The Syntax-Discourse Interface and the Interface Between Generative Theory and Pedagogical Approaches to SLA

Valenzuela, Elena; McCormack, Bede

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-6362-3_6

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…While GenSLA researchers have only rarely engaged with classroom instruction research, there has been more research in some areas than others. Namely, although syntax (Rankin, 2013; White, 1990/91) and morphology (Bruhn de Garavito, 2013a) have been explored, with the exception of Valenzuela and McCormack (2013), very few researchers have explored the potential pedagogical implications of research focusing on discourse interface properties. This shortage of research is a bit surprising because in the last decades there has been a significant increase in investigations focusing on discourse-dependent structures and issues of learnability regarding structures that involve discourse constraints.…”

Section: Gensla and Language Pedagogymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One notable exception is Valenzuela and McCormack (2013), who offered a reanalysis of a large-scale study focusing on syntax–discourse properties (Valenzuela, 2005). This study is valuable in the context of the foregoing because it focused on syntax–discourse constructions and how the results of the research could be used to change L2 teaching practices.…”

Section: Gensla and Language Pedagogymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Interestingly, learners also oversupplied clitics in [–specific] contexts, doing so at a significantly higher rate than native speakers. Valenzuela and McCormack (2013) proposed that the tendency to overproduce clitics was related to over-instruction. Similarly, the learners’ native-like performance in [+specific] contexts was also explained as a byproduct of classroom instruction (a beneficial one, in this case).…”

Section: Gensla and Language Pedagogymentioning

confidence: 99%

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The relationship between L2 instruction, exposure, and the L2 acquisition of a syntax–discourse property in L2 Spanish

Leal

Slabakova

2017

Language Teaching Research

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This article uses the clitic left dislocation (CLLD) construction in L2 Spanish to investigate whether generative SLA has valuable insights to contribute to language teaching. Although CLLD is a structure that is commonly used by native speakers, as reported anecdotally and in at least one corpus, we found that native-Spanish and native-English teachers of Spanish have little metalinguistic knowledge of it. Crucially, we also found that CLLD does not appear consistently in Spanish textbooks. Additionally, it appears to be infrequent in the classroom input that learners receive, as we found in three lectures we recorded and tallied for CLLD usage rates. At the same time, study results show that the construction is learnable. Study abroad, that is, exposure to naturalistic input, appears to be a significant factor. Based on these collective findings, we suggest that learners at intermediate proficiency levels should be exposed to CLLD and that generative SLA is valuable to teachers in identifying such gaps in instruction.

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Section: Gensla and Language Pedagogymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Gensla and Language Pedagogymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Gensla and Language Pedagogymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The relationship between L2 instruction, exposure, and the L2 acquisition of a syntax–discourse property in L2 Spanish

Leal

Slabakova

2017

Language Teaching Research

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“…Recent work by Valenzuela and McCormack (2013) Apples, I-eat all the days PRE-PUBLICATION VERSION Whong, M., Gil, K.H. and Marsden, H., 2014.…”

Section: Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond paradigm: The ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of classroom research

Whong

Gil

Marsden

2014

Second Language Research

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This article reviews studies in second language classroom research from a cross-theoretic perspective, arguing that the classroom holds the potential for bringing together researchers from opposing theoretical orientations. It shows how generative and general cognitive approaches share a view of language that implicates both implicit and explicit knowledge, and that holds a bias towards implicit knowledge. Arguing that it is implicit knowledge that should be the object of research, it proposes that classroom research would benefit from incorporating insights from a generative understanding of language. Specifically, there is a need for a more nuanced view of the complexity of language in terms of linguistic domain, and the interaction between those domains. Generative second language acquisition research that shows developmental differences in terms of both linguistic domain and interface is reviewed. The core argument is a call for more attention to the ‘what’ of language development in classroom research and, by implication, teaching practice. As such, the language classroom is seen to offer potential for research that goes beyond paradigm to address both the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of language development.

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“…Therefore, if learned rules conflict with actual use, performance may be impaired, as argued by Rothman (2008) and Valenzuela and McCormack (2013) (among others). As Lopez (2017) shows, it is by no means straightforward to create teaching materials that are both as fully linguistically accurate as possible and also suitably accessible for the learners.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grammatical meaning and the second language classroom: Introduction

Marsden

Slabakova

2018

Language Teaching Research

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This special issue assembles empirical work on second language teaching and learning from a generative linguistic perspective. The focus is on properties that constitute grammarmeaning interaction, that differ in the native and target language grammars, and that have not been highlighted in the pedagogical literature so far. Common topics address whether and how learners acquire grammatical meanings in the second language, including difficult misalignments between native and target-language constructions and functional morphemes. We propose that teaching and learning a second language can be enhanced by focusing on the relationship between grammatical forms and their meanings, as elucidated by contemporary linguistic theory.

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The Syntax-Discourse Interface and the Interface Between Generative Theory and Pedagogical Approaches to SLA

Cited by 10 publications

References 19 publications

The relationship between L2 instruction, exposure, and the L2 acquisition of a syntax–discourse property in L2 Spanish

The relationship between L2 instruction, exposure, and the L2 acquisition of a syntax–discourse property in L2 Spanish

Beyond paradigm: The ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of classroom research

Grammatical meaning and the second language classroom: Introduction

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