Field Of Second Language Acquisition Research Articles

Exploratory Feedback and Student Interaction

A number of studies investigating language learning have largely concentrated on scaffolded instruction. Within the field of second language acquisition, such studies are based on an approach to understanding language and discourse as a scaffolding device which serves a psychological function in its role as mediator for the development of all higher mental functions. This study investigates how exploratory feedback as an element of scaffolded instruction is realized during writing instruction for a remedial class of English. The analysis of spoken discourse during the writing lessons is used to provide a linguistic understanding of exploratory feedback as well as to demonstrate the type of student interaction that ensues as a result. Findings suggest not only ways in which instructor feedback to student response may assume an exploratory nature, but also the impact which such feedback has on student involvement in classroom discourse. The theoretical implications of this are then discussed..

French second language acquisition research: setting the scene

This introductory article introduces the field of second language acquisition (SLA) to specialists in French linguistics who are not familiar with it. Its purpose is to present a map of the field which will then enable the reader to better situate the following in depth articles which present focused theoretical and empirical investigations as they apply to French. The first part summarises recent, and sometimes apparently contradictory, research findings. The second part explores the theoretical approaches which have been most influential in recent investigations, outlining where each of these approaches originates, and which aspects of the SLA process it investigates.

Second Language Acquisition for All: Understanding the Interactional Dynamics of Classrooms in Which Spanish and AAE Are Spoken

Understandings of the ways home and school languages shape classroom dynamics and influence development, identity, and subsequent school success are important for teachers of both bilingual and African American students. This article builds a link between these complementary bodies of research by analyzing interactions in a second grade mainstream classroom in which the language development of bilingual and African American children were simultaneously relevant. We focus on two qualitatively different kinds of classroom language use: when instruction was solely in English, and when Spanish became a tool for instruction. Our findings suggest that the latter language practice subsequently marginalized the participation of English monolingual students; this especially affected the African American students in the classroom, who were interactionally delegitimized as participants in bilingual interaction despite their desire to participate in both languages. This study suggests the need to ensure that multilingualism is brought into the classroom as a resource for all students. Recognizing this need, however, necessitates interdisciplinary research that crosses the fields of second language acquisition, bilingual education, and sociolinguistics. Such disciplinary boundary crossing can usefully inform teachers and researchers looking for new understandings of language learning in contemporary classrooms.

Can Communicative Methods Enhance Ancient Language Acquisition?

Abstract. For several years the field of Second Language Acquisition has benefited from methods associated with communicative language learning. However, these benefits have largely been overlooked when teaching ancient languages, likely because the objective for ancient languages is literacy, not oral fluency. This article outlines an experiment that capitalized on communicative language methods to accelerate literacy for beginning students of Biblical Hebrew. (Digital images associated with this essay may be found at:〈http://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/journal/overland.html〉

Second Language Acquisition Processes in the Classroom: Learning Japanese (review)

Reviewed by: Second language acquisition processes in the classroom: Learning Japanese by Amy Snyder Ohta Junko Hondo Second language acquisition processes in the classroom: Learning Japanese. By Amy Snyder Ohta. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2001. Pp. 298. ISBN: 0805838007. $79.95. It has been more than a half-century since the concept of the ‘zone of proximal development’ (ZPD) was first introduced by Lev Vygotsky. In keeping with current movements in the field of second language acquisition (SLA), Amy Snyder Ohta situates classroom interaction within a sociocultural frame-work. Modifying the ZPD slightly from Vygotsky’s original model, she includes peer interlocutors as providers of cognitive apprenticeship. Consistent with other qualitative research in the field of SLA, she regards these peer interlocutors as not necessarily needing to be ‘more advanced’ than their fellow students in order to respond to the needs of second language (L2) learners in the classrooms. ‘Even true peers have different’ capabilities, and it is the nature of diverse interactive roles that enables peers to provide assistance. Applying sociocognitive perspectives, O also sheds light on the role of private speech in the course of the language acquisition for L2 learners. She discusses the function of private speech both from analytical perspectives and from an empirical view in the frame of foreign language (FL) classrooms. The author provides abundant evidence from classroom data to develop these theoretical viewpoints. The data regarding benefits from peer interactive tasks is classified into such categories as general development, grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, and interactional style. Her evidence indicates the presence of private speech in various forms in the FL classrooms, illustrated in a manner accessible to even a non-Japanese-speaking audience. One of the traditional focal points in SLA, feedback, is also examined. The author provides a tangible classification to categorize the rather broad umbrella term ‘corrective feedback’. According to her study, different types of feedback provide different opportunities for learners. Well-defined, sequential stages of listener response are provided although the number of subjects in the study is rather small (a total of four). The study indicates the existence of the acknowledgment of back-channeling in the beginning stages of learning FL and the individuality of output in such utterances. The book addresses a wide range of topics from the use of the first language (L1) and L2 in peer interaction to related pedagogical matters. The data on the use of L1 in the interaction is naturally connected to the topic of instructional design. The analysis of this data leads to a discussion regarding task design and task implementation. In this section, O puts the focus on the teacher as the agent with the potential to orchestrate the learning experience through task design and task allocations. The book presents a thorough analysis of classroom interaction data and provides resources for L2 researchers, FL field practitioners, and, in particular, teachers of Japanese. Junko Hondo Lancaster University Copyright © 2003 Linguistic Society of America

