C: Of course, like what verb?
K: Some have.. ..(looking at me) Help me!
C: What happens is that here you have to use the same verb. Iwouldn ,t have
had an accident. This isn’t the main verb. The verb is this. This is “haber”.
He wouldn’t have had an accident. Haven’t you used it?
K: No
C: (Realising her expression) Is it weird?
K: It is funny
C: Is it? (here there is some interaction to clarify the two meanings
of “Auve”).....Then we are here (pointing at her example). What do you use
this structure for?
K: What for? For a hypothesis, something unreal, in this case if I had draiven...
K’s example shows the way she had to renotice the third conditional once more
in order to be aware of her problem. After that, she had to work out a new hypothesis of
how to form it, incorporating factors that make up a more complete schema (the
difference between have and have, for instance). From this data, it is not possible to
affirm that K has incorporated the new hypothesis to her working interlanguage network.
Only a longitudinal study would give some results on this point. However, I believe that
she at least has started a restructuring process. K can be described as a reflective learner
who, to use Ridley’s words:
step(s) back and reflect on the process of learning and also on the
content of their learning.. .(she) continually shift(s) and upgrade(s)
(her) interlanguage knowledge.. .(her) mind being .. ..switched on. (1997,57)
7.2.3.2.2 Triggering restructuration
In this respect, it is necessary to consider that restructuration needs to be
triggered by external and/or internal forces. In the case of external forces, these are
mainly present in the context of formal language teaching. It is common for the teacher
to give feedback to learners in relation their interlanguage. In fact, monitoring and
correcting learners’ production are considered to be some of the main roles of language
teachers. However, there are also internal forces that play a role in restructuration. These
are mainly monitoring and evaluating processes that the learner puts into practice in
order to correct herself. As the reader can see, we are now again entering the realms of
metacognition.
As we observed, in K’s example of restructuring the 3rd conditional, the main
force that triggered her restructuring process was external. It was I, making her notice
her written example and compare it to her notes, who made her realise her problem. I
believe that in a self-directed scheme, there is a cline of restructuring triggering forces
that goes from the extemal∕feedback in one extreme, to the intemal∕self-evaluation in the
other. I do not think that self-directed schemes are, or must be, deprived of external
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