L2 Syntactic Alignment in the Reading-Writing Integrated Continuation Task: Evidence From Chinese EFL Learners’ Description of Motion Events

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 292-313
Author(s):  
Min Wang ◽  
Qiao Gan ◽  
Julie Boland
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Structural Alignment ◽  
Chinese Students ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Target Structure ◽  
Alignment Effect ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Motion Event ◽  
Single Turn ◽  
Picture Story

Abstract This study investigated how the mode in which the reading-writing integrated continuation task was conducted modulates the effects of second language (L2) syntactic alignment, through the English motion event construction with manner verbs. Ninety Chinese students were assigned to either of the two experimental groups or a control group, and they all experienced a pretest, an alignment phase and a posttest. In the alignment phase, the two experimental groups completed a reading-writing integrated continuation task but in different modes. For the multi-turn mode, participants reconstructed a picture story by continuing the episodes extracted from the story with one episode presented and continued at a time; for the single-turn mode, the first half of the same picture story was presented as a chunk, and then participants read and continued it. Results show that L2 learners aligned with the target structure in completing the story, and the alignment effect was retained in the posttest conducted after a delay of two weeks. Moreover, syntactic alignment was modulated by task mode with the multi-turn group exhibiting stronger immediate and longterm alignment effects. We conclude that the continuation task is a fruitful context for L2 structural alignment, and the magnitude of alignment effect hinges on interactive intensity.

scholarly journals Differential effects of instruction on the development of second language comprehensibility, word stress, rhythm, and intonation: The case of inexperienced Japanese EFL learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 589-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yukie Saito ◽  
Kazuya Saito
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Word Stress ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Based Instruction ◽  
Japanese Learners ◽  
Experimental Group

The current study examined in depth the effects of suprasegmental-based instruction on the global (comprehensibility) and suprasegmental (word stress, rhythm, and intonation) development of Japanese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). Students in the experimental group ( n = 10) received a total of three hours of instruction over six weeks, while those in the control group ( n = 10) were provided with meaning-oriented instruction without any focus on suprasegmentals. Speech samples elicited from read-aloud tasks were assessed via native-speaking listeners’ intuitive judgments and acoustic analyses. Overall, the pre-/post-test data showed significant gains in the overall comprehensibility, word stress, rhythm, and intonation of the experimental group in both trained and untrained lexical contexts. In particular, by virtue of explicitly addressing first language / second language linguistic differences, the instruction was able to help learners mark stressed syllables with longer and clearer vowels; reduce vowels in unstressed syllables; and use appropriate intonation patterns for yes/no and wh-questions. The findings provide empirical support for the value of suprasegmental-based instruction in phonological development, even with beginner-level EFL learners with a limited amount of second-language conversational experience.

scholarly journals Language Proficiency through Vocabulary Development: A Framework

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boumediène BENRABAH
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Threshold Level ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
English As Foreign Language ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Language Proficiency Test ◽  
Experimental Group

The global aim of the present research paper is an attempt to reach a threshold level of the learning of a foreign language (English) through the development of vocabulary. Observing the very limited rate of use of English in the Algerian community, English as Foreign Language (EFL) students, actually, need to progress in the mastery of that language by reading and/or listening to texts or messages intensively. To achieve this goal, subsequent procedures should take place by giving the foreign language a rather more appreciable position in the community such as the one held by a second language. To be down-to-earth, a brief survey on the linguistic situation in Algeria is exposed where neat clarification of second-foreign language status in the community is laid out to show that the more a (foreign) language is explicitly exposed in its manifold forms, the more are learners, in that community, likely to acquire it as a second language. However, the assumption of presenting the receptive skills (reading and listening) as the most appropriate means for the growth of foreign language vocabulary is supported by Krashen’s input theory where any input to be understood, should come at EFL learners’ capacity to read/listen and decode easily the meaning. In due course, First year EFL students have been subject to a language proficiency test-‘a pre-test then a post-test’. This typical experimental design is an intervention study which contains two groups: ‘the treatment or experimental’ group which receives the treatment, or which is exposed to some special conditions of intensifying vocabulary learning through a varied, comprehensible input; and a second group of EFL learners- the control group- whose role is to provide a baseline. The findings showed better scores among the experimental group compared to the other group. Actually, the results proved the adequacy of the adopted theory.

scholarly journals The Effect of Metalanguage on Grammar Noticing of the Iranian EFL Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 194
Author(s):  
Anita Roshan ◽  
Ali Elhami
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Communicative Language Teaching ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Language Studies ◽  
Experimental Group

<p>Metalanguage did not receive a lot of attention in communicative language teaching (CLT) but has remained an untouched area in second language studies. This research wanted to examine the effect of teachers’ metalanguage on learners’ noticing of grammatical points. This research was conducted at two proficiency levels of elementary and intermediate. In each level of elementary and intermediate, two groups were chosen, an experimental and a control group. In the experimental group, the teachers used metalanguage to teach grammar points. However, in control group the teachers used examples to teach grammar points. A noticing task test was administered to the two groups to collect data. The result indicated that the metalanguage had impacted the learners’ noticing, of grammatical points. <strong></strong></p>

