The effects of task type in Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication

This study examines the potential of learner-learner interaction through Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication (SCMC) to focus learners’ attention on form. Focus on form is operationalized through Language-Related Episodes (LREs), instances where learners turn their attention to formal aspects of language by questioning the accuracy of their own or each other’s language use. The study also compares two task types, jigsaw and dictogloss, with respect to the number and characteristics of LREs. Ten adult intermediate ESL learners from an intensive English language program in the US worked together in dyads to carry out one jigsaw and one dictogloss task in an SCMC environment. Tasks were controlled for content and were presented in two alternative orders. The dictogloss in this study generated more LREs than the jigsaw. LREs were also qualitatively different across task types. Jigsaw LREs were implicit and did not result in incorrectly solved outcomes, whereas dictogloss LREs were explicit and resulted in correctly solved, incorrectly solved, and unresolved outcomes.

[1]  Joshua J. Thoms,et al.  The use of L1 in an L2 on-line chat activity , 2005 .

[2]  Jessica Williams.  The effectiveness of spontaneous attention to form , 2001 .

[3]  S. Loewen,et al.  Recasts in the Adult English L2 Classroom: Characteristics, Explicitness, and Effectiveness , 2006 .

[4]  Herbert H. Clark,et al.  Grounding in communication , 1991, Perspectives on socially shared cognition.

[5]  S. Loewen.  INCIDENTAL FOCUS ON FORM AND SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING , 2005, Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

[6]  Martin Lynn Darhower.  Synchronous computer-mediated communication in the intermediate foreign language class : a sociocultural case study , 2000 .

[7]  Merrill Swain,et al.  Reformulation and the Learning of French Pronominal Verbs in a Canadian French Immersion Context. , 2002 .

[8]  Raffaella Negretti,et al.  Web-based Activities and SLA: A Conversation Analysis Research Approach , 1999 .

[9]  M. Warschauer.  Computer-Mediated Collaborative Learning: Theory and Practice. , 1997 .

[10]  Lina Lee,et al.  Synchronous online exchanges: a study of modification devices on non-native discourse , 2002 .

[11]  Merrill Swain,et al.  Researching Pedagogic Tasks: Second Language Learning, Teaching, and Testing , 2013 .

[12]  Jessica Williams.  Learner-Generated Attention to Form. , 1999 .

[13]  Claire J. Kramsch,et al.  Foreign language research in cross-cultural perspective , 1991 .

[14]  Markus Kötter,et al.  Negotiation of Meaning and Codeswitching in Online Tandems , 2003 .

[15]  Etsuko Toyoda,et al.  Categorization of Text Chat Communication between Learners and Native Speakers of Japanese. , 2002 .

[16]  M. Swain,et al.  Immersion education : international perspectives , 1997 .

[17]  Keiko Kitade,et al.  L2 Learners' Discourse and SLA Theories in CMC: Collaborative Interaction in Internet Chat , 2000 .

[18]  Dorothy M. Chun.  Using computer networking to facilitate the acquisition of interactive competence , 1994 .

[19]  Bryan Smith,et al.  The Use of Communication Strategies in Computer-Mediated Communication , 2003 .

[20]  Rod Ellis,et al.  Task-based Language Learning and Teaching , 2003 .

[21]  M. Swain,et al.  Using collaborative language production tasks to promote students’ language awareness1 , 1994 .

[22]  María José de la Fuente.  Is SLA Interactionist Theory Relevant to CALL? A Study on the Effects of Computer-Mediated Interaction in L2 Vocabulary Acquisition , 2003 .

[23]  J. Norris,et al.  Effectiveness of L2 Instruction: A Research Synthesis and Quantitative Meta‐analysis , 2000 .

[24]  Neomy Storch,et al.  Comparing Esl Learners' Attention To Grammar On Three Different Classroom Tasks , 2001 .

[25]  Susan M. Gass,et al.  Input, interaction, and the second language learner , 1994 .

[26]  Michael H. Long.  Focus on Form: A Design Feature in Language Teaching Methodology , 1991 .

[27]  C. Warner.  IT'S JUST A GAME, RIGHT? TYPES OF PLAY IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE CMC , 2004 .

[28]  Vincenza Tudini,et al.  Using Native Speakers in Chat , 2003 .

[29]  Michael Everson,et al.  Jigsaw and free discussion in synchronous computer-mediated communication (s-cmc) , 2003 .

[30]  L. Waite,et al.  Nonfamily Living and the Erosion of Traditional Family Orientations Among Young Adults , 1986 .

[31]  Robert J. Blake,et al.  Who's Helping Whom?: Learner/Heritage‐Speakers' Networked Discussions in Spanish , 2003 .

