Patsy M. Lightbown

Recasts as Feedback to Language Learners

Some researchers suggest that recasts are effective in showing learners how their current interlanguage differs from the target (Long & Robinson, 1998). Others have argued that recasts are ambiguous and may be perceived by the learner as confirmation of meaning rather than feedback on form (Lyster, 1998a). We review research on the effectiveness of recasts in first and second language acquisition, paying particular attention to how recasts have been defined and how their impact has been assessed in observational and experimental studies. We conclude that recasts appear to be most effective in contexts where it is clear to the learner that the recast is a reaction to the accuracy of the form, not the content, of the original utterance.

An Innovative Program for Primary ESL Students in Quebec

An innovative intensive ESL program in Quebec is the focus of this article. As a background to the presentation of research carried out within this program, the context and conditions of ESL teaching in Quebecs French-language schools are briefly described. In these schools, where all subject matter instruction is normally provided in French, the program gives some students in Grade 5 or Grade 6 access to intensive instruction in ESL. For 5 months of 1 school year, the students spend virtually full school days engaged in English language activities. They do not receive subject matter instruction through English but participate in communicative activities and projects whose goal is to develop their ability to understand and speak English. This article reports on the findings of some research in these intensive ESL classes: descriptive studies of patterns of classroom interaction and instruction, the development of fluency and accuracy in learner language, and the long-term effects of the program. In addition, experimental studies have explored the effects of introducing some greater focus on form within or in addition to the communicative activities typical of most of the classes.

Time and the Distribution of Time in L2 Instruction

LAURA COLLINSUniversity of VictoriaRANDALL H. HALTERConcordia UniversityPATSY M. LIGHTBOWNConcordia UniversityNINA SPADAMcGill UniversityIn the French primary schools of Quebec, increased popularity inexperimental programs that provide young Francophone learners withintensive ESL instruction has been accompanied by increased variationin the way the instructional time is distributed. In a massed program,students complete the regular curriculum in French in 5 months andspend the remaining months learning English. In a distributed pro-gram, the intensive ESL instruction is spread across the full 10 monthsof the school year.Within the cognitive psychology and general education literature,there is substantial evidence in favour of distributed over massedpractice. There has been less research in the language programevaluation literature contrasting the learning outcomes of studentsreceiving similar amounts of L2 exposure in different distributions, butthe findings suggest an advantage for massed learning. The presentstudy compared the learning outcomes in two versions of the massedprogram and one version of the distributed program of students of thesame age and L1, with similar amounts of prior exposure to English.Pretest and posttest measures from 700 students revealed superioroutcomes for the massed learning conditions. The interpretation of thefindings takes into account selection criteria, overall instructional time,and instructional practices in the different ESL programs.

Comprehension-Based Practice: The Development of L2 Pronunciation in a Listening and Reading Program.

We report the results of a 2-year longitudinal comparison of grade 3 and grade 4 English-as-a-second-language learners in an experimental, comprehension-based program and those in a regular (i.e., more typical) language learning program. The goal was to examine the extent to which sustained, long-term comprehension practice in both listening and reading—in the virtual absence of any speaking—can help develop learners’ second language (L2) pronunciation. We analyzed learners’ sentences from an elicited imitation task using several accuracy and fluency measures as well as listener ratings of accentedness, comprehensibility, and fluency. We found no differences between the two programs at the end of year 1. However, at the end of year 2, there were some differences—namely, in the listener ratings of fluency and comprehensibility—that favored learners in the regular program. These findings highlight the beneficial effects of comprehension practice for the development of L2 pronunciation but also point to some potential limits of this practice.

PSYCHOLINGUISTIC APPROACHES TO SLA

These are exciting times for research into the psychological processes underlying second language acquisition (SLA). In the 1970s, SLA emerged as a field of inquiry in its own right (Brown 1980), and in the 1980s, a number of different approaches to central questions in the field began to develop in parallel and in relative isolation (McLaughlin and Harrington 1990). In the 1990s, however, these different approaches began to confront one another directly. Now we are entering a period reminiscent, in many ways, of the intellectually turbulent times following the Chomskyan revolution (Chomsky 1957; 1965). Now, as then, researchers are debating basic premises of a science of mind, language, and learning. Some might complain, not entirely without reason, that we are still debating the same issues after 30–40 years. However, there are now new conceptual and research tools available to test hypotheses in ways previously thought impossible. Because of this, many psychologists believe there will soon be significant advancement on some SLA issues that have resisted closure for decades. We outline some of these developments and explore where the field may be heading. More than ever, it appears possible that psychological theory and SLA theory are converging on solutions to common issues.

