The Importance of Interaction in Foreign Language Learning

Damián Francis

          Many foreign language learners usually look for a specific effective formula that allows them to develop communicative competence in a target language. In fact, there is none; but some aspects, such as motivation, exposure and interaction help students to be successful in their attempt to acquire a second language.

       According to Long (1983), interaction aids learners to put in practice all they have learned by negotiation of meaning. Through interaction, students are able to monitor their own language knowledge, learn the correct way to say things, and stimulate their brains to get the habit to operate in the target language.

           Many people fail in their attempt to acquire a language because they use the wrong strategies to accomplish their goals. Krashen (1981), in his learning-acquisition hypothesis, says that learning a language and acquire it is not the same. According to him, language acquisition is a natural, automatic and unconscious process, and language learning is a conscious one in which learners are aware of their own learning process.

        In my experience as an English language teacher, I have noticed that the most outstanding students are those who have had more opportunities to interact.  When it comes to language acquisition, the most effective strategies are those oriented to interaction. Learners acquire a language by speaking; there is no other way to get good results.

           I usually suggest my students to use the inner voice strategy because it helps them to exercise their brains, in order to get familiar with the target language. This kind of strategy gets the learner ready to interact with others. I also recommend them to support each other during the acquisition process by interacting in English, not only in the classroom but also out of it.  Language learners have a lot of resources they could take advantage of, but they do not use them. Good examples are the social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and others.  Language students spend a long time interacting in these social media, but they do it in their native language.

           As a conclusion, Interaction is not the formula, but it is the door key of one of the rooms a foreign language learner must open in order to accomplish communicative competence in his target language. The more he or she interacts the better.

References

Brown, D. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, fifth edition, 2007. Pp. 294).

Krashen, S. Input Matters in SLA, edition, 2009. Pp. 81).

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