The debate on form-focused instruction

1996 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bronwen Patricia Dyson
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Small Group ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Communicative Language Teaching ◽  
Individual Learner ◽  
Syntactic Development ◽  
Linguistic Focus

An interest in investigating the effect of instruction on interlanguage development prompted me to conduct a study on a small group of adult migrant learners of English. As a first step, the learners were assessed for their stage of syntactic development. This assessment showed that a structure-do-fronted questions – had not been acquired by some of the learners but was one for which they were syntactically ready. Because questioning is an important and complex speech act, the learners were then given instruction which focused their attention on do-fronting. The follow-up assessment indicated that instruction can be successful because the learners acquired do-fronting. The study supports the claim that form-focused instruction can make a difference. It also lends weight to Pienemann’s claim that the effectiveness of instruction depends on whether a structure is learnable for an individual learner. The study shows that form-focused instruction can provide an innovative linguistic focus to communicative language teaching and give important assistance with the second language acquisition of the learners.

Research meets practice

2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 236-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
ZhaoHong Han
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Instruction And Learning ◽  
The Relationship

At the recent CLTA-S2 conference, a spirited debate occurred between critics of second language acquisition (SLA) research and researchers who embraced it. Fascinating as it was, neither camp appeared to have convinced the other, but, more important, the debate left much of the audience flummoxed. In this paper, I intend to provide a follow-up, attempting to clarify a) the relationship between research and teaching in the context of Chinese as a second language (CSL), b) misunderstandings on the part of critics over research findings, and c) potential pitfalls in interpreting the SLA literature. My goal is to encourage, as well as contribute to, further communication between the two camps, for the ultimate good of CSL instruction and learning.

scholarly journals The Effect of Instruction on Learners' Pragmatic Awareness: a Focus on Refusals

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Alcón Soler ◽  
Josep Guzmán Pitarch
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Pragmatic Awareness ◽  
Research Gap ◽  
Instructional Contexts

The benefits of instruction on learners’ production and awareness of speech acts is well documented (see Alcón and Martínez-Flor, 2008, for a review of pragmatics in instructional contexts). However, few studies examine the influence that instruction may have on the cognitive processes involved in speech act production (Félix- Brasdefer, 2008). In order to address this research gap, and taking into account the discussion in research on the concept of attention and related terms such as awareness (see Al-Hejin, 2004, for a review of the role of attention and awareness in second language acquisition research) this paper reports on the benefits of instruction on learners’ attention and awareness during the performance of refusals. Thus, based on a pedagogical proposal for teaching refusals at the discourse level, we focus on the benefits that this pedagogical proposal can have on the information attended to during the planning and execution of refusals. Secondly, we explore whether instruction makes a difference in learners’ awareness of refusals.

scholarly journals Subjacency Violations in Second Language Acquisition: Some Evidence from Chinese Mandarin Speakers of L2 English

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Xia Dai
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Follow Up Study ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Mandarin Speakers

The literature review shows that many previous studies have used Subjacency to test the availability of UniversalGrammar (UG) in second language acquisition. Schachter (1989) claimed that L2 learners do not have access to UGprinciples, while Hawkins and Chan (1997) suggested that L2 learners had partial availability of UG, for they foundthere was a strong difference between the elementary L2 learners and the advanced L2 learners in judging theungrammaticality of Subjacency violations; that is, the elementary L2 learners owned the highest accuracy. Underthe hypothesis of partially availability of UG in second language acquisition, L2 learners are only able to acquire theproperties instantiated in their L1s. Although they may accept violations of universal constraints, it is only at facevalue; rather the L2 learners develop different syntactic representations from the native speakers. This study has beenundertaken as a follow-up study of Hawkins and Chan (1997), and tested on L1 Mandarin speakers of L2 English injudging the grammaticality of their Subjacency violations. The results of the Grammaticality Judgement Test showthat the accuracy of Chinese speakers in judgement increased with English proficiency and that they rejectedresumptives inside islands as a repair. Contrary to the previous findings, this study provides evidence that UG isavailable in adult second language acquisition.

