A cross-sectional study on task type and negotiation of meaning in CLIL child-child interaction

María Ángeles Hidalgo,Raúl Azpilicueta-Martínez

doi:10.30827/portalin.v0i35.15528

Abstract

Different task types have been hypothesised to affect the type and amount of Negotiation of Meaning (NoM) generated in learner-learner interactions. However, studies specifically addressing the impact of the task variable on the NoM in child-child interactions in foreign language contexts are virtually non-exixtent. This study analyses the amount and type of NoM operationalised as conversational adjustments (CAs) present in the interactions of primary education L1-Spanish young learners (YLs) of English on two different tasks. Participants were 40 eight-year-old children enrolled in a partial immersion Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) program. Ten pairs took part in a two-way pictureplacement jigsaw, while the other ten participated in a one-way picture-placement storybased task. The results indicate that the impact of task type on the amount and type of CAs produced by participants is more far-reaching than expected, revealing a significantly greater amount of CAs in the one-way task. This finding locates this variable at the very core of the list of factors directly impinging on NoM.

Highlights

There is ample evidence that tasks are considered very efficent tools for second and foreign language acquisition (García Mayo, 2007; Pica, 2013; Pica et al, 2006; Van den Branden et al, 2009)
Results of a study of the relationship between task complexity, difficulty, and production show that increasing the cognitive complexity of a direction-giving map task significantly affects speaker-information-giver production
The first research question in the present study intends to ascertain the extent to which the task type factor may affect the amount and type of conversational adjustments (CAs) generated in the interaction of young English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners

Summary

Introduction

There is ample evidence that tasks are considered very efficent tools for second and foreign language acquisition (García Mayo, 2007; Pica, 2013; Pica et al, 2006; Van den Branden et al, 2009). A number of studies have addressed the effects of different task types and task conditions on task performance and subsequent learning, showing that task type constitutes a crucial factor (Bygate, 2001; Philp et al, 2006; Robinson, 2011)with a view to better understanding the structure of tasks, their impact on students, and their use by teachers. This edited volume starts with an introduction to the background and key issues in the topic area. To the authors’ best knowledge, very few publications are available in the literature that discuss how task type influences YLs’ performance (Azkarai & Imaz Agirre, 2016; Oliver, 2002; Oliver & Azkarai, 2019)

Methods

Results

Conclusion