[32]  James P. Lantolf,et al.  Vygotskian Approaches to Second Language Research , 1994 .

[33]  T. Pica.  Research on Negotiation: What Does It Reveal about Second-Language Learning Conditions, Processes, and Outcomes?. , 1994 .

[34]  Nancy Sullivan,et al.  A comparative study of two ESL writing environments: A computer-assisted classroom and a traditional oral classroom , 1996 .

[35]  P. Robinson.  Task complexity, task difficulty, and task production: exploring interactions in a componential framework , 2001 .

[36]  Michael J. Leeser.  Learner proficiency and focus on form during collaborative dialogue , 2004 .

[37]  Junko Iwasaki,et al.  Chat-Line interaction and negative feedback , 2003 .

[38]  Robert J. Blake,et al.  Computer Mediated Communication: A Window on L2 Spanish Interlanguage , 2000 .

[39]  Catherine Doughty,et al.  Focus on Form in Classroom Second Language Acquisition. The Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series. , 1998 .

[40]  Guy Cook,et al.  Principle and Practice in Applied Linguistics: Studies in Honour of H. G. Widdowson , 1995 .

[41]  Yong Zhao,et al.  Noticing and Text-Based Chat , 2006 .

[42]  Bryan Smith.  Computer–Mediated Negotiated Interaction: An Expanded Model , 2003 .

[43]  How Does Group Discussion in Reconstruction Tasks Affect Written Language Output? , 2005 .

[44]  Susana M. Sotillo.  Discourse Functions and Syntactic Complexity in Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication , 2000 .

[45]  Jill Pellettieri,et al.  Network-based Language Teaching: Negotiation in cyberspace: The role of chatting in the development of grammatical competence , 2000 .

[46]  Mark Warschauer,et al.  Network-Based Language Teaching: Concepts and Practice , 2000 .

[47]  Frank A. Morris,et al.  Child-to-Child Interaction and Corrective Feedback in a Computer Mediated L2 Class , 2005 .

[48]  Merrill Swain,et al.  Focus on form through collaborative dialogue: Exploring task effects , 2001 .

[49]  M. Warschauer.  Comparing Face-To-Face and Electronic Discussion in the Second Language Classroom , 2013, CALICO Journal.

[50]  M. Mayo.  The effectiveness of two form-focused tasks in advanced EFL pedagogy , 2002 .

[51]  Eli Hinkel,et al.  Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning : Volume 2 , 2011 .

[52]  N. Storch.  Comparing Second Language Learners' Attention to Form Across Tasks , 1998 .

[53]  R. Ellis.  Task-based research and language pedagogy , 2000 .

[54]  William C. Ritchie,et al.  Handbook of Second Language Acquisition , 1998 .

[55]  Susan M. Gass,et al.  Tasks and Language Learning: Integrating Theory and Practice. Multilingual Matters 93. , 1993 .

[56]  M. Swain.  The Output Hypothesis: Theory and Research , 2005 .

[57]  B. Vanpatten,et al.  Talking to learn : conversation in second language acquisition , 1987 .

[58]  Merrill Swain,et al.  Immersion Education: From semantic to syntactic processing: How can we promote it in the immersion classroom? , 1997 .

[59]  Richard G. Kern.  Restructuring Classroom Interaction with Networked Computers: Effects on Quantity and Characteristics of Language Production , 1995 .

[60]  Neomy Storch,et al.  Patterns of Interaction in ESL Pair Work , 2002 .

[61]  Margaret Healey Beauvois.  Conversations in Slow Motion: Computer-Mediated Communication in the Foreign Language Classroom. , 1998 .

[62]  Zsuzsanna I. Abrams,et al.  The Effect of Synchronous and Asynchronous CMC on Oral Performance in German , 2003 .

[63]  M. Swain.  Three functions of output in second language learning , 1995 .

[64]  Marisol Fernández-García,et al.  Learners’ interactions: a comparison of oral and computer-assisted written conversations , 2003, ReCALL.

[65]  Margaret Healey Beauvois.  Computer-Assisted Classroom Discussion in the Foreign Language Classroom: Conversation in Slow Motion , 1992 .

[66]  Michael H. Long.  The Role of the Linguistic Environment in Second Language Acquisition , 1996 .

[67]  Michael H. Long.  Problems in SLA , 2007 .

[68]  M. Swain,et al.  Interaction and Second Language Learning: Two Adolescent French Immersion Students Working Together , 1998 .

[69]  Stephanie D. Teasley,et al.  Perspectives on socially shared cognition , 1991 .