Grammaticality judgments, metalinguistic awareness and the age factor in EFL

Comunicación presentada en el XXII lnternational Conference of AEDEAN, Lleida, 17-19 December 1998. -- Pere Gallardo and Enric Llurda, editors.This paper deals with the issue of the nature of grammatica/ity judgments {G)s) by second /anguage (Ll) learners of different age groups in an EFL context The two main aims of the study were: (i) to compare the results obtained in GJs tasks by EFL subjects of different age groups and (ii) to determine if a higher cognitive development is related tó a higher degree of metafinguistic awareness. The results show that there are important differences between the two age groups in both implicit (Gfs task) and explicit (language awareness) know/edge of the target language in favor of the older learners.The research projecl reported on here has been funded by bolh the Ministerio de Educación y Cu!tura (Dirección General de Enseñanza Superior, grant number PS95•0025) and by the Universidad del País Vasco (Vicerrectorado de Investigación, grant number 103.l30-HA087/97). Bolh grants are hereby gratefully acknowledged

The development of ESP: language description and its influence of pedagogical materials

This paper provides a brief overview of the dijferent phases of development undergone by the ESP/EST move- ment since its beginnings in the 1960s. The aim of the survey is twofold: on the one hand the main approaches to ESP/EST will be identified and analyzed with respect to the five relevant features provided by West (1995). On the other, we want to consider how the dijferent language descriptions in each of the phases influenced the type of teaching materials used. The knowledge of the evolution of the movement will make us more aware of the dijferent issues at stake when we have to make decisions as ESP teachers and materials designers.

THE RELEVANCE OF ATTENTION TO L2 FORM IN COMMUNICATIVE CLASSROOM CONTEXTS

AbstractThis paper presents an overview of the rationale for the return to the relevance of L2 form in the communicative language classroom, and provides ideas about how to draw learners’ attention to formal aspects of language within the backdrop of a task-based approach to language teaching. The paper offers an updated review of the approach to grammar instruction known as Focus-on-Form (FonF), an instructional option that calls for an integration of grammar and communication in non-native language teaching, and provides research-informed insights that might be of use for the classroom practitioner. Several avenues for research on FonF are also presented, considering new instructional settings and the access to computer-mediated communication. A call for the strengthening of the link between second language acquisition (SLA) research findings and language pedagogy is made as a way to contribute to more ecologically valid classroom research and pedagogy.ResumenEste trabajo se centra en los motivos que han llevado a volver a poner de relieve la pertinencia de la forma lingüística en la enseñanza de lenguas dentro de un enfoque comunicativo y proporciona ideas de cómo hacer que los alumnos dirijan su atención hacia esos aspectos formales dentro del marco de la enseñanza/aprendizaje por tareas. El trabajo proporciona una revisión actualizada de la aproximación didáctica conocida como ‘atención a la forma’, una opción pedagógica que busca integrar la gramática y la comunicación en la enseñanza de lenguas no maternas, y proporciona ideas que provienen de las investigaciones realizadas y que pueden ser útiles para el profesorado. También se identifican varias líneas de investigación sobre la atención a la forma teniendo en cuenta nuevos escenarios de enseñanza y el acceso a la comunicación a través del ordenador. Se aboga por reforzar la interrelación entre los resultados de las investigaciones sobre la adquisición de segundas lenguas y la práctica docente para beneficio de ambos campos

Native Vs Non-Native Strategies in Rendering Grammaticality Judgments

Las tareas que hacen uso de los juicios de gramaticalidad han desempeñado un importante papel en el desarrollo de la lingüística teórica pero hasta hace poco tiempo no se les ha prestado demasiada atención cuando las utilizan los aprendices de una segunda lengua (L2). En este trabajo analizamos la producción hablada de parejas y los juicios individuales de 36 informantes españoles que estudian inglés como L2 y ofrecen juicios de gramaticalidad en español e inglés. Nuestros resultados corroboran los de investigaciones previas y demuestran que las estrategias utilizadas para juzgar frases en la primera y la segunda lengua no son las mismas. Sugerimos, de acuerdo con Gass (2001), que los juicios de gramaticalidad deben utilizarse como técnicas de obtención de datos pero en combinación con otros métodos para que los resultados sean más fiables.Grammaticality judgment (GJ) tasks have played an important role in the development of theoretical linguistics, but the study of their nature with learners of a second language (L2) has not received much attention until quite recently. In this paper we examine dyad speakaloud protocols and individual judgments by 36 Spanish subjects studying English as an L2 and rendering GJs in Spanish and in English. Our findings support those of previous research and show that strategies used in judging sentences in the subjects’ first and second languages are not the same. In line with Gass (2001) we suggest that GJs should be used as a data-gathering technique but in combination with other methods in order to obtain more reliable results

