scholarly journals The Effects of Pre-task and On-line Task Planning on L2 Learners' Oral Performance Level: An Empirical Study

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiangyuan Feng
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Performance Level ◽  
Task Planning ◽  
Oral Performance ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
On Line

The effects of pre-task planning on EFL learners’ oral performance in a 3D multi-user virtual environment

ReCALL ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 232-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian ChengChiang Chen
Keyword(s):  
Language Production ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Task Planning ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
Oral Performance ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Linguistic Performance ◽  
L2 Learners

AbstractPrior research on pre-task planning examines its effects on the quality of second language (L2) learners’ planned output. Planning mitigates the cognitive overload placed upon L2 learners’ oral performance, thus improving language production. Despite the pedagogical benefits, studies on pre-task planning on L2 learners’ oral output are conducted mostly in a lab or class setting. Whether or not similar effects of pre-task planning can be evidenced in three-dimensional (3D) multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs), such as Second Life (SL), is still less explored. Hence, this study investigates whether pre-task planning could enhance the quality and quantity of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ task-oriented, voice-based outcomes in SL. Nine EFL learners worldwide participated in this 10-session virtual class. Data were collected through students’ oral presentations in performing real-life simulated tasks related to their home cultures and interests. Yuan and Ellis’s (2003) framework of T-units measures was adopted to analyze their linguistic performance measured by complexity and accuracy. Results indicated that EFL learners showed statistically significant improvement on grammatical complexity on the levels of syntactic complexity and variety (but not on lexical variety) and on linguistic accuracy across all measured levels (error-free clauses/T-units/verb forms). It is suggested that pre-task planning can be seeded in task-based instruction either in a classroom-based or 3D MUVE setting to optimize the quality of learners’ linguistic performance. Tasks that are real-world oriented and targeting learners’ cultural repertoires and world knowledge also positively impact their virtual learning experiences. These significant implications add new research and pedagogical dimensions to the field of computer-assisted language learning.

Impact of task preparedness on L2 oral performance and strategy use

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-226
Author(s):  
Qianqian Gu
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Task Planning ◽  
Task Condition ◽  
Oral Performance ◽  
Line Planning ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
On Line ◽  
Planning Condition ◽  
Planning Strategies

Abstract The present study sets out to explore the effects of pre-task planning and unpressured on-line planning on L2 learners’ oral performance and their choices of planning strategies in a dialogic task condition. Forty-eight intermediate Chinese EFL learners were invited to perform the task and were then assigned to four groups, each with a different planning condition. Complexity, accuracy, and fluency of their oral production were measured. Results indicated that in the dialogic task condition, unpressured on-line planning raised syntactic complexity. Strikingly, pre-task planning did not improve L2 performance in all dimensions. Additionally, a trade-off effect was found between complexity and accuracy. Retrospective interviews were conducted to explore strategies employed by the participants and their perceptions of task preparedness. Results showed that the participants preferred to use metacognitive strategies and social/affective strategies in the dialogic task. Both advantages and limitations were identified by the participants regarding different planning conditions.

Reading-time studies of second language ambiguity resolution

2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Despina Papadopoulou
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Ambiguity Resolution ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Structural Information ◽  
Target Language ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
On Line ◽  
The Impact

This article provides a review of studies that have examined the ambiguity resolution strategies employed when processing a second language (L2). The way second language learners parse the L2 input has not yet been thoroughly investigated, although recently there has been an increasing interest in this area. The exploration of the mechanisms L2 learners use to parse ambiguous constructions allows us to examine not only aspects of L2 acquisition that still remain obscure, but also the validity of existing theories of parsing. The studies reported in this article look at three different types of ambiguous construction in the L2, and their results are discussed in relation to the L2 performance pattern. Most of the findings show that even advanced L2 learners are slower readers than native speakers and apply processing routines that depart from those best suited for processing the target language input. In addition, although L2 learners show sensitivity to lexical cues such as verb argument structure when processing the L2 input, they are less likely to rapidly employ structural information on line. The issues of the transfer of processing mechanisms from the first language (L1) to the second as well as the impact of L2 exposure on the adoption of the L2 processing routines are still unresolved and need to be further investigated.

