Example 1. Negotiation of meaning through oral interaction which occured while ESL learners were working on tasks assigned by a researcher (Pica, 1994)
Exchange A
| NS: | I have a piece of toast with a small pat of butter | ||
| NNS: | hm hmm | ||
| NS: | and above the plate | ||
| NNS: | what is buvdaplate? | ||
| NS: | above | NNS: | above the plate |
| NS: | yeah not up as if you are sitting at the table it would be farther away from you than the plate | ||
| NNS: | hm hmm |
Exchange B
| NS: | it's a rectangular bench |
| NNS: | rectangular? |
| NS: | yeah it's in the shape of a rectangle with um you know a rectangle has two long sides and two short sides |
| NNS: | rectangle? |
| NS: | re-rectangle it's it's like a square except you flatten it out |
| NNS: | square except |
| NS: | uh a rectangle is a square |
| NNS: | uhuh |
| NS: | except a square has four equal sides |
| NNS: | yes |
| NS: | a rectangle has two sides that are much longer and two sides that are much shorter |
| NNS: | OK |