Challenges Encountered during Synchronous On-Line Collaborative Writing via Google Docs

2022 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 0-0
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
First Year ◽  
Google Docs ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
Learner Perceptions ◽  
On Line ◽  
Scaffolding Strategies ◽  
Patterns Of Interaction

This study investigated (1) the challenges encountered by a heterogeneous group of first year undergraduates during a synchronous on-line collaborative writing activity conducted through Google Classroom using Google Docs and (2) their perceptions of the pedagogical approach. Five sub-groups of undergraduates participated in the study, and their written transcripts were analysed for patterns of interaction in terms of equality and mutuality based on the Taxonomy of Writing Change Functions and Scaffolding Strategies (Li and Zhu, 2017). Data on learner perceptions were analysed for underlying themes. The findings, which were interpreted from the perspective of the Complex Dynamic Systems Theory, revealed that synchronous on-line collaboration is complex and challenging due to the dynamic patterns of interaction. This study concludes that Google Docs is a useful pedagogical tool and could be used for second language writing development despite the challenges. However, in transferring the findings to other second language learners or learning contexts, caution needs to be applied.

Pair versus individual writing: Effects on fluency, complexity and accuracy

2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian Wigglesworth ◽  
Neomy Storch
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Single Text ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Language Writing

The assessment of oral language is now quite commonly done in pairs or groups, and there is a growing body of research which investigates the related issues (e.g. May, 2007). Writing generally tends to be thought of as an individual activity, although a small number of studies have documented the advantages of collaboration in writing in the second language classroom (e.g. DiCamilla & Anton, 1997; Storch, 2005; Swain & Lapkin, 1998). Particularly in university contexts, group or pair assignments are widely used in many disciplines. In addition, collaborative writing could be used in second language classroom assessment contexts as formative assessment. However, research which compares texts produced by learners collaboratively to texts produced individually, and the implications of this for assessment practices, is rare. This study is a first step in the investigation of using collaborative writing in second language contexts and comparing the performance of two groups of second language learners: one group worked individually, and the other group worked in pairs. When writing in pairs, each pair produced a single text. All participants completed one writing task: an argumentative essay. The performances of the individuals (N = 48) and the pairs (N = 48) were compared on detailed discourse analytic measures of fluency, complexity and accuracy. This comparison revealed that collaboration impacted positively on accuracy, but did not affect fluency and complexity. A detailed analysis of the pair transcripts recorded during the writing activity provides insights into the ways in which pairs work together, and the foci of their endeavour. The implications of these findings for in-class assessment of second language writing are discussed.

Case morphology and word order in second language Turkish: Evidence from Greek learners

2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Despina Papadopoulou ◽  
Spyridoula Varlokosta ◽  
Vassilios Spyropoulos ◽  
Hasan Kaili ◽  
Sophia Prokou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
First Language ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Case Morphology ◽  
L2 Development ◽  
Order Constraints ◽  
On Line

The optional use of morphology attested in second language learners has been attributed either to a representational deficit or to a ‘surface’ problem with respect to the realization of inflectional affixes. In this article we contribute to this issue by providing empirical data from the early interlanguage of Greek learners of Turkish. Three experiments have been conducted, a cloze task, a sentence picture matching task and an on-line grammaticality judgement task, in order to investigate case morphology and its interaction with word order constraints. The findings of all three experiments point towards a variable use of case morphology, which is also observed in previous studies of Turkish as a second language (L2). Moreover, they show clearly that the learners face difficulties with non-canonical word orders as well as with the interaction of word order constraints and Case. On the other hand, the learners performed well on verbal inflections. On the basis of these findings, we argue that the developmental patterns in the early stages of L2 acquisition cannot be attributed to a global lack of functional categories but rather to more localized difficulties, which seem to be related to (a) whether the features in the L2 are grammaticalized in the first language and (b) the way these features are encoded in the morphosyntax of the first language. Moreover, we claim that processing factors and the specific properties of the morphological paradigms affect L2 development.

