Investigating Tasks in Formal Language Learning

by Garcia Mayo, Maria del Pilar

• ISBN13: 9781853599279
• ISBN10: 1853599271
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-12-13
• Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Summary

This book brings together research that makes use of tasks to examine oral interaction, written production, vocabulary and reading, lexical innovation and pragmatics in different formal language learning contexts and in different languages (English, French, German, Italian and Spanish). It will be of interest to professionals and students working in SLA research and language pedagogy.

Author Biography

María del Pilar García Mayo received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Iowa (U.S.A). She is Full Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the University of the Basque Country (Spain). Her research interests are second language acquisition (in particular the acquisition of syntactic aspects of English as a second/foreign language from a generative perspective and input and interaction in formal language learning contexts) and second language research methodology. Her recent publications have focused on the acquisition of syntactic aspects of English as a third language and on issues related to interaction and focus on form in the foreign language classroom.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Alison Mackey	vii
Contributors	xi
Introduction
Maria del Pilar Garcia Mayo	1
1 Criteria for Classifying and Sequencing Pedagogic Tasks
Peter Robinson	7
2 Information Distribution and Goal Orientation in Second Language Task Design
Craig P. Lambert and Steve Engler	27
3 The Simultaneous Manipulation of Task Complexity Along Planning Time and [+ / – Here-and-Now]: Effects on L2 Oral Production
Roger Gilabert	44
4 Tasks, Negotiation and L2 Learning in a Foreign Language Context
Marisol Fernández Garcia	69
5 Attention to Form Across Collaborative Tasks by Low-Proficiency Learners in an EFL Setting
Ana Alegria de la Colina and Maria del Pilar Garcia Mayo	91
6 Cognitive Task Complexity and Linguistic Performance in French L2 Writing
Folkert Kuiken and Ineke Vedder	117
7 The Effect of Manipulating Task Complexity Along the [+ / – Here-and-Now] Dimension on L2 Written Narrative Discourse
Tomohito Ishikawa	136
8 Writing Tasks: The Effects of Collaboration
Neomy Storch and Gillian Wigglesworth	157
9 L2 Vocabulary Acquisition and Reading Comprehension: The Influence of Task Complexity
Elke Peters	178
10 Task-Effect on the Use of Lexical Innovation Strategies in Interlanguage Communication
Elsa González Álvarez	199
11 Fostering EFL Learners' Awareness of Requesting Through Explicit and Implicit Consciousness-Raising Tasks
Eva Alcón Soler	221
12 Interactive Task Design: Metachat and the Whole Learner
Marie-Noëlle Lamy	242
Index	265