Oral Production Research Articles

Révisions transatlantiques : une expérience de télécollaboration entre l’Université Ca’ Foscari et Bentley University

The aim of this work is to present the ins and outs of a telecollaboration project between an American university (Bentley University) and Ca' Foscari University. This project targets oral production and revision skills around an authentic language object, the video CV. Between March and April 2021, the author and a colleague from Bentley University set up a collaborative video CV revision project between 10 American FLE students and 13 students from Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy (CEFR level B1-B2 for both groups). After a preparation phase started in December 2020 on both sides of the Atlantic, the device was implemented with work phases in synchronous and asynchronous modality. First, we will provide a theoretical framework concerning the use of telecollaboration mediated by computer for didactics of French as a foreign language. Then, we will go into more detail on the organisation, the setting up of the project and the modalities, the course of the exchanges and the tools used. Finally, we will present the first results obtained through this project and raise some issues about some negative outcomes.

Implementation of Oral Production Activities through Remote Learning: A Case Study of EFL Students at Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica

During the school year 2020, as in many other educational settings, classes at Universidad Nacional (UNA), Costa Rica, had to be rapidly transformed and adapted so that the pedagogical mediation process could be changed from the traditional face-to-face or in-class sessions to remote learning. This process, certainly, posed varied challenges in terms of the mediation process and technology-related issues, which had to be addressed efficiently in order to guarantee access to education. In this regard, this article is based on the experience lived with two groups of students taking English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in the course of English II (during the II term of 2020), at Campus Omar Dengo, Heredia, which were taught through remote learning. For this qualitative research, data were collected by means of a closed and open-ended questionnaire in which information related to the oral-production activities implemented during classes was gathered. This instrumental case study concludes with three main statements about the implementation of oral-production tasks: a) planning, b) scaffolding, and c) feedback.

Brief but Mighty? Sustained L2 Learning and Perceived Psychobehavioral Benefits After Short‐Term Study Abroad

AbstractEvidence suggests that short‐term study abroad experiences can help advance various dimensions of second language (L2) learners’ linguistic competence. However, the extent to which gains following a brief sojourn are durable and maintained after immersion remains an open question. The present study examined both the immediate and sustained learning outcomes following a short‐term study abroad program by considering L2 Spanish learners’ (a) linguistic gains in global proficiency, oral production, and L2 knowledge, and (b) nonlinguistic gains in perceived psychobehavioral flexibility, a trait that remains underresearched despite its broad relevance to study abroad contexts. Data were collected at the onset and end of a summer study abroad program in Spain, as well as 5 weeks post‐sojourn, after students’ reimmersion in the first language environment. Mixed‐effects models revealed that gains in global proficiency and some aspects of oral production and L2 knowledge, as well as increases in perceived psychobehavioral flexibility, were noticeable at the end of the program and were maintained for several weeks post‐sojourn in the absence of further L2 instruction. Findings provide a first look into the potential of short‐term study abroad for promoting durable developmental changes across linguistic and nonlinguistic domains.

Intricacies of the Multifaceted Triad-Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency: A Review of Studies on Measures of Oral Production

Complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) as measures of language proficiency have been used extensively in assessing second language production in English language studies related to task-based language teaching. The present review adds the following critical elements to the existing body of literature: (i) Provides synthesis and critical analysis of various measures of CAF used in empirical studies and reveals the variation with which the three constructs have been used; (ii) Lays down the most appropriate CAF measures for beginners, intermediates and advanced learners for a valid and robust assessment of oral production in English as a second and foreign language.

USING GESTURES: INTENTIONAL TEACHING GESTURES AS AN L2 FACILITATIVE TOOL

Gestures used for classroom pedagogical purposes, or Intentional Teaching Gestures (ITG), are often used in second language (L2) programs, however, little is known of their impact on L2 learning. This study of students’ use of ITG was carried out to address the impact of ITG on L2 learning in a primary school context. The research approach combined a naturalistic inquiry in a case study school with mixed methods to investigate students’ use of ITG and patterns of use. This article examines the data relating to students’ use of ITG in two oral language tasks. Findings reveal that more students used ITG when orally telling a narrative that had been introduced to them with ITG and when viewing ITG. Students used ITG to demonstrate meaning and to support language retrieval and ITG use often preceded oral production. The findings highlight the cognitive role of ITG in language recall and as the primary mode of communicating meaning when there is a gesture-word mismatch. Learners’ use of ITG provide insights into their stage of language development and their language gaps and are useful as a diagnostic tool for teachers. The findings contribute practical understandings towards language teaching pedagogy and practice.

