Written Production Task Research Articles

The effectiveness of Processing Instruction and Production-Based Instruction on the acquisition of the past tense in Greek by child heritage learners: A preliminary study

The study compares the effectiveness of two communicative approaches to grammar teaching, Processing Instruction (PI) and Production-Based instruction with collaborative tasks (PB), on the acquisition of past tense verb morphology by child heritage learners of Greek. Fourteen child learners of Greek, students at a heritage language school in Hungary, participated in the study. Half of them received PI instruction, which focuses only on the input, providing structured-input activities, and the other half received PB instruction, which focuses on the production of output with meaningful collaborative tasks. Both teaching interventions included a short explicit grammar teaching module. A pre-/post-test design was employed, which consisted of two tasks: a written production task and a sentence repetition task. Results revealed significant gains for both PI and PB instruction. However, both teaching interventions yielded better results in the written production task than in the more cognitively demanding sentence repetition task. Additionally, children who had little or no previous exposure to Greek seem to have profited more in the more cognitively demanding task, irrespective of the type of teaching intervention.

Error Analysis in Second Language Acquisition (SLA): Types and Frequencies of Grammatical Errors of Simple Present and Past Tense in the Elicited Written Production Task of Arab EFL Undergraduate Learners

This investigation aimed to examine the types and frequencies of grammatical errors of present and past tense and agreement in the elicited written production task (EWPT) of Arab EFL learners. The sample of the study comprised 67 Arab EFL undergraduates selected through a simple random sampling method and subdivided into three proficiency levels. The data collection instrument was the EWPT, which consisted of two passages and a total of 46 test items. The EWPT was collected and the errors committed by the students were identified, classified, and analyzed in frequencies. Then, statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 21. The findings demonstrated two basic types of grammatical errors: error of misformation (EM) and error of omission (EO). Overall results revealed that incorrect use of inflectional morphemes was higher for the EM than for the EO of inflectional morphemes across the three groups of participants. The ungrammatical EM is characterized by the use of incorrect forms, including misusing phonologically similar words, incorrect suffixation, substitution, as well as overgeneralization of be verb forms. Based on these findings, some recommendations and pedagogical implications were proposed, which might assist EFL teachers in developing feasible teaching propositions and policies.

The additive use of prosody and morphosyntax in L2 German

AbstractThis study investigates whether the use of prosodic cues during instruction facilitates the processing of German accusative case markers. Two groups of third semester L1 English learners of L2 German completed Processing Instruction (PI) with aural input: Learners in the PI+P group heard sentences that included focused prosodic cues; learners in the PI group heard sentences with monotone prosody. The effects of training were assessed through an offline comprehension task, a written production task, and an online self-paced reading (SPR) task. The results for the offline tasks showed that the groups were similar with respect to their offline comprehension and production. The SPR task showed that both groups used case markers to interpret word order online to some extent; however, only the PI+P group did so in all conditions. These results suggest that prosody does play a role in (morpho)syntactic processing, and that covert activation of prosodic structures can facilitate processing during online reading tasks.

Context and Generalizability in Multisite L2 Classroom Research: The Impact of Deductive Versus Guided Inductive Instruction

AbstractThis study employed a multisite design to investigate the differential impact of deductive and guided inductive instruction for second language (L2) grammar development in ecologically valid classroom contexts. Students (n = 138) from eight intact third‐year L2 Spanish classes in three public high schools in the United States received deductive instruction (n = 49), guided inductive instruction via PACE (n = 49), or no explicit instruction (n = 40) on the pronoun se in non‐agentive constructions. Learning was measured with pre‐, post‐, and delayed posttests of auditory acceptability judgment and written production tasks. Multilevel models indicated that both instructional groups evidenced L2 development in producing se in non‐agentive contexts, but only deductive groups were more accurate than controls for acceptability judgments. Findings also provided evidence of overgeneralization of se, especially for deductive groups. Intraclass correlation coefficients revealed variance related to the socio‐local contexts of classrooms, teachers, and schools.

