Interlanguage-stretching activities within a task-based empirical pedagogy

1. Interlanguage-stretching activities within a task-based empirical pedagogy Tom Means, tmeans@marlboro.edu Marlboro College, Vermont, USA Larry Selinker, larry.selinker@nyu.edu New York University, NYC Researchproductionassociates.com

2. Definition of Interlanguage (IL)-stretching in this study • IL-stretching of Accuracy • IL-stretching of Delivery (Fluency)

3. Definition of Empirical Pedagogy • Following Han and Selinker (1999) • Input-Heavy TBI (Means, 2006) • Underpinned by Cognitive Approach (Skehan, 1998)

4. Input-heavy TBI(of Italian as a FL in U.S.A) (Needs Analysis) • Pre-task • Input floods • Task-relevant production activities • During-task • Time pressure • Recording • Post-task -Self-transcript - Grammar activities

5. Input-Heavy TBI asEmpirical Pedagogy • Research base • Institutional implementation • Large US university (3rd year) • Small US university (2nd year) • TBI as a vehicle for: • Copious input, interaction, output, feedback

6. The Study • Central Hypothesis of the study: TBI will better promote accuracy and fluency than TI of Italian as a FL.

7. The Study • Ecologically valid • Representative • Intended audience: researchers, teachers, administrators, students • Fine-grained • 9-week method comparison study involving TBI and TI of Italian as a FL

8. The Study:Who/When/Where • Participants • Research Setting(s) • Subject recruitment and selection • Treatment calendar

9. The Study: Treatment of TBI Group • Research-based • Primacy of input • Psycholinguistic merits of output • Three-phase cycle • Types of tasks

10. The Study: Treatment of TI Group • Empirical base • 4-phase cycle

11. How were the independent variables manipulated consistently? • Methodologies of language instruction • Task-based Instruction (TBI) • Unit of analysis = 3 task cycles • Traditional Instruction (TI) • Unit of analysis = 3 textbook chapters

12. Dependent variables • Accuracy • Grammatical gender agreement in the noun phrase • Determiner-noun agreement • un fratello; *uno fratello • Il mese; *i mese • Noun-adjective agreement • piatto giallo; *giallo piatto • Il mese scorso; *la mesa scorsa • Fluency • Oral fluency (spoken syllables per minute) • Written fluency (written words per minute)

13. Measurements • Battery of 4 tests • Controlled-production tests • Test 1: Create Complete Sentences • Test 2: Narrative Rewriting • Spontaneous-production tests • Test 3: Narrative Retelling • Test 4: Family Tree • Data collection

14. Results of statistical analyses

15. Accuracy Results • In controlled tests • Marginal advantage for TBI group • In spontaneous tests • Marginal advantage for TBI group

16. Test 4: Mean Scores of D-N GG Agreement Accuracy in Family Tree Test 100 80 60 40 20 0 Pretest Posttest Delayed PT TBI TI Accuracy results No statistical significant differences.

17. Fluency Results Oral Fluency • Significant advantage for TBI group Written Fluency • Significant advantage for TBI group (at posttest only)

18. Oral fluency gains Statistically significant difference for TBI at both times; none for TI.

19. Written fluency gains Statistical significance for TBI group at both points. For TI, only at delayed

20. Examples from the data • Analysis of accuracy from Test #1 • TI subject # 5080 PretestPosttestDelayed Posttest la forma la forma *forma • TBI subject #3262 PretestPosttestDelayed Posttest *il spettacolo *il spettacolo lo spettacolo

21. Examples from the data • Analysis of oral fluency from Test #3 • TBI subject # 6211 • Pretest performance: 58 syllables p/m • Delayed posttest performance: 107 • TI subject # 5080 • Pretest performance: 80 syllables p/m • Delayed posttest performance: 82

22. Discussion • Central Hypothesis of the study: TBI will better promote accuracy and fluency than TI of Italian as a FL. • Was the central Hypothesis retained? • Fluency mode • Accuracy mode

23. Why was IL better delivered by Input-Heavy TBI? • Teacher is decentralized • Collaborative, structured input • Meets head-on the challenge of producing spontaneous oral language

24. Why was IL better promoted with Input-Heavy TBI? (at a marginal level) • Language as vehicle and object • Engagement of rule-based mode • Problems with the language feature in question, grammatical gender (Swain, 2005)

25. Implications • For language instruction in foreign language settings • a “usable” pedagogy that is empirical • For research in Second Language Acquisition

26. Conclusions • Input-Heavy TBI as an Empirical Pedagogy • Empirical method comparison study • Analyzing fluency and accuracy improvement (IL-stretching) • Contributes some evidence of TBI’s effectiveness • Creation of replicable TBI model, “Input-Heavy” that is flexible and adaptable • Initiation of a TBI line of study that is fundamentally an educationally-relevant endeavor

27. Bibliography • Han, Z and Selinker, L. 1999. ‘Error Resistance: Towards an Empirical Pedagogy.’ Language Teaching Research, 3.3, 248-275. • Means, T. 2006. A Comparative Study of Task-based and Traditional Instruction of Intermediate Italian: Findings on Accuracy and Fluency. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Rutgers University, New Jersey • Skehan, P. 1998. A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning. Oxford: OUP • Swain, M. 2005. ‘The Output Hypothesis: Theory and Research.’ in E. Hinkel (ed.), Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning. Mahway, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.