their understanding of the directions. The results show that the children varied in their ability or willingness to negotiate, that they negotiated more effectively when part of a group, that negotiation aided comprehension, that the extent to which individual children negotiated was not related to their acquisition of word meanings and that there was no direct relationship between the children's comprehension of the teacher's directions and the target words. These results suggest that meaning negotiation may play a less prominent role in acquisition for children than it does for adults. They also raise questions about when negotiated input works for acquisition and when it does not.