Interactions 2 par Gaël Crépieux, Olivier Massé, et Jean-Philippe Rousse

Reviewed by: Interactions 2par Gaël Crépieux, Olivier Massé, et Jean-Philippe Rousse Juliette D. Duthoit C répieux, G aël, O livierM assé, et J ean-P hilippeR ousse. Interactions 2. 2 eéd. CLÉ international, 2020. ISBN 978-2-09-038694-3. Pp. 144. This textbook targets beginner learners of French (A1.2 level) who already have some experience learning French. The book is divided into 4 thematic units— socialiser, consommer, utiliser, voyager—each designed to be taught in twelve to fifteen hours of class. Each unit has three lessons, a class project (such as: "Organiser un circuit touristique en France"), and a mock exam for DELF A1. The lessons work on communication skills (oral interaction, written and oral comprehension and production), linguistic skills (grammar and phonetics), and cultural skills. The activities are indicated as individual, pair activities, group activities, or class activities. There is media material available at <https://interactions.cle-international.com>, which can be downloaded or used directly on the website: audio recordings, videos with and without French subtitles, and extra pictures for some activities. Interactions 2also comes with a booklet containing corrections and audio transcriptions for the DELF mock exam activities. The general aesthetic of the book is appealing. It is colorful and uncluttered, with plenty of illustrations. Material in the book—from the graphics to the audio recordings and readings—is mostly created and non-authentic, which has the advantage of being perfectly tailored to the lesson, activity, and the learners' knowledge. Regarding pronunciation, there is frequent use of French IPA symbols and exercises targeting phonetic or phonologic components, such as intonation, liaisons, or sound writing. The activities are varied, from classic grammar drills and dictations to communicative interviews and role plays. As in many European textbooks, the grammar pages appear late in the lesson and are succinct. There is little vocabulary listed within the lessons. Instructors are free to supplement vocabulary better suited to the needs of their specific learners. There is an effort made at diversity, as the characters depicted in the activities and readings have varied origins. However, the textbook focuses more on France and French regions than on other French-speaking countries. The French accents presented do not reflect diversity. The video and recordings tend to present a standard Parisian accent, even if the character speaking supposedly comes from Québec. This can be helpful for beginners who may not be ready to juggle various accents. Unfortunately, it does not reflect reality. It is also disappointing that such a recent book is not more inclusive, with no use of inclusive writing or inclusive pronouns such as iel. The lesson on family, for instance, does not present different models of families, and remains heteronormative. In a nutshell, this textbook is tailored for beginning learners, avoiding the issues of accents and complicated authentic material, and is aimed at improving communication skills without relying heavily on vocabulary or grammar. Instructors could use the book as is for lessons or could supplement it with their own activities, authentic documents, or vocabulary. [End Page 273] Juliette D. Duthoit Purdue University (IN) Copyright © 2022 American Association of Teachers of French

TEACHING INDEPENDENT LISTENING COMPREHENSION ONLINE: FINDINGS OF THE PRELIMINARY STUDY

The article addresses the issue of teaching independent listening comprehension in the emergency distance education (EDE) caused by Covid-19 pandemic. The paper describes the preliminary study of developing university students’ listening skills in on-line instruction mode. The authors consider the main challenges that practitioners face while building students’ listening skills. These include difficulties ranging from text selection, linguistic and conceptual complexities of authentic audio/video materials and task construction to organizing listening practice beyond the classroom as well as checking students’ comprehension upon listening/viewing. The hypothesis of the research states that due to the enhanced digital literacy of teachers and learners as a result of EDE listening could be practiced effectively in the asynchronous format as an independent activity. This would allow learners a certain degree of autonomy and would spare the virtual contact time for practicing oral production and interaction in the synchronous mode. The authors have surveyed 75 second-year students of Linguistics at three Ukrainian universities to elicit their perceptions of the on-line instruction effects on the development of four language skills and listening in particular. The survey also gave the possibility to elicit preferences in topics, text types and sources in independent listening practice, as well as views on organization of independent listening (frequency of listening practice sessions, length of texts, etc.). The survey findings presented in this article helped the authors to outline the parameters of the independent listening that would benefit the development of students’ listening skills and consequently develop the methodology of teaching these skills independently. The latter has already been designed and implemented in practice, thus making up a focus of further research.

