Connecting Interaction-based Research with Other Disciplines

Abstract

The field of second language acquisition is inherently interdisciplinary drawing from and connecting many traditional disciplines. Interaction-based research stands in the middle and is able to provide linkages between and among many areas of research considered central to SLA. In this paper, I provide an overview of some of the main features of the Interactionist Approach moving from the early days where the focus was on formal linguistic elements to current research where the focus is on an a more fine-grained understanding of the benefits of interaction and in particular on understanding the role of individual learner differences in these benefits.