50,027 research outputs found
Improving English Learners’ Productive Collocation Knowledge : The Effects of Involvement Load, Spacing, and Intentionality
No full textThis article reports on a classroom-based experiment which tested the effects of three vocabulary teaching constructs on the learning of English verb-noun collocations, for example shelve a plan. Laufer and Hulstijn’s (2001) ‘involvement load’ predicts that the higher the motivational-cognitive load of a task, the more effectively it promotes word retention. ‘Spacing’ refers to the advantage of spreading out learning opportunities for words as opposed to massing them. ‘Intentionality’ comprises two word processing modes: intentional learning (post-test announced) and incidental learning (post-test unannounced), where the former is claimed to outperform the latter. The constructs were integrated into an intervention study with 59 adolescent L1 Swedish learners of English in within- and between-subjects designs. Learners processed target items three times when performing tasks that operationalized the constructs. Three post-tests of productive knowledge of target items were administered. Statistical analyses of gain scores show that neither involvement load nor spacing had a significant positive impact on learning gains. Significant effects were found on three measures for intentional learning when compared to incidental learning. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research and their implications for English language teaching (ELT)
L2 Instruction and Collocation Learning : Classroom intervention research on input processing with L1 Swedish adolescent learners of English
No full textAn important dimension of learning a second language (L2) is to build up a store of recurring word combinations that native speakers use. These so-called formulaic sequences (FSs) serve many functions in fluent language use. One category of FSs is collocations, defined in the present thesis as combinations of a verb and a noun in English with a significant attraction to each other, for example ‘carry a risk’. Research has shown that L2 English learners struggle with the appropriate use of collocations but reviews of instructional interventions have concluded that few guidelines for effective pedagogical treatment of collocations are available. The thesis has investigated the impact of L2 instruction on collocation learning by manipulating the conditions for input processing of treatment materials containing target collocations (TCs). Three classroom pre-test/post-test intervention studies (Studies I-III) were conducted, with a total of 165 L1 Swedish adolescent learners of English. Study I compared a form-focused approach to a meaning-focused approach to the same materials to find out why the former may be more effective than the latter as shown in previous studies. Study II focused on the effects of three manipulations of the materials: how deeply the learners process the TCs, whether re-exposures to TCs are spaced or concentrated, and whether the learners process TCs with or without post-test announcement. Study III examined the potential for a collaborative text reconstruction task to facilitate TC learning. Two modified versions of the task were created that contained different types of priming to the TCs in a pre-task activity. Results of Study I show that learners in the form-focused condition, having studied decontextualized TCs and been introduced to the term ‘collocation’, were able to connect words that they previously only knew as single words into collocations. Results also show that a researcher-developed version of stimulated recall interviews was successful in probing learners’ mental processes. As for Study II, surprisingly, neither deep processing nor a spaced re-exposure schedule was effective for TC learning, while post-test announcement was. Results of Study III reveal that a pre-task activity that induced learners to elaborate on TC meaning outperformed a pre-task activity with a form-focused elaboration of TCs, notably for the delayed post-test of productive TC knowledge. Taken together, the results of Studies I-III show that L2 English teachers, with relatively small changes in their classroom procedures, can actively contribute to increasing their learners’ collocational competence, an integral part of more advanced proficiency. It is hoped that the successful implementation of the three studies will inspire more instructional interventions on L2 vocabulary learning in Swedish schools and universities, targeting single words and FSs.
Assessing Modern Languages in Swedish Upper Secondary Schools
No full textThe purpose of this report is to provide an example of how Italian for beginners at a Swedish upper secondary school (students aged 16-19) was assessed in light of the new Swedish foreign language syllabus. After an introduction of the new syllabi for modern languages, the reader is invited to follow my learners of Italian at Kärrtorps gymnasium outside Stockholm from their first encounters with the new language at the start of the course in August to the final examination period nine months later, when the knowledge requirements from the syllabus were assessed and summarized for the course grade.L’article présente les modalités d’évaluation du nouveau plan d’étude pour les langues étrangères en Suède. Partant d’une présentation générale des nouveaux plans d’étude pour les langues modernes, le propos se concentre ensuite sur le cas particulier de l’italien L2 pour débutants au secondaire II: le lecteur est invité à suivre les étudiants du lycée de Kärrtorp, à la périphérie de Stockholm, dans leur première approche de l’italien L2 jusqu’à leur premier examen, neuf mois plus tard, lorsque l’évaluation des connaissances acquises a été faite selon le nouveau plan d’études.</p
Using qualitative methodologies in research on formal L2 collocation learning
No full textThis article reports on a quasi-experimental study of formal L2 collocation learning focusing on intermediate level EFL learners in two Swedish high schools. The study aimed at investigating the potential for qualitative methodologies to account for the learning of target items (verb-noun collocations) in form-focused compared to meaning-focused treatment conditions. Using a pre-test/post-test design, the study utilized two verbal reports – introspective think-aloud protocols (TAPs) and retrospective stimulated recall interviews (SRIs) – to probe participants’ memory processes of learned target items as displayed in post-tests. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. Results showed that the introspective report as a rule put too much cognitive strain on participants in both conditions, while the retrospective report offered insights into the mental mechanisms of participants that had processed target items with an explicit focus on target forms. Implications for language pedagogy and further research are discussed.</p
Exploring learner corpus data for language testing and assessment purposes : The case of verb + noun collocations
No full textEFL Learners' Receptive Knowledge of Derived Words: The Case of Swedish Adolescents
No full textThe study investigated how well Swedish adolescents recognize the meaning of derived words in English and whether this knowledge is determined by learner proficiency, word frequency, or affix type. Participants were 88 school students in two proficiency groups: 39 advanced 12th graders and 49 intermediate 9th graders. Two tests of receptive vocabulary knowledge were administered. The first test had 80 basewords (e.g., maintain) representing the 8,000 most frequent words. The second test had 60 words that were derived from the first test (e.g., maintainable). Results showed that participants’ knowledge of basewords extended to knowledge of derived words quite well: for example, when the advanced learners knew a baseword, they knew its derived form in 91% of the cases. Other results were that word family frequency but not derived word frequency determined knowledge of derived words, and that little support was found for Bauer and Nation’s (1993) hierarchy of affix difficulty. The main implication of the results is that the word family, which subsumes basewords and their related forms under word knowledge, is an appropriate unit of counting in L2 pedagogy and research for learners with extensive exposure to English and a Germanic first language. </p
How dictogloss can facilitate collocation learning in ELT
No full textThis instructional intervention investigated the potential for the text reconstruction task dictogloss to facilitate the learning of English verb–noun collocations, for example ‘carry a risk’. Research has shown that learners have difficulties in using such collocations, but few useful instructional techniques are on offer. Participants in the study were 64 L1 Swedish adolescent learners of English. The effectiveness of two modified versions of the dictogloss was compared in a within-subjects design. This implied that participants in pairs co-reconstructed two texts containing target collocations, where each co-reconstruction was preceded by a specific priming activity to induce learners to process collocations as intact wholes. Results showed that having learners elaborate on the meaning of collocations in a pre-task activity outperformed a form-oriented pre-task activity on all measures, notably for productive knowledge on delayed post-tests. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research and their implications for ELT
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