Task effects and the yes-bias in heritage language bilingualism

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: This study investigated three key issues in heritage language research. Previous research shows heritage language speakers have an advantage on tasks of oral production compared to L2 speakers who instead perform better on written tasks requiring use of metalinguistic skills. Furthermore, both L2 and heritage speakers are claimed to have a yes-bias towards retaining ungrammaticality in grammaticality judgement tests (GJTs). Finally, the morphological domain has been shown to be as problematic for heritage language speakers as L2 speakers, but research in lesser-known languages is needed. Design/methodology/approach: Adult L1, L2, and heritage language speakers of Italian were compared on an oral priming task and timed GJT. Both accuracy and response times were elicited from the latter test. The forms investigated were object and si-passive pronouns which lack corresponding forms in Swedish, the dominant language of the bilingual groups. Data and analysis: Mixed-effects regression was modelled to accuracy on the priming and GJT and response time data from the GJT. In contrast, a d-prime analysis was used to measure the degree of sensitivity to grammaticality and bias towards correct and incorrect answers in the GJT. Findings/conclusions: Overall, the two bilingual groups performed quite similarly across the measures tested. All three groups show high sensitivity to grammaticality and a very similar bias for yes-answers on both grammatical and ungrammatical items. Originality: The study is the first to employ a d-prime analysis to explore in greater detail the differences in knowledge of grammaticality between heritage, L2, and monolingual populations. It also presents a brief review of the limited existing research in heritage Italian. Significance/implications: Any advantages by task for either bilingual group level out by the time high proficiency levels are reached but may be associated with literacy levels when metalinguistic skills are measured. The yes-bias is likely a characteristic intrinsic to GJTs rather than a peculiarity of bilingual speaker knowledge. Morphology is problematic also for heritage speakers of lesser-known languages.

Subject Advantage in L1-English Learners’ Production of Chinese Relative Clauses

This study investigated whether L1-English Chinese learners show a subject preference in their oral production of Chinese relative clauses (RCs) and whether they show animacy effects. We conducted a picture-based elicited production experiment that compared subject and object RCs, varying the object animacy between animate and inanimate. The results from thirty learners showed more targetlike performance in subject RCs than in object RCs, both at group and individual levels, regardless of object animacy. Error analyses revealed that more object RCs were converted into subject RCs than vice versa. These results point toward a clear subject preference despite conflicted findings in previous research on RCs in Chinese as a foreign language. Animacy influenced subject and object RCs alike: both types were easier to produce when featuring an inanimate object. We suggested similarity-based interference or distribution-based effects to account for this finding.

Interaction and meaning making in basic adult education for immigrants the case of Swedish for immigrants in Sweden (SFI)

In this article, focus is on students’ oral production in two classrooms in Swedish for immigrants (SFI). The study focuses on practices with interaction patterns where students are involved in negotiation of meaning. Theoretical basis is the importance of interpersonal interaction for language development, with a focus on students’ use of varied speaker roles and speech actions. Data were obtained through observations, field notes, and audio and video recordings. The examples presented here demonstrate that students were involved in the negotiation of meaning and had space to try different speaker roles and speech actions, such as (among others) initiating, agreeing, dissenting, arguing, interrupting, and taking the floor. These examples only constituted a restricted part of class time, and most of the teaching was of a type where little oral or written interaction took place. Overall, we think that SFI education could be improved by developing teaching that stimulates and allows for negotiations of meaning and language production and also allows for use of different types of digital media, both for oral and written interaction.

Effects of linguistic proficiency on speech act development in L2 Chinese during study abroad

AbstractThis study investigated the effects of different levels of linguistic proficiency on the development of multiple speech acts during study abroad. Participants were 109 American learners of Chinese recruited from a study abroad program in China. They were divided into a higher proficiency (HP) group and a lower proficiency (LP) group based on their scores on a standardized Chinese proficiency test. The participants completed a computerized oral Discourse Completion Test (DCT) that assessed the production of compliment response, refusal, and request as pre- and posttests. The learners’ oral productions were analyzed according to measures of appropriateness rating and speech rate. Linguistic analysis was performed to examine changes in strategy preference and distribution across the three speech acts. Results revealed a complex relationship between proficiency, speech act type, pragmatic performance measure (e.g., appropriateness, speech rate), and ways that pragmatic changes are evaluated (e.g., developmental trajectory, amount of gain).

Estimating Cue Strengths in Oral Production in a Japanese Learner Corpus

Word order, case marking, and animacy are cues used to convey and comprehend argument roles in transitive events. Japanese, however, is characterized by flexible word order, null arguments, and case-marker omission. This study analyzes corpus data of interviews between native Japanese speakers and L1-English and L1-Korean learners to examine these characteristics in both input to learners and learners' own production. The relative importance of the three cues is estimated based on their distributional properties using the competition model framework. The findings indicate that animacy was the strongest cue for the native speakers and, when at least one NP was elided, for the learners. However, when both subject and object were present, learners adhered to SOV word order. Case marking was reliable when present but was so frequently omitted that it was not a useful cue, contra previous reports. L1 and proficiency effects are also discussed.

