Textual Enhancement Research Articles

Investigating the effectiveness of input-based techniques on the acquisition of English passive: A comparative study of explicit instruction and input-based techniques

This study investigates the efficacy of various grammar instruction techniques, namely focus-on-form (FonF) and focus-on-forms (FonFs), on the acquisition and production of the English passive voice. A quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test design was employed across four treatment groups without a control group, involving 62 Turkish learners of English, enrolled in preparatory classes at a public university in Turkey, with a B1 (intermediate) proficiency level. The study assessed the effectiveness of input flood (IF), input flood coupled with textual enhancement (IF + TE), input flood with explicit grammar teaching (IF + EGT), and rule-based instruction (RBI). Authentic texts on global warming and climate change were used as materials, with passive sentences underlined for the IF + TE group and explicit grammar explanations provided to the IF + EGT group. Findings point to a clear superiority of RBI in the learners’ grammatical acquisition and production, supporting the idea that explicit instruction, followed by controlled practice, significantly enhances learning outcomes. Contrary to RBI's success, the IF only approach did not yield a substantial impact, questioning the effectiveness of implicit teaching methods for complex grammatical structures. The study also examined the relationship between explicit knowledge and communicative practice, finding that explicit instruction is critical even within communicative frameworks. These outcomes align with the Noticing Hypothesis, emphasizing that conscious recognition of grammatical forms is necessary for effective language acquisition. The study contributes to the ongoing debate on the efficacy of explicit grammar instruction versus implicit learning, suggesting that a combination of instruction focusing on form within a communicative context can be beneficial for EFL learners.

The impact of text-audio synchronized enhancement on collocation learning from reading-while-listening: an extended replication of Jung and Lee (2023)

Abstract This study attempted to extend Jung and Lee’s (2023. Incidental collocational learning from reading-while-listening and the impact of synchronized textual enhancement. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching.) study to gain further insight into the pedagogical potential of text-audio synchronized enhancement on L2 collocation learning from reading-while-listening. Eighty-seven Cantonese ESL speakers read two English stories under one of four conditions, i.e., reading-only, reading-while-listening, reading-while-listening with colouring, and reading-while-listening with synchronized colouring. The stories contained 12 target adjective-pseudonoun collocations, and participants’ learning was assessed with immediate and one-week delayed posttests that consisted of recall and recognition tests. Lastly, two participants from each group produced stimulated recall comments. The results revealed that both colouring techniques significantly promoted receptive knowledge about the target collocations in the immediate posttest. Synchronized colouring, in particular, was also effective in improving immediate pseudonoun meaning recall scores and reducing reaction times to collocation recognition tests. Stimulated recalls indicated that synchronized colouring allowed for more uninterrupted processing of the stories in close alignment with the audio.

Using lexical bundles to teach prepositions to Korean EFL students

Abstract Integrating corpus-based analyses with instructed SLA, this study explores how lexical bundles can be used to teach prepositions to EFL learners. It first identifies lexical bundles occurring most frequently with preposition errors in a learner corpus of L1-Korean high school student writing. It then uses the 10 identified bundles to compare three different types of instructional treatment: one hundred L1-Korean high school EFL students received either implicit instruction (teaching each bundle as a unit with no emphasis on embedded prepositions) or one of two types of explicit instruction (focusing on embedded prepositions with or without input enhancement). The explicit-instruction-with-input-enhancement group showed the greatest improvement, followed closely by the implicit-instruction group; the other explicit group showed the least improvement. These results suggest that textual enhancement can facilitate L2 preposition acquisition and that recurrent sequences such as lexical bundles can serve as a useful pedagogical means to teach linguistic forms.

A review of the effect of textual enhancement on L2 learners’ grammar acquisition: An analysis of topic familiarity and TE types

The relationship between textual enhancement and L2 learners’ grammar acquisition has been widely explored by researchers, while mixed results were provided by various empirical research. This review aims to examine whether textual enhancement has a positive impact on the grammar acquisition of second language learners. Furthermore, the possible concurring moderating factors of topic familiarity and textual enhancement type are discussed in terms of their impact on form acquisition. The review concludes by acknowledging the challenges in definitively establishing the positive impact of textual enhancement on form acquisition, emphasizing the need for rigorous empirical research and critical evaluation of outcomes to enhance the integration of grammar instruction into meaning-based approaches.