Psycholinguistically oriented second language research

2001 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 207-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Juffs
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
Language Research ◽  
On Line

This chapter reviews recent research that investigates second language performance from the perspective of sentence processing (on-line comprehension studies) and word recognition. It concentrates on describing methods that employ reaction time measures as correlates of processing difficulty or knowledge representation. This research suggests that second language learners employ much the same on-line processing strategies as native speakers, but that the L1 can also influence L2 processing. Reaction times in lexical decision experiments have been useful in exploring the relationship between the first and second language lexicons and automatic processes in lexical access. Finally, the chapter mentions some of the problems in this line of research, in particular the issue of individual differences in working memory and technological challenges.

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 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.

scholarly journals Plausibility and recovery from garden paths in second language sentence processing

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
LEAH ROBERTS ◽  
CLAUDIA FELSER
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Real Time Processing ◽  
Garden Path ◽  
On Line

ABSTRACTIn this study, the influence of plausibility information on the real-time processing of locally ambiguous (“garden path”) sentences in a nonnative language is investigated. Using self-paced reading, we examined how advanced Greek-speaking learners of English and native speaker controls read sentences containing temporary subject–object ambiguities, with the ambiguous noun phrase being either semantically plausible or implausible as the direct object of the immediately preceding verb. Besides providing evidence for incremental interpretation in second language processing, our results indicate that the learners were more strongly influenced by plausibility information than the native speaker controls in their on-line processing of the experimental items. For the second language learners an initially plausible direct object interpretation lead to increased reanalysis difficulty in “weak” garden-path sentences where the required reanalysis did not interrupt the current thematic processing domain. No such evidence of on-line recovery was observed, in contrast, for “strong” garden-path sentences that required more substantial revisions of the representation built thus far, suggesting that comprehension breakdown was more likely here.

scholarly journals EFL Learners' Lexico-grammatical Competence in Paper-based Vs. Computer-based in Genre Writing

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sundus Ziad AlKadi ◽  
Abeer Ahmed Madini
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Grammatical Competence ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
Computer Based

With new technology, writing became a skill that is being developed year after year. The present study questions whether there is a difference between paper-based and computer-based writing in terms of errors and lexico-grammar. It aims at exploring sentence-level errors and lexico-grammatical competence in two writing genres in a collaborative writing environment within paper-based and computer-based writing. A sample of 73 female intermediate level learners participated in the study at the University of Business and Technology (UBT), in Saudi Arabia. This mixed-methods research is significant in the literature of second language writing since it highlights genre awareness, lexico-grammatical competence, analyzing errors, and collaboration in two styles of writing. The reading-based writing tasks acted as a reflection of the learners' lexico-grammatical competence on paper and via Web 2.0 tool (Padlet). Statistically, the Mann-Whitney U-tests showed that there was no significant difference between paper-based and computer-based groups in the sentence-level errors in narrative genre, whereas there was a significant difference between the two different tools of writing groups in the sentence-level errors in opinion genre. However, there was no significant difference between paper-based and computer-based groups in the clauses (lexico-grammar) of the two groups. Immediate semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed through NVIVO to get more insights from the learners to explain the comparison between the paper-based and the computer-based writing. In light of the significant findings, implications are sought to create an equillibrium between paper-based and computer-based writing, along with enhancing collaboration in second language writing.

Literal salience in on-line processing of idiomatic expressions by second language learners

2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Cieślicka
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Lexical Priming ◽  
Stimulus Sentence ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Idiomatic Phrase ◽  
On Line

This article addresses the question of how second language (L2) learners understand idiomatic expressions in their second/foreign language and advances the proposition that literal meanings of idiom constituents enjoy processing priority over their figurative interpretations. This suggestion forms the core of the literal-salience resonant model of L2 idiom comprehension, whose major assumptions are outlined in the article. On the literal salience view, understanding L2 idioms entails an obligatory computation of the literal meanings of idiom constituent words, even if these idioms are embedded in a figurative context and if their idiomatic interpretation is well-known to L2 learners. The literal salience assumption was put to the test in a cross-modal lexical priming experiment with advanced Polish learners of English. The experiment showed more priming for visual targets related to literal meanings of idiom constituent words than for targets related figuratively to the metaphoric interpretation of the idiomatic phrase. This effect held true irrespective of whether the stimulus sentence contained a literal or a non-literal idiom.

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