Research Into Chinese Efl Learner Strategies: Methods, Findings and Instructional Issues

Spearheaded by Rubin (1975) and others (e.g. Stem 1975), extensive re search into language learner strategies (LLS) has been conducted to investi gate successful and less successful learner behaviours in the West in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). Research into EFL learner strategies in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is beginning to gain some momentum and can be roughly divided into two major strands. One is some sporadic writings about language learners' learning methods possibly without the writers being explicitly exposed to influences from this learning theory. The other is empirical research through different data elicitation methods in the Western empirical research tradition. While the first strand relies heavily on anecdotal evidence on general learner behaviours, the other has explored, so far, different skill areas, including strategies for oral communication, listening strategies, vocabulary learning strategies, reading strategies, writing strategies, LLS in general, and learner metacognition of learning processes. It seems that almost all the studies have tried to establish correlations between learner strategies and language learning achievements. This article examines how research into Chinese EFL learner strategies has contributed to the understanding of Chinese EFL students, trying to find a link between this information and its insight into peda gogical practices in the classroom.

Experiential Learning in Second-Language Classrooms

This article is a discussion of some of the issues surrounding experiential learning in the second-language classroom. Experiential learning is defined by the inclusion of phases of reflection designed to help the learner relate a current learning experience to past and future experience. The author seeks to establish a theoretical foundation for incorporating experiential phases into the second-language classroom by exploring past methods of teaching English as a second language, as well as looking at research in the field of second-language acquisition in the light of experiential methodology. The implications of experiential learning to second-language acquisition, in particular the aspects of motivation and investment, are explored, and some pitfalls of the experiential curriculum and their possible solutions are discussed. Finally, some possible projects adaptable to experiential methods are outlined, and areas needing further research, especially in the area of student voice and empowerment, are proposed.

New approaches to gender, class, and race in second language writing

Gender, class, and race are constitutive elements essential to writers’ agency and identity. However, these categories are not typically paid substantial attention in second language writing as well as in the larger field of second language acquisition and bilingual development, although issues of gender have been explored to a greater extent than the other two categories. This article summarizes constructivist and poststructuralist approaches to gender discussed recently in the larger field of second language learning and applies key concepts to issues of gender, class, and race in second language writing as well as interrelations among them. Recent discussions on gender and language have problematized fixed understandings of the gender binary in relation to language use. They have explored how gendered use of language is socially and discursively constructed and how gender, language, power, and discourse are related to each other in dynamic and transformative ways. It is suggested that new approaches to gender, class, and race be dialectic in that they should both explore differences between social categories in a non-essentialist way and expose discourse and power relations that are embodied in these differences. Future research agendas on gender, class, and race in second language writing that incorporate these approaches are suggested.

SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY AND SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING. James P. Lantolf (Ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Pp. 297. £20.90 paper.

Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning, edited by James Lantolf, contains nine research reports and two theoretical papers that introduce the sociocultural tradition to the wider field of second language acquisition (SLA) and provide specific examples of questions and methodologies that emerge from the sociocultural framework. Sociocultural theory expands the types of inquiry addressed by the field of SLA research by suggesting a participation metaphor of language learning as an alternative to, or an expansion of, the more widespread input-output or computational metaphor. Although the book is designed primarily for researchers, most chapters also explore ways that sociocultural theory and research can inform language pedagogy.

A non-marginal role for tasks

Introduction In the last thirty years, the field of second language acquisition (SLA) has grown in importance, moving from a stage when it was an o¤shoot of first language research, to a status, over the last fifteen years or so, where it has started to make more ambitious claims about its relevance for second language instruction. An excellent survey of these developments is provided in two articles in Applied Linguistics, both by Patsy Lightbown, the first published in 1985, the second in 2000. Each explores the relevance of SLA for pedagogy, and despite di¤erences in the content which reflects our development in understanding, the two articles have in common a certain sense of humility about the immediate relevance of what researchers are saying, generally following the dictum ‘apply with caution’!