The Influence of Second Language Subtitled Audio-visual Input on Second Language Grammar Acquisition Performance: An Integrative Review

Previous studies have proven the value of subtitles for vocabulary and comprehension learning in second languages. However, L2 subtitled audio-visual inputs influence on grammar development, a second tricky part of L2 acquisition, has received little attention. This article offers an integrative overview of prior research on the use of subtitled audio-visual input to facilitate L2 grammar learning. Evidence shows that L2 grammar acquisition performance is facilitated by audio-visual input with subtitles in the language, but only for some of the grammatical structures. Grammar learning through L2 Subtitled audio-visual input is substantially less significant than vocabulary learning. Textual enhancement (TE), types of subtitles, learners age, and prior knowledge of the language may also affect grammar acquisition performance. Further research is needed to investigate whether L2 learners grasp of recently learned or previously learned grammar can be improved through L2 subtitled audio-visual input. Additionally, a research gap exists in implementing L2 subtitled audio-visual input in authentic second language classrooms.

Examining the Effect of Textual Enhancement on the Students’ Grammar Achievement

Examining the Effect of Textual Enhancement on the Students’ Grammar Achievement

Employing animation-based TE to activate Chinese children’ cognitive-involvement in L2 feature acquisition

A substantial amount of literature has shown that the input flooding and enhancement (Textual enhancement, TE) technique helps learners to perceive and acquire target features implicitly. Previous studies explored the efficacy of computer-assisted TE interventions in Second Language Acquisition with diverse techniques, but animation has not yet been sufficiently taken into consideration. In this paper, we developed an animation-based TE intervention to promote the primary school children’ acquisition of the linguistic features of English question sentences. The results suggested that learners in experimental group improved their performances in producing questions and statements with a large effect size, as they were found to spontaneously put extra efforts in exploring the related knowledge of the visually enhanced forms. The study presumed that the animation-based TE intervention would stimulate participants’ awareness and curiosity of the target forms, which consequently led to improved performance in tasks both involving precursor knowledge and newly acquired knowledge.

The Effects of Textual Input Enhancement and Inputflooding on the Comprehension and Retention of Macro/ Micro Discourse Markers Functions among Iraqi University EFL Students

Discourse markers (DMs) are essential for improving the quality of speaking and writing as well as increasing comprehension of spoken and written text. This research aims at investigating the effects of two techniques (textual input enhancement and inputflooding) on students' comprehension and retention of macro/ micro discourse markers functions. 96 EFL University students were randomly chosen from a population of 120 students. The study subjects were split into two experimental groups and one control group and they took part in 8 sessions to teach them L2 DMs, by using two techniques, i.e., textual input enhancement and inputflooding. The students are tested before and after the sessions by the comprehension test of DMs functions. The outcomes showed that all two experimental groups did better than the control group in their post-tests. Moreover, the findings indicated a significant difference in the comprehension test between the two experimental groups in favour of the textual input enhancement group. Moreover, the performance of the Textual Enhancement group on the DMs Posttest is somewhat close to its performance in the retention test. On the other hand, the statistically significant effect of the inputflooding technique on the DMs Posttest is greater than its effect on the retention test. It is recommended to use input enhancement techniques to help the EFL students to master L2 materials effectively.

Incidental collocational learning from reading-while-listening and the impact of synchronized textual enhancement

Abstract The present study explored if textual enhancement would promote incidental learning of collocations from reading-while-listening, and if synchronizing the timing of textual enhancement to the audio could affect the efficacy of textual enhancement. Fifty-six Korean speakers engaged in reading-while-listening of two English stories under one of three conditions: no enhancement, target collocations coloured in red, and target collocations dynamically turning to red in synchronization with the audio. The target collocations were 12 adjective-pseudonoun pairs, and participants’ learning was measured with a series of recall and recognition tests on pseudonoun form, meaning, and collocations, recording both response accuracy and latency. The results from mixed-effects modeling revealed that both colouring conditions promoted receptive knowledge about the target collocations, and synchronized colouring further boosted semantic processing of the pseudonouns. The findings indicate that synchronization between textual and audio input could be a useful catalyst to encourage deeper engagement with the enhanced features.

Audio-synchronized textual enhancement in foreign language pronunciation learning from videos

The benefits of multimodal input on foreign language listening comprehension and vocabulary learning are well-established, but only recently has its impact on pronunciation been explored. In this study, we audio-synchronized the highlighting of target words in captions to promote the activation of their phonolexical representations at the time they are auditorily processed and improve phonological updating in the mental lexicon. We recorded the eye movements of 58 L1-Spanish/Catalan learners of English as they watched two videos with target words (TWs) highlighted 500 ms or 300 ms before auditory onset, highlighted from caption onset or, alternatively, under one of two control conditions (unenhanced and uncaptioned). We assessed updating of phonolexical forms in terms of more accurate and faster rejection of mispronunciations of the TWs from pre-to post-test. Results showed that 300 ms synchronized enhancement and unsynchronized enhancement led to longer fixation duration, unsynchronized enhancement reduced TW skipping probability, and both synchronized conditions promoted higher audio-visual synchrony in learners' caption reading. While only the unsynchronized condition resulted in more accurate responses at post-test, all enhancement conditions led to significantly faster rejection of mispronunciations. These initial findings call for further research on audio-synchronized enhancement and its potential benefits for L2 pronunciation learning.

