Joseph J. Lee

Psychosocial Dimensions of Learner Language

While the preceding chapter looked at general semantic themes in the L2 Experience Interview Corpus, the present chapter turns to the psychological (learner-internal) and social (learner-external) themes in learner interviews. Specifically, we want to know how 22 psychosocial categories within the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count program (LIWC; Pennebaker et al. 2007) relate to the language experience interviews of 123 advanced English language learners, and whether this relationship indicates larger dimensions of co-occurring features within the L2 learning experience. To address this question, we use exploratory principal component analysis to examine co-occurrence patterns among semantic variation across the interview texts.

Corpora of Spoken Academic Discourse and Learner Talk: A Survey

This chapter lists and briefly discusses seminal and recently collected corpora of spoken academic discourse and learner oral language (in English). We also provide descriptions of the texts and types of student oral language in these collections and some examples of corpus-based studies that utilize the same. Most are publicly available (e.g., MICASE, VOICE, LINDSEI, ELFA) and some may be purchased online from their developers. Table 2.7, which lists specialized spoken texts from L2 learners collected by various research groups globally, suggests a growing interest in this area of corpus-based research in the classroom and the important merging of SLA and corpus-informed approaches.

Social Dynamics During Peer Response: Patterns of Interaction in the L2PR Corpus

This chapter explores the social dynamics of peer conversations in the L2PR Corpus (Roberson 2015) using Storch’s (2002) patterns of interaction framework to understand how learners share control over the direction of the task, and how they engage with each other’s feedback on writing. We first provide a description of the data sources used in the analysis (peer response transcripts; stimulated recall interview transcripts; and first and second drafts of student writing), and then examine the relationship between patterns of interaction and revision practices. Chapter 13 will further explore one linguistic feature of the patterns of interaction analyzed in this chapter: the use of modal verbs as stance markers by collaborative and non-collaborative pairs.

Thematic Cluster Analysis of the L2 Experience Interview Corpus

This chapter addresses two research questions. First, what semantic clusters are identifiable in the L2 Experience Interview Corpus (Polat 2013a), and second, what can these clusters tell us about the participants’ L2 learning experience? Starting with our transcribed sentences (called “elementary contexts”) as the basic unit of analysis, the T-Lab software identifies keywords from the corpus, performs a correspondence analysis, and then conducts a cluster analysis based on parameters entered by the user. (See Lancia 2016, for a complete description of T-Lab operations.) In this case, a three-cluster option was selected as the most explanatory model, representing 37.73% of shared variance, with p = 0.027. This means that T-Lab (Lancia 2004) recognized three distinct groups of words that tend to co-occur with each other (internal homogeneity) and tend not to occur with words in the other two clusters (external heterogeneity). The three thematic clusters, which we have named Classroom, Communication, and Studying, are discussed in turn below.

Corpus-Based Studies of Learner Talk: Conclusion and Future Directions

This book explored learner oral production in university-level ESL (and specifically, EAP) classrooms in the USA from a corpus-based approach, utilizing specialized corpora of learner talk. We described and interpreted the structure of learner (and teacher) spoken language in the classroom, language experience interviews, and peer response/feedback activities. Our discussions also focused on ideas related to corpus design and development, implications for SLA, semantic content analysis, and some methodological limitations of current research. A summary of our concluding remarks, suggestions for pedagogy and practice, and future research directions is presented below.

Exploring Learner Talk in English Interviews

The guiding question behind this section is straightforward: what can we learn about the L2 learning experience by asking L2 learners to discuss their own L2 learning? In order to answer this question, we use specialized software to analyze the semantic content of L2 learner talk as advanced English learners reflect on their learning experience in a structured interview. By using three different analytical techniques, we approach the question from different angles, distinguishing both general patterns in the experience of learning a L2 as well as individual differences in learning experience. The purpose of this and the following chapters in Part III, therefore, is threefold: (1) to discover the words and themes used by highly proficient L2 English learners as they describe their learning experience; (2) to discern what these words can tell us about the learning process; and (3) to determine what these words can tell us about individual learners.