THE EFFECTS OF IMMEDIATE AND DELAYED CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK ON L2 DEVELOPMENT

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Mengxia Fu ◽  
Shaofeng Li
Keyword(s):  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Target Structure ◽  
Elicited Imitation ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
L2 Development ◽  
And Control ◽  
Experimental Group

Abstract This article reports on a study exploring the differential effects of immediate and delayed corrective feedback (CF) on the acquisition of the English past tense. One hundred and forty-five seventh-grade EFL learners were assigned to four groups: Immediate CF, Delayed CF, Task Only, and Control. Each experimental group performed six focused communicative tasks, two each in three treatment sessions, eliciting the use of the English past tense. The Immediate CF group received feedback on their erroneous use of the target structure in the first session, the Delayed CF group received feedback in the final session, and the Task Only group performed the communicative tasks without receiving any feedback. The Control group only took the achievement tests. The effects of the feedback treatments were measured through an untimed grammaticality judgment test and an elicited imitation test. Mixed-effects analyses examining the influence of both fixed and random factors demonstrated that immediate CF was more facilitative of L2 development than delayed CF. The results suggest the importance of addressing linguistic errors before they are proceduralized in the interlanguage.

scholarly journals The Effects of the Instruction of Self-regulation Strategies and Critical Thinking Strategies on the Second Language Vocabulary Achievement among Iranian EFL Learners

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 148
Author(s):  
Mohhamad Hashamdar ◽  
Maryam Maleki
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Paired Samples ◽  
Thinking Strategies ◽  
Regulation Strategies ◽  
L2 Vocabulary ◽  
Vocabulary Achievement

The present study was set to investigate the effects of the instruction of self-regulation strategies (SSs) and critical thinking strategies (CTSs) on the second language (L2) vocabulary achievement among Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. In so doing, ninety intermediate level adult female students in a language institute in Tehran were selected as the main participants of the study according to their performance on the Preliminary English Test (PET). The participants were divided into three equal and homogenized groups (i.e., one control group and two experimental groups). The learners in all groups underwent pretesting, intervention, and post testing. The experimental groups were provided with the instruction of self-regulation strategies and critical thinking strategies, whereas the control group did not receive any instruction in self-regulation or critical thinking strategies. The effects of the two experimental interventions on the L2 vocabulary achievement of the EFL learners were measured. Furthermore, the degree of the improvement of both of these strategies was also studied via comparing the students’ achievement scores on pre- and post-tests of CTSs and SSs. Analyses of one-way ANOVA, post-hoc Scheffe’s tests, and paired-samples t-tests were used to analyze the collected data. The results of data analyses revealed that applying critical thinking strategies as instructional aid had a significant impact on EFL learners’ L2 vocabulary achievement. Likewise, the findings revealed that the instruction of self-regulation strategies significantly improved EFL learners’ vocabulary achievement. Moreover, it was found that self-regulation strategies were more effective than critical thinking strategies in helping the EFL learners develop their L2 vocabulary.

A Comparative Study of the Effects of Recasts and Scaffolded Feedback on the Grammatical Accuracy of Elementary EFL Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 1420
Author(s):  
Fateme Saeb ◽  
Dariush Nejad Ansari Mahabadi ◽  
Akbar Khazaei
Keyword(s):  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Target Structure ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Grammatical Accuracy ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Third Person

The study reported in this paper aimed at investigating the differential efficacy of scaffolded feedback and recasts as two types of corrective feedback (CF) in improving elementary EFL learners’ grammatical accuracy. Forty-five beginner EFL students formed a control group (n= 16) and two experimental groups (scaffolding= 16, recast= 13). The use of the third person singular ‘s’ morpheme for verbs was selected as the target structure to be treated through the provision of the corrective feedback. The scaffolded feedback was operationalized within a sociocultural framework as a collaborative process during which learners were provided with assistance adjusted to their individual needs. Recasts, on the other hand, were operationalized as reformulations of learners’ erroneous utterances without the error. The results indicated a significant improvement in accuracy for the two experimental groups from pretest to posttest. Also, the difference between the scaffolding and recast groups in the posttest was significant. Overall, these findings confirmed the beneficial effects of CF and in particular scaffolded feedback on learners’ grammatical accuracy.