scholarly journals Interactional Feedback in Naturalistic Interaction between L2 English Learners

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Mahishi Ranaweera
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Small Group ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Classroom Activity ◽  
Group Activities ◽  
Conversation Partner ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Small Group Activities

<p>Theoretical and empirical data support that the feedback given in small group activities promote second language acquisition. There are many studies that have examined the impact of interaction on second language acquisition in controlled language situations. This study examines the small group activity ‘conversation partner’ in order to find out how much feedback takes place in an out of classroom activity such as conversation partner where the language is not controlled. The conversations were recorded and examined for instances of interactional feedback. Later a tailor made test was given to find out whether the participants remembered the language items that they received feedback on. The results show that feedback in natural speech among learners occurs relatively at a low level but the learners remember whatever language that was used in feedback instances.</p>

Statistical knowledge and training in second language acquisition

2019 ◽  
Vol 171 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Talip Gonulal
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
Inferential Statistics ◽  
Statistical Literacy ◽  
Statistical Knowledge ◽  
And Training

Abstract The present study investigated second language acquisition (SLA) doctoral students’ statistical training and knowledge of statistics. One hundred and twenty SLA doctoral students in North America took a comprehensive statistics survey, and 16 of them participated in follow-up interviews. The results showed that doctoral students were well trained in basic descriptive statistics, while their training in inferential statistics, particularly advanced statistics, was limited. When looking at their statistical knowledge, the results indicated that SLA doctoral students were good at understanding descriptive and inferential statistics, but they found it hard to interpret statistical analyses related to inferential statistics that are commonly encountered in SLA research. Several suggestions directed toward improving statistical literacy in SLA were provided.

Immigrant Children in Infant-Class Interactions

1993 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Resi Damhuis
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Small Group ◽  
Immigrant Children ◽  
Language Group ◽  
Verbal Interactions ◽  
Actual Contribution

This article reports on research aimed at identifying ways of improving the contribution of Dutch infant classes to the second language acquisition of nonnative children. Verbal interactions in 15 Dutch infant classes with immigrant children were investigated. Conversations were audiotaped during five types of activity: the pupil-centered conversation, the instructional exchange, the children's group, the small-group-with-teacher, and the special second-language group. Several input and production features, which are assumed to facilitate second language acquisition, were analyzed. Potentially, the special second language group offers the best opportunities for second language acquisition with respect to input and response production; the children's group is the most favorable activity with respect to self-initiated production. Regarding the actual contribution of the five activities to an average infant-class day, however, the children's group offers most of the beneficial interaction for second-language acquisition. Implications for the teaching of young multilingual children are presented.

scholarly journals Second Language Aquisition and The Development through Nature-Nurture

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 164
Author(s):  
Syahfitri Purnama
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Learning Style ◽  
English Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Simple Sentence ◽  
English Language Acquisition ◽  
Individual Learner ◽  
Past Tense Form

<p>There are some factors regarding which aspect of second language acquisition is affected by individual learner factors, age, learning style. aptitude, motivation, and personality.<strong> </strong>This research is about English language acquisition of fourth-year child by nature and nurture. The child acquired her second language acquisition at home and also in one of the courses in Jakarta. She schooled by her parents in order to be able to speak English well as a target language for her future time. The purpose of this paper is to see and examine individual learner difference especially in using English as a second language. This study is a library research and retrieved data collected, recorded, transcribed, and analyzed descriptively. The results can be concluded: the child is able to communicate well and also able to construct simple sentences, complex sentences, sentence statement, phrase questions, and explain something when her teacher asks her at school. She is able to communicate by making a simple sentence or compound sentence in well-form (two clauses or three clauses), even though she still not focus to use the past tense form and sometimes she forgets to put bound morpheme -s in third person singular but she can use turn-taking in her utterances. It is a very long process since the child does the second language acquisition. The family and teacher should participate and assist the child, the proven child can learn the first and the second language at the same time.</p>

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