Learner (and Teacher) Talk in EAP Classroom Discourse

Research on spoken classroom discourse has a comparatively long tradition in linguistics, applied linguistics, and education in general. This, of course, is due to the fact that communication is central to educational contexts. It is through language that teachers conduct their work and students display what they have acquired. Language use in L2/foreign language classrooms, however, serves a distinct purpose, one that is quite unique from that of other classrooms. In most L2 classrooms, language is not only the medium of instruction but also the objective of learning (Lee 2010; Long 1983). In other words, “the medium is the message” in language teaching (Hammadou and Bernhardt 1987, p. 302). While teachers who teach in students’ L1 (e.g., teachers who teach Korean to L1 Korean speakers) also use the language as medium and object of instruction, one difference between L1 and L2 classrooms is the fact that, unlike L1 students, L2 learners in many cases have yet to develop high levels of proficiency in the target language. In order to gain a deeper appreciation of the complexity of L2 classroom discourse, researchers have used different analytical frameworks, including interaction analysis (e.g., Allen et al. 1984), discourse analysis (e.g., Cullen 2002), and conversation analysis (e.g., Lee 2007). The vast majority of research in these traditions, however, has mostly limited the analysis to the micro-levels of teacher-student interaction, focusing on the distribution and functions of teacher and student contributions to the three-part exchange structure: teacher initiation, student response, and teacher feedback (or IRF) (Sinclair and Coulthard 1975). Little research has examined L2 classroom discourse, particularly that of EAP classrooms, from a corpus linguistic perspective.

Understanding Learner Talk About Writing: The Second Language Peer Response (L2PR) Corpus

In the next three chapters (Part IV, Chaps. 11, 12, and 13), we examine spoken learner language by exploring the patterns of social interaction in a corpus of university-level ESL students’ spoken feedback to each other about their writing in a first-year composition course, as well as by triangulating corpus findings with student writing and student interviews. This task, called peer response, is widely used by practitioners and has been thoroughly examined by language learning theorists and researchers. The current chapter reviews relevant literature on learner interaction from SLA and L2 Writing traditions, and argues for a corpus-based approach to further examine these interactions. It also describes the compilation and composition of Roberson’s (2015) Second Language Peer Response (L2PR) Corpus.

Profiles of Experience in Learner Talk

In contrast to the previous two chapters, which analyzed the themes and dimensions horizontally across the entire L2 Experience Interview Corpus, this chapter vertically analyzes and compares the psychosocial traits of each interview participant. We apply the methodological advantages offered by semantic content analysis and the L2 Experience Interview Corpus to study holistic patterns of individual differences among advanced L2 learners. In order to do this, we use Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC; Pennebaker et al. 2007) to detect clusters of psychosocial traits that might suggest distinctive profiles among L2 learners. In other words, are there discernable clusters of psychosocial traits present in the interviews, and do these clusters of traits correspond to larger patterns that could be considered learner profiles? These questions are addressed using cluster analysis to identify clusters of learners who describe their L2 learning experience in similar ways. We then use an additional dataset—self-reported TOEFL scores of 96 of the interview participants—to examine the relationship of the newly identified profiles to differential outcomes on the TOEFL.

This/That, Here/There: Spatial Deixis in EAP Classroom Discourse

In Chap. 5, we examined person deixis in the form of first and second person pronouns. In this chapter, we concentrate on spatial deixis, a highly common feature in face-to-face interactions but one that is under-researched in classroom settings. Specifically, we explore the use of demonstratives and adverbs of locations in the L2CD-S and L2CD-T, and we compare learners’ and teachers’ use of these spatial deictics in the EAP classroom. By examining their use of spatial deictics, important insights can be gained on how each group conceptualizes objects and one another in the physical space of the classroom and connects with one another’s informational space.