Chapter 2. Grammatical structures and oral fluency in immediate task repetition
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Nel de Jong
Abstract
In this study we examine to what extent words and grammatical structures are re-used when a speaking task is repeated with the same content (i.e., specific task repetition). We examine this re-use, which has been argued to support proceduralization and fluency development (N. de Jong & Perfetti, 2011), under both constant and increasing time pressure, and we investigate the correlation between re-use and fluency. The analyses are performed not only on individual words but also on trigrams, which are sequences of three words (e.g., the red car; here: lexical trigrams) or three parts of speech (e.g., det adj noun: POS trigrams), to capture grammatical structure. Thirty-nine adult ESL speakers completed repeated retellings of one to three picture stories. One group followed the 4/3/2 procedure (Nation, 1989), which involves three iterations with gradually increasing time pressure; for the other group the available time was constant. The extent of re-use of words and grammatical structures across task iterations was calculated using cosine similarity with tf-idf weighting (Manning, Raghavan, & Schütze, 2008), which adjusts for the frequency of words or trigrams, both within an iteration and across iterations and speakers. It was found that immediate task repetition had a strong effect on re-use at the level of individual words and trigrams, but increasing time pressure did not. The relationship between re-use and fluency was variable, but showed higher re-use for speakers struggling with fluency. We conclude that, if fluency development is to be stimulated by re-use of words and grammatical structures, it can be done with specific task repetition, whether under increasing time pressure or not.
Abstract
In this study we examine to what extent words and grammatical structures are re-used when a speaking task is repeated with the same content (i.e., specific task repetition). We examine this re-use, which has been argued to support proceduralization and fluency development (N. de Jong & Perfetti, 2011), under both constant and increasing time pressure, and we investigate the correlation between re-use and fluency. The analyses are performed not only on individual words but also on trigrams, which are sequences of three words (e.g., the red car; here: lexical trigrams) or three parts of speech (e.g., det adj noun: POS trigrams), to capture grammatical structure. Thirty-nine adult ESL speakers completed repeated retellings of one to three picture stories. One group followed the 4/3/2 procedure (Nation, 1989), which involves three iterations with gradually increasing time pressure; for the other group the available time was constant. The extent of re-use of words and grammatical structures across task iterations was calculated using cosine similarity with tf-idf weighting (Manning, Raghavan, & Schütze, 2008), which adjusts for the frequency of words or trigrams, both within an iteration and across iterations and speakers. It was found that immediate task repetition had a strong effect on re-use at the level of individual words and trigrams, but increasing time pressure did not. The relationship between re-use and fluency was variable, but showed higher re-use for speakers struggling with fluency. We conclude that, if fluency development is to be stimulated by re-use of words and grammatical structures, it can be done with specific task repetition, whether under increasing time pressure or not.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Series Editors’ Preface vii
- Introduction 1
- Chapter 1. Task repetition for language learning 27
- Chapter 2. Grammatical structures and oral fluency in immediate task repetition 43
- Chapter 3. The effects of task repetition and task complexity on L2 lexicon use 75
- Chapter 4. Discourse performance in L2 task repetition 97
- Chapter 5. The impact of intra-cultural and inter-cultural task repetition on interaction 117
- Chapter 6. Effects of task type, task-type repetition, and performance criteria on L2 oral production 143
- Chapter 7. The effects of awareness-raising through stimulated recall on the repeated performance of the same task and on a new task of the same type 171
- Chapter 8. Perform, reflect, recycle 193
- Chapter 9. Second language learning through repeated engagement in a poster presentation task 223
- Chapter 10. Mediating input-based tasks for beginner learners through task repetition 255
- Chapter 11. Understanding benefits of repetition from a complex dynamic systems perspective 279
- Chapter 12. Task repetition or task iteration? 311
- External reviewers 331
- Subject index 333
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Series Editors’ Preface vii
- Introduction 1
- Chapter 1. Task repetition for language learning 27
- Chapter 2. Grammatical structures and oral fluency in immediate task repetition 43
- Chapter 3. The effects of task repetition and task complexity on L2 lexicon use 75
- Chapter 4. Discourse performance in L2 task repetition 97
- Chapter 5. The impact of intra-cultural and inter-cultural task repetition on interaction 117
- Chapter 6. Effects of task type, task-type repetition, and performance criteria on L2 oral production 143
- Chapter 7. The effects of awareness-raising through stimulated recall on the repeated performance of the same task and on a new task of the same type 171
- Chapter 8. Perform, reflect, recycle 193
- Chapter 9. Second language learning through repeated engagement in a poster presentation task 223
- Chapter 10. Mediating input-based tasks for beginner learners through task repetition 255
- Chapter 11. Understanding benefits of repetition from a complex dynamic systems perspective 279
- Chapter 12. Task repetition or task iteration? 311
- External reviewers 331
- Subject index 333
