The Effects of Task Complexity and Input Frequency on the Acquisition of the Past Counterfactual Construction through Recasts

Autor/inn/en	Révész, Andrea; Sachs, Rebecca; Hama, Mika
Titel	The Effects of Task Complexity and Input Frequency on the Acquisition of the Past Counterfactual Construction through Recasts
Quelle	In: Language Learning, 64 (2014) 3, S.615-650 (36 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0023-8333
DOI	10.1111/lang.12061
Schlagwörter	Linguistic Input; Adults; English (Second Language); Second Language Learning; Experimental Groups; Control Groups; Oral Language; Language Tests; Task Analysis; Pretests Posttests; Receptive Language; Validity; Teaching Methods; Morphemes; Grammar; Second Language Instruction + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Sprachbildung; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Oral interpretation; Mündlicher Sprachgebrauch; Language test; Sprachtest; Aufgabenanalyse; Rezeptive Kommunikationsfähigkeit; Gültigkeit; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Morphem; Grammatik; Fremdsprachenunterricht
Abstract	This investigation examined two techniques that may help learners focus on second language (L2) constructions when recasts are provided during meaning-based communicative activities: altering the cognitive complexity of tasks and manipulating the input frequency distributions of target constructions. We first independently assessed the validity of our cognitive task complexity manipulation by means of expert judgments, dual-task methodology, and eye tracking. Next, in our main study, we employed a pretest-posttest design with two treatment sessions. The participants were 51 adult English L2 learners, randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups or a control group. All experimental groups received recasts but differed as to whether they carried out simple tasks with lower reasoning demands or complex tasks with higher reasoning demands, and whether they received skewed or balanced input of the linguistic target, the past counterfactual construction. An oral production test and two written receptive tests were utilized to measure changes in participants' knowledge. Our results revealed no effects for the input frequency manipulations, but participants achieved higher oral production gains under the simple task condition. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10