Abstract
This study explores how input-focused implicit learning through extensive reading (ER) facilitates construction development in Korean-speaking young EFL students. Twenty-four EFL students, 10–13 years old, participated in ER as an after-school activity for four weeks (ER group). Their construction development in writing was assessed using seven argument structure constructions. The ER group’s performance preceding and following ER activities was compared to 24 young EFL students who did not engage in ER (baseline group). The results showed that the ER group improved their production of ditransitive and caused-motion constructions. Compared to the baseline group, the ER group not only produced a greater number of these constructions, but also used a wider variety of verbs not observed prior to the ER experiences, indicating an expansion of their linguistic knowledge with the target constructions. We conclude by addressing the pedagogical implications for using ER with young EFL students.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Yonsei University Research Fund of 2020 to the corresponding author (2020-22-0525). We thank the editor of IRAL and anonymous reviewers for their very useful feedback and suggestions, which have greatly improved the final version of this article.
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Supplementary Material
The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2019-0076).
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Contribution of English aural vocabulary size levels to L2 listening comprehension
- The effects of extensive reading on young Korean students’ construction development
- Connections between measured and assessed fluency in L2 peer interaction: a problem-solving perspective
- Transfer and unlearning of topic prominence by Chinese learners of English
- The influence of L1 script directionality and L2 proficiency on Hanzi learning among Arabic and English learners of L2 Chinese
- The effects of task types on L2 oral production and learner engagement
- Unlearning the boundary-crossing constraint: processing instruction and the acquisition of motion event construal
- Teaching South African Sign Language as a second language to university students: an integrated pedagogy
- Intra-language: the study of L2 morpheme productivity as within-item variance
- Advanced learners’ responses to Chinese greetings in study abroad
- Individual perceptions of group work environment, motivation, and achievement
- Fossilized mistakes in Spanish relative clauses learned by Chinese students
- Learning phrasal verbs in the EFL classroom: the effect of prior vocabulary knowledge and opacity
- L2 use of pragmatic markers in peer talk: Mandarin utterance-final particles
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Contribution of English aural vocabulary size levels to L2 listening comprehension
- The effects of extensive reading on young Korean students’ construction development
- Connections between measured and assessed fluency in L2 peer interaction: a problem-solving perspective
- Transfer and unlearning of topic prominence by Chinese learners of English
- The influence of L1 script directionality and L2 proficiency on Hanzi learning among Arabic and English learners of L2 Chinese
- The effects of task types on L2 oral production and learner engagement
- Unlearning the boundary-crossing constraint: processing instruction and the acquisition of motion event construal
- Teaching South African Sign Language as a second language to university students: an integrated pedagogy
- Intra-language: the study of L2 morpheme productivity as within-item variance
- Advanced learners’ responses to Chinese greetings in study abroad
- Individual perceptions of group work environment, motivation, and achievement
- Fossilized mistakes in Spanish relative clauses learned by Chinese students
- Learning phrasal verbs in the EFL classroom: the effect of prior vocabulary knowledge and opacity
- L2 use of pragmatic markers in peer talk: Mandarin utterance-final particles