The Influence of Form-Focused Instruction on the L2 Chinese Oral Production of Korean Native Speakers.

Form-focused instruction (FFI) can help second language (L2) learners notice the forms of language, which is conducive to the acquisition of linguistic forms. Two types of FFIs had been proposed, including focus-on-formS (FonFs) and focus-on-form (FonF). Previously, studies on FFI in L2 classroom teaching have focused mainly on the influence of two types of FFIs on the L2 acquisition of grammar and vocabulary. The influence of FonFs and FonF on L2 oral production, however, has been addressed less often. The advantages and disadvantages of different teaching methods in FonFs and FonF have not been well investigated. On the basis of Schmidt’s noticing hypothesis, VanPatten’s input processing hypothesis, and Long’s interactive hypothesis, we investigated the effects of teaching goals, teaching steps, and interactive activities in FonFs and FonF on the complexity, accuracy, and fluency of 32 native Korean speakers’ L2 Chinese oral production. We found that FFI significantly improved the performance of L2 Chinese oral production, although different FFIs had different effects on complexity, accuracy, and fluency. FonF and FonFs could improve both complexity and accuracy, whereas FonF also significantly improved fluency, which was not observed in FonFs. Furthermore, we found that the level of L2 proficiency could modulate the interaction between instruction methods and learning outcomes. For low-proficiency learners, FonF was more helpful for the improvement of fluency. For high-proficiency learners, FonFs was more helpful for the improvement of accuracy. These results demonstrated that teachers should pay attention to the interaction between specific teaching conditions with different L2 proficiency and learning outcomes when implementing FFI. The findings of this study have important implications for the design of procedures and interactive activities of L2 spoken Chinese teaching.

Analysis of Errors in Oral Production of French L3 Learners of Level A2 at a High School in Ecuador

The present study explores the possible sources of the most frequent errors in oral production of teenage native Spanish speakers who are learners of French and have also received instruction in English. To attain this objective, online oral interactions in an interview-like setting of 15 students of a private school of Quito and their teacher have been transcribed and analyzed in search of errors. The results show that the most frequent types of erroneous production have to do with form rather than content and do not represent a major impediment to communication. As for their causes, many errors seem to have their origin in the interference of the first or second language, while some others are independent from such languages since both overgeneralization and oversimplification of the target language rules have been recorded.

Students’ Preferences of Interaction in Oral Productions

The objectives of the study were to know the students’ preferences of interactions in oral production at the fifth semester student in English Department of Makassar Muhammadiyah University. A descriptive method was applied to the fifth semester students as the sample of the study with the total number of samples were 24 students by using purposive sampling. The result of this study showed that there were three categories of preferences in oral interaction, those are preferences toward the teaching method, preferences toward the teacher performance, preferences toward the students’ interest. Meanwhile, the dominant preferences toward the teaching method were preferences of the open discussion class, the dominant preferences toward the teacher performance were preferences of the lecturer who help the students to solve the problem in the classroom, and the dominant preferences toward the students’ interest were preferences of using full English in presentation.

Using breakout rooms as a teaching strategy to develop english oral production in online classes

Online education is becoming more widely recognized as a tool for educational modernization. Due to the Covid-19 virus, however, this e-learning method began to spread; unknowingly, students and teachers at all levels watched in astonishment as their homes were transformed into classrooms, breaking the entire old system of regular instruction. Through the experiences of students and English teachers, this study intends to examine the impact of breakout rooms on boosting oral English production. This research was done in Unidad Educativa Franciscana San Jose, Milagro Ecuador. It was applied to second and third courses as Technical as science specialization. Based on the shyness and little students’ class participation in the online English classes. The activities were used in the first, second and third parts in the academic year of 2021-2022. In this case, look for a different way to encourage pupils and teachers to use the Zoom platform break out rooms to motivate to better learning and teaching approach. There were many topics based on student’s preferences. A survey with multiple choice and close questions were used to determine the level of satisfaction generated by the interaction in the tasks completed by students in speaking lessons. This work analyses the result of different topics used by teachers to develop oral skill production.