Ronald P. Leow's essential bookshelf: The L2 learning process in instructed second language acquisition (ISLA)

Ronald P. Leow is Professor (Applied Linguistics) in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and Language Program Director of Spanish Language Instruction at Georgetown University. He has initiated and published (over 100 articles and chapters) in several strands of research that include language curriculum development, research methodology, cognitive processes and depth of processing in language learning, (written and computerized) corrective feedback, textual enhancement, reactivity, and CALL. He has contributed to the field his 2015 Model of the L2 Learning Process in ISLA (in Explicit learning in the L2 classroom: A student-centered approach, Routledge) and his 2020 Feedback Processing Framework (in R. M. Manchón (Ed.), Writing and language learning. Advancing research agendas, John Benjamins) to provide a cognitive account for how L2 data and feedback are processed by L2 learners. His i10-index is 58 with over 6,500 citations.

Impact of textual enhancement and input processing on syntactic development of EFL university students in Kuwait

Impact of textual enhancement and input processing on syntactic development of EFL university students in Kuwait

The impact of textual enhancement on the acquisition of third person possessive pronouns by child EFL learners

Abstract A key concern in L2 research and pedagogy is how learner attention can be directed to linguistic forms. Research has shown that textual enhancement (TE) facilitates the noticing of targeted L2 features, leading to cognitive processes beneficial for L2 learning. However, very few studies on TE have had children as participants. This longitudinal study investigated the extent to which TE in model texts could have an effect on the development of third person possessive pronouns (his/her) among young EFL learners. The participants, 30 dyads of 11- to 12-year-old Spanish children from three EFL classes, were randomly assigned to a control group (CG), a treatment group (TG) and a long-term treatment group (LTG). The groups were engaged in two four-stage collaborative writing cycles of 3 weeks each separated by four months. The CG, which self-corrected their own texts, was not exposed to TE, the TG was only exposed to it during the two cycles and the LTG benefitted from this technique during the two writing cycles and the period in-between. The findings revealed statistically significant differences between the LTG and the other two groups after a sustained exposure to TE, which seems to be a useful pedagogical tool to facilitate the children’s noticing of third person possessives.

A Review of the Effects of Textual Enhancement on Second Language Learning

Textual enhancement refers to techniques for making target linguistic features in a text more perceptually salient. Textual enhancement has been frequently studied as a promising instructional method for promoting language learning. This paper reviewed studies on the role of textual enhancement in terms of vocabulary and grammar learning, second language speaking, writing, reading, and pragmatic competence. In addition, this paper also pointed out the problems of current research and the direction of future research. To prove the effectiveness of second language learning, researchers should further explore the effects of textual enhancement in various language environments.

The Effects of Textual Enhancement Technique on the Acquisition of Comparison Degrees of Indonesian Secondary School Students

Textual enhancement technique is a technique that refers to the specific linguistics target through the text. The main purpose of this study was to determine whether the technique of using textual enhancement affects the students' grammar mastery, especially in the comparison degree material. Comparison degree is the process of comparing things, persons, or places through the level of quality, or relation and is formed by adjectives and adverbs. This research method was quantitative in the form of a pre-experimental design. There were 40 Indonesian Secondary School students participating in the study. They were randomly assigned to one control and one experimental group by 20 participants in each group. During the four-week period of the current study, the participants received the instructions and treatment. Then the experimental group was exposed to comparison degrees presented with four different textual enhancement techniques. The control group was exposed to comparison degrees used with a different technique (traditional technique) in teaching activities. The data were collected after instructional sessions during the four weeks through paragraphs focusing on comparison degrees production written by the participants. After the treatment, a comparison degree was also administered to the control group, as a posttest. The results showed that the textual enhancement technique can be an alternative strategy in learning English, significantly affecting Indonesian secondary school students’ comparison degrees.