Awareness of L1/L2 differences: does it matter?

This study is an investigation of the extent to which francophone learners of English as a second language (ESL) are aware of the differences between French and English question formation and how such awareness relates to their L2 performance. Three tasks were administered to 58 grades 5 and 6 francophone ESL learners. In a grammaticality judgement task, learners were asked to judge the grammaticality of English Wh– and yes/no questions. In a scrambled questions task, participants were instructed to create questions with sets of words written on individual cards. Some of the participants were also interviewed. Students’ own grammaticality judgement and scrambled questions tasks were used as stimuli for the interviews. On the grammaticality judgement task, questions in which the subject was a pronoun were judged more accurately than questions in which the subject was a noun. The most frequent non-target question forms that learners produced on the scrambled questions task were those in which a word (e.g. auxiliary do) was ‘fronted’ (placed at the beginning of a declarative sentence). The interview indicated that most students had a poor understanding of differences between English and French questions. Correlation analyses showed a positive relationship between students’ awareness of L1–L2 differences and their ability to correctly judge and form questions in English.

SLA research in the classroom/SLA research for the classroom

Second language acquisition (SLA) research is one of many sources that second and foreign language (SL/FL) teachers may draw on in making decisions about their pedagogical practice. In Lightbown (1985a), I proposed ten generalisations that I cons idered re levan t to SL/FL teaching a. In L igh tbown (2000), I revis i ted those generalisations, looking at research that has been publ i shed more recen t ly and giving specia l attention to studies that have been carried out in the classroom. The generalisations are reviewed and updated here. Of particular interest are studies in instructional settings where communicat ive language teaching (CLT) and con ten t -based language teaching (CBLT) have replaced more traditional approaches 2.

Input, instruction, and feedback in second language acquisition:

to participate in a symposium at the Ninth World Congress of the International Association of Applied Linguistics in Greece in April 1990. Organized by the Scientific Commission on Second Language Acquisition, the symposium had as its theme ’Focused input and corrective feedback in second language acquisition’. Earlier versions of the papers by Vivian Cook, Jacquelyn Schachter, Michael Sharwood Smith, and Lydia White were presented at that symposium. At the invitation of Edward Arnold Publishers, those four papers, together with the paper by Sascha Felix and Wilfried Weigl, have been collected in this issue of Second Language Research. The theme of this issue has expanded somewhat beyond that of the symposium to include more general questions about the role of instruction in second language acquisition and the nature of both the internal mechanisms which permit language acquisition to take place and the effect of different types of input in contact with those mechanisms. A particular focus in several of the papers is the question of the sufficiency of so-called ’positive evidence’ (examples of utterances which are grammatical in the target language) for second language acquisition. Some researchers take the position that positive evidence is enough to trigger the learner’s internal mechanisms for second language acquisition. Others argue that ’negative evidence’ (information about which sentences are not grammatical) is also required, at least for the acquisition of some aspects of the target language system. The five papers which make up this collection include three theoretical papers on the role of positive and negative evidence and two

Making the minutes count in L2 teaching

Many educational institutions offer second- or foreign-language (L2) programmes that give students many more hours of contact with the target language than is typical of foreign-language instruction in schools around the world. This article compares some of the instructional approaches developed for both second- and foreign-language learners at the primary and secondary school levels. The approaches are compared in terms of several characteristics, including goals and outcomes. The review suggests that, even when more time is available, it is important to provide learning opportunities that focus on both meaningful language use and the vocabulary and structure of the language itself. In addition, the research shows that supporting students’ knowledge of their first language (L1) can contribute to their long-term academic and L2 success.

Book reviews: Ellis, R. 1990: Instructed second language acquisition. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 230 pp:

When Rod Ellis’ Understanding second language acquisition was published in 1985, it quickly became required reading in many university applied linguistics and education courses with an emphasis on second language teaching and learning. There had been a great need for a textbook providing a unified coverage of the rapidly growing field of second language acquisition research and this book filled that need. Instructed second language acquisition may be welcomed in the same contexts, since many instructors have felt the need for an update on the second language field, especially one with