Engagement and emerging elementary‐level L2 Spanish: Detailing the status quo and identifying opportunities

AbstractWhile many elementary‐level children in the United States still do not have access to a second/additional language (L2), an increasing number are educated via Foreign Language Exposure (FLEX) tracks. Our two‐semester study examines elementary‐level L2 learners' engagement, emerging L2 Spanish vocabulary use, and awareness of the arbitrary nature of the relationship between form and meaning, and if this changes from a fall to a subsequent spring semester. The study examines learners' language engagement as operationalized by use of language‐related episodes, self‐corrections, modified output, turns, and learners' performance on four tasks: two information‐gap picture‐description tasks, one written production task, and one form–meaning relational task. Results indicate that, even with minimal FLEX‐based exposure, learners demonstrate positive gains in terms of L2 engagement, use of L2 Spanish, and understanding of the arbitrary nature of form–meaning relationships.

Idazteko zailtasunak detektatzeko eta esku hartzeko proposamena Lehen Hezkuntzan

Detecting and resolving writing difficulties is of the utmost importance for student success, mostly because school assessment systems are based on written production tasks. Students writing difficulties come from a variety of sources: neurodevelopmental and language source, among others. The aim of this article is to propose a checklist to identify writing difficulties in young students learning to write. Examples and young student productions of writing difficulties are shown. The examples were obtained in a school training session.

Entwicklung der Verbstellung beim fortgeschrittenen Erwerb des Deutschen als Fremdsprache

This article investigates the acquisition of verb placement in German as a foreign language at an advanced stage of development. The main objective of the investigation is to analyse written and spoken language production in terms of the use of subject-verb-inversion, verbal bracket, and verb-final placement in subordinate clauses. The results reveal a discrepancy between written and spoken language production with respect to correct usage of the verb placement rules. While correctness in the written production task exceeded 97% for all phenomena, the oral translation task generated less correct sentences, but only for inversion and verb-final placement. The non-target usage of inversion and verb-final pattern in spoken production points to processing problems when translating from Polish into German, which are further confirmed by lower accuracy for these two phenomena. At the moment of testing, the verbal bracket has already been acquired, which is in line with the universal developmental sequence in the acquisition of German syntax.

Vulnerability and stability of Differential Object Marking in Romanian heritage speakers

Differential Object Marking (DOM) marks some objects overtly with specific morphology and is regulated by several semantic and pragmatic factors. DOM exhibits synchronic and diachronic variability within and across languages, especially in bilingual contexts, and the study of heritage languages offers a unique perspective on the forces that shape it. This study investigates knowledge of DOM in Romanian and its interaction with accusative clitic doubling (CD) in native speakers of Romanian in Romania and first- and second-generation Romanian immigrants to the United States. The results of an oral production task, a written production task, and a written and auditory comprehension task show convergence between the adult immigrant group and the Romanians in the homeland. When divergent uses of DOM and accusative clitic omission occurred, these were mostly produced by the heritage speakers with early onset of bilingualism, consistent with findings of age effects in heritage language acquisition and a Differential Access Model of heritage language grammars. We discuss these results in the contexts of DOM vulnerability in other heritage languages, such as Spanish, and consider why DOM in Romanian might be comparatively better preserved by the adult immigrants and heritage speakers.

The Dynamic Multicausality of Age of First Bilingual Language Exposure: Evidence From a Longitudinal Content and Language Integrated Learning Study With Dense Time Serial Measurements

AbstractThis study reveals hitherto overlooked effects of age of onset (AO) in immersive school contexts, using multiple measures over time so as to focus on fluctuations and trends in individual data. The second language (L2) English development was studied in 91 children who received 50–50 content and language integrated learning (CLIL) instruction in German and English and varied in their AO (5, 7, or 9). Data collection occurred 4 times annually for up to 8 school years (ages 5–12), via oral and written production tasks, motivation questionnaires, and interviews. Meaningfully integrating quantitative analyses (GAMM) and qualitative analyses, the study focuses not only on the process itself and on quantification of change but also on the underlying environmental and psychological reasons for change. Results reveal that (a) slightly later CLIL beginners (AO 7) turn out to show similar L2 development to that of the earlier beginners (AO 5), (b) besides external states and events, many internal states at any given moment contribute to significant L2 growth, (c) learners show significant improvement in the last 2.5 years of primary school, starting from age 10, and (d) there are significant differences between L2 oral and written performance in terms of height and shape of learner trajectories across (pre)primary school.

