This paper reports incidental acquisition of English nominal structures by a young EFL learner under comprehension-based lessons. The learner was exposed to a series of English sentences containing the target structures through listen-and-do activities. These activities required that the learner select different items based on the instructions given by the researcher. The exposure took place between 40 and 60 minutes in total spread over 3 days. In the fourth day, the learner was asked to give instructions (in English) to the researcher to select particular items. The learner’s task performance was then transcribed and analyzed using complexity and accuracy measures. The results indicated that comprehension-based lessons were effective in facilitating incidental acquisition the target structures for the learner.
This paper provides a critical review of Processing Instruction (PI). This type of instructional option was specifically designed to help second/foreign language (L2) learners grasp meaning manifested in the use of particular grammatical forms in a target language effectively through the provision of input. In this way, PI attempts to help learners develop grammatical competence in a target language in ways that foster their comprehension and production skills. The paper starts with outlining main characteristics of PI which distinguish it from other types of L2 grammar instruction. Then, a large body of research attempting to investigate the relative efficacy of PI is scrutinized. The paper concludes with a number of important issues that future studies on PI need to address.
Grounded theory constitutes research methodology commonly used in the field of social sciences to investigate social phenomena. This research methodology, however, has rarely been used in the field of second/foreign language education. Given that second/foreign language education may be viewed as a social activity and that certain issues in second/foreign language education may be studied from social science perspectives, the present article surveys key literature on grounded theory. The goal is to help second/foreign language researchers assess the potential of this research methodology for studying relevant issues in the field of second/foreign language education.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.