Why can't you just leave it alone? Deviations from memorized language as a gauge of nativelike competence

Wray, Alison; Fitzpatrick, Tess

doi:10.1075/z.138.11wra

Cited by 28 publications

(29 citation statements)

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“…Barfield 2009, Boers and Lindstromberg 2008, Boers and Lindstromberg 2009, Boers et al 2006, Boers et al 2012, Coxhead 2008, Jiang 2009, Sonbul and Schmitt 2013, Wray and Fitzpatrick 2008, Ying and O'Neill 2009). This extends to collocations pertaining to the AWL.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving academic literacy by teaching collocations

Nizonkiza

2017

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This study explores the effect of teaching collocations on building academic vocabulary and hence improving academic writing abilities. A pre-/post-test experimental design was used to analyse collocations produced in two tasks completed by the study's participants, English majors at a university in Burundi. They were presented with a completion task and an essaywriting task before and after being exposed to a collocation-based syllabus. The results show that participants performed significantly better on the post-test than on the pre-test in their production of collocations in both tasks. This suggests that an intervention contributes towards building students' productive use of collocations in both cued recall and essay writing, supporting earlier findings (cf. Barfield 2009, Seesink 2007. In light of these findings, pedagogical consequences and avenues for improving higher education students' use of collocations in writing are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving academic literacy by teaching collocations

Nizonkiza

2017

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“…The dataset has allowed us to investigate participants' propensity to attempt prepared utterances and the accuracy with which they were retrieved (described fully in Fitzpatrick and Wray 2006;Wray and Fitzpatrick 2008). The focus of this paper, though, is the effect of the memorised utterances on the participants' target interactions.…”

Section: Innovation In Language Learning and Teaching 41mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…well, so, but, and, hi, etc.) (Wray and Fitzpatrick 2008), suggesting that Sylvia was right about their capacity to compromise usefulness.…”

Section: How Fit For Purpose Can Preconstructed Utterances Be? (Rq 2)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Pushing learners to the extreme: the artificial use of prefabricated material in conversation

Wray

Fitzpatrick

2010

Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching

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Adult second language learners often come across as proficient but not native-like, with a command of the words and grammar of the language, but not of its idiomaticity. Idiomaticity resides in selecting the most native-like turn of phrase from a larger set of ways in which a particular message might be grammatically expressed. This article investigates what happens when learners are pushed to use native-like phrases in conversation. In an experiment inspired by TALK (a computer-assisted speech aid for the disabled), L2 learners of English were provided with native-like ways of expressing specific messages for targeted conversations. Both TALK and the L2 study represent artificial approaches to conversational interaction, retaining characteristics of 'normal' conversation along with a range of additional features arising from the limitations of being forced to rely on prefabricated material. Comparative evaluations of the two types of interaction indicate that even entirely fixed formulaic language can be highly effective in conversation. However, the extreme conditions of language use explored here also expose persistent weaknesses inherent in relying too heavily on formulaic material. The study exemplifies the value of research at the interface of lexical and grammatical processing and identifies related implications for the language learner. IntroductionIn this article we evaluate the communicative outcomes of an extreme, controlled language training exercise in which preplanned language is used in real interaction. The main focus of our study is an experiment in which adult learners of L2 English were required to memorise native-like conversational turns for future interactions. The experiment investigated the extent to which the learners could accurately and effectively recall such material under the conditions of real interaction and thereby approximate native-like output to a greater degree than their linguistic proficiency normally permitted. The inspiration underlying the experimental study, and the framework for our analysis, was TALK, a communication aid for nonspeaking people (e.g. with cerebral palsy). In TALK, conversational turns are prestored on

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“…In some of my recent research (Wray 2004;Fitzpatrick & Wray 2006;Wray & Fitzpatrick 2008), I have been using extreme situations to see what happens when you make it as easy and desirable as possible for adult learners to memorise and use pre-formulated native-like material. The reason for this research was to find out to what extent adults actually CAN learn in larger chunks, like young children.…”

Section: Extreme Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

The puzzle of language learning: From child's play to ‘linguaphobia’

Wray¹

2008

Lang. Teach.

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A new education policy for England, announced in Spring 2007, aims to introduce the learning of a foreign language to all children from the age of 8 by the year 2010. But there was a similar initiative in the 1960s and it didn't work then, so why should it now? This presentation explores the reasons underlying the belief that children can ‘naturally’ learn another language if they begin young enough, and considers reasons why classroom learning may not always tap into whatever natural language learning skills children have. Drawing on a range of previously published research and my own recent empirical studies, I suggest that, unless we are careful, our primary-age children will be flung into an adult-style learning approach, which they are too immature to handle. How, then, can young children's learning potential be exploited most effectively? The role of multiword sequences as a form of lexis is considered, making reference to my model of formulaic language processing e.g. Wray 2002. Consideration is given to how memorising useful wordstrings may assist children in developing a view of language knowledge that promotes effective learning.

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Why can't you just leave it alone? Deviations from memorized language as a gauge of nativelike competence

Cited by 28 publications

References 0 publications

Improving academic literacy by teaching collocations

Improving academic literacy by teaching collocations

Pushing learners to the extreme: the artificial use of prefabricated material in conversation

The puzzle of language learning: From child's play to ‘linguaphobia’

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