Acquiring variable commands at home and abroad: Examining optatives and imperatives in L1 and L2 Spanish

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-113
Author(s):  
Farrah Neumann ◽  
Matthew Kanwit
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Individual ◽  
At Home

AbstractSince many linguistic structures are variable (i. e. conveyed by multiple forms), building a second-language grammar critically involves developing sociolinguistic competence (Canale and Swain. 1980. Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics 1(1). 1–47), including knowledge of contexts in which to use one form over another (Bayley and Langman. 2004. Variation in the group and the individual: Evidence from second language acquisition. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 42(4). 303–318). Consequently, researchers interested in such competence have increasingly analyzed the study-abroad context to gauge learners’ ability to approximate local norms following a stay abroad, due to the quality and quantity of input to which learners may gain access (Lafford. 2006. The effects of study abroad vs. classroom contexts on Spanish SLA: Old assumptions, new insights and future research directions. In Carol Klee & Timothy Face (eds.), Selected proceedings of the 7th conference on the acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as first and second languages, 1–25. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project). Nevertheless, the present study is the first to examine native or learner variation between imperative (e. g. ven ‘come’) and optative Spanish commands (e. g. que vengas ‘come’). We first performed a corpus analysis to determine the linguistic factors to manipulate in a contextualized task, which elicited commands from learners before and after four weeks abroad in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. Their overall rates of selection and predictive factors were compared to local native speakers (NSs) and a control group of at-home learners.Results revealed that the abroad learners more closely approached NS rates of selection following the stay abroad. Nonetheless, for both learner groups conditioning by independent variables only partially approximated the NS system, which was more complex than previously suggested.

scholarly journals From Instructed Writing to Free-Writing: A Study of EFL Learners

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824402110071
Author(s):  
Saleh Alharthi
Keyword(s):  
Control Group ◽  
Writing Program ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Writing Assignments ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Free Writing ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Structured Writing ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Experimental Group

Writing is an intricate process that encompasses various factors and is a key skill for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students. Thus, writing assignments are vital for any curriculum. One of the essential aspects of effective writing includes good grammar knowledge. Advocates of process writing argue that a free-writing journal is a practical approach to teaching EFL students writing. This study is intended to examine the impact of the free-writing journal on EFL learners. This study was conducted on 80 students from a writing course at the University. Thirty-five students were randomly selected to join the free-writing program—the experimental group—and 45 students were kept in their regular structured writing program—the control group. The experimental group selected topics of interest to them and was encouraged to write in English freely without concern for errors, whereas the control group followed a regular structured writing program where the topics were selected for them and they wrote following a clear guideline. Five major areas were investigated to evaluate students’ progress: the number of words written, spelling, capitalization, subject-verb agreement, and punctuation. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 students of the experimental group to elicit their perception of the free-writing program. According to the analysis, students in the free-writing program acquired better grammar acquisition than the control group. The researcher also observed students’ perception of free-writing at the end of the study and found that free-writing improved their writing skills.

scholarly journals Reading comprehension and strategy awareness of Grade 11 English second language learners

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Madoda Cekiso
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Reading Instruction ◽  
Reading Strategies ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Strategy Instruction ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Control Group Design ◽  
English Second Language ◽  
Grade 11

The aim of this study was to examine the reading strategies used by Grade 11 English Second Language (ESL) learners and the possible effects of reading instruction on their reading comprehension and strategy awareness. A quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test control group design was used. The participants included a total of 60 Grade 11 learners from a high school. The results of this study indicate that (1) learners who received reading strategy instruction scored both statistically and practically significantly higher marks on the reading comprehension test than those in the control group and (2) explicit instruction in the use of reading strategies was essential to bring about the increased use of reading strategies of learners in the experimental group. The study has implications for learners, teachers, university students and lecturers.

Kemahiran Bertutur Bahasa Melayu oleh Murid Cina: Teori Analisis Kontrastif

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-55
Author(s):  
Nor Zulaiqha Rosli ◽  
Nur Farahkhanna Mohd Rusli ◽  
Norfaizah Abdul Jobar ◽  
Norazimah Zakaria
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Chinese Students ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Library Research ◽  
Second Language Speakers ◽  
Analysis Theory ◽  
Grammatical Errors ◽  
Oral Speech ◽  
Mandarin Language ◽  
Speaking Skill

The acquisition of Malay as a second language, either verbally or non verbally among the non-Malay students, is still in question. It is observed that the problems of pronunciation is still prevalent among the non-Malay students. Hence, the objectives of this study are twofold; (i) to identify the level of proficiency of the speaking skill of Malay language among Chinese students, and (ii) to analyse the errors made in the speaking skill of Malay language by Chinese students based on contrastive analysis theory. The respondents were 27 Chinese Form 1 students in SMK Ampang Pecah, Kuala Kubu Baharu, Selangor. The initial design of the study was spurred by library research and observation. The instruments used in data collection included notebooks, questionnaire, recorder and texts for speech test. The data were analyzed by contrastive analysis theory by Robert Lado (1957). The findings showed that there were four aspects of pronunciation errors related consonants produced by the respondents. They were (i) sound replacement, (ii) sound addition, (iii) sound abortion, (iv) and grammatical errors. This study also shows that the pronunciation errors were due to the influence of their native language, which is Mandarin language, and the interlingual factors of the respondents that have caused them to be weak in the mastery of Malay language. In terms of implication, this study provides some understanding on the importance of mastering oral speech in Malay language through appropriate grammatical usage and pronunciation , especially among the second language speakers of Malay.

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