The impact of textual enhancement and frequency manipulation on incidental learning of collocations from reading

Collocational knowledge is central to communicative competence, but many second language (L2) learners struggle to acquire this aspect. To address this limitation, the present study investigated if textual enhancement and frequency manipulation would affect incidental learning of collocations from reading. Fifty-four first language (L1) Cantonese speakers read two English stories in which 12 adjective–pseudonoun collocations appeared either three or six times. The target collocations were coloured in red under the enhanced condition. Participants’ attentional processes were examined using their eye-movements during reading and stimulated recall comments prompted by their own eye-movements. After reading, unannounced immediate and delayed posttests were administered. The results showed that increased frequency led to greater visual attention to the target collocations in terms of both duration and counts of eye-fixations. Increased frequency further led to better performances on the immediate form and collocation recognition tests. The effects of colouring increased first fixation durations, only when the target collocations appeared six times. Colouring was also linked to higher immediate collocation recognition and delayed meaning recognition and collocation recall scores. Stimulated recall comments revealed that participants noticed the pseudonouns and sometimes utilized their collocate adjectives to infer the meaning of the pseudonouns. The findings of this study demonstrate that textual enhancement and frequency manipulation may affect distinct aspects of collocational learning.

Amount of Exposure to Textually Enhanced Input, Learner Noticing, and L2 Development

Drawing on the attentional framework and the findings of previous empirical research on textual enhancement, the present study investigates whether more exposure to textually enhanced input has positive effects on promoting L2 learners’ noticing and development of a targeted linguistic structure, backshifting of verb tenses in reported speech. Participants were 71 Korean English as a foreign language (EFL) learners from four intact classes of a university. Four classes were randomly assigned to one of the two experimental conditions: single vs. multiple exposure. Underlining and retrospective debriefing questionnaires were employed to tap into their attentional processes. Results showed that more exposure to enhanced input promoted significantly greater noticing of the targeted structure. However, single and multiple exposure to the enhanced input did not differentially affect learners’ development of receptive knowledge or their ability to produce the target form in writing. Theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical implications are discussed, and directions for future research are proposed.

명시적 문법 지도와 본문 강화가 완료 구문 습득에 미치는 영향

This study explores whether textual enhancement improves learners' acquisition of prefect tense structures in English. The perfect tense in English was taught explicitly in this study and then reinforced through input enhancement activity. The experiment involved 44 undergraduate students (experimental group 23, control group 21) taking practical English at a local four-year university in Korea. After explicit instruction, the two groups took a pretest, a reading comprehension activity, and then a post-test. After four weeks, the delayed test was conducted. In the experiment, the only difference between the two groups was whether the text was reinforced in the subsequent reading activity after the pretest. In online tests, participants were required to select the correct verb tense from multiple choice questions. The two groups had similar test scores, and there was no difference in the perfect tense acquisition between the two. However, when examining the differences within groups, the experimental group retained relatively high levels of perfect tense knowledge on the delayed posttest, whereas the control group did not. The results of the study demonstrated the synergistic effect of the textual enhancement technique when it is coupled with explicit grammar instruction. Furthermore, this study is important in that explicit grammar instruction is separated from input enforcement to allow the effects of it to be examined independently.

Joint event causality extraction using dual-channel enhanced neural network

Event Causality Extraction (ECE) plays an essential role in many Natural Language Processing (NLP), such as event prediction and dialogue generation. Recent research in NLP treats ECE as a sequence labeling problem. However, these methods tend to extract the events and their relevant causality using a single collapsed model, which usually focuses on the textual contents while ignoring the intra-element transitions inside events and inter-event causality transition association across events. In general, ECE should condense the complex relationship of intra-event and the causality transition association among events. Therefore, we propose a novel dual-channel enhanced neural network to address this limitation by taking both global event mentions and causality transition association into account. To extract complete event mentions, a Textual Enhancement Channel(TEC) is constructed to learn important intra-event features from the training data with a wider perception field. Then the Knowledge Enhancement Channel(KEC) incorporates external causality transition knowledge using a Graph Convolutional Network (GCN) to provide complementary information on event causality. Finally, we design a dynamic fusion attention mechanism to measure the importance of the two channels. Thus, our proposed model can incorporate both semantic-level and knowledge-level representations of events to extract the relevant event causality. Experimental results on three public datasets show that our model outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.

A Study on the Use of Preferable Textual Enhancement Techniques From L2 Learners in the Movie Before Sunset

This study aims to examine whether textual enhancement (TE) saliency leads to second-language learning and to determine whether different types of TE influence second-language learning. The study invited three advanced level college students as participants using material from the movie Before Sunset (Linklater, 2004). In this case study, Participant A used an underline format, Participant B used a story map, and Participant C used a color-code format. They each had four tests (showing a TE strategy, form recalling, content remembering, and language completion rate). The results showed that each participant successfully used their individual TE strategy. Since Participant A primarily focused on language, his second test results were good, but his scores declined two and four weeks later. Participant C primarily paid attention to content; she performed well in a test relevant to the content but was the worst in language tests. Participant B performed the best across all tests because she focused on both language and content. This study suggests that attention is necessary for second-language learning, but that attention should be paid to form and meaning simultaneously. When it combines form and meaning, TE will be effective in secondlanguage learning.