A ELABORAÇÃO DE TAREFAS PARA O ENSINO DE LÍNGUA PORTUGUESA A PARTIR DA TEORIA BAKHTINIANA DE GÊNEROS DO DISCURSO

RESUMO Ancorado na perspectiva teórica do Círculo de Bakhtin, este artigo propõe uma reflexão sobre critérios de elaboração e de avaliação de tarefas de produção escrita para o ensino de Português como Língua Adicional (PLA). Considerando que a formação do professor passa, em grande medida, pelas suas práticas de elaboração, avaliação e adaptação de tarefas didáticas, de acordo com as necessidades de seu grupo, torna-se premente a discussão e a reflexão sobre os processos envolvidos nessas atribuições do trabalho do professor, sobretudo na área de PLA. Por meio da explicitação das etapas de construção de uma tarefa de produção escrita, e pela apresentação e análise dos parâmetros de avaliação da produção textual, busca-se contribuir para a discussão sobre elaboração de materiais didáticos que tenham como base a perspectiva de gêneros do discurso de Bakhtin, já que a área de PLA no Brasil ainda carece de políticas linguísticas que estabeleçam parâmetros direcionadores para o ensino nos contextos em que o português como língua adicional é usado.

Computer-mediated text-based and audio-based corrective feedback, perceptual style and L2 development

The present study investigates the effects of computer-mediated text-based and audio-based corrective feedback (CF) along with the moderating effects of the participants' preferred perceptual style on the development of the English article system by Iranian EFL learners. The study includes 89 intermediate level learners who were assigned to computer-mediated text-based, audio-based and control conditions. The participants were also identified in terms of whether their preferred perceptual style was read/write or auditory based on their answers to a perceptual style inventory. During treatment sessions, the participants of the experimental groups performed several written production tasks and depending on their treatment condition received either asynchronous text-based or audio-based CF for their errors. Two testing instruments, an oral production task and a writing task, were used to measure learners’ improvement as a result of the treatment tasks. Findings indicate that both text-based and audio-based CF are effective for L2 development while audio-based CF is more effective than text-based CF. Furthermore, the results provide evidence that matching CF modality with learners' perceptual style further promotes the effectiveness of computer-mediated CF.

Inherent Aspect and L1 Transfer in the L2 Acquisition of Spanish Grammatical Aspect

AbstractThe aim of this article is to show that the use of Spanish grammatical aspect is biased by inherent aspect depending on the learner's first language (L1). It considers both the Lexical Aspect Hypothesis (LAH; Andersen, 1986, and his followers) and the L1 Transfer Hypothesis (Izquierdo & Collins, 2008; McManus, 2015), and it compares the use of Spanish past tenses by L1 Dutch and L1 English learners at first stages of acquisition. Differences in grammatical aspect in both L1 and the second language (L2) predict that learners will have difficulties acquiring grammatical differences such as the contrast between the Preterit and the Imperfect. Recent studies claim that not all learners are biased by the traditional Vendlerian lexical aspect typology (Domínguez et al., 2013; González, 2013), which may mean that refinement of the LAH is necessary. For our study, L1 English and Dutch learners of Spanish performed the same written production task, which involved the retelling of a story after watching a muted video. The results, based on an approximate binomial distribution analysis, show that the use of both the Preterit and the Imperfect by English‐speaking learners is biased by dynamicity contrasts. Furthermore, their overuse of Preterit to complete the written task shows L1 transfer from the English past tense, which can be uttered in perfective and imperfective contexts. On the other hand, the results of L1 Dutch speakers show that the use of Spanish grammatical aspect is biased by the terminative‐durative classification, and that they prefer the Present Perfect in perfective contexts, also showing L1 transfer.

Agreement With Conjoined NPs Reflects Language Experience.

