Chapter 10. Mediating input-based tasks for beginner learners through task repetition
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Natsuko Shintani
Abstract
This chapter examines task repetition from a sociocultural perspective. I will report a study examining how the dynamics of teacher-student interaction change when the same task is repeated over time. I draw on sociocultural theory by viewing task repetition as one way of dynamically mediating learners’ participation in an input-based task. The task was a listen-and-do task consisting of a simple procedure – the teacher’s commands followed by students’ action – with no requirement that the learners speak in the L2 (English). The same task was repeated nine times over five weeks. The participants were a group of six children, aged six, who had no L2 knowledge or experience of formal language learning. The lessons were audio- and video-recorded. The transcribed interactions and the video-data were analysed in detail to explore how the teacher’s scaffolding changed over time and how the students shifted from other-regulation to self-regulation. The analysis showed that the teacher employed two different approaches: mediating the task commands in the early lessons to assist the students’ comprehension and then pushing learners towards self-regulation in later lessons by reducing the level of support. The teacher’s actions led to co-construction and enabled the students to move from other-regulation to self-regulation in both comprehending key items in the input and voluntarily producing them. Overall, the study shows how the nature of ‘activity’ changed as the task-as-workplan was repeated over time.
Abstract
This chapter examines task repetition from a sociocultural perspective. I will report a study examining how the dynamics of teacher-student interaction change when the same task is repeated over time. I draw on sociocultural theory by viewing task repetition as one way of dynamically mediating learners’ participation in an input-based task. The task was a listen-and-do task consisting of a simple procedure – the teacher’s commands followed by students’ action – with no requirement that the learners speak in the L2 (English). The same task was repeated nine times over five weeks. The participants were a group of six children, aged six, who had no L2 knowledge or experience of formal language learning. The lessons were audio- and video-recorded. The transcribed interactions and the video-data were analysed in detail to explore how the teacher’s scaffolding changed over time and how the students shifted from other-regulation to self-regulation. The analysis showed that the teacher employed two different approaches: mediating the task commands in the early lessons to assist the students’ comprehension and then pushing learners towards self-regulation in later lessons by reducing the level of support. The teacher’s actions led to co-construction and enabled the students to move from other-regulation to self-regulation in both comprehending key items in the input and voluntarily producing them. Overall, the study shows how the nature of ‘activity’ changed as the task-as-workplan was repeated over time.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- 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
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- 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
