How does TBLT Affect the Emergence of Complexity? :Usage-based Analysis of Written Production of an EFL Learner - Tomoko Tode (Niigata University of Health and Welfare) tode@nuhw.ac.jp
- Hideki Sakai (Shinshu University)
This Study… - the purpose = to explore how a task-based language teaching (TBLT) affects interlanguage development
- a case study of one learner receiving TBLT
- Time-series analysis was conducted in the framework of a usage-based theory of second language acquisition
A Usage-based Model of Language (Langacker, 2000) - Grammar = a network of exemplars and their schemas that emerge from actual usage
| - Transfer V NP NP
- send NP NP give NP NP
- send me a package send you an e-mail give her a lift
| - Emphasize the importance of semantics
- No clear boundary between lexicon and grammar
| Children’s early language is item-based - Verb-Island Hypothesis (Tomasello, 1992)
- “… the best predictor of this child’s use of a given verb on a given day was not her use of other verbs on the same day, but rather her use of that same verb on immediately preceding days.” (Tomasello, 2003, pp. 117-118)
Children produce novel utterances by usage-based syntactic operations - a longitudinal case study of a child (Lieven et al. 2003)
- Data was collected five days per week for six weeks.
- The child’s creative utterance was based on previously learned item-based constructions, on which small modifications were made via usage-based syntactic operations.
| | | - I want a __. I have some toast.
- I want a paper. I want a knife.
| | | Abstraction occurs gradually through frequent experience | | | - Where’s the W?
- Where’s your W?
- Where are they?
- This is my cup.
- (exemplars and low-level schema)
| | | - The network is gradually complexified through frequent experience of exemplars.
| | | | | L2 acquisition is basically usage-based. - L2 knowledge of beginning or false-beginning EFL learners is item-based. (Tode, 2003; Tode, submitted for publication)
- item-based constructions → schematization (e.g., Mellow, 2006; Zyzik, 2006)
However… - various factors specific to L2 acquisition (e.g., cognitive development; L1 transfer; explicit instruction)
- Complexity Theory: need for in-depth longitudinal case studies (De Bot et al. 2007; Larsen-Freeman, 2006; Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008)
Underlying Principles - TBLT (Willis & Willis, 2007)
| | - Language is learned through use.
| - Grammar emerges from actual usage.
| - Start with meaning → Focus on language
| - Emphasis on semantics and form-meaning connections
| - Early communication is primarily lexical.
| - Early language is based on item-based constructions.
| The Language Use Cycle of EFL Learners Receiving TBLT | | | | | | | | | - Item-based constructions
- (a network of exemplars and low-level schemas)
| | | | | | | | | - How does the participant produce novel language during the period of the TBLT?
- How does the TBLT affect the interlanguage development of the participant?
the Participant Taro - a freshman majoring in speech, language and hearing sciences
- taking a required EFL class for freshmen of a university
- English proficiency: false-beginning level
- He volunteered to participate in the data collection of this study.
the EFL class Taro took - 90-minute class; once a week (14 meetings)
- Instruction period: October 1, 2008 – January 7, 2009
- the teacher = the first researcher of the study
- The teacher designed tasks based on the coursebook, which is not task-based by itself.
- Coursebook used: a collection of reading material on the topic of health & social welfare issues
Syllabus | | | | | | | - writing a script to present the history and roles of Paralympics
| - taking an interview exam to be admitted to a child-welfare department of a university
| | | | | | | the Cycle of Pretask-Task-FFI: the case of the unit of disability sports | | - Reading a passage about Paralympics
| | | - Mini-lectures (A & B) on different aspects of Paralympics
- - Half of students attend Lecture A
- - The other half attend Lecture B
- Students who have attended different lectures make groups of four and convey what they have heard to each other.
| | | - Writing a script for a presentation titled the history and the roles of Paralympics.
| | | - Feedback to the whole class and each group by the teacher
- Modifying the scripts based on the feedback
- Reproducing
| Data Collection - Main data: English essays
- Written in the first researcher’s office on an individual basis
- 5 times during the study period (twice per month)
- Under the same title “My Role as a QOL Supporter”
- Without consulting anything
- Subordinate data: Stimulated recall responses, collected immediately after writing the essay
- Instructional data: instructional log, teaching material, written production the participant made in the classroom etc.
RQ1:How does Taro produce novel language? Method of Analysis - Sources of novel language in each essay except the first essay were identified.
- similar expressions or subschema in previous essays (←previous essays, SR)
- pedagogical intervention that seems to have affected the novel language (←instructional data, SR)
- explicit knowledge learned in middle or high school (←SR)
Results Previous essays - 1st: So, I study hard every day. ⇒2nd : I’m studying every day in Niigata University of Healthy because I want to ST in the future.
| - 1st : ST is speech, language and hearing Therapy. ST is very important. ⇒Subschema: ST is __. ⇒2nd: ST is ‘never give up’ heart.
| - 4th: Now, I think that I wish I had spoken with him. ⇒ 5th: I like speaking with my friends.
| TBLT example of enable and encourage - Input from the text: They’re about enabling and encouraging disabled people to take part in sport….
- + FFI: encourage (a person) to do
- ⇒ 2nd essay: I’m enable and encouraging him/her to speech and hear.
TBLT example of communicate - Production by Taro & his partner : Therefore, he can’t communication ….
- ⇒Teacher’s written feedback: “communication is a noun. The verb is communicate.”
- ⇒Reproduction: Therefore, he couldn’t communicate….
- ⇒5th essay: I can’t speak and communicate with patient well.
Previous essay + TBLT example of that Clause - 2nd essay: I’m interesting aphasia… that disabled people can’t do communication well.