An important question within psycholinguistic research is whether grammatical features, such as number values on nouns, are probabilistic or discrete. Similarly, researchers have debated whether grammatical specifications are only set for individual lexical items, or whether certain types of noun phrases (NPs) also obtain number valuations at the phrasal level. Through a corpus analysis and an oral production task, we show that conjoined NPs can take both singular and plural verb agreement and that notional number (i.e., the numerosity of the referent of the subject noun phrase) plays an important role in agreement with conjoined NPs. In two written production tasks, we show that participants who are exposed to plural (versus singular or unmarked) agreement with conjoined NPs in a biasing story are more likely to produce plural agreement with conjoined NPs on a subsequent production task. This suggests that, in addition to their sensitivity to notional information, conjoined NPs have probabilistic grammatical specifications that reflect their distributional properties in language. These results provide important evidence that grammatical number reflects language experience, and that this language experience impacts agreement at the phrasal level, and not just the lexical level.

The Markedness in Acquiring Do-support in Negation and Inversion by Adult Native-Arabic Speakers Learning English

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the markedness phenomenon of Do-support as a specific-language property poses greater difficulties for adult Arabic-speaking learners thereby bringing about more L1 transfer than the auxiliary verbs BE and HAVE. Do-support in the inter-language of adult native-Arabic speakers learning English was insufficiently addressed despite the complexity and that Arabic lacks do-support in negation and inversion. This study was conducted to address this gap within the theoretical framework of Differential Markedness Hypothesis (DMH). A sample of 100 Jordanian students attending Mutah University participated in the study where data was collected using a Multiple-Choice Task (MCT), and a Written Production Task (WPT), involving semi-structured interviews with 30 students from the student sample. The study used descriptive and inferential statistics to analyse the data where the findings showed a committed relationship between the auxiliary type and degree of difficulty that learners in both groups experienced with DO, BE and HAVE. Notably, Do-support poses greater difficulty compared to BE and HAVE where its usage is problematic particularly for beginners, resulting in more incidences of the Arabic influence. The data from the interviews support the results of the two tasks: learners find L2 marked features more difficult than L2 features, which are universal and genuinely part of the syntactic structure. The findings in this study will contribute towards a better understanding of how to develop an improved teaching process to more effective on the markedness and difficulty of Do-support compared to BE and HAVE. Keywords: Arabic L1 influence; auxiliary verbs; do-support; Differential Markedness Hypothesis

The Use of Mitigation Devices in Heritage Learners of Chinese

This study investigated the pragmatic competence of Chinese heritage learners (CHLs) on the use of three Chinese-specific mitigation devices: Chinese sentence final particles (SFPs), yixia/xia “for a while”, and reduplication of verbs. Their performances were compared with those of foreign language learners of Chinese (CFLs) and native Chinese speakers (NSs). Twenty-three NSs and 60 Chinese language learners in the intermediate and advanced-level classes (31 CHLs and 29 CFLs) participated in the study. Participants completed a computerized written production task that included two types of situations (PD-low and high situations) based on two contextual factors: the power relationship (P) and social distance (D). The statistical findings showed no notable significant heritage advantage; however, the post-hoc analysis revealed the unique nature of CHLs’ pragmatic competence, vacillating between CFLs and NSs. Specifically, CHLs outperformed CFLs in the use of SFPs and yixia/xia in both PD-low and high situations, but they fell behind the NSs in certain aspects, especially in their linguistic knowledge on SFPs and yixia/xia.

Pragmatic competence of heritage learners of Chinese and its relationship to social contact

AbstractThis study aimed to investigate: (1) Chinese heritage learners’ (CHLs) pragmatic competence in comparison to foreign language learners of Chinese (CFLs) and (2) the relationship between CHLs’ pragmatic competence and their language contact in a range of social settings. Focal linguistic forms included sentence final particles (SFPs) and formulaic expressions (FORs). Sixty Chinese language learners in the intermediate- and advanced-level classes (31 CHLs and 29 CFLs) participated in the study. Participants completed a computerized listening comprehension task, a written production task, and a language contact questionnaire. Findings showed that CHLs outperformed CFLs in both comprehension and production of Chinese sentence final particles and formulaic expressions. The analysis of language contact questionnaire revealed that learners who reported a greater amount of interactive language contact achieved higher scores on the pragmatic tasks, regardless of the constructs and skill domains assessed.

