Teresa Pica

Information Gap Tasks: Do They Facilitate Second Language Acquisition?

This article reports the findings of the latest of a series of studies conducted to determine the effects of task type and participation pattern on language classroom interaction. The results of this study are compared to those of an earlier investigation (Pica & Doughty, 1985a) in regard to optional and required information exchange tasks across teacher-directed, small-group, and dyad interactional patterns. The evidence suggests that a task with a requirement for information exchange is crucial to the generation of conversational modification of classroom interaction. This finding is significant in light of current theory, which argues that conversational modification occurring during interaction is instrumental in second language acquisition. Furthermore, the finding that group and dyad interaction patterns produced more modification than did the teacher-fronted situation suggests that participation pattern as well as task type have an effect on the conversational modification of interaction.

The Role of Group Work in Classroom Second Language Acquisition

The shift in language classroom organization from teacher-fronted to student group work has received a growing amount of theoretical and empirical support (cf. Long, 1983; Long, Adams, McLean, and Castanos, 1976; Taylor, 1982). However, this practice is becoming so popular that it is in danger of turning into yet another ESL bandwagon. The following study was conducted, therefore, to evaluate the role of group work in the classroom, specifically in regard to its possible effects on classroom second language acquisition. Comparisons were made of three ESL classrooms during group vs. teacher-fronted classroom interaction on decision-making tasks. Analysis focused on three broad categories: (1) grammaticality of input, (2) negotiation of input, and (3) individual input/production. Significant differences between the two participation patterns were indicated only in the increased amount of input and production for individual students during group interaction. Task, rather than participation pattern was shown to be a more important variable with regard to parameters (1) and (2). These results suggested that group work has a useful but somewhat restricted role in classroom second language acquisition.

Subject‐Matter Content: How Does It Assist the Interactional and Linguistic Needs of Classroom Language Learners?

This study focused on the role of subject-matter content in second language (L2) learning. It sought to identify ways in which teachers modified classroom interaction about subject-matter content in order to assist the input, feedback, and production needs of L2 learners, and to promote their attention to developmentally difficult relationships of L2 form and meaning that they had not fully acquired. Data were collected from 6 preacademic English L2 classes whose content consisted of thematic units on film and literature. Each class was composed of 10–15 high intermediate English L2 students and their teachers. Analysis of the data focused on teacher-led discussions, because these were the predominant mode of interaction in each of the classes, and on form-meaning relationships encoded in noun and verb forms for purposes such as reference, retelling, argument, and speculation regarding film and literary content. Results of the study revealed numerous contexts in which the discussion interaction might have been modified for the kinds of input, feedback, or production that could draw students’ attention to developmentally difficult form-meaning relationships. However, there were relatively few instances in which this actually occurred. Instead, the teachers and students tended to exchange multiutterance texts, the comprehensibility of which provided little basis for modified interaction and attention to form and meaning.

Tradition and Transition in English Language Teaching Methodology.

Abstract The field of English language teaching is in transition, as it seeks new approaches, and re-examines older ones, in order to address the range and level of English proficiency required for participation in todays global community. This article describes the context of the transitional period, discusses the contributions of second language acquisition theory and research therein, and reviews classroom principles and related techniques that have already emerged.

Second language teaching and research relationships: a North American view:

This article discusses the relationship between second language (L2) teaching and research from the multiple perspectives of a North American context, with particular focus on: coexistence of teaching and research activities, on similar topics, but with different goals; collaboration of teaching and research efforts, toward understanding and addressing mutual interests and concerns, through shared data collection, analysis, and interpretation, action research, and ethnographic studies; complementarity of teaching and research contributions, toward a more complete picture of L2 learning and retention, through theoretically motivated treatments, designed and initiated in the research context, and studied in the classroom; and compatibility of teaching and research interests, with respect to the cognitive and social processes of L2 learning, and the materials and activities through which work with L2 learners is carried out. The article begins with a brief overview of the relationship between L2 teaching and research as it has unfolded over time.

Classroom interaction, negotiation, and comprehension: Redefining relationships

Abstract The following study was undertaken to address theoretical claims regarding the importance of negotiated interaction to the comprehension of second-language (L2) input through a comparison of three different interactional behaviors of L2 learners in a classroom context. Three groups of L2 learners were asked to carry out their teachers directions to a comprehension task: eight Negotiators, who were encouraged to negotiate by requesting clarification, repetition, and confirmation of the directions; eight Observers, who were not permitted to interact with the teacher, but could watch and listen as the Negotiators did this; and eight Listeners, who carried out teh task away from the other two groups by listening to a text of the directions which had been generated through negotiation. Results of the study revealed comparable comprehension scores for each of the three subject groups. Moreover, follow-up analyses suggested that individual subjects whose level of comprehension development was at or above the level of their classmates could comprehend the direction input whether they engaged in negotiation, observed negotiation, or listened to the text of negotiated input. However, for subjects at lower developmental levels of comprehension, direct participation in negotiation was the most effective means to facilitate comprehension of the direction input.

Language Learning Through Interaction

This investigation of NS–NNS interaction in same- and cross-gender dyads on four information exchange tasks revealed that male and female NNSs made and received a comparable number of opportunities to request L2 input and modify interlanguage output during interaction with female NSs, but during interaction with male NSs, these opportunities were significantly lower for female than for male NNSs. In addition, more request-response exchanges were found on tasks in which either the NS or the NNS was given initial control over task-related information. Findings of the study were attributed to cultural similarities and differences in the interactional behaviors of the participants.

Interaction among proficient learners: are input, feedback and output needs addressed in a foreign language context?

As a consequence of methodological changes in the classroom environment, learners are increasingly becoming each others principal interlocutors and resource for language learning. This study asked whether the interaction between proficient EFL learners could address their needs for L2 input and for feedback focused on form in ways that interaction with native speakers (NSs) has been shown to do. The interaction of seven dyads of proficient EFL learners was compared with that of seven dyads of learners and NSs on two communication tasks. Results of the comparison revealed few differences between the two groups with respect to their patterns of interaction as neither pairing displayed difficulty in comprehending the meaning of each others messages and, therefore, did not interact through the negotiation of meaning. Other interactional patterns, such as scaffolding and repairs, were used by proficient EFL learners.

L1 Transfer and L2 Complexity as Factors in Syllabus Design

Traditionally, second language syllabus organization has been based on the assumption that how a language is described is related to how it is processed by learners of that language. This article examines two traditional approaches to syllabus design in terms of how each defines this relationship. Underlying one approach is the assumption that second language (L2) structures which differ most from equivalent structures in a learners native language (L1) are also the most difficult to learn and should therefore be given greatest emphasis in the syllabus. The other approach is based on the premise that there is a direct relationship between linguistic complexity and learning difficulty and that a syllabus should therefore present target structures to the learner in order of increasing linguistic complexity. These approaches are evaluated from linguistic perspectives on the nature of language and psycholinguistic evidence on the sequence of language acquisition. Recent studies on interlanguage development are cited to argue that syllabus design can be enhanced by attention to both approaches-more specifically, to the issues of first language transfer and target language complexity. The article does not advocate a return to exclusive use of either approach; rather, it emphasizes new perspectives which each can bring to the selection and grading of syllabus items.

Communicative competence and literacy

Abstract The following article reviews the notion of communicative competence (Hymes 1964,1971), in its expanded version (Canale and Swain 1980) in light of its relevance for issues in literacy and the teaching of reading. Definitions are provided for four components of communicative competence, i.e., grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competence, and their role in the reading process is discussed in light of linguistic theory and classroom research.