scholarly journals The Importance of Literary Rhythm When Translating Psalms for Oral Performance (in Zulu)

2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-81
Author(s):  
June F. Dickie
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Oral Performance ◽  
Biblical Poetry ◽  
Bible Translation ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Poetry And Music

Poetry must be heard, and heard in a way that is pleasing and memorable. Much of the beauty and rhetorical power of poetry arises from prosody, that is, patterns of rhythm and sound. Rhythm is composed of four elements that work together to provide aesthetic and emotive strength. It is an important feature of both biblical and Zulu poetry, and thus the translator of psalms (translating into Zulu or any Bantu language) must pay attention to aural components of the source and receptor texts. A recent empirical study invited Zulu youth to participate in translating and performing three praise psalms. They learned the basics of Bible translation and poetics, including rhythm, and their translations show a sensitivity to Zulu poetry and music that makes them highly rhythmic and singable. The underlying understanding of “translating with rhythm” can be applied to other languages and is an essential element of translating biblical poetry.

scholarly journals The Effect of Pre-Task Planning Time on L2 Learners’ Narrative Writing Performance

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keivan Seyyedi ◽  
Shaik Abdul Malik Mohamed Ismail ◽  
Maryam Orang ◽  
Maryam Sharafi Nejad
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Writing ◽  
Task Planning ◽  
Planning Time ◽  
Writing Performance ◽  
L2 Learners

scholarly journals The processing of ambiguous sentences by first and second language learners of English

2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 453-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
CLAUDIA FELSER ◽  
LEAH ROBERTS ◽  
THEODORE MARINIS ◽  
REBECCA GROSS
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
First Language ◽  
Phrase Structure ◽  
Lexical Semantic ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
On Line ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

This study investigates the way adult second language (L2) learners of English resolve relative clause attachment ambiguities in sentences such as The dean liked the secretary of the professor who was reading a letter. Two groups of advanced L2 learners of English with Greek or German as their first language participated in a set of off-line and on-line tasks. The results indicate that the L2 learners do not process ambiguous sentences of this type in the same way as adult native speakers of English do. Although the learners' disambiguation preferences were influenced by lexical–semantic properties of the preposition linking the two potential antecedent noun phrases (of vs. with), there was no evidence that they applied any phrase structure–based ambiguity resolution strategies of the kind that have been claimed to influence sentence processing in monolingual adults. The L2 learners' performance also differs markedly from the results obtained from 6- to 7-year-old monolingual English children in a parallel auditory study, in that the children's attachment preferences were not affected by the type of preposition at all. We argue that children, monolingual adults, and adult L2 learners differ in the extent to which they are guided by phrase structure and lexical–semantic information during sentence processing.

Chinese EFL Leamers’ Comprehension of English Idiom Variants: Effects of Variation Type and Proficiency Level

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Guo
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Structural Change ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Comprehension Strategies ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
English Major

AbstractThe creative use of English idioms has led to heterogeneous idiom variants that are particularly problematic for L2 learners. Drawing on a cognitive linguistic perspective of idiom learning, this paper categorizes English idiom variants into four major types, and reports on an empirical study that investigated the effects of variation type and proficiency level on Chinese EFL learners’ comprehension of English idiom variants. Targeting non-English major college students of basic and intermediate English levels, the study confirmed the influence of proficiency level on learners’ comprehension and evaluation of the difficuIty of idiom variants. Structural change in idioms was found to be the easiest type and idioms modified in terms of literal imagery were the most difficult in comprehension. These findings suggest that the dominant “rote memorization” tends to limit learners’ choices of comprehension strategies to literal translation and L1 transfer. The learning environment unsupportive of cultivating L2 learners’ analytical ability is held accountable for the generally low success rates in comprehension of idiom variants.

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