The Acquisition of Do-Support in Negation and Interrogatives by Adult Arab Learners of English: A Preliminary Study

This preliminary study investigates the acquisition of do-support in negation and interrogatives by adult Arab learners of English. The main question is to identify how Arabic language influences the acquisition of do-support. The influence of L2 proficiency level in the acquisition of do-support is also addressed. The study is conducted within the perspective of Full Transfer/Full Access Hypothesis and Differential Markedness Hypothesis. Do-support as a marked feature of English has received little or no attention in previous work on the acquisition of English as a second language by adult Arab learners. This study seeks to fill that gap by documenting the acquisition of do-support in negation and interrogatives. To address these aims, a written production task, a multiple-choice task and a semi-structured interview were administered to 10 adult Arab learners of low and advanced English proficiency levels. The findings indicate that the role of Arabic is noted. While not the source of errors, it acts as a strategy that adult Arab learners use to dealing with limited L2 knowledge and the markedness of do-support, which is the main source of difficulty shown by adult Arab learners. The role of learners’ L1 is selective according to the learners’ perception of what is difficult or not. Moreover, a significant relationship was found between L2 proficiency level and the mastery of do-support in that high- proficiency learners outperform low-proficiency learners. It is recommended that future research examine the acquisition and markedness of do-support in the interlanguage of Arabic-speaking children.

An investigation of the reliability and validity of peer, self-, and teacher assessment

Alternative types of assessment have been introduced to align to students’ learning aims. Although the growing body of literature about alternative types of assessment such as peer-assessment and self-assessment shed light on the advantages and benefits of embedding assessment in classroom activities, there is no consensus on the consistency and accuracy of these types of assessment. Therefore this study attempted to investigate the reliability and validity of self-assessment and peer assessment of Iranian EFL learners’ written and oral production data. The data were obtained from 32 upper-intermediate students who were each required to write a three-paragraph essay and present a ten-minute lecture. The results indicated that peer assessment was more reliable in assessing oral production than written production; however, self-assessment was highly reliable in written production assessment. Moreover, there was a higher correlation between peer assessment and teacher assessment in assessing written production than oral production. While there was a high correlation between self-assessment and teacher assessment in assessing written production, the correlation between self-assessment and teacher assessment in assessing oral production was not significant. It can be concluded that self-, peer, and teacher assessment are both reliable and valid, though they differed for oral and written production tasks.

Pronunciation Training Facilitates the Learning and Retention of L2 Grammatical Structures

AbstractThe present study investigated the impact of pronunciation training on the learning and retention of second language (L2) grammatical structures. By drawing on the phonological saliency of stress placement in German separable‐ and inseparable‐prefix verbs, the study explored whether enhancing explicit instruction through pronunciation training can boost learners’ accuracy with the target grammatical form. Learners’ command of separable‐ and inseparable‐prefix verbs was tested prior to and after a grammar lesson using a listening task in which participants identified whether target verbs contained a separable or inseparable prefix and a written production task in which participants described pictures using separable‐ and inseparable‐prefix verbs. Results revealed significant and sustained improvement on both the listening and written production task among the grammar + pronunciation group, which suggests that pronunciation training can facilitate the learning and retention of L2 grammatical structures over and above explicit instruction.

Spanish heritage language learners vs. L2 learners: What CAF reveals about written proficiency

Recently, great interest has emerged in identifying the learning needs of heritage language (HL) learners. In comparing HL and second language (L2) learners, research suggests that L2 learners outperform HL learners when examining writing abilities (Montrul, 2010; Potowski, 2013). However, complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) have been overlooked when examining HL learners’ writing proficiency, and it could provide a better picture of their writing skills in a spontaneous untimed assignment. To address this issue, 28 L2 learners and 18 HL learners completed an untimed written production task on a non-academic subject and their written proficiency was assessed through CAF measures (Norris & Ortega, 2009). Results showed HL learners significantly outperformed L2 learners on two complexity measures: accuracy and fluency. A possible explanation for these findings could be the type of task used (more spontaneous, less-controlled), which taps into a more implicit type of knowledge, favoring HL learners (Bowles, 2011).