This study investigates the effect of interaction on the comprehension
of input containing new lexical items and the acquisition of these new
lexical items. Fourteen kindergarten English as a second language (ESL)
students and a native-English-speaking teacher participated in the study
which incorporated a pretest-posttest design in two rounds. All subjects
completed the pretests and posttests. An experimental group of 11 subjects
participated in four communication tasks (one individual task and one group
task in each of the two rounds) which comprised the treatment phase of
the study while the remaining 3 subjects formed the control group. New
lexical items were embedded in the task instructions. As a result of each
communication task, each subject received an interaction score based on
the number of negotiations for the meanings of new lexical items he or
she initiated. The comprehension score was based on the degree to which
the task was successfully completed. The acquisition score was obtained
by comparing pretest and posttest results. The results reveal that the
amount of interaction the subjects initiate is significantly, but inconsistently,
related to comprehension but appears to be unrelated to acquisition. Furthermore,
comprehension appears to have no effect on subsequent acquisition which,
however, does take place. The results support the claim that negotiated
interaction can facilitate comprehension. However, this is tempered by
evidence, also found in the present study, which supports the claim that
teachers' elaborations can confuse learners and impede comprehension. Finally,
the results offer confirming evidence for the claim that classroom interaction
can facilitate comprehension for those learners who are exposed to the
interaction as well as those learners who actually engage in the interaction.