Shy but not silent: A socially sensitive study of the speaking abilities of ten Sylheti women

The focus of this study is the link between socio-cultural factors and the speaking abilities of ten Sylheti women who live in the West End of Newcastle upon Tyne. This is achieved by means of the sociolinguistic application of social network analysis with ethnographic case studies to take into consideration cultural and religious factors as well. Perspectives from the field of second language acquisition confirm the importance of interaction in learning interlinked with cognitive, affective and environmental factors. The grammatical features of the women’s interlanguage are examined for observable patterns which were found to correlate with a native-speaker’s assessment of the speaking abilities of the women. Both structural and content characteristics of the women’s personal networks are then analysed. The study provides evidence that there is a definite link between the women’s index of contact (number of English-speaking ties) and their speaking ability level as assessed by the native speaker. This link, however, is far from simple as socio-cultural and religious factors come into play in the lives of the individual women with their different personal circumstances.

Compliment responses among British and Spanish university students: a contrastive study

Responding to a compliment poses a dilemma for speakers (Pomerantz, 1978) because they have to balance two diametrically conflicting conversational principles: to agree with one's conversational coparticipants and to avoid self-praise (Herbert, 1989). Far from being universal, the solution to the above dilemma hinges upon politeness principles at work within and across societies (Brown and Levinson, 1978 [1987]). In this paper the speech act of compliment responses is analysed in the light of a relative, rather than absolute, orientation towards positive or negative politeness. Using Herbert's (1989) taxonomy of compliment responses, a corpus of more than a thousand compliment responses by British and Spanish male and female undergraduates was examined. The results show the existence of cross-cultural and cross-gender similarities as well as differences between the four groups. For example, Spanish males tended to upgrade compliments ironically (a type of compliment response absent in the British data) more frequently than their female counterparts. This clearly has important implications as, unless speakers are made aware otherwise, they may bring into their intercultural encounters pre-conceived, often stereotypically negative, evaluations about the other individuals' identity. Further research in this area of language use, particularly within the field of second language acquisition, is therefore essential.

STILL WRESTLING WITH ‘CONTEXT’ IN INTERLANGUAGE THEORY

One of the most intractable issues in the field of second-language acquisition (SLA) research has been the attempt to identify the role of social context in influencing (or not) the process of acquisition of a second language. The central question has been whether a theory of SLA must account only for the psycholinguistic processes involved in acquiring an interlanguage (IL), or, alternatively, whether social and sociolinguistic factors influence those psycho-linguistic processes to such an extent that they too must be included in such a theory. It seems very clear that SLA is a psycholinguistic process. But to what extent are those psycholinguistic processes affected by social context? In 1985, Selinker and Douglas proposed a construct of ‘discourse domains’ to show how social and psycholinguistic processes might be included in a theory of inter-language; Young (1999) reviews that proposal and a recent attempt to test it, concluding that the results are still uncertain. After 15 years, this is still a lively issue in the field of SLA. Indeed, it is becoming a source of increasing conflict both within the field of SLA and within such areas of applied linguistics as second/foreign language teaching and second/foreign language teacher training. In this article, I will briefly summarize the problem, and review and summarize the current evidence being brought to bear upon this issue in the SLA research literature.

THE TEACHING AND ACQUISITION OF SOUTH ASIAN LANGUAGES.Vijay Gambhir (Ed.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995. Pp. xv + 226. $29.95 cloth.

The last thirty years have witnessed considerable research in the fields of second language acquisition (SLA) and second language teaching (SLT). However, most of this research has been concerned with second languages such as English, Spanish, French, and German. There has been comparatively little research on the less commonly taught second languages such as Hindi and other South Asian languages. As the editor states in the preface, enrollment in courses on South Asian languages has rapidly grown in universities in the United States and there is an urgent need for a careful examination of the issues relevant to the teaching and learning of these languages. The purpose of the book is to fill the existing gap and to generate an interest among both researchers and practitioners in the teaching and learning of South Asian languages.