Lexical Crosslinguistic Influence in L3 Spanish by Tagalog–English Bilinguals

Crosslinguistic influence (CLI) has emerged as a topic of interest in the field of third language acquisition (L3A) due to the increasing focus on multilingual learners. Research has considered many different issues, such as the roles of typology/psychotypology, the influence of the L2, and L2 proficiency. Thus, the present study focuses on two less-studied factors, language dominance and L3 proficiency, in the lexical CLI in the oral and written output by 52 Tagalog–English early bilinguals with Spanish as their L3. They were grouped according to their language dominance based on the findings from the Bilingual Language Profile, and according to their Spanish proficiency. The experimental tasks included a written and an oral picture description task, followed by an exit questionnaire, wherein they expressed their perception about the similarities and differences between the languages in question. Instances of lexical CLI were identified according to the classifications used in previous studies. The results suggest that language dominance is not a significant predictor of the source language of the participants’ lexical CLI production. However, the results do indicate that proficiency plays a significant role in the number and type of lexical CLI production. In other words, the number of lexical CLI produced decreased as L3 proficiency increased

EFL task-based interaction: Does task modality impact on language-related episodes?

Research on L2 interaction has shown that task modality (written vs. oral) influences language learning opportunities. However, most research has been carried out in ESL settings and few studies have investigated task modality differences in EFL contexts, where both quantity and quality of exposure to the target language differ considerably. In addition, most research has only focused on how task modality impacts on the incidence, nature and outcome of language-related episodes (LREs), but has not considered the relationship between task modality and learners’ level of engagement. This chapter examines the impact of task modality on the LREs and level of engagement in the oral interaction of 44 Spanish-Basque EFL learners while completing four communicative tasks. The findings point to a significant impact of task modality on the incidence, nature and outcome of LREs but a minor impact on learners’ level of engagement.Gobierno Vasco - beca predoctoral BFI08.28

Task-modality and L1 use in EFL oral interaction

[EN] This study examines whether task-modality (speaking vs. speaking+writing) influences first language (L1) use in task-based English as a foreign language (EFL) learner–learner interaction. Research on the topic has shown that different task-modality triggers different learning opportunities with collaborative speaking tasks drawing learners’ attention to meaning and tasks that also incorporate a written component drawing attention more to formal linguistic aspects. Research has also shown that a balanced L1 use might be positive in learner–learner interaction, as it helps learners maintain their interest in the task and acts as a strategy to make difficult tasks more manageable. This article analyses L1 use and the functions it served during the oral interaction of 44 EFL Spanish learners while they completed four collaborative tasks: two speaking tasks (picture placement and picture differences) and two speaking+writing tasks (dictogloss and text editing). Findings point to a clear impact of task-modality on L1 use, as speaking+writing tasks made learners fall back on their L1 more frequently. L1 functions were also task dependent with grammar deliberations more frequent in speaking+writing tasks and vocabulary searches in speaking tasks.Gobierno Vasco: referencia IT-311-10 (grupo consolidado), y referencia BFI08.281 (beca predoctoral) Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU): UFI 11/0

Pushed Output and Noticing in a Dictogloss: Task Implementation in the CLIL Classroom

This study investigates the role of output tasks in noticing a certain target form upon receiving subsequent input. Sixteen adolescent learners from an intact CLIL classroom carried out a multi-stage dictogloss task collaboratively and individually. They followed the usual steps in this type of task (listen and jot down key words, text reconstruction). Then they listened to the text once again and compared it with their production. The study revealed that (a) pushed output affects noticing in subsequent input and provides learners the opportunity to notice formal aspects of language and (b) pairs working in collaboration did not obtain better results.El presente estudio investiga cómo una tarea productiva puede promover la atención a la forma al recibir input tras dicha producción. Dieciséis aprendices adolescentes llevaron a cabo una dictoglosia en varios pasos de forma colaborativa e individual de la siguiente forma: escucharon un texto y anotaron palabras clave, reconstruyeron el texto; volvieron a escuchar el texto y lo compararon con su producción escrita. Los resultados revelaron que (a) la producción y consiguiente input son beneficiosos, dado que los aprendices dirigieron su atención a aspectos formales de la lengua; (b) los alumnos que trabajaron en grupo no obtuvieron mejores resultados.The research was supported by the following research grants: UFI11/06 from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), and IT-311-10 from the Basque Government

Editorial: Introduction to the special issue on English language learning in primary schools

The early introduction of foreign languages, mainly English, in pre-primary and primary education in different parts of the world is an undisputable fact in today’s world, as clearly illustrated in Enever (2018). One of the reasons for this educational change is the belief in “the earlier the better” notion, which has already been shown not to hold true when linguistic outcomes are assessed in foreign language settings (see García Mayo & García Lecumberri, 2003; Huang, 2015). Age is just one variable among many others that need to be taken into account when assessing child language learning in educational contexts (see Butler, 2019), and that is the reason why more research on identifying those other variables is necessary