Task complexity, focus on form, and second language development.

Révész, Andrea (2009) Task complexity, focus on form, and second language development. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 31 (3). pp. 437-470. ISSN 1470-1545

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Abstract

Tasks have received increased attention in SLA research for the past decade, as has the role of focus on form. However, few empirical studies have investigated the relationship among tasks, focus-on-form techniques, and second language (L2) learning outcomes. To help address this gap, the present study examined how the task variable +/−contextual support combined with the focus-on-form technique known as recasting affects L2 morphosyntactic development. The participants were 90 adult learners of English as a foreign language, randomly assigned to one of fi ve groups: four comparison groups and a control group. The comparison groups differed as to (a) whether they received recasts while describing photos and (b) whether they could see the photos while describing them. The control group only participated in the testing sessions. A pretest-posttest-delayed posttest design was employed to detect any improvement in participants’ ability to use the linguistic target, which was the past progressive form. Results from multifaceted Rasch measurement yielded two main findings. First, learners who received recasts but did not view photos outperformed learners who received recasts while viewing photos. Second, the group that viewed photos but did not receive recasts achieved greater L2 gains than the group who neither viewed photos nor received recasts.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Studies in Second Language Acquisition
Additional Information:
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=SLA The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 31 (3), pp 437-470 2009, © 2009 Cambridge University Press.
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3304
Subjects:
?? educationlinguistics and languagelanguage and linguisticsp philology. linguistics ??
ID Code:
27141
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
07 Oct 2009 13:13
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
06 Aug 2024 23:30