- ⇒Input from text: The abuse should be reported…so that proper measures can be taken to help and protect the victim.
- ⇒Input from text: The local health department requests …so that the burden on his wife may be reduced.
- ⇒4th essay: I’m challenge that I don’t repeat mistake. (meaning I’ll challenge so that I will not repeat making mistakes.)
Explicit knowledge - 5th essay: I like speaking with my friends.
- (SR: First I wrote I like speak…. Then I modified it into I like speaking, because I knew that two verbs cannot be used together.)
Summary of the Results - Taro created utterances based mainly on expressions produced in previous essays.
- He also actively made use of exemplars or slot-and-frame patterns experienced in the TBLT (e.g., encourage [a person] to do).
- Explicit knowledge learned in middle and high schools was also drawn on, but not so often.
RQ2: How does the TBLT affect Taro’s interlanguage development? - To examine how accuracy and complexity changed
- To examine how the same meaning is expressed before and after relevant TBLT intervention
- To examine how the same meaning is expressed in more than 1 essay without any relevant TBLT intervention
Definitions of Accuracy and Complexity - Accuracy score
- Proportion of accurate clauses to the total number of clauses plus independent sub-clausal unit
- accurate in terms of word order, verb argument structures, the usage of conjunctions, etc.
- Complexity score
- average number of clauses per AS-unit
a) Results Analysis b) | | - 【inaccurate】→Output, FFI, Reproduce→【accurate】
| | | - Input, Output, FFI→【inaccurate】→Input, Output→【accurate】
| - Because __. → __ because __
| - 【simple, complex】→Output, FFI, Reproduce→【complex】
| - Communication
- as a verb →
- communicate
| - 【inaccurate】→Output, FFI, Reproduce→【accurate】→【inaccurate】
| | | - Input→【inaccurate】→Output, FFI→【inaccurate】→Input、FFI→【inaccurate】
| Example) to be a speech therapist - 1st essay: My dream is ST. ⇒2nd essay: I want to ST in the future.
- Output (in class, not in the elicitation writing task) : I want to be child welfare facility. ⇒FFI: I want to work for child welfare facility. + My dream is to be child welfare specialist in the future.⇒Reproduce: I want to work for child welfare facility.
- ⇒3rd essay: My dream is to be ST in the future.
- ⇒4th essay: I want to be ST in the future.
- ⇒5th essay: I will be ST in the future.
Analysis c) | | - 【accurate】→【inaccurate】→【accurate】→【inaccurate】→【inaccurate】
| | | - 【accurate】
- →【inaccurate, accurate】
- →【accurate】
- →【accurate, inaccurate】
| | | - 【inaccurate】→【inaccurate】
| Example) I study… - 1st essay: I study hard every day.
- 2nd essay: I’m studying every day in Niigata University of Healthy.
- 3rd essay: I study hard every day in Niigata University of Health.
- 4th essay: I studying hard in Niigata University of Health.
- 5th essay: I’m studying hard every day.
Summary of the Results - A trade-off between accuracy and complexity development was observed.
- At first, very complex, but not accurate
- Later, more and more accurate
- In some cases, experience in the TBLT contributed to Taro’s improvement in accuracy, but, in other cases, did not.
- There was no evidence that accuracy improved without pedagogical intervention.
Answer to RQ1 - Taro produces new language, based on exemplars or subscema, which drive from his previous experience consisting essay-writing and TBLT.
- = use of usage-based syntactic operations
- He also draws on explicit knowledge.
Answer to RQ 2 - TBLT has impact on Taro’s interlanguage development.
- TBLT
- complex but inaccurate → more accurate
- TBLT consisting of input, output and FFI may have contributed to his accuracy improvement.
- The way TBLT affects the development seems to be a complex process.
- Sometimes it has an effect, but at other times, no change at all. Performance waxes and wanes.
Limitations - It is not clear what aspects (reading activities [input], production activities [output], FFI) of the TBLT have contributed to his development in what ways.
- Repetition of essay writing as a data collection method may have motivated Taro to pay more focused attention to classroom input than usual.
References - De Bot, K., Lowie, W., & Verspoor, M. (2007). A dynamic system theory approach to second language acquisition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 10. 7-21.
- Langacker, R. W. (2000). A dynamic usage-based model. In M. Barlow & S. Kemmer (Eds.), Usage-based models of language (pp. 1-63). Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.
- Larsen-Freeman, D. (2006). The emergence of complexity, fluency, and accuracy in the oral and written production of five Chinese learners of English. Applied Linguistics, 27, 590-619.
- Larsen-Freeman, D. & Cameron, L. (2008). Complex systems and applied linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Lieven, E., Behrens, H., Speares, J., & Tomasello, M. (2003). Early syntactic creativity: a usage-based approach. Journal of Child Language, 30. 333-370.
- Mellow, J. D. (2006). The emergence of second language syntax: A case study of the acquisition of relative clauses. Applied Linguistics, 27. 645-670.
- Tode, T. (2003). From unanalyzed chunks to rules: The learning of the English copula be by beginning Japanese learners of English. IRAL, 41, 23-53.
- Tode, T. (submitted for publication). Schematization and sentence processing by classroom foreign language learners: A reading-time experiment and a stimulated-recall analysis.
- Tomasello, M. (1992). First verbs: A case study of early grammatical development. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Tomasello, M. (2003). Constructing a language: A usage-based theory of language acquisition. MA: Harvard University Press.
- Willis, D. & Willis, J. (2007). Doing task-based teaching. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
- Zyzik, E. (2006). Transitivity alternations and sequence learning: Insights from L2 Spanish production data. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28, 449-485.
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