SLA Research and Language Teaching by Rod Elis

SLA Research and Language Teachingby Rod Ellis Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1997, 280 pp. Reviewed by David Pinto University of California, Los Angeles In SLA Research and Language Teaching Rod Ellis addresses the existing gap between Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research and language teaching in the classroom. After initially demonstrating its how the gap has developed and is noting continuing expansion, he attempts to bridge this gap. The book di- vided into six parts: Background; Making Research Accessible; The Application of Theory; Second Language Acquisition Research in the Classroom; The Teacher as Researcher; Conclusion. It is aimed at language teachers who are interested in what found SLA it research has to say about language learning but who, perhaps, have difficult to apply the findings to the classroom. Ellis examines some of the research findings of the last twenty years along with factors affecting their adoption in classroom teaching practices. explicit He presents the notions of implicit and knowledge and introduces a model is for using the research in this area to build a structural syllabus that as compatible with instructed language acquisition, opposed to naturalistic acquisition. To further bridge the gap, he suggests that teachers carry out research in their the criticisms of own classrooms and defends this practice against SLA academics. In the first part of the book Ellis examines the gap between SLA research and language teaching and also presents some ideas for bridging this gap. It seems that most SLA research in the 1960's focused on language pedagogy. There were two main approaches - research to investigate the relative effectiveness of differ- ent teaching methods and empirical study of how learners acquired an L2. The latter approach involved looking at individual learners and their errors. Teachers could easily relate to these studies which tended to be more rewarding than studies of methods in that they opened the way for further research. (p. 5). As a result, its studies of L2 learning continued and SLA was born As SLA grew, opposed it became more of an academic pursuit in own right as to a support for the practice of language teaching. There are large bodies (e.g. of research that have nothing to do with the classroom research on Universal Grammar). Other role of input fields of SLA have closer ties to the classroom. The study of the in and interaction L2 in acquisition and the study of form-focused in- struction both address issues of extreme relevance to language teachers. the However, methods they have adopted order to satisfy the demands of academia have knowledge, made their findings of questionable relevance to the classroom. As an academic discipline, SLA seeks to contribute to technical Issues in Applied Linguistics ISSN 1050-4273 Vol. 10 1999, Regents of the University of California No.

GENDER AS SOCIAL PRACTICE

This paper reviews current research on language and gender and discusses the implications of such work for gender-based research in second language acquisition. Recent work in sociolinguistics, generally, and language and gender research, more specifically, has rejected categorical and fixed notions of social identities in favor of more constructivist and dynamic ones. Thus, in this paper I elaborate a conception of gender that has not generally informed research in the field of second language acquisition, and point to more recent work in the field that theorizes and investigates gender as a construct shaped by historical, cultural, social, and interactional factors.

REPLICATION AND REPORTING

In this paper we address the need for replication studies in the field of second language acquisition and discuss the problems surrounding standards of reporting research. A particular focus is on the level of detail necessary for replication to take place. The lack of uniform standards is noted with specific examples of problematic reporting taken from descriptions of second language learners' proficiency levels and measures of linguistic accuracy in second language writing research. We propose ways that we believe will lead to more thorough reporting of research and that will therefore allow others to engage in replication.

On Discourse, Communication, and (Some) Fundamental Concepts in SLA Research

This article argues for a reconceptualization of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research that would enlarge the ontological and empirical parameters of the field. We claim that methodologies, theories, and foci within SLA reflect an imbalance between cognitive and mentalistic orientations, and social and contextual orientations to language, the former orientation being unquestionably in the ascendancy. This has resulted in a skewed perspective on discourse and communication, which conceives of the foreign language speaker as a deficient communicator struggling to overcome an underdeveloped L2 competence, striving to reach the “target” competence of an idealized native speaker (NS). We contend that SLA research requires a significantly enhanced awareness of the contextual and interactional dimensions of language use, an increased “emic” (i.e., participant‐relevant) sensitivity towards fundamental concepts, and the broadening of the traditional SLA data base. With such changes in place, the field of SLA has the capacity to become a theoretically and methodologically richer, more robust enterprise, better able to explicate the processes of second or foreign language (S/FL) acquisition, and better situated to engage with and contribute to research commonly perceived to reside outside its boundaries.

What we have to explain in foreign language learning

AbstractWhile child language development theory must explain invariant “success,” foreign language learning theory must explain variation and lack of success. The fundamental difference hypothesis (FDH) outlines such a theory. Epstein et al. ignore the explanatory burden, mischaracterize the FDH, and underestimate the resources of human cognition. The field of second language acquisition is not divided into camps by views on “access” to UG.

Testing tasks: issues in task design and the group oral

This article investigates some of the issues which surround the use of tasks in oral tests, with particular reference to the group discussion. This is done from the perspective of a group of students who were asked to attempt three oral tasks. Questionnaire techniques and retrospective reports were used to collect data from the students. The principle is that test-takers have a great deal to offer to the test researcher in making judgements about the value of the tests which they take (Brown, 1993). The issues surrounding task design and use are complex, and are currently being debated not only in language-testing circles but also in the fields of second language acquisition and discourse analysis. For this reason, this article will refer to discussions in all three areas to shed light on the selection of tasks for use in oral tests. Information from the statistical analysis of tests will also be presented. All views about tests and tasks used in tests, however much some authors might eschew theory or statistical analysis (Underhill, 1987), spring from inherent theoretical positions. These positions make predictions about test scores under particular conditions, and the results of analysis enable the researcher to assess whether a view can be supported by empirical evidence. Finally, the article will look at what is possibly one of the most problematic questions in proficiency testing: the generalizability of a test score given on one task to another task or tasks. It is arguably the case that, if this is not possible, there is no justification for proficiency testing.