Gender Agreement in a Language Contact Situation

Gender agreement between determiners and nouns, and gender agreement between third-person clitics and their referents, are notoriously difficult to acquire by bilingual speakers who lack them in their first language, or in one of their first languages. We present a study that explores the differences between gender agreement between a determiner and a noun and gender agreement between clitics and antecedents or doubled DPs among Shipibo-Spanish speakers. The oral production data that were elicited from 17 adult Shipibo-Spanish bilinguals by using a picture-based narration task show a notable difference in the agreement patterns between nouns and determiners, and between clitics and their antecedents/doubled DPs. Similar patterns are found among five Spanish-Shipibo bilinguals who were living in the same contact situation. While the participants consistently marked strong gender agreement within the DPs, a lack of gender specification was found in the agreement between clitics and antecedents or doubled DPs in the clitic-doubling and dislocated structures. These results are not unexpected as they mirror the results from previous work, where the clitic gender does not systematically match the antecedent gender, especially with feminine antecedents or doubled DPs. Furthermore, this study confirms previous evidence that the gender-specific clitics, lo/la, have been replaced by the invariable clitic, le, in contexts where agreement with a doubled DP or an antecedent is expected. In contrast, there is evidence of agreement between determiners and nouns in this group of bilinguals. These facts allow us to conclude that, although gender is present in Shipibo-Spanish bilingual speakers’ grammar, it is largely absent and is not operative in Shipibo-Spanish speakers’ clitic agreement in oral production.

The Effect of Computer-Mediated Feedback on L2 Accuracy. Does the Difference in Learners’ Perceptual Style Moderate the Effectiveness of the Feedback?

Computer-mediated feedback (CMF) has recently gained attention in L2 (second language) classes because it offers numerous advantages, such as flexibility and timesaving. However, not much is known about how it affects the accuracy of L2 learners and how the mediating variables, such as learners’ preferred perceptual style, influences the efficacy of CMF. Therefore, the present study was conducted to examine how two types of CMF (audio-based and text-based) affect the accuracy of L2 learners on the past perfect tense and whether aligning CMF types with the learners’ preferred perceptual style (auditory/read/write) mediates its efficacy. One hundred and twenty first semester students with English as a second language (ESL), with a mean age of 20 were recruited for the current study. These students were divided into two treatment groups (audio-based and text-based) and a control group based on their preferred perceptual style (auditory/read/write). The learners in the treatment groups were given three treatment sessions, one each week, where they received CMF either in the audio-based form or text-based form on their narrative writing texts. Subsequently, the effectiveness of the CMF was tested employing two testing instruments: writing task and oral production task. The writing task was a narrative text reconstruction that required the participants to use past perfect tense. Similarly, the oral production task was a dialogue activity that required the use of past perfect tense. The results indicated that both CMF types improved the accuracy of the past perfect tense, with the audio-based CMF found to be more effective. The study also demonstrated that CMF was more effective when aligned with the learners’ preferred perceptual style.

Tonal peaks in the spontaneous speech of vantage level Hungarian learners of Spanish

Abstract This paper reports on a two-part research project, conducted in order to see how Hungarian learners with at least vantage level of Spanish realize melodic peaks in their Spanish utterances. First, we are focusing on the tonal and distributional characteristics of melodic peaks, taking into consideration the proportion of the rise in f0 with respect to the previous syllable and examining if the affected syllable is lexically stressed. Second, the range of the tonal rise until the first peak of the utterance is analyzed. The method applied in both cases is Cantero Serena’s Prosodic Analysis of Speech (2019), which represents intonation by objectively comparable standardized melodic curves. The differences found in the speech of Hungarian learners as compared to native Spanish speakers have not proved to be significant in the aspects analyzed here. The main finding of the research is that native Spanish speakers tend to realize the first peak of their declarative sentences as the highest f0 point of the utterance, whereas this is less typical in the oral production of Hungarian learners of Spanish.

Lower Education and Reading and Writing Habits Are Associated With Poorer Oral Discourse Production in Typical Adults and Older Adults.

During normal aging there is a decline in cognitive functions that includes deficits in oral discourse production. A higher level of education and more frequent reading and writing habits (RWH) might delay the onset of the cognitive decline during aging. This study aimed at investigating the effect of education and RWH on oral discourse production in older adults. Picture-based narratives were collected from 117 healthy adults, aged between 51 and 82 years (68.6 ± 6.38) with 0–20 years of formal education (10.1 ± 5.69). Measures of macro, microlinguistic and modalizations were computed and entered as dependent variables in hierarchical regression analyses that included age, education and RWH as regressors. Results revealed that higher education explained a better performance at the macrostructure and microstructure dimensions. Higher frequency of RWH explained the production of fewer modalizations. These results demonstrate the positive effect of education and RWH in oral discourse production in older adults. Therefore, higher attention should be given to these social factors.