Although most second language learning studies involve high-educated participants, addressing low-educated participants seems important as research suggests that education background impacts second language (L2) learning efficiency. A controversial point in the L2 learning literature is the role of corrective feedback (CF). Research on CF in relation to individual differences, including education background, requires controlled experimental environments. This article presents a study in such a controlled environment: a computer assisted language learning (CALL) system with logging capabilities and automatic speech processing to provide CF on spoken grammar practice. In the experiment, 68 Dutch L2 learners were randomly assigned to either an automatic grammaticality CF condition or a NOCF (no corrective feedback) condition. We analysed learning outcome, evaluative measures, and practice behaviour logged by the CALL system. Practice behaviour differed with education background, which in turn related to learning outcome. Learners with high and medium education levels benefitted from speaking practice in both conditions, while low-educated learners did not benefit from practice, in neither condition. For medium and high educated learners there was a trend for CF to increase practice effectiveness. Education level therefore is an important individual difference in L2 learning research that influences the effectiveness of CF.
This paper presents a detailed study on the role of corrective feedback (CF) in the development of second language (L2) oral proficiency. Learners practiced speaking with a computer-assisted language learning (CALL) system that employs automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology to provide CF. The system tracks learner behaviour by logging the system-user interactions. Two language learning conditions are compared. In the CF condition learners received immediate, automatic CF on the grammaticality of their spoken output. In theOCF condition, learners practiced speaking with the option to self-correct. The target structure under investigation is Dutch verb second (V2) in the main clause. The results show that learner proficiency improved in both conditions. The CF condition shows an additional benefit for learning that is related to the learner’s initial knowledge of the target structure (which we call V2 proficiency). Learners at a lower V2 proficiency level benefitted more from practice with CF than learners in the NOCF condition. Learner evaluations are in line with these results: both the CF and the NOCF groups positively evaluated practice with the system, but the CF condition was preferred by learners starting at a lower V2 proficiency level. For more information on these outcome measures, we investigated the learners’ behaviour during practice. The two groups were found to receive equal amounts of input, but learners in the CF condition produced more (grammatically correct) output during treatment. We found that the CF group repaired their errors in fewer attempts as they progressed through practice. Learners in the NOCF condition generally did not (attempt to) repair their errors. However, the learners answered correctly more often as they progressed in the training. The log data, therefore, shows learning of the target structure in both conditions. We discuss these results and how learning outcome is related to learner behaviour.
Starting from a usage-based perspective of language acquisition, the present study investigates the occurrence of connectives in BasiLex, an 11.5 million word corpus of texts Dutch children encounter during the primary school years) grades 1–6). Specifically, we investigate how connective frequencies change across grades, how these changes reflect the theorized orders of connective acquisition in the work of Bloom et al., (1980) and Evers-Vermeul & Sanders (2009), and we make a comparison with the frequencies of connectives in the adult written language corpus Celex. Briefly summarized, our findings show that the numbers of connectives increase sharply after grade 1 and then more steadily across grades 2 to 6; we see some reflection of the connective acquisition theory of Evers-Vermeul & Sanders in the connective frequencies in texts offered to children; and we see some remarkable similarities between connective frequencies in the adult corpus Celex as compared to connective frequencies in grade 1 and grade 6 texts in BasiLex. Our findings suggest that the written input offered to children harmonizes with theoretical approaches that emphasize the incremental growth of word knowledge in children as a function of exposure.
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